Coverage of Taliban Bob's Thesis Goes International

I use several Google search agents to find stories on varying topics, one of which focuses on Virginia and gays. I was rather surprised this morning to find that the venerable British publication, the Economist, has now done a story on Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's thesis, thereby exposing the religious right insanity in Virginia to the entire world wide business community. Obviously, one of the tasks of the next governor of Virginia will be to work to create new jobs and attract progressive businesses to the Commonwealth. Having a governor now known throughout the business world as at theocratic whack job doesn't strike me as a positive when Virginia is trying to recruit business relocations to the state. Low taxes go only so far in attracting businesses and a backward and intolerant perception of the state will not make it attractive to many businesses or their key staff members. Companies do NOT want to relocate to areas where their key personnel will refuse to move. One need only look to parts of Virginia like Martinsville with 20% unemployment as an example of how being culturally reactionary is not a positive for recruiting new businesses. Here are some highlights from the Economist:

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SOMETIMES it seems that the candidates for governor of Virginia aren’t running against each other. They’re running away from other people. The Democratic candidate, Creigh Deeds, is fleeing from Barack Obama and his health-care plan. His Republican rival, Bob McDonnell, is hectically distancing himself from—well, himself.

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Over more than two decades in public life, Mr McDonnell has been a reliable social and religious conservative. He successfully diverted attention from his flinty views by playing to voters’ worries about the economy and too much change in Washington. At one point he held a double-digit lead in the polls. Mr Deeds struggled to compete with him—until, at the end of August, he was handed a gift by the candidate himself.

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It came in the form of a long-forgotten 1989 graduate thesis. Mr McDonnell made the mistake of mentioning its existence to the Washington Post; the paper lost no time in splashing it. Its tone is not going down well in the Washington suburbs, where many of Virginia’s voters live.

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As a lawmaker and, later, Virginia’s attorney-general, Mr McDonnell did not forget his research paper. He clamped down on abortion, resisted anti-discrimination protections for gay public employees and aligned the state government with breakaway Episcopal parishes after the appointment of an openly gay bishop. Now, however, he is in hot-disavowal mode.

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His professed conversion was apparently meant to soothe independents. But it may rattle the Republican base. Patrick McSweeney, a former state party chairman, told the Post that Mr McDonnell risks losing votes for retracting his previous views. He can’t win. Mr Deeds, backed by the Democratic National Committee, is fanning the fire with glee. He intends first to reduce Mr McDonnell to a caricature, and then to shift the campaign’s focus to issues on which a governor can actually make a difference: transport, education and public safety.

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Having known Bob McDonnell for 15 years, I remain convinced that his disavowal of his thesis views is not genuine. His has long been beholden to Pat Robertson - who I suspect gave him a large campaign contribution - and The Family Foundation, the Virginia affiliate of James Dobson's Neanderthal organization, Focus on the Family. I just hope moderates and independent voters wake up to who really pulls the puppet strings on Taliban Bob.