Publisher's Notebook

Back in 2007, Sen. John Kerry was attending a forum at the University of Florida, when a student named Andrew Meyer started asking the former Democratic presidential candidate a number of agitated questions.

Why hadn’t President Bush been impeached, he asked. And why had he conceded to Bush? Meyer was so wound up that security officers started to escort him outside. Kerry started to answer Meyer, who demanded to hear the responses.

Meyer was wrestled to the ground, uttering these immortal words: “Don’t tase me bro!”

Millions of YouTube viewings later, this phrase became a pop cult fixture. Meyer was charged with disturbing the peace and resisting arrest; the charges later were dropped.

So whatever happened to Meyer? The Washington Post’s Lifestyle magazine asked that very question.

Answer: He’s going to be a lawyer. Meyer graduated from UF and was admitted to the Florida International University law school, where he is now a second-year student.

Give Meyer credit for being an entrepreneur: After the incident, he trademarked the phrase “Don’t Tase Me Bro” and has a website where you can buy a T-shirt for $15.

(T-shirt artwork above is from Meyer’s site, design by Phil Fung).

Credit goes to the Wall Street Journal once again.

Today they have an editorial assessing the Republican presidential race after the weekend. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., took the Iowa straw poll and Texas Gov. Rick Perry officially entered the race. Consider the contest as moving into high gear, hence the Journal’s headline:

Bachmann-Perry Overdrive

I’d say it’s fair to say you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

When The Washington Post writes about Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, one wants to take the story with a grain of salt. Maybe even a shaker.

You get the idea that Cuccinelli’s brand of in-your-face activist conservatism doesn’t play very well there.

So when Peter Vieth, our legal editor, filed a Daily Alert item for a Post piece this morning that purported to examine “a number of controversial opinions” by the AG, I nearly ignored it. I’ve seen that movie.

Then I read the article. Get past the hyperbolic adjectives used by the reporter to describe Cuccinelli, and there’s a good story and some good reporting: It’s about a number of AG opinions on social issues.

And the requests that prompt them come from the same man, Del. Robert Marshall, R-Prince William.

There’s squawking over the duo’s apparent use of the legislator request system for AG opinions. With 10 requests to the AG already, Marshall has exceeded the figure for any legislator ever seeking opinions during any AG’s four-year term.

Democratic critics say the pair is circumventing the legislative process to advance a social agenda. Wait, what’s that echo? The sound of Republicans barking at President Obama for his use of executive orders to advance a social agenda?

But as U.Va. legal scholar A.E. Dick Howard points out, Marshall’s and Cuccinelli’s apparent use of the opinion device is not unconstitutional, just not “contemplated” by the Framers. Stay tuned.

Last week Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli made the rounds at his office, passing out lapel pins with the Great Seal of Virginia on them.

Well, not exactly the Great Seal as we know it today. The commonwealth’s current seal (at right) features Virtus, the Roman symbol of virtue, standing over the prostrate body of Tyranny. “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” is the motto, translated “Thus always to tyrants.” Oh, one more detail: Virtus had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction. Her left breast is exposed.

The Cuccinelli pins were more modest: Virtus is covered up. The pins apparently drew their inspiration from a prior version of the seal.

Pundits previously had a field day at the AG’s expense when he advised our colleges that they had to remove protection of employees for sexual orientation from their rules; Gov. Bob McDonnell moved quickly to squelch that with an executive order. With the cover-up pins, the wags had new material to work with.

Where was Cuccinelli when former U.S. AG John Ashcroft was mocked for covering up bare-breasted statues in Washington a few years back? As an aside, classical art always has featured, even celebrated, nude human figures. What’s next, one wonders. Boxer shorts on Michelangelo’s David?

“The image on my office lapel pin is similar to that of a large antique state flag that hangs in the Virginia Capitol,” Cuccinelli said. “That is where I got the idea for my pin. I liked this particular image and thought it would be something unique for my employees.”

A terse e-mail from the AG’s spokesman yesterday noted that the cover-up pins, paid for by Cuccinelli’s PAC, are no more. The AG said, “I cannot believe that joking with my staff about Virtue being a little more ‘virtuous’ in this antique version has become news.”

He added, “This is simply a media-made issue that has become distracting to the work of my office.” Ah, not the first time a politician who stepped in a pile blames the press. “I am going to end this distraction by discontinuing future use of the pin,” he said.

Cuccinelli ran a smart and disciplined campaign for AG last year. True to his word, he said he wouldn’t dodge a fight; he’s taken on the Obama administration on a number of issues, from health care to environmental protection. But in his first few months in office, he’s also shown the capacity for a tin ear, picking unnecessary and divisive fights, such as the sexual orientation issue or this pin brouhaha. At least by squashing the pin problem so quickly, maybe he’s displaying an important talent: Knowing when to punt.

After Tuesday’s GOP takeover of state government, one question that may not have been asked much was this: What next for Tim Kaine?

Here’s what the governor will be doing: teaching, at least part of the time.

Yesterday at the University of Richmond, Kaine announced that he will be rejoining the UR faculty part-time to teach at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and at the UR law school. Kaine will leave office in January.

Kaine taught law at UR, including professional responsibility, when he was a practicing lawyer in Richmond before his election as lieutenant governor in 2001. He’ll teach one course a semester, starting at the Jepson school in the spring and moving to the law school in the fall.