The Insane Virginia GOP Slate: A Real-World Test of the Far Right

The current Virginia GOP slate for statewide office - Ken Cuccinelli, "Bishop" E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain - are the dream ticket of the Christofascists at the Family Foundation and hate groups like Family Research Council and American Family Association.  All three are far right religious extremists who hold views dear the the Kool-Aid drinking set even though polls suggest a majority of Virginians find their positions unsettling if not down right scary.  As a column in the Richmond Times Dispatch recognizes, the trio of extremists will provide a real world teat of the far right claim that Republicans have lost elections because the GOP candidates have not been sufficiently "conservative."  I think this argument is yet another part of the alternate universe/fantasy world these folks live in, so I am hoping the trios of crazies goes down to crushing defeat.  Here are highlights from the column:

Conservatives have a ready explanation whenever the GOP loses an election: The Republican candidate was too liberal.

You heard this again and again after Mitt Romney’s loss to Barack Obama. “When conservative principles are the focal point of the election, they win,” wrote Michael Walsh in National Review. “When ‘electability’ and ‘reaching across the aisle’ are personified in a middling candidate at the presidential level, they lose.”

Thirty-four days from today, the Old Dominion will provide a real-world test of that theory. When Virginians go to the polls, they will have the opportunity to vote for the most conservative slate of statewide candidates in modern times.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli — for whom “tea party favorite” has become an all but official agnomen — outmaneuvered the Virginia GOP establishment to seize the gubernatorial nomination from the more moderate, less confrontational Bill Bolling. Bolling has since announced the creation of the Virginia Mainstream Project “to call our party back to a more mainstream approach.”

Cuccinelli’s conservatism is unadulterated: He fought the EPA over climate change and filed the first state suit against Obamacare. He opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest; considers homosexuality “intrinsically wrong”; supports school choice, gun rights, and tax cuts; and takes a hard-line stance on illegal immigration. Three years ago, he even handed out lapel pins to his staff bearing a more demure version of the state seal — one that covered up the otherwise exposed breast of the Roman goddess Virtus. (Racy stuff, if you squint really hard.)

State Sen. Mark Obenshain, running for Attorney General, is less pugnacious but no less conservative than Cuccinelli. He has supported both fetal “personhood” legislation and requiring an ultrasound as a precondition of abortion; favors requiring a photo ID to vote; wants to drug-test welfare recipients; has a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union; and once introduced legislation permitting state regulators to yank the license of any business employing an illegal alien.

And then there is E.W. Jackson, the nominee for lieutenant governor, whose pronouncements on social issues go too far even for his running mates. An August Times-Dispatch profile summarized some of them, noting that Jackson has “linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called gays and lesbians ‘sick’ and ‘perverted,’ ridiculed President Barack Obama’s Christian faith and accused the Democratic Party of being ‘anti-God’. ... Jackson (also has) said ... ‘the Democrat Party and Planned Parenthood are partners in this genocide’” — i.e., the aborting of black children. Sunday before last, he suggested people of non-Christian faiths practice a “false religion.”

After years of enduring candidates too moderate for their tastes, fire-and-brimstone conservatives have the ticket they always dreamed of — precisely the sort of Republican ticket, they insist, that wins elections. It is also precisely the sort of Republican ticket dreamed of by Democrats — who, believing the GOP slate is far too extreme for any rational voter to support, have made its conservative principles the focal point of the election.

In 34 days, we’ll find out whose theory is right.

As I have continued to stress, it is CRITICAL that gays, women, minorities and sane Virginian go to the polls in droves on November 5, 2013, and send this trio of lunatics down to defeat and in the process drive a stake through the heart of this far right theory once and for all.

Founding Father Quotes Against Religion

We hear over and over from the demagogues of the Christian Right how America was supposedly founded as a Christian Nation and/or that the Founding Fathers supported a far right Christianist approach to religion intertwining with the secular laws.  Like most of what the "godly Christian" crowd says, these claims are a lie - it's yet another example of if these people's lips are moving, it's almost certain they are lying.  Addicting Info has compiled 35 statements by various Founding Fathers that basically blow the "Christian nation" myth to Hell.  Here is a sampling (be sure to read the full piece):

The separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of America’s foundation. Conservative Christian fundamentalists have sought to crush this cornerstone in the hopes of establishing Christianity as the state religion, an action that would threaten the rest of the foundation that makes up the Constitution. These conservatives contend that the Founding Fathers dreamed of making America a Christian state at the expense of those who practice other religions or none at all.

So here are 35 quotes from the Founding Fathers. Perhaps your first thoughts are the first four Presidents and maybe Benjamin Franklin, but there were many other Founding Fathers. Many were signers of the Constitution and The Declaration of Independence. They were lawyers, judges, soldiers, merchants, farmers, and some were even clergy. And the great majority of them signed the Constitution knowing that matters of government and matters of religion would be separate.

1. “If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
~George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789

2. “Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
~George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792

3. “We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition… In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.”
~George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793

5. “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by John Adams

6. “Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”
~John Adams, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” (1787-88)

7. “We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.”
~John Adams, letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785

9. “In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
~Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814

10. “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

12. “History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”
-Thomas Jefferson: in letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813 

13. “Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual.  State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. We have solved … the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.”
~Thomas Jefferson: in a speech to the Virginia Baptists, 1808

15. “The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.”
~James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, “Essays In Addition to America’s Real Religion”

20. “When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it’s a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”
~Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780

23. “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forebearance, love, and charity towards each other.”
~George Mason, Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776

These are hardly the words of men who allegedly believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible as conservatives constantly claim. On the contrary, the great majority of the Founders believed strongly in separation of church and state. So keep in mind that this country has survived for over two centuries under the principle of separation and it is only now when conservatives are attempting to destroy that very cornerstone that we find America becoming ever more divided and more politically charged than ever before. If this right-wing faction has their way, America as we know it will cease to exist and the freedoms we have enjoyed because of the Constitution will erode. The Founding Fathers had a vision of this nation and trusted that the people would protect that vision and improve upon it. Now is not the time to fail them. Because the day the people fail, so does America.

