Potomac Confidential

Slicing and Dicing of the Issues People Are Talking About

Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion by Metro columnist Marc Fisher of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.

Fisher was online Thursday, Sept. 8, at Noon ET to discuss the local response to Katrina, the latest entry into the D.C. mayoral campaign and the race for governor in Virginia.

In his weekly show, Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.

Archives: Discussion Transcripts

A transcript follows.

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Marc Fisher: Welcome aboard, folks. Remember the 2000 presidential campaign? Remember how the governor of Texas would lower his voice and stir his audience by intoning against "the soft bigotry of low expectations?" He would restore standards and raise the bar--in the nation's schools, in government as a whole.

Scan forward five years to this: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Some raised expectations, huh?

Luckily, most Americans expect more of ourselves than the president does of his staff, and the evidence is everywhere around us--in the Libby family, profiled by Paul Duggan on today's front page, a Montgomery County family that has taken in 11 refugees; in the Bethesda schoolchildren who have collected backpacks to deliver to kids along the Gulf coast; in the hundreds of similar efforts throughout our area.

So today's Yay of the Day goes to the many good folks who are coming up with creative ways to help out. Good for them for saying No to the constant requests from the Red Cross and Salvation Army for cash instead of deeds and goods. Take one look at the unconscionable salaries that Red Cross officials pay themselves--I counted at least 10 top executives making more than $200,000 a year, with several topping $300,000--and you know that giving them cash is not the answer. Their volunteers and staffers do wonderful work, but if you can help out in tangible ways rather than handing over cash to a group that treats it so cavalierly, that's the ticket.

Nay to the D.C. government for its star-crossed convoy to nowhere, the caravan of 10 buses that the District sent down to help out in New Orleans, only to return with a grand total of one evacuee--one. Total cost to the taxpayers: $82,000. Still, the city, thanks to Council member David Catania, stepped up to the plate and is playing host to more than 200 evacuees at the Armory, people who were flown in, sometimes not knowing where they were headed til they were boarding the plane.

And a farewell to Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, who, to the surprise of many, turned out to be a strong advocate for voting rights for D.C. residents. As Kevin Kiger of D.C. Vote noted this week, Rehnquist wrote as far back as 1970 that "continued denial of voting representation from the District of Columbia can no longer be justified." Will anyone even bother to ask John Roberts, who lives just a few blocks outside the District in Chevy Chase, where he stands on the issue?

Were it not for Katrina, we'd be deep into the Virginia governor's race this week. Which candidate benefits from a more compressed campaign? Next week, Kilgore and Kaine will be in Tysons for one of only two remaining debates.

Your turn to debate starts right now...

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Poolesville, Md.: In your article today about the profit margin for gas station operators, you imply that the operators get a flat fee per gallon (8 cents, before expenses) no matter what the cost to the consumer per gallon of gas. Is that true?

Marc Fisher: Sorry if you got the impression that station owners get a flat fee. No, they set their own prices and their own profit margins, but they are very much hemmed in by two main forces: #1, the competition from the guy across the street, who in many cases may be an off-brand independent who doesn't take credit cards and therefore has lower costs, and #2, stations controlled by Big Oil companies are pressured into setting their prices lower than they might like, thanks to a reimbursement scheme by which the big companies gain powerful leverage over a station owner's pricing.

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Washington, D.C.: What was Mr. Levitan's income last year? I have neither an agenda (e.g., to rail against the evil gas supply chain) nor do I question Mr. Levitan's sweat or claim to his income; however, your article paints a picture of a proprietor barely getting by and I seek the truth. Some businesses with low and shrinking margins do quite well at the end of the day.

Marc Fisher: You're right, of course, that some businesses do very nicely on the thinnest of margins. Supermarkets are the classic example, often thriving on a 1 or 2 percent margin. So yes, gas station owners are hardly in the poorhouse, but their margins can be very narrow and many actually only break even on gas, making their profits on the convenience store or the service bays.

