And so the grooming begins...

Although the national media is paying greater attention to Warner's 2008 chances now, most of which is being reported is old hat to us Warner watchers. However, there are some interesting new bits of information coming out, and the most interesting one is this one from a Bloomberg News story (hat tip to The Note for pointing this out):

Warner has been trying to expand his network of Democratic Party and national heavyweights. In May, Democratic elder statesman Vernon Jordan took Warner to the annual Bilderberg Conference, which brings together some of Europe's and North America's leading bankers, economists and government officials. ``He did very well,'' Jordan said.

Fourteen years ago Jordan took another young southern governor to his first Bilderberg Conference. His name was Bill Clinton.

Very interesting.

Now as it turns out, this story was reported by the AP back in May when it occurred. And given the international political and economic elite that gathered, it caught the attention of those obsessed with the Free Masons, who apparently received "leaks" from the conference. Warner's name comes up here:

Jim Tucker said as much in his Bilderberg report in the American Free Press (May 23) when he wrote: "There was some informal discussion of timing for a vote in the United Nations on establishing a direct global tax by imposing a 10-cents-a-barrel levy on oil at the well-head. This is important to the Bilderberg goal of establishing the UN as a formal world government. Such a direct tax on individuals is symbolically important. Bilderberg's global tax proposal has been pending before the UN for three years but the issue has been blacked out by the Bilderberg-controlled US media."

Mark R. Warner, governor of Virginia and a first-time Bilderberg invitee, expressed concern about how much additional financial responsibility the United States would take on as a result. At this point, Jose M. Durao Barroso, president of the European Commission, expressed a view held by many within Bilderberg that the United States does not provide a fair share of economic aid to poor countries. My sources confirm Jim Tucker's report that "Kissinger and David Rockefeller, among other Americans, beamed and nodded approval."

I tell you, Googling Bilderberg takes you through the looking glass into paranoid politics on the Web - I guess it ranks up there with the dread Trilateral Commission. For what it's worth, if you want to buy into the conspiracies, perhaps this means Warner is the Chosen One.