Ignorance of accurate history is the Christofascists best friend when it comes to their quest to turn America into a theocracy.  Unfortunately, nowadays, too few Americans know history they way the need to in order to defend constitutional government from religious extremists.  Here in Virginia, the GOP slate of statewide candidates - Ken Cuccinelli, E. W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain - and their supporters at The Family Foundation would destroy the religious freedom the Founding Fathers so strongly supported.

Virginian Pilot: It Is Time for Marriage Equality in Virginia

While anti-gay bigotry and animus remain synonymous with the Republican Party of Virginia and its puppet masters at The Family Foundation, things are shifting rapidly in Virginia - a new poll showed that a majority of Virginians now favor gay marriage - especially in the urban areas of the Commonwealth which when voter turn out is high readily determine which candidates are elected to statewide offices.  With a federal lawsuit now pending in Virginia seeking to have Virginia's gay marriage ban struck down and a recent ruling in Ohio, the Virginian Pilot calls out for marriage equality now and rightly identifies what motivated the passage of Virginia's foul Marshall-Newman Amendment which wrote discrimination into the Bill of Rights of the Virginia Constitution: malice and animus.  Not surprisingly, some of the local knuckle draggers are none too happy with the truth being stated based on their delusional comments (which underscore the malice and animus cited).  Here are highlights from the main editorial:

The ballot measure [the Marshall-Newman Amendment] was a political tactic to drive voter turnout. It was crafted by Republican strategists, designed to leverage social conservatism in the name of partisan advantage. It worked to a degree in both states, although former Sen. George Allen might disagree.

The human cost was and remains immense. Gay couples were marginalized, unwelcome in their own states. Even minor legal arrangements within a family were subject to challenge.

No matter the rationalizations mouthed by organizations like the Family Foundation, the basic truth is that each vote excluded homosexual Virginians from fundamental rights because of how they were born.

As has become increasingly clear, history will look unkindly upon the day the amendment was passed and will hold its most vicious and opportunistic supporters accountable.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court began the process of unwinding such discriminatory measures.

It is only a matter of time before that process effects change in Virginia, where the constitutional amendment that carries the names of Sen. Steve Newman and Del. Bob Marshall will be undone. This week, it arrived in Ohio, courtesy of a federal judge.

"This is not a complicated case," wrote U.S. District Judge Timothy Black. "The issue is whether the State of Ohio can discriminate against same sex marriages lawfully solemnized out of state, when Ohio law has historically and unambiguously provided that the validity of a marriage is determined by whether it complies with the law of the jurisdiction where it was celebrated."

Even though Black's opinion came in an Ohio case, the same reasoning applies in Virginia, which has also historically respected marriages from other states. Even though there's no such institution as a common-law marriage in Virginia, for example, the commonwealth recognizes such unions from other states.

As Black wrote, the only reason to refuse to recognize gay unions performed in states that permit them - as the Supreme Court found in the United States vs. Windsor - is to "impose inequality." Furthermore, the judge made clear that Ohio didn't come close to meeting the standard required for withholding such basic rights:

"Even if there were proffered some attendant governmental purpose to discriminate against gay couples, other than to effect pure animus, it is difficult to imagine how it could outweigh the severe burden imposed by the ban imposed on same-sex couples legally married in other states. Families deserve the highest level of protection under the First Amendment right of association."

Anti-gay amendments - as in Ohio and Virginia and 29 other states - undo that protection. They impose inequality out of malice and animus, elevating the will of the majority over the rights of individuals. Thankfully, the days of such measures are numbered.

Unfortunately, The Family Foundation and its triumvirate of hate merchants on the GOP statewide ticket -  Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain - care nothing about equality or the U. S. Constitution,  Instead, their sole goal is to impose Christofascist religious views on all Virginians.

Ken Cuccinelli Backed Anti-Adultery Laws - Does He Still?

Frighteningly, most Virginians do not seem to grasp the full extent of Ken Cuccinelli's religious extremism and desire to police their bedrooms and personal lives.   In this effort, he is furthering the agenda of The Family Foundation which seeks a far right Christian theocracy in Virginia and which would inflict its fear and hate based religious views on all citizens.  In addition to wanting to continue to make oral and anal sex - even between married couples - a felony ( a good article can be found here), Kookinelli has in the past supported enforcing the anti-adultery law still on the books in Virginia.  Have an affair, be charged, prosecuted and go to jail.  That's the agenda of Kookinelli and most assuredly the utterly insane GOP Lt. Governor candidate "Bishop" Jackson.  Politico looks at Cuccinelli's past support for criminally prosecuting adulterers.  Here are highlights:

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican’s days as a state senator.  Speaking to Richmond’s Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions “ought to stay on the books.”

“Frankly it wouldn’t hurt to enforce them more,” Cuccinelli is quoted saying. The magazine paraphrased Cuccinelli drawing a comparison to “perjury inasmuch as the occasional prosecution or two would get people thinking twice.”

Cuccinelli went on to be elected attorney general of Virginia the following year and he is now the GOP nominee for governor. At issue in the race is his history of hardline social conservative stances, which Cuccinelli has de-emphasized in the current campaign in favor of economic issues.

In response to an email from POLITICO, Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix said the question of adultery was not a major issue in the 2013 election.

“Ken Cuccinelli is someone who believes in and supports the institution of marriage. The campaign for the governorship in Virginia is about the concerns of voters, which include first and foremost creating jobs and growing the economy,” Nix said.

Note how Cuccinelli merely dodged the issue and did not disavow his past positions.  The man is insane and dangerous.  He needs to be defeated in November.

Weekly Protests Against Republican Extremism in North Carolina - Deja Vu for Virginia?

If Virginians want a glimpse of what a Cuccinelli/Jackson/Obenshain administration would look like - especially with the GOP controlling the House of Delegates - they need only look across the border to North Carolina where the North Carolina GOP is busy implementing a Christofascist/Tea Party agenda which is a wet dream for the extremists in today's Virginia GOP.  Programs for the poor and unemployed are being slashed, voter disenfranchisement and extreme restrictions on all abortions are the rule of the day.  The Daily Beast looks at how some North Carolinians are waking up to the nightmare that has swept North Carolina and taking to the streets in weekly protests.  I hope Virginians are watching and will not make the mistake of trusting the Virginia GOP with Virginia's future.  Here are story highlights:

The protests are called Moral Mondays, and are staged by a coalition led by the NAACP and other progressive groups to speak out against the Republican legislature that they say is working behind closed doors to push an extreme agenda.