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Laurel, Md.: About today's column -- when I pay with a DEBIT card, do any fees change hands behind the scenes?

Marc Fisher: Excellent question and one that I neglected to ask. Anyone know?

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Arlington, Va.: The military is barring journalists from the streets of New Orleans and FEMA is imposing a news photo blackout. This is outrageous! This is a domestic natural disaster. The only thing journalists would be documenting at this point is the government's incompetence and negligence.

Please, please tell me the Post will not roll over on this!

Marc Fisher: So far at least, the Post's reporters on the scene have found ways to get around the federal government's desire to stage manage a national disaster. Our reporters and photographers, when denied access to government rescue crews, have rented their own boats and followed along or gone out on their own. I haven't heard what our intentions are on publishing photos of the dead, but we have done some of that and will certainly want to document the scene in New Orleans, no matter how dispiriting or devastating that may be.

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Reston, Va.: Mark, I'm no fan of politicians, but what did you really expect the K-candidates to say when asked about how they would lower gas prices? Governors really have no ability to control gas prices. They can have impact on gas taxes and anti- gouging laws, but not of the cost of oil itself.

However, I would like to hear some real answers out of them on emergency response management ...

Marc Fisher: Exactly--that's what most of the people who approached Kilgore wanted to hear: How would you deal with this if it happened here? How would you make certain that the feds provided timely assistance? Governors can lower gas taxes on an emergency basis, but as any number of pundits have noted in recent days, that's a bogus gesture, because Big Oil or station owners could just swallow up that price relief and pocket the difference.

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Laurel, Md.: Seeing the handwriting on the wall, I bought gas at the station around the corner from my house for about $3.00 a week ago; and now it's $3.09.

But over the weekend it was $3.59. Was the extra 40-50 cents anything but station profit?

Marc Fisher: Yes--While there are certainly some station owners who might have been price gouging, in most cases, that spike in price represents the real cost to your station owner of the load of gas that came in late last week. The prices being charged to your station shot up after Katrina, and are now relaxing somewhat, though that varies from company to company.

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Lexington Park, Md.: Maybe the gas station owner should just complain to the Democratic People's Republic of Maryland gummint. Seems when poor old big oil gas stations here in Southern Maryland were being undercut by reasonable prices, the state stepped in and screamed NO! But it's just a matter of time, seems the Sheetz down here is selling for $2.99. Help us Maryland, we hate paying lower prices for gas!

Marc Fisher: That's a different kettle of fish entirely. You're talking about Maryland's law that sets a floor for gas prices. Levitan tried to persuade me that it's a good law because it prevents a big company like Sheetz or Wawa from coming in and underpricing all the Mom and Pop stations and driving them out of business, freeing the big boys to then jack up their prices. After all, that's pretty much the strategy CVS employs to drive out Mom and Pop pharmacies. But as much as I loathe CVS, I don't buy Maryland's law--it just makes life too cushy for gas station owners and it deprives the consumer of the benefit of price competition.

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Springfield, Va.: I've always heard that most stations break even on gas, and make most of their profit selling beer, snacks and repairs. The gas is a loss leader -- just like when Giant puts 12 packs of Coke on sale for $2.

Marc Fisher: That's pretty much right, so you can imagine the fear and loathing among gas station owners when we consumers start trying to conserve and make fewer trips to the gas station. That means fewer Coke and cigarette sales for them.

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Fairfax, Va.: Howdy Marc. Can you tell me why savvy Danny Snyder didn't learn from the experiences of one of your favorite subjects, the Fairfax driving-range-owner shrub-man? Or does The Danny consider himself above the law?

Marc Fisher: I think it's in the NFL (and all professional sports league) bylaws that you have to act as if you are above the law to qualify as an owner.

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Washington, D.C.: So the No Fun League is advertising the ten second delay on the opening show tonight to avoid 'controversy' and 'politics' and then they hire the Stones, Green Day and Kanye West. Can they actually have it both ways?

And will they mute West if he says 'God bless President Bush' instead of 'George Bush doesn't care about black people'?

