Is it “Game Over” for the Republican Party of Virginia?

As noted in the last post, with the apparent confirmation that the Virginia GOP's entire slate of crazies went down to defeat in the 2013 Virginia elections, the question becomes - along lines parallel to the issue facing the national GOP - whether or not anything will be learned from the fiasco/  My vote is a resounding "No" because the base of the Virginia GOP has become so utterly insane, racist and deep into religious extremism that anyone and everyone will be blamed for the rout rather than face the reality that the Christofascists and white supremacists need to be thrown from control of the Republican Party of Virginia ("RVP") if a way forward is to be found.  Winning elections requires being in touch with objective reality, something the RVP has lost completely. A post in Bacon's Rebellion provides a dead on analysis of where the RVP finds itself now.  Here it is in its entirety:

Spin cycle.  The election is less than a week past, the Democratic Party seems to be on the verge of winning all three state-wide races and the Tea Party faithful are in full denial.  Here’s a smattering of the rampant excuse making going on in some RPV circles:

We beat the spread.  Some Republicans are throwing their shoulders out of joint trying to pat themselves on the back for only losing by two and a half percentage points rather than the 8 – 12% that some polls predicted.  Wow.  The RPV ran a multi-term state senator, sitting Attorney General and darling of the national Tea Party.  The Democratic Party ran a candidate who lost his party’s primary badly in 2009, has never held elected office and seems to be perpetually mired in some scandal or another.  And many Republicans are celebrating the “closer than expected” election.  Let me get that little “L” hand signal up to my forehead.

Poor, poor pitiful me.  Many RPV types are decrying the lack of financial support from the national Republican Party.  The RNC, in turn, says it didn’t see a lot of fundraising success from the RPV.  Since when did the Republicans become the impoverished party?  The wealthiest congressional district in America is Virginia’s 10th district.  That district has re-elected Republican Frank Wolf every two years since 1980.  Since 1984 Wolf has averaged 67% of the vote in his 15 consecutive victories.  The RPV lacks competence, not potential donors.

McAuliffe’s gain is Warner’s loss.  I am not making this up – there is a vein of RPV diehards who claim that Cuccinelli’s loss to McAuliffe last week sets him up to defeat Mark Warner for US Senate in 2014.  If Obamacare spontaneously turns into fissile material, reaches critical mass and explodes in a national nuclear explosion – Warner would still win.  RPV reality check – if you can’t beat McAuliffe, you can’t beat Warner.

The butler Lt Governor did it.  Under this theory Cuccinelli would have won if only the guy he screwed in the primary / convention fiasco went out and campaigned for him.  Maybe the RPV can hire Richie Incognito as its director of political strategy.

Back to reality.  The Republican Party of Virginia got its ass kicked because it is a broken down disaster of a political party.  Here’s some reality:

Wrong candidates.  The RPV decided to reenact the Cantina Scene from the original Star Wars rather than hold a primary.  By the time the critical last ballots were cast two thirds of the delegates had gone home.  What a different election it would have been if Bill Bolling and Pete Snyder had been at the top of the RPV ticket.

Horrible campaigns.  Candidates need to raise money.  The Republicans failed.  Cuccinelli’s sole strategy of painting McAuliffe as corrupt disintegrated as each and every new Star Scientific and CONSOL misdeed came to light.  Yet the Cuccinelli campaign never changed course.  Cuccinelli stood up and called McAuliffe a crony capitalist while Star Scientific money figuratively dropped out of his pockets.  EW Jackson never had a clue what he needed to do.

Civil war.  The Republicans in Virginia never stopped fighting each other.  They showed their true colors – petty, angry, adolescents who were only too happy to throw each under the bus.  Another reality check for the RPV – do you really think the Democratic Party of Virginia was fully and squarely behind Terry McAuliffe’s candidacy?  The RPV civil war started with Cucinelli trying to throw McDonnell under the bus for the transportation funding and never let up.  I see no reason to expect a change in behavior from the Republican politicians or activists in Virginia.

Maryland, my Maryland.  Virginia will look a lot like Maryland (politically speaking) within 10 years.  The Republicans have no cohesion, no leadership and no bench.  They have no chance of unseating Mark Warner and they may well lose Wolf’s seat when he retires (he’s 74).  The RPV will continue to lose a few HOD seats here and a few state senate seats there until Richmond becomes Annapolis South.

Final note: As an independent voter I have no interest in seeing Virginia become a “one party” state like Maryland.  However, the gross incompetence and culpable negligence of the Republican Party of Virginia is well on the way to making Virginia a Democratic Party stronghold for years to come.