But Moral Mondays have also attracted a grassroots collection of teachers and students, retirees, stay-at-home moms, and blue collar workers from across the political spectrum who told me Monday the same thing I heard from Tea Party protesters in 2009-- that they did not recognize the government representing them and that they were tired of doing nothing about it.

In a state that had come to be known as a swing state in the Deep South, which Barack Obama won in 2008 but lost narrowly in 2012, the first Republican legislature in more than 100 years has moved to cut funding for public education, unemployment and Medicaid; added new requirements and funding for voter-ID laws; eliminated the earned income tax credit and worked to loosen laws limiting fracking in the state.  Earlier this year, the legislature added major new restrictions to abortion services, first as a rider on a bill outlawing Sharia, and then as a clause on a motorcycle safety bill.

"We may not all agree on the issues, but the fact remains (the legislators) did not ask us.  It's like we don't matter," she said. "I guess they think we're all stupid and we're not seeing them and we're just going to sit back and not do anything, but I'm not sitting back."

Before the protests, the women went to Christian Faith Baptist Church, where the Rev. William Barber, the president of the North Carolina NAACP, led a training session on civil disobedience and instructed protestors on the finer points of getting arrested. But he also put the agenda of the North Carolina legislature, especially the new voter-ID laws, in what he saw as the context of history for his audience, which was mostly white.

"We know we are in a war for the ballot," he said."Raleigh is our Selma.The general assembly is our Edmond Pettus Bridge."

There's more that deserves a read.  What is happening is ugly, but then ugliness and greed and heartlessness are the norm in the GOP today.  Virginia soccer moms need to stop worrying about PTA meetings and childrens' sports teams and get out an vote against the GOP ticket here in Virginia if they want their children's schools to have future funding.

Is This Political Ad Too Gay For Virginia?

One thing that always pisses me off is the way the Christofacists believe they have free license to say whatever foul and horrible thing they want about gay citizens hiding behind the cloak of "deeply held religious belief."  Of course, most of what they say is a pack of outright lies and they seem to see themselves as exempt from the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness.  Somehow they only observe nine Commandments. Here in Virginia this year we have the most extreme and insane slate of GOP statewide candidates in Virginia's history.  While the most openly insane is Lt. Governor candidate "Bishop" E. W. Jackson, who n my view belongs in an insane asylum, gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli and Attorney General candidate Mark Obenshain share Jackson's views of gays - they are simply trying to hide their extremism from voters.  Above is a mock ad against Jackson that I would personally like to see aired in Virginia so as to put Jackson's hate and batshitery on the air waves.   A piece in The Advocate considers the ad and in the closing paragraphs sums up my views:

I work in the information business. I can't possibly agree with the notion that spreading the word about what homophobes say doesn't make a difference, that it doesn't help reduce homophobia in the long run. What I believe will happen (and has been happening) is that Americans are recoiling from the likes of E.W. Jackson and Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum and the others.

Times have changed. Americans by and large are not asking us to hide anymore. But we can't expect them to stand up for us if we won't first stand up for ourselves.

Jackson may play well to the rural and less educated parts of Virginia, but many areas, including Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia will likely view him as frightening.  But only if his fully insanity is put on view.  The same goes for Ken Cuccinelli who hopefully will soon have to defend the Marshall-Newman Amendment as soon as the ACLU files its promised lawsuit.  Just last night the boyfriend and I had dinner at the James River Country Club - not exactly perceived as a bastion of liberalism - as guests of friends and not one person batted an eye seeing a gay couple there.  And they ALL know who we are due to the boyfriend's near celebrity status with the women.  We need to be open about who we are and we need to take the battle back against the hate merchants like Jackson, Cuccinelli and Obenshain.

Virginia GOP's E. W. Jackson - A Growing Train Wreck

The entertainment factor and ongoing exposure of just how insane the Virginia GOP base has become just goes on and on in the form of GOP Lt. Governor candidate E. W. Jackson.   The man is a train wreck.  And what must remembered is that despite the efforts of Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain to distance themselves from Jackson, all three hold virtually the same anti-gay, anti-women and anti-modernity positions.  They are the face of The Family Foundation and the religious extremists who hijacked the Republican Party of Virginia.  In a press conference yesterday, Jackson admitted drug use in his past - and not just marijuana - filing bankruptcy and claimed to have taken course at Harvard that Harvard has no record of.  Jackson is exhibit A as to why the GOP ticket needs to be thoroughly defeated in November.  Here are highlights from a Virginian Pilot piece:

The Republican nominee for Virginia lieutenant governor acknowledged Wednesday that he used marijuana and experimented with other controlled substances in his youth, and that he was forced to file for bankruptcy.

Jackson sought to get out front on his past on Wednesday. He said during his speech that he used marijuana as a youth, and when questioned after the speech, acknowledged that he experimented with other controlled substances, but did not go into detail. 

He spent a lot of time discussing his 1993 bankruptcy filing, which he said came after nine years of work to make a go of an AM gospel radio station in Boston. He said many of the difficulties came from extended battles with the Federal Communications Commission  .  .  .  .

He also talked about his transition over time from lawyer to minister. He said that while he graduated from Harvard Law School, he took several classes at the divinity school, even though Harvard apparently has no record of it.  "They were not teaching what I believed to be orthodox Christian biblical theology but rather a liberal version of that. I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture; they did not," Jackson said of the Harvard divinity classes.

He acknowledged that he was asked to leave his first ministerial position in 1982, after two years at a Baptist church in Cambridge.

Jackson said many of his statements have been taken out of context to try to make it sound as though he believes that birth defects are caused by parents' sins or that yoga leads to Satanism.

"I do not believe that birth defects are caused by parents' sin unless, of course, there's a direct scientific connection between the parents' behavior and the disabilities of the child," he said, giving the example of birth defects that might result from a child born to a mother addicted to heroin.

He added, "I do not believe that yoga leads to Satanism. One of my ministers is a yoga instructor. What I said was that Christian meditation does not involve emptying oneself but filling oneself ... with the spirit of God. That is classic Biblical Christianity."

