Lynchburg News Advance: No Endorsement; Rips Cuccinelli to Shreds

It is telling that two Virginia newspapers that normally will find a way no matter how contorted to endorse Republicans have chosen to not endorse any candidate for Governor of Virginia.  First there was the Richmond Times Dispatch, now we see the Lynchburg News Advance doing the same thing.  Equally interesting is that both newspapers, while not being kind to Democrat nominee Terry McAuliffe, are absolutely brutal in their remarks about Ken Cuccinelli.  Here is what the News Advance has to say about Cuccinelli:

Cuccinelli is one of the most in-your-face and abrasive politicians on the scene in Virginia today. A rigid ideologue who rarely worked with his philosophical opponents during his time in the state Senate, “compromise” is not a word anyone would associate with him.

Which is our biggest problem with his candidacy for governor, an office of all Virginians, not just conservative, tea party Republicans.

By its very definition, a governor has to govern. That includes working with your political opponents, reaching across the aisle to develop relationships in the legislature … and in the population at large. A governor should not be an ideologue who hews to his my-way-or-the-highway, I-am-always-right agenda at the expense of leading.

Cuccinelli, to be blunt, is a conservative extremist, and history has shown us time and again that extremists of any political stripe are not good for the body politic. The recent shutdown of the federal government and the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 that resulted in the first-ever credit downgrade of the United States are ample evidence.

Unlike any other governor in modern Virginia history save for Democrat Doug Wilder, Cuccinelli is also a politician who has proven he will do what is best for himself and his personal political standing rather than what is good for Virginia or Virginians. His attempt to sabotage Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan is only the most brazen, most recent example. Nor does he do what’s in the best interest of his own party: His machinations of summer 2012 to change the nomination process from a primary to a convention and stab Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling in the back are what’s led to the looming civil war in the state GOP.

We’ve seen the damage political extremism can do in Washington. Perpetual gridlock. Critical issues not being addressed because politicians refuse to compromise or make deals … to govern. And America has been harmed as a result.  We don’t need that same mindset in the governor’s office in Richmond.

From fiscal matters to social issues, Cuccinelli has proven himself to be an uncompromising ideologue. Taxes, support for public education, civil rights, women’s issues: The attorney general is dead-certain that what he believes is correct, that those who disagree with him are wrong and must be vanquished. It may make for good fundraising letters, but it does not make for effective governing.

Ouch!  And this from the newspaper in Liberty University's hometown.  Sane voters of every stripe need to pay attention and vote against Cuccinelli and his ticket mates.