Candidate McDonnell would like for nothing better than for his thesis issue to go away. Anti will just do its small part to see that that doesn’t happen. Some 18 year old posting his world view in a college essay might be forgiven. A 34 year old father who is a vet, not so easily overlooked. McDonnell shows us that as a younger man, he was an anachronism. 20 years later, things haven’t gotten a bit better, despite the attempt at the make-over.
See Bob’s Blueprint. This new ad takes a close, interactive look at some of the political implications of McDonnell’s world view.
Earlier in the week, the damage control went pretty much like so:
According to the Washington Post, former state GOP chairman Patrick M. McSweeney has stated that there are three ways to lose an election:
“One is you can state a position that is controversial and offend a lot of people. Second, you can not take a position and offend people who want leaders. And third, you can back away from a previously held view. But the worst thing to do is to lose votes in all three of those areas.”
McDonnell spoke to reporters for nearly 90 minutes today and also released a list of women supporters. However, women aren’t his only problem. Much has been made of legislation that denied gays rights. ASNew at the Virginia Democrat claims:
McDonnell said his beliefs against same-sex marriage had not changed, though “any other normal civil liberties should be fully protected” for gay couples.
Unfortunately, Bob McDonnell’s record over the years says — no, it loudly screams — something else entirely.
in 2004, Mr. McDonnell sought to block the reappointment of a Newport News Circuit Judge named Verbina Askew because she was allegedly gay. McDonnell, of course, is not an idiot. He went to great pains to assert that the judge’s sexual orientation did not matter to him; rather, the fact that she may have violated Virginia anti-sodomy statute in force at the time, which prohibited oral and anal sex, was a factor to consider in her reappointment. Said McDonnell at the time, “It [possible sodomy] certainly raises some questions about the qualifications to serve as a judge.” McDonnell also said, “There is certain homosexual conduct that is in violation of the law,” McDonnell said. “I’m not telling you I would disqualify a judge per se if he said he was gay. I’m talking about their actions.” (Incidentally, this was the context for the infamous incident in which Mr. McDonnell was asked whether he had ever violated the statute, and he hilariously responded, “Not that I can recall
The Virginia Democrat outlines many instances where it appears that McDonnell is anti-gay and recommends that state government be used to repress gays.
McDonnell’s base will continue to support him in all probability. Who else do they have to vote for? If McDonnell equivocates too much, the base might stay home. It is the women and moderates that McDonnell must not alienate. That’s going to be a tricky thing to do.
Meanwhile, it is September. The election is November 4. The election is light years away and much can happen between September 1 and November 4. I place no bets.
Does McDonnell have a credibility issue? what are his strong points to the Antibvbl contributors? How does McDonnell put out the fire? 70 blogs picked up this story.
It’s gonna be GREAT to have him as Governor!
Only if you went after Democratic candidates in the same way you would have a shred of credibility. That being said, I don’t agree with most of what was in his writings but some of it makes some sense (note that I said some…).
Also, as of today it looks like his lead is only getting bigger according to Rasmussen. That may change when Deeds starts his smear campaign soon with DNC cash from a party out the way out. Either way it’s going to make an interesting race.
I checked out his site:
http://www.bobmcdonnell.com/
Looks like a solid guy to me. Strong family. 5 kids. Etc.
I think the fire will fizzle. Sometimes attempts at vilification have the opposite effect.
I ended up ordering a yard sign. Never done that before.
I agree that all of this will backfire and make the Dems seem desperate. Anyone who gives a rip what McDonnell wrote 20 years ago in graduate school should also have been demanding to see Barack Obama’s college theses prior to last November. What hypocrisy.
Essentially, the theses feces just made those who weren’t going to vote for McDonnell anyway not want to vote for McDonnell. But hey, keep trying!! If it helps out at all, you can always call McDonnell supporters racist! That seems to be working out well lately.
Oh Slow… you just know the name calling is going to start any day now. Just wait for when the oh-so-desperate DNC cash kicks off the nasty TV ads. Let me take a stab at telling the future, let’s see, McDonnell supports will be called racist, sexist, nut jobs, wackos (just got that new one from Moon Pelosi), stupid, and the list goes on and on…
I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures.
@Emma
>>>….school should also have been demanding to see Barack Obama’s college theses prior to last November.
Won’t happen. On 1/21/2009, Barry issued Executive Order #13489, forever sealing all of his records from scrutiny. It’s good to be King! 🙂
Well, my advice to all left-of-center candidates is to portray all right-of-center candidates as racists. I feel as though the old “use racism to guilt them into doing what we want” will once again deliver the votes for the the Dems!