The uproar over yoga came last week when the National Review posted an excerpt of a book that Jackson had written in which he wrote, "When one hears the word meditation, it conjures an image of Maharishi Yoga talking about finding a mantra and striving for nirvana. ... The purpose of such meditation is to empty oneself. (Satan) is happy to invade the empty vacuum of your soul and possess it."

The man is a nutcase and any party that could nominate Jackson for Lt. Governor is simply unfit to govern.  Between now and November Virginia voters need to realize that Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain are all cut out of the same cloth.

Ken Cuccinelli More Extreme then E. W. Jackson on Gay Sex

GOP Lt. Governor candidate "Bishop" E. W. Jackson has been getting lots of media coverage because the man is batshit crazy and says all kinds of lunatic things that underscore his extremism - e.g., birth defects and disabilities are "caused by sin."  But when it comes to anti-gay extremism, despite the horrible things Jackson says about gay citizens, Ken Cuccinelli is even more extreme, especially in terms of his desire to outlaw gay sex and to re-criminalize homosexuality.  A piece in Mother Jones looks at just how extreme and anti-gay Cuccinelli is in this regard.  Here are excerpts:

E.W. Jackson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia, holds awfully extreme views on gay rights and has no qualms about venting them. On his now-dormant personal Twitter feed, as my colleague Tim Murphy pointed out, Jackson frequently aired his hatred toward gays: When President Obama declared June "LGBT Pride Month," Jackson tweeted, "Well that just makes me feel ikky all over." In October 2009, he tweeted, "The 'homosexual religion' is the most virulent anti-Christian bigotry & hatred I've ever seen."

Yet there is one crusade on which Jackson says he doesn't intend to join Cuccinelli: banning gay sex.
Buried in a recent National Review profile of Jackson, who is conservative minister, is this paragraph:

After chatting with attendees, Jackson sat down with me for an interview. While his sermon ended with flair and bombast, he was soft-spoken and earnest as I questioned him about how his religious beliefs interact with his political views. Christian values make us free, Jackson told me, and people should live as they see fit as long as they don’t hurt others. While he opposes same-sex marriage, he said he wouldn’t support any sort of ban on gay sex. He also said there shouldn't be any legal sanction of a religion, and that he would oppose a constitutional amendment naming Christianity as America’s official religion.

The emphasis above is mine. Jackson saying he doesn't support banning gay sex is a significant break from Cuccinelli. Remember, in 2003 the Supreme Court's ruling in the Lawrence v. Texas case struck down anti-sodomy laws at the state level. But Virginia kept its gay-sex ban on the books after Lawrence. Then, in March, the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit deemed that Virginia's anti-sodomy law was unconstitutional. A month later, Cuccinelli, who is Virginia's attorney general, raised eyebrows when he asked the 4th Circuit to rethink its decision. 

Cuccinelli explained his opposition to gay sex in 2009: "My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They're intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law-based country it's appropriate to have policies that reflect that...They don't comport with natural law." This is a long-running fight for Cuccinelli. As far back as 2004, when he was a Virginia state senator, he warned of a plot by the LGBT community to "dismantle sodomy laws" and "get education about homosexuals and AIDS in public schools."

On this issue, though, Cuccinelli and his running mate appear to see things differently. Ken, you might want to call your office.

 Cuccinelli is a frightening menace and MUST be defeated in November.  And women and minorities need to understand that they are in his sights to as he seeks to impose a far right white Christofascist regime on Virginia.
 

Virulently Anti-Gay E. W. Jackson Continues to Rile False Moderates in Virginia GOP

Make no mistake about it.  E.W. Jackson, Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain are all extremists and were nominated as the GOP ticket for 2013 because of the religious extremists who now control the grass roots of the Republican Party of Virginia.   Leading this effort is the insidious organization known as The Family Foundation whose membership ranks are comprised of homophobes, Christian dominionists, theocrats and white supremacists.  Jackson secured the Lt. Governor nomination because the religious fanatics out number the white supremacist element.  Now, Republicans are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from Jackson who holds their views but has learned that some tings aren't openly said except behind closed doors when the media isn't present.  Earlier in the week 2nd District Congressman Scott Rigell stated that he would not endorse Jackson feigning that Jackson's anti-gay views are "too extreme."  This from the man who was personally endorsed by anti-gay hate group founder Lou Sheldon.  Entertainingly, Jackson is now challenging Rigell and in the process will hopefully force the media to focus on Rigell's own anti-gay agenda.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

E.W. Jackson, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, said Wednesday that he's disappointed U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell refuses to endorse him because of strong anti-gay comments, but the Chesapeake minister said he's not backing off his past statements.

Jackson, who said he's tried to contact Rigell, said his speeches and pronouncements about the evils of homosexuality should be seen as a preacher talking about what he believes the Bible says - not a political candidate's views on how he would govern.

Jackson, who has repeatedly spoken out against homosexuality, has called gay individuals "frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally."

In a broadcast last fall, he referred to homosexuality as a "horrible sin" that poisons society, destroys families and "brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of."

Rigell, a Virginia Beach Republican, said earlier this week that he would not endorse or campaign for Jackson because he disagrees with what he considers the candidate's strident statements about gay people.  However, Rigell tempered his objections late Tuesday, saying that while he won't campaign for Jackson, he will vote for him in November. The congressman did not offer further explanation.

Contending that Republicans could lose if they don't support all their candidates, Jackson said he's trying to get in touch with Rigell and also wants the backing of U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, who hasn't said whether he'll endorse the minister.

Both congressmen have stated their support for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the GOP candidate for governor. Cuccinelli and Jackson were selected May 18 at the GOP state convention in Richmond.

If he is elected lieutenant governor - which could make him the tie-breaking vote in a split state Senate - Jackson agreed that his views about gay people could come into play.

The hypocrisy of Rigell and Forbes is that Ken Cuccinelli is equally anti-gay and anti-abortion as Jackson.  He is only somewhat more discreet than Jackson to whom the concept of discretion is an unknown phenomenon.  Jackson may say it, but Cuccinelli believes it and will act on his anti-gay agenda if elected Governor.  Personally, I hope Jackson continues to run his mouth and force Virginia Republicans to take positions on social issues.  The public needs to understand just how extreme today's GOP has become.

