Gay Hating Bob Marshall is Throwing a Fit Over Thorne-Begland Appointment

One thing that can always be depended upon with House of Delegates member Bob Marshall is that he will repeatedly reveal what a truly foul and hate filled man is is in fact.  And his hatred for LGBT Virginians is near pathological.  The man has openly said that he'd be happy to drive all gays from Virginia.  And now that the Richmond Circuit Court judges have played an end run around Marshall's and heinous bigots at The Family Foundation, the spittle is flying fast and furiously from Marshall's lips.  The reality is that Marshall is quickly becoming utterly outside the main stream even in the delusional Republican Party of Virginia - his 5% showing in this past week's GOP primary is telling.  Now he's lashing out at Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell for his approval of the Circuit Court end run - which I believe is part of McDonnell's desperate attempt to appear to be less extreme - and the few fellow members of the GOP who aren't knuckle dragging Neanderthals.  WTVR-TV looks at Marshall's conniption fit and thinly veiled threats aimed at the judges who placed qualifications over religious based hatred.  Here are highlights:

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – One day after Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall questioned whether fellow Republican delegate Manoli Loupassi backed openly-gay Richmond prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland for a judgeship because Thorne-Begland donated to Loupassi’s campaign, the Richmond lawmaker dismissed Del. Marshall’s accusation.

“Bob got five percent this week,” Del. Loupassi (R – Richmond) said in reference to Del. Marshall’s showing during the Virginia primary in which Del. Marshall (R – Prince William) lost his bid to be the Republican candidate for Virginia’s U.S. Senate seat. “He’s had a bad week. I forgive him.”

During a phone interview with CBS 6 Thursday, Del. Marshall said he planned to sponsor a bill forbidding lawmakers from sponsoring or voting for a judicial candidates if that candidate had given money to the lawmaker in the previous five years.

Last month Del. Marshall organized state lawmakers to reject Thorne-Begland’s judicial nomination. Del. Marshall argued Thorne-Begland’s history as a gay rights activist made him unfit to be a judge. Thursday, the Richmond Circuit Court circumvented lawmakers and appointed Thorne-Begland to an interim seat on the bench. 

“We appointed the judges who appointed him. So they are calling into question our own judgment. That is not smart, on the part of these circuit court judges,” said Del. Marshall in a phone interview with CBS 6. “To place someone on the board like that who, when he was offered an opportunity to rebut a presumption that he wasn’t committing a felony, under the uniform code of military justice, declined to do so, is a disgrace.”

During the phone interview, Del. Marshall also questioned whether it was proper for Del. Loupassi, who practices law in Richmond, to potentially argue a case before Thorne-Begland given the pair’s financial and political relationship.

“I am a practicing attorney. I win some and I lose some,” Del. Loupassi said. “The reason why you’re losing and the reason why you’re winning is because the judges are making determinations not based upon the lawyer whose in front of them, but based upon the facts that they hear.”  Del. Loupassi said Thorne-Begland would have an opportunity to remove himself from a case should be feel uncomfortable.

And as noted, Marshall is really peeved with Bob McDonnell.  Here are highlights from the Richmond-Times Dispatch on Marshall's spittle flecked comments about McDonnell:

Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William said Friday that Gov. Bob McDonnell's support for what Marshall called the "end run" appointment of Tracy Thorne-Begland to a Richmond judgeship "encourages judicial usurpation" of a power that the state constitution gives to legislators.

Tucker Martin, a spokesman for McDonnell, said Thursday: "The governor believes Mr. Thorne-Begland is well-qualified to serve on the bench. He congratulates him on the appointment."

On Friday, Marshall released to the media an email he had sent the governor.  "Your support of this judicial appointment by circuit judges means you hold the appointed judiciary to be a branch of Virginia's government superior to the branch elected by the people, the General Assembly," Marshall wrote.

"We can and do differ over the alleged qualifications of this nominee. And I note that your endorsement of the nominee considerably relaxes the standards as to what constitutes disqualifying factors for judicial appointments. I and others are stunned by your open embrace of the judicial activists on the Richmond Circuit Court who have effectively usurped a constitutional power belonging to the General Assembly by selecting a nominee after he was rejected by the assembly."

Marshall is a mean and vicious man.  To those who have met him in person and say he can be charming, my response is this:  So could Adolph Hitler when he wanted to be.  Marshall's hatred towards gays is nearly as pathological as Hitler's hatred towards Jews.  He's dangerous and needs to be voted out of office.  Likewise the The Family Foundation's campaign to threaten and intimidate legislators needs to be ended.