The Myth of Cuccinelli the “Straight Shooter”

The all but crowned GOP nominee for Governor of Virginia, Keen "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli likes to tell the Tea Party crowd and far right Christofascists who attend his book signings and campaign gatherings that he's a "straight shooter" and that he tells them it like it is.  Except, of course he doesn't.  Inconvenient facts simply get edited out of his biography as do previous statements for his past pronouncements.  Kookinelli's behavior in this regard is all too in keeping with the incessant lies disseminated by the far right Christian elements of the GOP base and the untethered from objective reality Tea Party Neanderthals.  A piece in Bacon's Rebellion provides a few examples of Kookinelli's intentional dishonesty.  Here are some excerpts:

Ken Cuccinelli spends a lot of time admiring himself. He’s long on portraying himself as a heroic figure fighting federal over-reach and short on the self-deprecating humor that evinces a certain level of humility. This habit is particularly notable when it comes to being a “straight shooter.” At the recent CPAC conference Cuccinelli gave a keynote speech. He almost threw his shoulder out of joint patting himself on the back and congratulating himself on being a “straight shooter.” But is he?

 There is little doubt that Cuccinelli and his henchmen short circuited the democratic process in order to make sure he was the Republican nominee for governor. Cuccinelli used a deal from the smoke-filled back rooms of the Republican Party of Virginia to avoid an open primary in favor of a convention. Cuccinelli knew that the extremists who frequent Republican conventions would put him on the ballot. Apparently, he was less sure of the rank and file Republicans who would have voted in an open primary. 

Cuccinelli’s web site, on the education section of the issues page, has this sentence:”I was raised in Fairfax County and attended public schools.” One is led to believe that Mr. Cuccinelli’s views on education in Virginia are well formed since he is a product of Virginia’s public school system. Not so fast. Which one of Fairfax County’s many fine public high schools counts Cuccinelli as an alumnus? None of them. He went to high school at a very private, very expensive school in Washington, D.C.: Gonzaga College High School. Interestingly, the reference to Cuccinelli graduating from Gonzaga has been removed from his official biography.

One of Cuccinelli’s rare victories against the federal government came from a case where the Environmental Protection Agency wanted to force Fairfax County and Virginia to cut back on sediment pollution caused by runoff into the Accotink Creek. Cuccinelli derisively accused the EPA of trying to regulate water as a pollutant. That statement is an outright lie.  .  .  .  .  I guess “straight shooters” can take a little liberty with the truth when it suits their needs.

Then there's this nice summation:

Cuccinelli is as slippery as a greased eel. He uses back- room deals to stab members of his own party in the back. He ignores the teachings of the Jesuits at Gonzaga High School and lies through omission about his own educational background. He knowingly lies about the EPA in his comments regarding the Accotink case. Cuccinelli a straight shooter? 

The man's not only clinically insane, in my opinion, but he's also a pathological liar.