You all have yourselves all worked up and hysterical.
Executive Order #13489 restores the wording of Executive Order 12667, and revokes the Bush administration replacement Executive Order 13233.
Oddly enough, I don’t think either man was hiding something nefarious.
There are light years between now and the Nov. election. Who knows who is going to win. I know who I will vote for but I think I can handle either of them winning.
Funny, I didn’t pick up on any “hysteria” in any of the above postings, just a difference of opinion. What’s going on, Moon? Your tone has changed dramatically over the last few weeks.
@Moon-howler
>>>You all have yourselves all worked up and hysterical.
Actually, if I was any calmer I would be asleep.
Seeing Soertoro’s ship sink faster than the RMS Titanic is like listening to Wagner while noshing on brats and sipping a fine lager (which I’m doing, btw).
Oh, what the ‘morrow will bring. 🙂
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
I was wondering the same thing Emma, a while back I would have pegged Moon as somewhat of a blue dog democrat on the left-o-meter… lately she has swung WAY left into Pelosi/Franks/Diane Watson territory. Yikes… coming up next week, new thread on how brilliant Fidel Castro is. 🙂
Emma, I have heard and seen too much that I feel is stupid, unmannerly, attention seeking and Un-American in the past few weeks. I see a feeding frenzy rather than exchange of ideas.
I feel it has one objective. Thank you for asking.
How disappointing. I would hate to move on from this blog as well. What I see is that you are broad-brushing almost all dissenters with the “stupid, unmannerly…un-American” tag to the point where you seem to be shouting almost everyone down on almost every issue. Can so many people be so completely wrong?
People who orientate themselves politically around cultural resentment and prejudice are more vocal and more passionate than those who are uncomfortable and even offended by prejudice. I am uncomfortable with and offended by McDonnell’s views. I don’t enjoy having to think about it or argue with people. But I will if I must.
As we see above, those who would defend McDonnell are also those who have defended the use of race and other cultural issues as campaign strategies (immigration). There is great passion on that side, although their numbers are few in comparison to the silent majority. The silent majority is fed up with the politics of cultural resentment and division. But here again, McDonnell’s nomination forces us to deal with it. It reminds me of the Macaca Moment, only this is more troublesome to me personally.
It is more troublesome because McDonnell’s extremist views were cultivated and premeditated as opposed to George Allen who may have had a subliminal issue with people of color but never sought to legislate against them (correct me if I’m wrong) that I recall.
McDonnell has taken numerous legislative actions againsts the objects of his prejudice: gays and women who work and/or demand equal pay and equal respect. In fact it seems to have been the only purpose of his tenure in the VA Assembly.
I understand why Macaca might be seen as worse, being that prejudice toward people of color is less acceptable than toward women and gays. But I am personally more concerned about McDonnell’s extreme views because it seems to make up the essence of his political career.
@Emma
So Many People?
There are about 5 of you doing back to back messages trying to flood the comment section with your personal thoughts and writing it off as the will of the Millions.
I have yet to see 1 million people attend a tea party bawl.
silent majority? You mean like the 45% or so of those that approve of the job Obama has done or the 55% or so whom disapprove of it?
“The silent majority is fed up with the politics of cultural resentment and division.”
The silent majority could give a flip. Issue numero uno right now is the economy.
I want someone that has the balls to say enough is enough and stop this spending frenzy or we’ll be a culture of goat herders.
@Moon-howler
>>>I have heard and seen too much that I feel is stupid, unmannerly, attention seeking and Un-American in the past few weeks. I see a feeding frenzy rather than exchange of ideas.
What’s good for the goose…..
“Un-American” takes it to another level, don’t ya think?
Rod2155, what on earth does your comment have to do with what I said?
@rod2155
>>>There are about 5 of you doing back to back messages trying to flood the comment section with your personal thoughts and writing it off as the will of the Millions.
As opposed to the other half-dozen that daily flood the comment sections with their personal thoughts and writing it off as the will of the Millions?
>>>I have yet to see 1 million people attend a tea party bawl.
Or an anti-tea party bawl [sic]?
Creigh Deeds was in Occoquan today. I was there for lunch and he came over and shook my hand. Said he was running for governor. Seemed like a nice enough guy.
In about a month, it will be time for me to look on the respective websites to see the candidates positions on things. I can’t get worked up too early about this stuff.