Virginia GOP Congressman Scott Rigell Won't Endorse E. W. Jackson

Scott Rigell on left; E.W. Jackson on right

Ken Cuccinelli isn't the only Virginia Republican trying to disingenuously distance himself from the utterly insane, gay hating E.W. Jackson, the Virginia GOP's nominee for Lt. Governor.  Now Congressman Scott Rigell, who won re-election in Virginia's 2nd congressional district in 2012 largely to gerrymandering, is saying that he will not be endorsing Jackson for Lt. Governor.   Rigell - who helped lead the breakup of an Episcopal Church parish over the ordination of gays and who was personally endorsed by anti-gay hate group founder Lou Sheldon - claims that Jackson's anti-gay rhetoric is too extreme and offensive.  Yet meanwhile, Rigell says he will be endorsing Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli who holds basically the same anti-gay views as Jackson and who has even tried to uphold Virginia's sodomy statute not withstanding the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.  Is Rigell an idiot, or does he merely think that Virginia voters are idiots who can be easily fooled?  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on Rigell's impossibly inconsistent position:

U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, who has long espoused conservative views on social and fiscal issues, said this week that some members of his party are becoming too extreme and interfering with solving larger problems.

To that end, the Virginia Beach Republican said he won’t endorse his party’s lieutenant governor candidate, E.W. Jackson, in the November election because of comments Jackson has made about homosexuals.

Rigell, who opposes gay marriage but not civil unions for same-sex couples, indicated during a meeting with The Virginian-Pilot editorial board that Jackson’s anti-gay comments were unacceptable to him.

In the Virginia statewide election, Rigell said he supports the GOP candidate for governor, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, but won’t campaign for Jackson.

“His views with respect to the gay and lesbian community and homosexuality in general are not my own. I’m going to leave it at that,” Rigell said Monday. “What he said and, indeed, how he said it. All of it.”  The congressman said he did not want to elaborate on his objections.

Rigell was a cosponsor of legislation in 2011 urging President Barack Obama to uphold the federal Defense of Marriage Act . . .

[Jackson] has called gay individuals “frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally.”  “Homosexuality is a horrible sin, it poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of,” Jackson said in an October 2012 broadcast interview with an anti-gay activist.

Rigell said he’s also more convinced – particularly after the recent state party convention – that not enough astute people are running for office.    “I am just seeing this disconnect,” he said. “We need high quality candidates across the commonwealth and across the country to set aside their personal life and have a season of public service.”

The last remark is ironic since it is the GOP base comprised of Christofascists and Tea Party cretins who are putting this lunatics on the ballot in the first place.   As might be expected, some of the spittle fleck Neanderthals of the local GOP base are not happy with Mr. Rigell based on their comments on the story. 

Can You Still Win an Election If You’re Anti-Gay?

The entire Virginia GOP statewide ticket - Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain - is horrifically anti-gay although none of his ticket mates reach quite the foaming at the mouth level of Lt. Candidate E.W. Jackson.   A column in the National Journal suggests that this virulent level of homophobia and anti-gay preaching could prove damaging for the GOP ticket and for Jackson in particular given the rapid shift in societal views on gays.  A shift that seems to be causing the anti-gay crowd to become more hysterically vocal and, hence the appeal of Jackson to the audience at the recent GOP state convention where attendees were largely devotees of The Family Foundation.  Here are some highlights from the column:

For a moment last week, Ari Fleischer found a subject more worthy of derision than Benghazi or the Internal Revenue Service. President George W. Bush’s former press secretary took aim at a fellow Republican named E.W. Jackson.

A day earlier, Jackson had improbably won the GOP’s lieutenant-governor nomination in Virginia, taking advantage of a party convention controlled by conservative activists who didn’t mind the Chesapeake-area minister’s relative anonymity. (Only a year ago, Jackson won less than 5 percent of the vote in a GOP Senate primary.) They also didn’t seem to know, or care, that Jackson had a long history of antigay rhetoric, the most incendiary of which includes saying that gay men and women are “very sick people psychologically, mentally, and emotionally,” calling them “perverted,” and comparing homosexuality to pedophilia.

That’s what drew Fleischer’s ire. “Jackson’s antigay slurs are indefensible,” he tweeted.

That a prominent Republican—one whose president only nine years earlier had successfully used gay rights as a wedge issue during his reelection campaign—would offer such a blunt, caveat-free condemnation is a testament to how gay politics has changed in a decade. And Fleischer’s comment is indicative of the fact that Jackson’s week-old campaign is already under siege, so much so that some operatives are speculating he might yet drop out of the race.

All of which suggests that gay politics is nearing a critical threshold: Candidates with a known bias against homosexuals might now face close to the same impenetrable barrier to office as politicians biased against blacks, Jews, or women. Candidates known to be racist, anti-Semitic, or misogynistic are all effectively barred from winning elections in the 21st century—and homophobes might be joining that list.

[F]ew doubt that antigay slurs carry far more consequence than they did just several elections ago. A Gallup Poll released last week found that 59 percent of Americans consider gay relations morally acceptable—a 19-point shift toward that viewpoint from a survey in 2001. Of the 20 moral issues Gallup polled over the 12-year span, no other issue had such a large swing in its favor. “If he had said this six or eight years ago, I don’t know if we’d be having this conversation, quite frankly,” said one Republican strategist in Virginia, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “I do think it’s moved forward to a point where this has potential to be a real disqualifier as a candidate.”

To some analysts, the shift is about more than how the public views gay men and lesbians. There’s a larger ongoing evolution, they say, in which voters are far less tolerant of intolerance, period.  .  .  .  . The source added, “White women are not going to go for that. There is a large group of white men who won’t go for that. There are a lot of Republicans who don’t go for that. This is a question about humanity.”

In an off-year election that could hinge on base turnout, Republicans point out that Jackson might prevail. If he does, antigay politics may not yet be a disqualifier. But if he loses, don’t be surprised if conservative activists do a little more homework before picking their candidates in the future.

Many of us will be working hard to turn out the Democrat base which needs to understand that the Virginia GOP isn't just anti-gay.  It's anti-minorities, it's anti-women and it's anti-modernity and equality under the law.