Marc Fisher: How did I miss the emergence of Kanye West as the Bob Dylan of our age? Or is Marlon Brando's wacky diatribe at the Oscars the better analogy?

And I've lost the ability to keep track of who's adding delays and who's eliminating them. Just as we're told that Z104 and the other Nationals stations are getting rid of their delay so we can finally listen to Charlie Slowes instead of having to hear the Nats' sub par TV announcers, now the NFL is adding a delay?

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Cap Hill, D.C.: Hey Marc,

I little off topic I guess, but I was curious as to your thoughts on these trucks with graphic depictions of abortions pictured on their sides that drive around Capitol Hill. I noticed one the other day as it meandered past my son's pre-K/Kindergarten school. I'm all for free speech, but the thought of my 4-year-old seeing those pictures ...

My question is, are there no restrictions on what can be displayed on the sides of these trucks? Could pictures of gun shot victims or severed limbs from war or depictions of torture be displayed?

I realize it is the intent of these individuals who adorn their vehicles with these images to shock people, but I also do not think it unreasonable that 4-5 year-olds should be able to wait in line for school without being exposed to pictures that I think any sane adult would consider inappropriate for children of this age.

Marc Fisher: Well, there's no law against tastelessness and obnoxiousness. Those demonstrators purport to be all about protecting children, yet they have no compunctions about traumatizing children by standing along major streets right near schools with their extremely graphic, huge posters of aborted fetuses. The best weapon against such folks is one-to-one on-the-street moral suasion, though it's not clear that people who would do this have all that much in the way of a moral conscience.

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Alexandria, Va.: I know this is about as unlikely as turning over several states to Canada, but with big oil controlling the prices and the refineries, it's almost monopolistic. What if the government started making noises about making the fuel industry in America a government owned and operated enterprise?

Marc Fisher: That would be about as popular as the national health care system that Hillary (Now I'm Sort of a Republican, Too, But I'm Also Against Everything That's Unpopular!) Clinton tried to give us.

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Crofton, Md.: Hi Marc -- Question about human behavior (mine). I am horrified at the destruction along the Gulf Coast. I see bodies in the water and felt terrible but sadly not half as bad as I feel when I see a dog, cat, etc., dead or in distress from the storm! Am I hopeless? I can look at CNN and watch coverage of body removal but I immediately turn the channel when it is an animal! Why?

Marc Fisher: Beats me. But then again, I cannot fathom why all these folks who stayed behind to take care of their pets would risk their lives for an animal that they could easily replace at any pet store.

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Boston, Mass.: Debit cards are much cheaper for merchants than credit cards; they are typically a flat rate -- 10-50 cents per transaction, rather than a 2-3 percent fee.

Bigger merchants get cheaper processing fees with the major credit cards; the bigger you are, the more volume, the lower rate you get. Sometimes it's a flat rate, sometimes capped at a certain dollar amount, etc. Smaller merchants generally don't do well with cc companies.

I always pay with debit card when I can so I don't hurt the merchant ...

Marc Fisher: Great--thanks for the info. But I don't really get the appeal of debit cards, other than the altruistic purpose that you cite. Why let the bank off so easily? Why would you want the money sucked right out of your account rather than letting the bank pay for your money for a month? Even if you're going to pay it off immediately to avoid a finance charge, you get a free month's use of the bank's money by using the credit card.

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Arlington, Va.: Hi Marc,

Do you think this hurricane and it's after effects will prod more people to vote this fall? I would think the debacle that occurred after the hurricane would bring out the more anti-government establishment but who knows. Then again maybe we won't even be hearing so much about the Gulf Coast by November and the rest of the country will no longer remember and therefore not vote again.

Marc Fisher: Hard to imagine that Katrina would have much impact on the Virginia governor's race, unless the drumbeat of criticism of the Bush administration becomes so loud that it steals some votes from Kilgore. The connection to next year's congressional races is much more direct than it is to a governor's race in a state that is hurt only by the storm's impact on the national economy.