People who allign themselves politically based on cultural resentment and prejudice are more vocal and more passionate than those who are uncomfortable with and/or offended by prejudice.
Those who so devotedly defend McDonnell are the very same half dozen fanatics who have defended the use of racial conflict as campaign strategies (immigration in 2007). In fact, to this day, the majority of right wing comments here come from the same six immigration issue fanatics who harbor resentment toward this blog for helping the county “neuter” the Immigration Resolution in 2008. They just can’t let it go, and day in and day out they relive this shocking defeat, and try to lay the groundwork for a different outcome in the future.
So yes, there is great passion on that side, but their numbers are few in comparison to the public at large. The silent majority is fed up with the politics of cultural resentment and division. But McDonnell’s nomination forces us to deal with it. It reminds me of the Macaca Moment, only this is more troublesome.
It is more troublesome because McDonnell’s absurdly backward views were cultivated and premeditated as opposed to George Allen, who seems to have had inadvertantly exposed a subliminal issue with minorities, but (correct me if I’m wrong) never sought to legislate against them. .
McDonnell has taken numerous legislative actions against the objects of his prejudice: women who work and/or expect equal pay and equal respect from men, and of course gays. In fact, furthering extreme social views seems to have been the only purpose of McDonnell’s tenure in the VA Assembly.
Prejudice toward minorities is less acceptable than toward women and gays. But I am personally more concerned about McDonnell’s extreme views because it seems to make up the essence of his political career. Governor is an office that has a lot of influence on how we do things in VA. I don’t want to see state government peeking into our bedrooms.
I think when you are in the thick of things, it is harder to see from an outsider point of view. To those of us who are not party people and who are politically in the middle, things look very grim and out of control.
Emma, I don’t think all people who dissent are wackos. I see people who are out screaming and shouting as not only wackos but uncivilized. And yes, I think people who don’t want their kids to hear the president of the United States are wackos.
Let’s take this a step further…if everyone felt this way, then 4 year, half the children would not be allowed to hear the president of the United States. Sorry, I feel that is UN-American.
more….
Emma, I was old enough to remember exactly where I was when I heard of the deaths of JFK, MLK, RFK, Lee Harvey Oswald (thus keeping a conspiracy theory alive for decades). I remember when Gov. Wallace was shot during a presidential campaign speech. I remember when there was an assassination attempt on President Ford and when President Reagan was shot.
When you live through those times, you don’t forget what out of control rage can trigger in people. Much of this violence was created by rhetoric. Every heard Bill Clinton talk about when JFK was shot when he was in his senior year, back in Hot Springs, Arkansas? Many of his his school mates cheered! How outrageous. How UN-American. Kennedy wasn’t too popular in Arkansas, I guess.
I remember the hideous rancor against Clinton that began before he was ever inaugurated. It continued and by the way, Hillary was right. I was on all the right wing mailing lists back in those days. Perhaps saying conspiracy was a bit of a reach. Most of the right wing actions were direct. Interesting that even after an impeachment, Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating.
We are too close to those times. I will not back down on expecting Americans to be civilized. I don’t give a rat’s ass how mad people are. Find a solution that doesn’t involve temper, rudeness and suggest violence.
Amen, M-H. When there is a democraticly elected President, we should remain loyal to this country even if we voted otherwise. I hadn’t heard about these people teaching their paranoid hatred to their children. That is very, very sad. I don’t know what to call it because we did have a Civil War once when the newly elected President represented a threat to certain people. Rather than un-American, I might call it unpatriotic.
For the record: the Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003 determined that anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
I just heard today that Bob McDonald’s eldest daughter is a U.S. Army officer and Iraq war veteran. That does not sound like a father with a backward view of women’s rights. Even though the daughter had to sign up on her own, it is very unlikely that she would have done so without the support of her parents.
Kelly, they are probably a very nice family. However, some people probably don’t want someone with that world view as their governor, if they have the choice of someone else.
Remember when there were people who were ill at ease because Governor Kaine was opposed to the death penalty and all abortion, by his own admission. He told the people of Virginia that he would obey the law. Some people still had reservations.
Question for McDonnell supporters above: I’ve been away from the blog for awhile so don’t know if there were any discussions about Sonia Sotomayor. Just wondering if you were offended by a single sentence that Ms. Sotomayor uttered about a “wise Latina”. If that got you in a tizzy, why shouldn’t we be upset about a 90 page thesis? Those very same people who were hysterical about a single sentence are the same who tell us that this master’s thesis doesn’t matter. What’s the difference?
