Thus spake Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase, whipping up her gun rights base in an effort to dodge an inevitable bullet: gun control legislation, which is favored by the vast majority of Virginians.
Chase has a history of violent and twisted rhetoric and actions:
“Having armed people in the schools would be like having a security alarm in a house,” Chase said, in support of her plan to propose legislation that would allow concealed-carry permit holders to bring guns into schools and churches (see Richmond2Day's coverage).
Well why not schools and churches? Chase’s response to the El Paso and Dayton shootings was to call for an end to gun free zones (listen to her here).
Chase herself regularly packs heat in the VA General Assembly; her custom is to carry the weapon concealed, but occasionally she carries openly, in part, she says, “to deter people from getting in my face” (background here by WaPo’s Laura Vozzella and in this Blue Virginia article with audio clip).
But Chase herself is the more likely aggressor; she cursed out Capitol Police who for some reason known best to themselves objected to her wanting to park in a secure area near the Capitol that’s blocked off to traffic (details here) and ended up referring to them as “partisan liars.”
Amanda Chase showing how to defend an argument in the GA.
Chase enjoys a 100% approval rating from the extremist gun rights group, Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL). You may remember that their president, Philip Van Cleave, got himself well and thoroughly pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen. Van Cleave got drawn into seriously advocating the arming of pre-schoolers with “gunimals” — guns made to look like stuffed animals - so that they could make the “naughty men” go on a VERY long time out (I promise you belly laughs if you click here).
That has not stopped Chase from helping the VCDL build membership since then by being the star attraction at a meeting this past March.
Amanda Chase helping her pal Philip Van Cleave build membership in his group, which prides itself on being more extreme than the NRA.
And then there’s Chase on rape:
Chase has said that, because she has both sons and daughters, she’s in a unique position to weigh in on the issue of rape. Huh?
Chase recently held a fundraiser for herself featuring state Senator Dick Black, who once opposed criminalizing spousal rape on the grounds that wives, after all, wear nighties; has compared same-sex marriage to incest and polygamy, and who has spoken highly of — and met twice with — dictator and war criminal Bashar al-Assad (details here).
Blue Virginia provides us some of Chases’s views on the ERA (go HERE).
- “The ERA Amendment is nothing more than a ploy by the left to eliminate gender altogether.”
- “Educate yourself from something other than the talking points from the left. Not all educated, successful women support the ERA amendment today. Stop playing the victim. This is 2018 not 1952.”
Chase ties her opposition to the ERA to her opposition to “eliminating gender” (hmmm...how can that happen?) and has referred to her gun as “my own ERA.” As republicaninsanity has so thoroughly documented here on Daily Kos, Chase has opposed bans on race-based housing discrimination and gay conversion therapy for minors. The list could go on and on — but you get the picture by now, I’m sure!
So: what do we do? We support the other Amanda in this race: Amanda Pohl! She’s a regular contributor on Daily Kos: PohlforVirginia; two of her diaries are HERE and HERE (the second one has a cool photo of her protesting at the state Capitol against gun violence). She is TERRIFIC!!
Amanda is the first person in her family to graduate from a 4-year college. She completed seminary at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and earned master’s degrees in Patient Counseling and Social Work with a focus on Administration, Planning, and Policy Practice from Virginia Commonwealth University. Amanda was also a policy fellow for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. She has long experience serving as a healthcare chaplain, and that has informed her advocacy for improved healthcare for all Virginians. This is from her website:
We are all impacted by current policies that limit our personal and professional lives and impede our great state’s ability to thrive. Basics like affordable health care, quality education, better infrastructure, and equality are foundational rights that should be available to all, not just a few.
Amanda Pohl has earned the endorsements of a host of organizations: labor, LGBTQIA and women’s rights, gun control, and the environment
Amanda Pohl has earned the endorsement of a host of organizations and, with her advocacy of voting rights, the support of voter advocacy group 90for90. Amanda Pohl is a wonderful person and a great candidate. She’s running in a fairly conservative district, but one that Tim Kaine won (by a very few votes). But the tide has been turning in Virginia, and the Other Amanda is on the wrong side of an issue that unites all Virginians: the need for gun regulation.
VA 7th for Progress which, with huge help from Daily Kos readers, was able to present $1040 to Ann Ridgeway (D) and $1000 to Juanita Jo Matkins (D), is stepping up for Amanda Pohl.
We are offering another 2-for-1 sale:
VA 7th for Progress will match every dollar contributed up to $500. If we go beyond our goal, 100% of that money will go to Amanda Pohl.
Don’t you love a sale? And aren’t you itching to #ChaseHerOut?
Contribute HERE
Thank you!