Virginia: The New Gay-Rights Battleground

The Republican Party of Virginia's nomination of a slate of extremists for its state wide ticket last weekend is drawing a great deal of media attention to Virginia, most of it negative.  One can't help but wonder what progressive business would want to consider relocating to Virginia as the utter batshitery of Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain gets increasingly disseminated across the country and world.   The one irony is that all the attention is ruining Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli's effort to avoid social issues in his campaign to dupe voters into believing that his not a religious extremist.   An article in Politico looks at how the campaign season may shape up and how Virginia is suddenly a gay rights battle ground.   Here are article excerpts:

Welcome to the gay rights battleground of Virginia.  Yes, you read that right. In the 2013 off-year elections, a state that once leaned solidly to the center-right has become the newest focal point in the national debate over same-sex relationships. A gubernatorial race already defined partly along culture-war lines has grown even more contentious since last weekend, when Virginia Republicans nominated as their lieutenant governor candidate a firebrand minister who has called gays “very sick people psychologically” and suggested a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Remarkably, in a New South battleground where Democrats have traditionally won by carving out independent, non-partisan reputations, it’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe who’s most eager to keep gay rights on the political front burner.

After Republicans nominated Rev. E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor at their state convention last weekend, the Virginia Democratic Party held a conference call – led by openly gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin – to accuse the GOP ticket of representing “the biases of the past.” McAuliffe’s campaign issued a statement Wednesday charging that the gay-rights views of Jackson and GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli were “divisive,” “dangerous” and bad for business.

Gone, in other words, is the conventional Southern Democratic playbook of running away from the national party on culture. Encouraged by last year’s joint victories by Sen. Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama, Democrats argue this is simply The Way We Live Now in Virginia.

Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee said the fundamentals of Virginia’s cultural politics have changed so sharply that it makes sense for the party to trumpet cultural views that appeal to the state’s increasingly urban and diverse population.

The McAuliffe campaign’s research backs up that assessment, according to multiple operatives involved in the race, who see Cuccinelli and Jackson’s culture-warrior history as a valuable tool for motivating low-turnout Democrats in the off-cycle campaign.

Democratic polls and focus groups have consistently found that voters react with horror to a 2008 statement by Cuccinelli that the “homosexual agenda” brings about “nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul,” as well as to Cuccinelli’s opposition to public universities including gay-rights protections in their anti-discrimination policies.

One private Democratic poll taken last month showed that 81 percent of targeted young voters – aged 18 to 29 – called that information a “very strong reason to vote against” Cuccinelli. A March focus group of middle-class, Democratic-leaning women in Virginia Beach found Cuccinelli’s quote about the “homosexual agenda” similarly powerful.

University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato said that “twenty years have made a world of difference” in Virginia politics, as far as which side of the cultural divide is safer for statewide candidates.

“The gay rights issue here is emblematic. In the Old Dominion, a party associated with gay rights would be headed for a tumble. Now, it’s exactly the opposite. A sizeable majority in Purple Virginia do not consider the anti-gay views of Cuccinelli and Jackson to be acceptable,” Sabato said. “It’s old versus new. If the Democrats had a nominee like Tim Kaine, this contest would be over.”

Republicans have responded to the emergence of Jackson with reactions that range from cautious to downright critical.

On the Democratic side, too, there’s a recognition that the social-issue message will only be effective if voters believe it’s tied directly to their daily lives. Some voters may turn out simply to send a message to a politician they view as bigoted. But more will turn out and vote if McAuliffe and the rest of the Democratic ticket successfully argue that right-wing cultural views – embodied most vividly by Jackson – will cost Virginia jobs.

I can only pray that the Democrat base wakes up and turns out in November.  If this GOP ticket wins, Virginia will not be a fit place to live for women and minorities, not just gays.

Many Stunned By the Extremism of Virginia GOP 2013 Ticket

While many are Democrats are salivating over the trio of lunatics the Republican Party of Virginia has nominated for its 2013 statewide ticket, others are still shocked that a major political party could possibly nominated such extremists who are far, far from the mainstream one needs to understand what has happened to the Republican Party especially in Virginia..  The party has been taken over by far right religious extremists and more and more sane and rational individuals have fled the party.  I know, I was one of them who resigned my city committee position when it became clear to me that the concept of separation of church and state was dead in the Virginia GOP.  And behind the scenes orchestrating this GOP  take over in Virginia has been The Family Foundation ("TFF"), an affiliate of the hate group, Family Research Council, and Focus on the Family which utilizes a network of fundamentalist and evangelical churches and pastors to threaten members of the GOP to either follow TFF's dictates or face a primary challenges.  

The result has been even former moderate GOP members of the Virginia General Assembly have either not run for reelection or else begun voting for TFF's anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-minority agenda.   The nomination of Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain on Saturday was merely proof that TFF, aided by equally insane Tea Party factions, now runs the Republican Party of Virginia.   It is hard to stress how important it is that the Obama base in Virginia turn out in November.  This ticket is decidedly anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-women's rights.  Metro Weekly provides an overview of these three extremists in the area of gay rights (future posts on this blog will examine the anti-minority and anti-women positions of these three dangerous extremists).  Here are excerpts:

Each of the nominees has a long history of anti-LGBT animus.

As attorney general, one of Cuccinelli's first actions was to issue a letter advising the state's public colleges and universities that state laws and policies prohibit including sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression in nondiscrimination policies, and that policies containing such protections are ''invalid.'' He also pressured – with varying success – the State Board of Social Services the State Board of Juvenile Justice to remove pro-LGBT language from regulations.

A vocal opponent of marriage equality, Cuccinelli voted in favor of the Marshall-Newman Amendment to the Virginia Constitution, banning marriage equality, while serving as a state senator. 

He called homosexual acts ''intrinsically wrong'' during his 2009 campaign for attorney general. More recently, Cuccinelli filed a petition – which was rejected – to challenge application in Virginia of the U.S. Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas ruling that ended sodomy laws.

Jackson, a little-known conservative minister from Chesapeake who ran in the U.S. Senate primary against eventual Republican nominee, former governor and former Sen. George Allen (R) in 2012, is the head pastor of Exodus Faith Ministries and the founder and president of Staying True to America's National Destiny (STAND), a conservative nonprofit organization that describes itself as ''dedicated to preserving America's Judeo-Christian History and Values.''

According to Right Wing Watch, a project of People for the American Way, in October 2012 Jackson appeared on a radio show where he referred to gay people as ''perverted,'' ''degenerate,'' ''spiritually darkened'' and ''frankly very sick people, psychologically, mentally and emotionally.'' In that same interview, Jackson said homosexuality ''poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of.''

