Internal E-Mail Shows Bob McDonnell is Running Hard From His Thesis and His Record

The Virginia race for governor continues as a circus as Taliban Bob McDonnell refuses to answer questions about his 1989 thesis, which based on McDonnell's legislative record and years as attorney general HAS been his constant blue print, and seeks to change the subject. For his part Creigh Deeds continues to grapple to find a clear message other than that he is not Bob McDonnell. In a hilarious development, an e-mail from the McDonnell campaign on how supporters should tailor letters to the editor to help the effort to change the subject has been obtained by the Star City Harbinger. The thirty "talking points" disseminated in the e-mail are telling on how important it is to the McDonnell camp to avoid questions on McDonnell's extremism. The story deserves a full read and it demonstrates that more effort needs to be made to link McDonnell's record to the thesis since, if done correctly, it makes it obvious that Taliban Bob's professed moderation is bullshit. Here are some highlights:

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Star City Harbinger was forwarded an internal email from the McDonnell campaign to supporters in a county GOP committee. In the email, McDonnell campaign spokesperson Taylor Thornley instructs supporters regarding how to write Letters to the Editor of their local newspapers to counter press accounts of Mr. McDonnell’s 20-year old thesis at Regent University–“The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade”–which sets out moral principles overtly critical of women, welfare recipients and the gay and lesbian community. Thornley lays out 30 “talking points” for McDonnell campaign supporters to use in their Letters to the Editor in local and regional newspapers.

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Thornley cautions email recipients not to “copy/paste these talking points word for word. . . [w]e would love to get as many letters placed as possible so if you have friends you know of that would be interested in writing letters please feel free to get them involved in this project–however I ask that you please do not forward this e-mail around from me.”

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Similarly, the Sun Gazette Newspaper’s online edition–written to “reach the most affluent areas” of the DC suburbs–contains a Letter to the Editor “placed” last week which repeats nearly verbatim some of Thornley’s 30 points.

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In other words, the McDonnell campaign admits that the purpose of the paper was to suggest ways of changing governmental policy to reflect the values and views expressed in the thesis, and this talking point wasn’t written 20 years ago but on September 3rd, 2009.

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The McDonnell campaign knows it has to hold on to its lead among moderates and Independents which is much more narrow than in general polls. Thornley’s desperate email is indicative of a campaign that has finally been forced on the defensive for something that matters as Virginia becomes more urban, diverse and reliant on tourism and international business for its economic base.

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I truly hope the wider media picks up on this e-mail debacle and keeps the discussion going on McDonnell's thesis and his record that consistently conforms to it over the last 20 years.