Media Picking Up On Bob McDonnell's Extremist Writings

Yesterday's Washington Post did a story that I wrote about that may blow the lid off of Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's carefully packaged campaign to dishonestly depict himself as a moderate. Now, more media outlets - including McDonnell's hometown news paper, are jumping on the story. Worse yet, the Washington Post now has McDonnell's thesis entitled "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade" online. It looks like McDonnell's diatribe against working women, abortion in all cases and gays may be about to bite him right in the ass, and rightfully so. As I noted yesterday, McDonnell claims that his views have changed, but his actions speak otherwise. Moreover, his thesis is consistent with the mantra of the GOP base that are enthusiastically supporting him. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot that look at the spreading coverage of the real Bob McDonnell:

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Bob McDonnell isn't the first politician whose past writings have gotten him into hot water, but he is the latest now that a 20-year-old graduate thesis he penned has surfaced. The paper, submitted in 1989, shows McDonnell's thoughts at the time about the harmful social impact of working women, feminists and nontraditional families; the flaws of public education; and his disagreement with a federal court decision allowing the use of contraceptives by unmarried couples.

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What potential harm McDonnell's thesis will cause his campaign is unclear, according to observers who have long followed Virginia politics. "As with anything else in politics, it's a piece of the mosaic that is created prior to Election Day. The only question is how big a piece, and that's up to the candidates," said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato.
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"If McDonnell handles it well and continues to talk it back, it could be a small piece," he added. "This is something Deeds can run with and it's necessary to an upset victory by him, but it's not sufficient for an upset victory. Unless Deeds makes this a major continuing issue, voters are not going to cast their ballots on the basis of this."

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The topics covered in the 93-page thesis raise questions that McDonnell will have to answer, said Mark Rozell, George Mason University political science professor. . . "It is now much more than a charge from Democrats that 'Hey, this guy is an extremist' when he had been so successful portraying himself as moderate."

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The thesis argues in support of a range of public policy changes aimed at supporting what McDonnell calls "traditional family values" by rewarding people who adhere to them and refusing government aid to those who don't. "Every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators," McDonnell wrote in one passage. "The cost of sin should fall on the sinner not the taxpayer."
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"There'll be the usual dollop of hypocrisy on both sides. There always is," predicted Sabato, noting that the lesson from McDonnell's current troubles is "yet another reminder to people with ambitions to be very careful what they write and say."

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Kudos to the Washington Post for some great reporting that will hopefully keep the focus on McDonnell's extremism. Virginia does not need its future directed by Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation, Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate. Fortunately, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has also picked up the story.