The difference is that McDonnell’s paper was an academic exercise written to maximize a grade. Sotomayor’s statement was made while sitting on the bench getting paid to interpet the law fairly.
Actually Sotomayor made the statement during a speech she was giving for the Honorable Mario G. Olmos Law & Cultural Diversity Memorial Lecture. This annual lecture honors the Honorable Mario G. Olmos ’71 who dedicated his life to promoting equality and justice for people from diverse national, economic, racial, and cultural origins.
Her remarks were not all that out of line, in context. Her remarks were not made from the bench. Firedancers makes an excellent point.
Of course they were not made from the bench. They were made while sitting on the bench, in other words, she was a judge, not a student. There is a difference. But you are clearly going to use nitpicking to shout me down today, as you seem to be doing more and more these days with just about anyone who has any level of dissent.
It isn’t nitpicking. There is a huge difference in giving a lecture and making a statement from the bench meaning while on the job. Backpedaling?
Shout you down? Now that’s an interesting way of putting it. Accuracy is now known as shouting someone down? If I were shouting you down, your words probably wouldn’t be showing up here.
Sotomayor is an unknown. However, those in the profession seem to feel she is a moderate. Wait til you see who replaces Justice Stevens. I expect that person will probably make both our hearts go pitter patter at a faster pace.
Actually I am throwing out more red meat and it is being devoured more ravenously. There just seems to be more…rancor in the air. Throw in Randall Terry, a killer preacher …America, you gotta love it. Wackos!
I knew exactly where Sotomayor made her comments, and apparently you yourself found out today, as you copied verbatim from the Berkely Law website in your 08:36 post. Not backpedaling, simply clarifying. But you won’t concede the larger point I was trying to make. So disappointing, coming from you.
Sounds suspiciously like the “birther” obsession, doesn’t it? America, you gotta love it. Wackos!
Emma, I see the nasty is out in full force this morning. I knew it was from a speech or lecture also, I just wasn’t sure which one. Guess you weren’t either since you easily fell on my source. Isn’t google wonderful. It allows us to be ever so accurate.
Birther obsession? Only to the wackos.
McDonnell’s record from age 34 will not go away. Those were his thoughts, many which have been confirmed during his tenure as a legislator. Tell me Emma, are you comfortable with his ideas from 1989, which were out of date then, being part of a world view in 2010? My mother was more modern than that! So was my grandmother and she was 30 before she could vote.
actually, I’d almost take his world view over what is being crammed down our throats from the Obama administration any day of the week. If you don’t care about Obama’s past association with domestic terrorists and racist pastors, then why are you harping on this?
Judging from his family and professional life over the years, McDonnell has moderated his views considerably. Again, it was an academic exercise written 20 years ago that had no impact on society. It was written for a grade. I took a public-speaking course twenty years ago where I stood up and espoused views that are entirely opposite from where I am now. I did it to get a reaction and a good grade. BFD.
If McDonnell was simply appeasing a professor, he had every chance to say so. His legislative track record indicates very little difference in his thesis and his world view.
As for Obama, he isn’t running for office. I am not at all concerned about domestic terrorists. I don’t like his association with Pastor Wright and have said so on many occassions. However, other presidents have had associations i don’t care much for. Life has gone on.
I am not really sure what has been crammed down your throat? I suppose everyone feels that way then their guy doesn’t win. You do adjust. I did.
I wonder how many future Democratic candidates will be able to stand up to such scrutiny. Where does it end? High-school debates, term papers and school newspaper editorials? Democrats should be very careful of the precedent they are setting here. Our formerly coke-snorting current President would not have stood a chance a couple of decades ago when Supreme Court nominees were brought down because they admitted to smoking a joint in college. Are we heading back in that direction?
That’s pretty funny Emma. You’re making up excuses that McDonnell isn’t even using. The fact is that times have changed and Taliban extremism no longer flies in mainstream politics. Taliban Bob is doing his best to run away from his own batty views. He’s hoping that batty people who hold the same views assume he is just lying about becoming a moderate. He’s walking a tightrope hoping that the batty extremists stay loyal and spit-frothy while moderates and independents don’t bother to read the thesis or look at his legislative record.
Fact is McDonnell’s legislative record is enough to lable him a batty extremist. Voting against equal pay for women, hate toward gays, and obsession with abortion restrictions that were too far to the right to go anywhere. But the thesis is a shockingly out-of-touch extremist manifesto that creates a gawk block, only serving to compound the impacts of his extremist voting record.