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Vienna, Va.: I'd be curious to see an analysis of how much more income will be going into state coffers with the raise in gas prices and the rise in tax revenues from those gas sales (I'm assuming it's some kind of percentage). Let's assume that gas has gone up 40 percent in the last few weeks, that tax revenue has similarly risen, and that people have only decreased their purchases by 15 percent or so -- that's a nice tidy income for those collecting the taxes. Let's hope it goes for something intelligent, like funding disaster planning, hiring qualified managers to run major programs, housing displaced persons, and repairing infrastructure that has the potential for affecting millions of people.

Marc Fisher: Yes, the state will definitely get a windfall from the gas tax if these prices stay this high. But consider that the state's expenses are shooting up too--all the gas for all those state vehicles, plus the enormous boost in prices for construction materials and other goods made more expensive by the paralysis along the Gulf coast.

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Anonymous: I posted this last week, but it didn't make it, perhaps due to the enormity of other events in the news. Those events haven't dissipated too much in the interim, but I'm trying again.

I hope you don't mind if I ask your opinion about an ominous but not unexpected trend I've noticed in the pages of your paper, something blissfully free of allegations of media bias but nonetheless under reported.

As I page through the Post each morning, my eyes always track the obituaries. I'm just 34 years old, so I don't often see people I know on that page, yet I've noted an alarming number of names in the obits from the world of jazz. Sometimes these musicians are familiar to me, but often they're not. The obits help fill in some large gaps in my jazz knowledge, but even as I feel gratitude for the coverage of these individuals, I find myself terribly worried by the passing of an increasing number of people who, having avoided the harsh deaths that befell many of their esteemed colleagues during the heyday of jazz, now are succumbing to the frailties that develop in later years.

The deaths are sobering enough, but as I realize just how important these people are, I find myself longing for broader coverage of the dying breed of jazz greats, whether local, national, or international. We've all heard about the folks who died young, and the major figures, like Miles Davis, who passed on later. But the crop of jazz musicians who have died in the past six months seems to me to have a COLLECTIVE importance that demands something deeper than the individual obituaries, as informative as they are.

Thanks for listening to my cry. Do you agree? I know you're a jazz fan.

Marc Fisher: Very interesting and yes, I've noticed this too. What we're witnessing is the passing of the last great generation of jazz men who played when jazz was a form of popular music in this country. After Miles, after bop, jazz became more an art music, played less in the mass media and more in the colleges and edgier clubs, and so its players became, with rare exceptions such as Wynton Marsalis, far less well known. So the obits you're reading these days are the end of a chapter of American cultural history and they do indeed deserve more coverage.

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Also Cap Hill, D.C.: Aren't pictures of aborted fetuses on trucks "pictures of the dead"? Wouldn't Bush want these pictures banned also? Where's the outrage?

Marc Fisher: Maybe he can send out the National Guard to chase those photo-wielding demonstrators off the streets. Oh. Maybe not--the Guard seems to be otherwise engaged. Did you see Ellen Knickmeyer's fine piece today about the Louisiana National Guard in Iraq and how they're coming home to help deal with the losses in their home state? Good piece.

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Silver Spring, Md.: You are right about getting a "free month" from credit cards if you pay them off -- but that is the trick. You have to pay them off right away, and you have to spend moderately. Many people can't do do either and so avoid the temptation entirely -- at least the smart ones do.

A debit card should be used like cash -- you go out to buy lunch, its $6 but you only have a 5 so out comes the debit card. Or for buying gas, or groceries, etc. -- things it doesn't make sense to "finance."

Marc Fisher: So it's a way of protecting yourself against yourself?

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Laurel, Md.: "Even if you're going to pay it off immediately to avoid a finance charge, you get a free month's use of the bank's money by using the credit card."

So, suppose I charge $100 this month. I can put it into my online savings account at 3% and earn 25 cents on it. Fine.

But if I get my charge payment in the mail late, I'm suddenly on the hook for $1.50 interest on that month's charges; $1.50 on next months; and a $29 late fee.