Obenshain, while not as vocal as Cuccinelli or Jackson, also has an anti-gay legislative record. Obenshain recently earned a perfect score of 100 from the Family Foundation of Virginia,   .  .  .  .  Obenshain voted against adding sexual orientation to Virginia's nondiscrimination policy in 2010, and against a similar measure this year to prohibit discrimination in public employment.

Obenshain also voted this year in favor of a bill that allows student groups to discriminate against potential members based on religious, political or philosophical beliefs; and in favor of a 2012 ''conscience clause'' bill allowing child-placement agencies to discriminate against prospective parents on the basis of sexual orientation, among other factors.

These three men are TFF's dream ticket.  For sane Virginians, especially those who value separation of church and state and religious freedom for all Virginians, they will be a nightmare come true if elected in November.  Voters cannot be complacent and must go to the polls in November and defeat these men and send a message to TFF that its reign of terror over the Virginia GOP is ending.

Conservative Columnist: The Virginia GOP Blows It

The blow back from the Virginia GOP's nomination of three extremists for its statewide ticket in 2013 continues not only on LGBT sites and blogs but more and more in the mainstream media.  Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain may be the darlings of the religious zealots at The Family Foundation, but even to sane Republicans (to the extent there are any left) the triumvirate of lunatics is troubling.   A case in point?  Jennifer Rubin, not one of my favorite conservatives, slams the Virginia GOP in a new column in the Washington Post.  The real risk that the Virginia GOP faces is that Jackson's utter lunacy will draw attention to the fact that gubernatorial nominee, Ken Cuccinelli believes much of the same things as Jackson.  He's merely been a little bit more discrete in his rantings.   Here are some column excerpts:

The Virginia Republican Party was already taking a risk, dumping a gubernatorial primary election in favor of a convention, in order to assure the ideologically emphatic Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II the nomination. Then on Saturday, a small turnout of party die-hards picked a nominee for lieutenant governor who is nothing short of outrageous.

African American lawyer-turned preacher E.W. Jackson has called gays “perverted” and “very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally.” He has said the president has “Muslim sensibilities.” He has compared Planned Parenthood to the KKK. He previously got less than 5 percent of the vote in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in 2012. He is by any definition an extremist, someone who could not muster even minimal support from GOP primary voters.

And this is the No.2 man on the ticket, with whom Cuccinelli is now campaigning on a 10-city tour of the state. You can be sure that his opponent will be taking footage to be used in ads linking Cuccinelli with Jackson’s language and view.

Cuccinelli has already told The Post, “I am just not going to defend my running mates’ statements at every turn. They’ve got to explain those themselves. Part of this process is just letting Virginia voters get comfortable with us, on an individual basis, personally.” But politics is never that simple.

Cuccinelli is a staunch social conservative who was already going to have an uphill climb with moderate voters. But he has never dabbled in the sort of egregious language Jackson has used. He’s now going to have to walk a thin line, signaling to his supporters that his own views haven’t changed but also reassuring voters he’s not a gay-hater or conspiracy monger. You can be sure that Terry McAuliffe’s campaign will try to obliterate such distinctions.

The danger is that average Northern Virginian voter will look at this pair, conclude Cuccinelli shares Jackson’s views and vote against them both. If Cuccinelli has any hope of keeping his losses down in Northern Virginia, he’ll need to reject Jackson’s views (e.g. No I don’t believe gays are perverts. . .) and quit campaigning with him as soon as feasible.

Some Republicans in the state are already nervous. One state GOP insider e-mailed me, almost despondent.

Jackson’s nomination may hurt Cuccinelli in a number of ways. It will heighten turnout among the Democratic base (previously unenthusiastic about the race). It will turn attention back to social issues, not where Cuccinelli will win over moderate voters. And it will increase the perception that Cuccinelli is himself ideologically extreme, a concern for the campaign even before the Jackson nomination.

To overcome these, Cuccinelli will need to advance a meaty agenda and show a discipline that he’s not yet demonstrated. The race will be competitive, but the Dems just caught a lucky break. 

Cuccinelli wanted a convention to make sure he'd win the nomination for governor and to keep his supporters at The Family Foundation - an affiliate of national hate groups happy.  

Speaking with McAuliffe staffers, yes they are thrilled about Jackson's nomination and the opening it provides to pound Cuccinelli on social issues.

Just How Extreme is the Virginia GOP Slate for 2013? They Are Down Right Insane

In a post this morning this blog noted that the Republican Party nominated the most extreme slate in Virginia history for its 2013 statewide ticket.  Ken Cuccinelli has already shown himself to be a ultra far right  nutcase who seeks to restore the sodomy laws, end all abortions regardless of the circumstances and restrict minority voting rights.  What's frightening is that Cuccinelli - or Kookinelli - may be the sanest of the trio nominated yesterday.  By far the most batshit crazy is Lt. Governor nominee Bishop E. W. Jackson.  The man belongs in an insane asylum and his hatred for gays makes Kookinelli's pale in comparison.  Blue Virginia has compiled some of Jackson's positions:

E.W. Jackson: "Planned Parenthood Has Been Far More Lethal To Black Lives Than The KKK Ever Was." In September 2012, E.W. Jackson posted a video in which he called on the black community to end their "slavish devotion" to the Democratic Party. In the video, he said: "The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so-called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was." [Bishop E.W. Jackson Message to Black Christians, 9/8/12]

E.W. Jackson Would "Permanently Defund Planned Parenthood." According to his website, E.W. Jackson said he sought to "permanently defund Planned Parenthood," saying: "It is an act of grave injustice to force citizens to pay for the destruction of unborn babies, whether through state or federal taxes. All funding for abortion and the organizations that provide them must be halted." [Jackson for Lieutenant Governor, accessed 5/18/13].  