How about our formerly coke snorting ex president? He seemed to be able to outlive not so youthful indiscretions. Escapades aren’t really the problem here, Emma. The problem is world view.
McDonnell exposes some pretty radical thinking for even 1989. If there were not such a horrible problem with the Religious Right, perhaps he could get by with it, but the Religious Right is a problem for many people. If you are part of it, then you fit in. If you aren’t, it becomes horrifying.
Remember that Pat Robertsone agreed with Jerry Falwell right after 9-11. Falwell, while blaming the terrorists for 9-11 also said that the ACLU, abortionists, feminists, gays, and the People For the American way as sharing in the blame.
Confirmation: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/falwell.asp
I remembered but I like to check facts against my memory.
M-H, it is pretty disgusting and very extreme thinking to want to use a tragedy like 9/11 to gain a political advantage against fellow Americans. I agree that Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell are both disgraceful men. But is McDonnell connected to Robertson for any reason other than he decided to go to Robertson’s “university.”
The thesis wasn’t just written for a grade or an academic exercise. It was a blueprint for the Republican Party written by a 34 year old man who would soon run for office. It included a 15 point action plan for the party. I think anyone who reads the whole miserably written thing will be very clear on that.
There is no indication that McDonnell was arguing points he didn’t believe in. And in fact, the thesis only came to light now because McDonnell HIMSELF mentioned it to a reporter during an interview saying “I wrote my thesis on welfare policy.” As others have pointed out, McDonnell has acted legislatively on the views he supports in the thesis, not just on one issue, but on several, and repeatedly. As recently as 2001, he voted against a resolution in support of equal pay for equal work. Not exactly ancient history.
Even if he has suddenly had an epiphany on working women and no longer believes, as he stated, that they are detrimental to the family, there is enough continuity between the thesis and his current views on myriad other things for me to feel he is very extreme.
M-H, there was one word that popped out at me from that link you posted.
“Feminists.”
I know Bob McDonnell, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell don’t like “feminists,” but it really is going to far to say they are responsible for 9/11. McDonnell is probably the most reasonable out of those three. But I still don’t understand this idea of being against “feminists” on religious grounds. Perhaps a religious person could explain that one. Most of the women I have ever met in my life would probably be defined as feminists by McDonnell, Robertson, and Falwell, but none would think of using that word to define themselves. To me, being against “feminists” is just another way of saying you are against women. What it really means is “women are fine and good as long as they know their place and stay there.”
That’s B.S. man.
McDonnell, get a grip.
We’ll see in November, then, won’t we?
Speaking of the relevancy of past opinions, I see that Obama’s racist “green jobs czar” Van Jones has resigned. Poor guy apparently feels that the past should be kept–well, in the past. He’s just a victim of right-wing persecution, poor guy who believes that George Bush deliberately orchestrated 9-11.
Whacko!
Van Green Jones probably should have resigned. He had way too much baggage and had become a distraction. Funny thing is, his paper trail was rather non-existent. I could only find trash on him at one source. But none of that matters. I will never know how much of his baggage was real or trumped up.
When qualifications are in doubt, people shold be removed from the position. Think how much better off the people of New Orleans would be if ‘Brownie” hadn’t been at the Helm. Nice guy, but clueless.
Think how much better off the people of New Orleans would be if their city was not located below sea level. Or if their own state government and their idiot mayor had provided better evacuation infrastructure. Or if many of them didn’t refuse to evacuate when they had the chance. Or if the whole lot of them had heeded repeated warnings that the levees could not withstand a category 5 hurricane. Jazz culture be dam@ed–that city should not even be allowed to exist in the first place. It should be the wetland it was meant to be, designed by nature to protect against hurricanes. Putting all the blame on “Brownie” and Bush was a complete cop-out and an abdication of state, local and individual responsibility.
A little late to move the place Emma. Its been there about 300 years. You could say the same thing about the outer banks and part of Norfolk. One day the sea will reclaim…however, that is not the issue today.
My contention is when people’s qualifications are in doubt, they should not have the job. Emma, are you going to tell me that Brownie was qualified for the job he botched? I think he was not. I don’t think Jones was qualified either, if for no other reason than he past.
I certainly NEVER blamed Katrina on Brownie or Bush. Brownie was in way over his head and FEMA was unprepared for a storm of that magnitude. It was a series of missteps all the way.
Think personnel replacement, not how to justify poor choices in the first place.