With those odds; I'll use debit.

Marc Fisher: Yeah, the savings are not exactly exciting. But I just like the idea of using the bank's money better than the idea of pumping out my own dollars with each purchase.

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Maryland: Interestingly enough I have noticed that since the delay on Z104/WFED radio broadcasts was eliminated the radio broadcast is actually slightly ahead of the UPN TV broadcast so when the ball is pitched you can hear the crack of the bat on radio before it reaches the plate on TV.

Marc Fisher: The mysteries of the airwaves never cease to amaze. Of course the easy solution would be for both radio and TV to use the radio team's cast of the game.

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Bowie, Md.: I see in an article today about Snyder's personal deforestation plan that Wayne Curry is his lawyer. Is this the same Wayne Curry that was County Executive of Prince George's County?

Snyder To Pay $37,000 For Trees (The Post, Sept. 8)

Marc Fisher: Yes--I just checked in with our Maryland Desk and deputy editor Phyllis Jordan tells me that is one and the same Curry who once led Prince George's. You'll recall that it was under Curry's administration that the Redskins got the sweetheart deal to build their stadium.

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Arlington, Va.: I know we have had this discussion before, but for most pet owners, pets are not interchangeable animals that can be replaced at a pet store. They are members of the family. I respect the fact that you disagree, but I think you are off-base here.

Marc Fisher: I admit to a cultural gap here. They're all public menaces as far as I'm concerned.

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Re: Pets: I've been thinking about this a lot too, and Marc, I don't agree with you. Pets become a member of the family, and one that depends totally on you.

I'm not saying that I would risk my life or my family's life in such a situation, but it would be a difficult decision.

I also think that it is yet another visual demonstration of the destruction of civil society in the ravaged areas. Symbolic in a way of the way in which everything that we think of as normal has just dissolved into chaos.

I am not saying that the pets are more important than the people, but it is another representation of the most vulnerable and helpless being left to die.

Marc Fisher: I guess from the storm of comments coming in on this that a great many folks agree with you. But to me the far more compelling lesson from this evacuation is this: While a majority of people who left the flooded area quickly settled in with family or friends, an astonishing 180,000 or so had no relative or friend available to save them from the indignities and travail of public shelters. Isn't that a sad commentary on the state of loneliness and connectedness in this society?

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Landover, Md.: You're being facetious about everyone being able to replace their pet at a pet store, right? What!? I don't believe many people realize just how endangered they are/were by staying, and denial plays a part too ... but cavalierly leaving an animal totally dependent upon you for their survival after voluntarily taking on the responsibility of pet ownership is cruel. I'm not saying a situation wouldn't eventually force one to leave a pet behind ... but not because they can be so easily replaced. Where is your compassion?

Marc Fisher: Well, sure, I felt for the dog trapped up in the branches of a tree, and I can understand the sense of obligation that people have toward animals they've purchased, but I do not get any comparison of such connections to a human bond.

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Re: Pet Store: "I cannot fathom why all these folks who stayed behind to take care of their pets would risk their lives for an animal that they could easily replace at any pet store."

Oh, you have GOT to be joking. Whether you agree with this line of thinking or not, my dog is a member of my family. Do you consider your family members so easily replaceable?

Marc Fisher: Well, some of them could stand replacing. But seriously, no, I don't see how it's possible to equate a pet with a fellow human being.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Marc,

Regarding publishing photos of dead people. I read somewhere (on the Internet) that the media should not publish pictures of dead people from a disaster or whatever that can show identifying characteristics because next of kin may not have been notified or know they are dead. This makes sense to me. The picture of "Vera" in the graveyard, the old man at the gas station with the dog and the dead lady in the wheelchair were OK with me because they were covered up. Can you imagine if the first clue you received about a relative was a picture of them dead somewhere? I think photos are OK but a little discretion is a necessary.