E.W. Jackson: Gay People Are "Perverted" And "Very Sick." In October 2012, Right Wing Watch reported about E.W. Jackson's appearance on a radio show with Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood. Jackson said about gays and lesbians: "Their minds are perverted, they're frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they're not talking about love, they're talking about homosexual sex. So they can't see clearly." [Right Wing Watch, 10/25/12]

 E.W. Jackson: Homosexuality "Destroys Families, It Destroys Societies; It Brings The Judgment Of God." In October 2012, Right Wing Watch reported about E.W. Jackson's appearance on a radio show with Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood. Jackson said: "Homosexuality is a horrible sin, it poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of." [Right Wing Watch, 10/25/12] E.W. Jackson: Homosexuality Tries To "Poison" And "Sexualize" Children. In October 2012, Right Wing Watch reported about E.W. Jackson's appearance on a radio show with Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood. Jackson said of homosexuality: "Look, it also attempts to poison our children, divide them from their parents and the teaching of the church and basically turn them into pawns for that movement so that they can sexualize them at the earliest possible age. It really is insidious and I agree with you, it is a super sin." [Right Wing Watch, 10/25/12]

E.W. Jackson: Gays And Lesbians "Want To Destroy" Culture; Said They Were Forcing Christians To Change Their Beliefs. In October 2012, Right Wing Watch reported about E.W. Jackson's appearance on a radio show with Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood. Jackson said of homosexuality: "They've got to transform the culture in order to make their lifestyles fully acceptable to everyone. I used two words to describe what they're trying to do: authoritarian and totalitarian, and I believe that. I believe that they are of a mindset that says we want to destroy in any way we need to anyone who dares oppose this agenda, that's a very, very dangerous approach.

One can only wonder what sane Republicans to the extent there are any left will think when they realize just how insane and how extreme Jackson is in his views and beliefs. 

Meanwhile, Attorney General nominee  Mark Obenshain is less obsessed with gay hating than Jackson, but he ought to terrify every woman in Virginia.  Here are highlights of two of Obenshain's postions:

Obenshain Co-Patroned "Personhood" Bill With Cuccinelli. Obenshain has repeatedly supported "personhood" legislation that would outlaw all abortion and many common forms of birth control. [HB2797, 2007; HB1, 2/23/12]

Obenshain Introduced Bill Requiring Women to Report Miscarriages to the Police
In 2009, Sen. Mark Obenshain introduced legislation that would require women to report miscarriages to the police within 24 hours or face a Class 1 misdemeanor. According to the Virginia Legislative Information System, the bill "Requires that when a fetal death occurs without medical attendance upon the mother at or after the delivery or abortion, the mother or someone acting on her behalf, within 24 hours, report the fetal death, location of the remains, and identity of the mother to the local or state police or sheriff's department of the city or county where the fetal death occurred. The bill also specifies that no one shall remove, destroy, or otherwise dispose of any remains without the express authorization of law-enforcement officials or the medical examiner, and that a violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor." [SB 962, 2009]

Obenshain Co-sponsored Restrictive Voter ID Bill. In 2013 Obenshain sponsored a bill requiring photo identification. Acceptable forms of ID include a government-issued photo ID that includes their address, a photo ID from a Virginia college or university, or a workplace ID featuring a photo.  Regular Voter ID cards would not be sufficient.

Too many Virginians have refused in the past to understand that the Republican Party that they or their parents grew up is dead and gone.  It has been replaced by a party controlled first and foremost by Christian extremists and those who would trample on the rights of other citizens.  The party of logic and reason and small government is dead.  Today's GOP wants to micro manage everyone's sex life and inflict extreme religious beliefs on all citizens.

 

Virginia GOP Nominates Extremist Ticket

Yesterday, the Republican Party of Virginia - or more correctly, The Family Foundation and Tea Party elements - nominated one of the most extremist tickets in the history of the Commonwealth with Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli headed the ticket as for Governor.   For Lt. Governor, an equally insane candidate was selected: E.W. Jackson, a vitriolic anti-gay minister from Chesapeake.  Rounding out the ticket is state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain who looks sane only in comparison to Kookinelli and Jackson.  Like his ticket mates, Obenshain is vociferously anti-gay and was a ringleader in new voter ID law enacted during the last session of the General Assembly aimed at disenfranchising minority voters.   But for Jackson who is black, one might think the ticket represents a merger of the KKK and the Inquisition.  

Those in the GOP who have whined that Republicans lose because they don't pick candidates to the far right will get to test their theory.  One can only hope that they go down to massive defeat - the boyfriend and I will certainly do our part to defeat these extremists and plan on housing a McAuliffe staffer for several months in the lead up to the election.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post on yesterday's coronation of lunacy:

At the top of the ticket is gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli II, the attorney general. Known for high-profile battles against “Obamacare,” abortion and a university climate scientist, Cuccinelli stood by what detractors have called an out-of-the-mainstream agenda.

E.W. Jackson, a minister from Chesapeake, won the nomination for lieutenant governor with a full-throated appeal for limited government, traditional families and gun rights. “We will not only win an election in November, we will open the hearts and minds of our people and save this commonwealth and save this country,” said Jackson, the first African American nominated by the Virginia GOP for statewide office since 1988.

For attorney general, the party nominated state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), who this year successfully pushed tougher voter ID rules. “Are you ready to stop Obamacare in its tracks?” he asked the crowd in his acceptance speech, eliciting cheers.

“The tea party leaders in Virginia are not for toning it down,” said Mark Daugherty, chairman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation, which unites 46 tea party groups across the state. “We think folks who left us billions in debt and deficits and regulations, they need to tone it down. . . . Trying to move to the middle, or moderate your view, or tone down your conservative view is the wrong approach to future electoral success.”

Where Republicans celebrate a forceful trio, Democrats see a “very extreme ticket,” said Charniele L. Herring, chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

No matter how the Virginia GOP’s strategy plays out in November, it will not go unnoticed. The state is one of just two with governor’s races this year. With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) expected to win reelection, Cuccinelli’s race against former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has drawn national attention. Depending on how the race goes, Republicans across the country are likely to use Virginia’s governor’s race as a road map — or as an example of what not to do.

The comment by Daugherty, the Tea Party leader, epitomizes the idiocy of the GOP.  It was George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and a GOP controlled Congress that left the nation "billions in debt and deficits and regulations."  And actually, more regulation restraining Wall Street and mortgage lenders might have avoided the collapse of the housing market and the economy.  As I have said before, nowadays, to be a Republican one needs to be insane, have had a lobotomy, be a spittle flecked religious extremist, a white supremacist or some combination thereof.   My departed Republican ancestors must be rolling in their graves to see what the GOP has become.