Marc Fisher: And most photo editors would agree with you. The purpose in showing dead bodies is to communicate the depth of the tragedy and to engage our emotions as part of getting across the full range of a story. But just as the most erotic photos don't show everything, neither does it make sense to choose the most gruesome pictures to communicate the loss and sorrow in a scene such as New Orleans. The great photographers know how to capture the true emotion of a situation without seeking to gross out the reader.

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Arlington, Va.: Little kids are exposed to any numbers of inappropriate posters and public advertisements every day. Movie posters on mall kiosks showing violence, clothing ads on bus-stop walls showing suggestive near-nudity, etc. The notion that public discourse must be toddler-friendly died long ago.

Marc Fisher: That doesn't make it right. The coarsening of society is neither obligatory nor inevitable. We've just let it happen because we refuse to talk back to marketers and corporations by withholding our dollars from those who cheapen the public space.

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Arlington, Va.: 180,000 with no other relatives ... also a reflection on the socio-economics of the area. Many of the poor don't ever leave the area where they grew up -- and that goes back generations. No relatives to stay with because your entire family lived in New Orleans as well.

Marc Fisher: Yes, the piece today that pointed out the deeply rooted nature of Lousiana's population was revelatory--I think it was 79 percent of the state's population that was born in that state, a high for the nation. And Washingtonians well know that the isolation of many in big cities is so severe that they may indeed have no family or friends outside their own neighborhood; that's quite common in the District. Still--there are a great many families that migrated to big cities such as New Orleans and Washington within the past two generations, and branches of those families are still spread throughout the rural south. I fear that a good many of those 180,000 folks do have family elsewhere, but have long since lost the bonds that once meant so much.

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Williamsburg, Va.: You were vocal in your criticism of Linda Cropp during the process of bringing the Nationals to Washington. Do you have any preliminary thoughts on her candidacy for D.C. mayor?

Marc Fisher: I attended Cropp's announcement ceremony yesterday and was startled to see that much of her inner circle consists of the old Barry era crowd that first supported her when she ran for school board in the 80s. She's never really had to run a competitive race before; she's generally been elected almost by acclamation. So this will be a very different campaign for Linda Cropp.

On your point, the biggest cheer she won from her supporters during her speech yesterday was when she bashed baseball and pronounced herself the one who stood up to baseball. Not even a nod toward the team's success or its embrace by the city. She appears to be running hard against baseball.

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Arlington, Va.: According to an article I believe in the Post earlier this week, gas taxes are a set fee per gallon. Thus with the increase in gas prices, tax revenues will actually go down as people cut back on consumption.

Marc Fisher: Right you are--scratch my earlier comment. Thanks for the correction.

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Re: debit card: I thought I read in Michelle Singletary's column recently that if you pay for gas with a debit card, the gas station will tack on a HUGE charge until the transaction clears. For example, if you bought $10 worth of gas, your debit card would be charged something like $50 until the $10 transaction cleared, by 2:00 p.m. the next day. The reason, I thought I remembered reading, was because it was like paying with a check and they wanted to make sure the transaction didn't bounce.

Marc Fisher: Goodness! I missed that. That would certainly dampen the popularity of debit cards.

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Washington, D.C.: Re: debit cards -- It's called pay-as-you-go. What's wrong with that? Not everyone can pay off their credit cards in full every month.

Marc Fisher: Right, and pay as you go is a fine philosophy in life. But the banks are not doing anyone any favors with debit cards--they're saving themselves from having to put out the bucks for us til we pay off our credit card bills. There are many people who can't afford to or can't get their act together enough to pay off a credit card bill on time and avoid the finance charge, but I'd rather see such folks get the credit counseling and budget help to be able to do that so that they, like more affluent folks, could take advantage of the bank's money.

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Washington, D.C.: Marc. I work in non-profits and it's comments like yours about the "high" salaries of some officers that hurt non-profits. Fact is, most of those officers deserve those salaries for raising millions of dollars and distributing it across the globe. And the fact of the matter is, they are receiving much less than they could be making in the private sector. While there are cases of non-profit execs making too much relative to revenue and programs, the American Red Cross and Salvation Army do not fall into that category. Most non-profit employees I know, including most executive directors and presidents, are grossly underpaid for the great work and long hours.

Marc Fisher: Sorry, but $300,000 is not grossly underpaid for any job on this planet. When someone commits to doing good work, part of that commitment should be the idea that the bosses shouldn't make more than a few times what the rank and file make. Someone who wants to help out by running an organization such as the Red Cross should be someone who understands the corrosive impact that gross inequalities have on any society. Here it is nice and simple: You shouldn't set out to get rich by giving to the poor.

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Washington, D.C.: I feel like this is an incredibly naive question, but this is an anonymous forum, so I'll soldier ahead: Why do gas companies make record-breakingly high profits when gas prices are high? I assumed that gas prices are based on the cost of extracting and refining a barrel of oil, which would then suggest that profits would remain steady even as prices rose or fell. But clearly, I'm missing something. Can you help?

Marc Fisher: Gas companies would argue that they do indeed pump a large chunk of their earnings into exploration, research and expansion of oil refining and production. But they also make huge bundles of money. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, except inasmuch as government makes it easier for them to make that profit. Shouldn't oil companies bear more responsibility for the environmental damage they do?

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Arlington, Va.: I share your skepticism of Kanye West. Any coincidence that his diatribe came on the eve of the release of his latest CD, which came on the heels of a statement on rap music being too homophobic, which probably didn't market-test as well as he hoped.

Marc Fisher: Political commentary from pop stars is rarely meant to sell product; most often, it's just the result of a belief by misguided celebrities that their fans actually care what they think.

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Arlington, Va.: I'm always amused that you take every chance available to denigrate Republicans, like your swipe at Bush and stating that he might drag down Kilgore support due to Katrina. Wouldn't it be just as valid for you to state that perhaps the poor response of the "deliberative" Democratic governor Blanco might persuade people to vote for Kilgore instead of Kaine? Of course, once again you let your personal biases shine through.

Marc Fisher: Seems to me the only swipe I took at a pol today was against Hillary Clinton, who is not a Republican. But no, it wouldn't make sense to argue that Kaine might be hurt by Blanco's unimpressive performance in Louisiana, because Kaine is not running for office in Louisiana.

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Olney, Md.: I like my pets more than I like many of my relatives. Not more than my precious little girl or my folks, but sure as shooting more than my in-laws or cousins.

Marc Fisher: Hey, I didn't know we were including in-laws in our ranking. In that case, some of us who are clueless about animals might even be considered pet lovers.

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McLean, Va.: Why can't we just reelect Mark Warner again? Kaine and Kilgore are so boring and it's pretty obvious that no one cares about this governor's race. I was in Va. Beach two weeks ago and didn't see a single sign up. Same thing in Blacksburg when I took my brother to college. I guess none of the candidates want to choke up the dough to advertise in the D.C. area, so I'm wondering when the winner inevitably talks about how their "Virginia values" led them to victory, who are they actually talking about?

Marc Fisher: "Virginia values," at least as the politicians use the phrase, stop somewhere well short of Prince William County.

But don't worry--you'll see more Kilgore and Kaine spots, even here in the expensive DC market, than you can possibly count.

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Potomac, Md.: What Crofton feels is reasonable and indeed, correct. An animal has to rely upon a human for survival in the wake of a storm, since it cannot understand National Weather Service warnings and what not. People, on the other hand, are supposed to pay attention to such warnings and evacuate. The smart people in New Orleans did so. The dumb ones did not. I'd rather spend my own money, rather than have the government tax me to give more handouts to stupid people.

Marc Fisher: That has to be the last comment on the pet issue today, as we are well over the time limit.

And this next one wins the Kicker of the Week Award as well as the Threadweaver Trophy:

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Washington, D.C.: I'll use my debit card to make a donation to the Red Cross so someone can buy a new dog.

Marc Fisher: Fabulous. Thanks.

Back in the paper on Sunday and with you all here again next week at the usual time. Thanks for coming along.

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