Commentators Too Cowardly to Reveal Their Identity

It seems I need to re-post this message regularly in response cowardly commentators who lack the courage of their convictions and reveal their identities  when leaving comments.  This is what I had to say on this issue roughly a year ago which I restate again:

Unfortunately, over the life of this blog I have had to make it clear that those who wish to leave comments on blog posts who lack the spine to reveal their identities and put their name and who they are behind their opinions will not be given a platform.  Since the birth of this blog I have not hidden my identity and who I am, where I live, etc.  Yes, it has brought me death threats - typically from "godly Christian" types - but based on my upbringing and decades of involvement in politics, if you want to voice an opinion, have the balls to stand behind it and do not hide behind an "anonymous" identity.  As I have said before, if you are too gutless and cowardly to reveal your true identity, then do NOT expect me to provide a platform for your noxious commentary.  You will not be provided with a platform.  If you want your comment published, have a profile that reveals your identity. Otherwise, your comment will be deleted and not published. 

FYI - the comment - which was deleted - which prompted this post was from a Christofascist upset with my honest assessment of Mike Pence who ranted (inaccurately) about abortion.  I suspect the individual is a devoted Fox News viewer.

The Hypocrisy of the "Pro-Life, Anti-Abortion" Movement

White "pro-life" teens harass a Native American military veteran. 

For the record, I am not pro-abortion and think abortions should be medically safe and rare.  However, I also believe that if one is going to oppose abortion in all cases, you need to be consistent and be "pro-life" across the spectrum of ages, races, faiths and economic circumstances.  Sadly, A video of Catholic teenagers wearing MAGA hats at the "March for Life" in Washington, DC, has gone viral and is thankfully helping to focus a spotlight on the hypocrisy of many anti-abortion fanatics. In the video, a group of white youths are harassing a Native American military veteran and demonstrating that far too many lives mean nothing to the anti-abortion crowd.  Indeed, once one has passed out of the birth canal, all concerns of life seemingly nearly vanish.  The same people avidly support the GOP war against programs for the poor, the sick, the homeless and, of course, support Trump's border wall.  If one is non-white, an immigrant, non-Christian, or gay, forget it.  Your life means absolutely nothing to these anti-abortion fanatics who would happily watch you die in the gutter. Their hypocrisy is literally off the charts.  The good news is that the alliance these extremist have struck with Donald Trump (perhaps the most immoral man in America) is making more and more people open their eyes to the ugliness and hypocrisy of so many of these "pro-lifers."   Here are highlights from a piece in the Washington Post:

A viral video of a group of Kentucky teens in “Make America Great Again” hats taunting a Native American veteran on Friday has heaped fuel on a long-running, intense argument among abortion opponents as to whether the close affiliation of many antiabortion leaders with President Trump since he took office has led to moral decay that harms the movement.

The video, which began to spread Saturday morning, showed a throng of young, mostly white teenage boys, several wearing the caps, closely surrounding a 64-year-old man who was beating a drum as part of the Indigenous Peoples March happening near the Lincoln Memorial on Friday. 

A few of the young people chanted “Build that wall, build that wall,” the man said, adding that a teen, shown smirking at him in the video, was blocking him from moving.The students in the video had just come from the March for Life, the country’s largest antiabortion rally and march, which happens annually on the Mall, a few blocks east of the Lincoln Memorial.

In a statement Saturday, the Catholic high school and diocese some of the teens belong to issued a statement of apology to the man, Nathan Phillips, and to “Native Americans in general.” . . . . this incident also has tainted the entire witness of the March for Life and express our sincere apologies to all those who attended the March and those who support the pro-life movement.”

The event happened as abortion opponents in recent days debated the March for Life’s decision to feature a greeting from President Trump — this year and last year — as well as one by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. Some abortion opponents say the March has become too partisan and too aligned with politically conservative figures, Trump in particular.

Antiabortion leaders' embrace of Trump has alarmed a wide range of Christian abortion opponents. They see Trump’s comments on race and immigration, his lying and crudeness as damaging to the “pro-life” label. Younger religious conservatives continue to place an extremely high priority on decreasing abortions but more and more talk of a “consistent life ethic” that sees issues such as health care, global warming and support for poor pregnant women as among those that should be under the “pro-life” umbrella.

Catholic ethicist and writer Charles Camosy wrote in The Post last month that the antiabortion movement — including the March for Life — is rolling back years of progress by becoming increasingly seen not as a broad-based human rights movement but as a “Republican or conservative constituency,” he wrote. . . . Indeed, the term has become so toxic that the group Students for Life refuses to say ‘pro-life’ when doing its activist work,” Camosy wrote.

The Friday incident happened less than a week after Trump made light of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre of several hundred Lakota Indians by the U.S. Cavalry in a tweet that was meant to mock Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who Trump derisively calls “Pocahontas.”

The Catholic Diocese where the students are from tried to depict the boys behavior as an aberration, but it is not.  The Catholic Church remains vitriolically anti-gay, wants healthcare professionals to have the right to refuse to treat gays, and to block same sex couples from adopting.   Like so many of the anti-abortion advocates, some lives simply do not matter.  Thank you to these boys for making that reality obvious to all.  

Florida "Christians" Demand Execution of Women Who Have Abortions

While Donald Trump was putting the insanity of today's Republican Party on display last night, some of the party base were also busy demonstrating that they want a Christian theocracy and the execution of women - and their doctors - who have abortions.  With these folks it is either there way or execution - much in the vein of how ISIS approaches non-believers and/or those with different understandings of a supposed common faith.  Christian News Wire looks at the batshitery.  Here are excerpts:

The political committee Abolish Abortion Florida (AAFL) has launched a ballot initiative to amend the state's constitution to punish abortion as capital murder. Under the proposed amendment, anyone who performs or procures an abortion would be charged with first degree, pre-meditated murder. "Abortion" would include any abortifacient drug or device that can kill an embryo by preventing implantation, as well as the intentional destruction of unwanted IVF embryos. The amendment would define life as beginning at fertilization rather than "conception," and declares that "abortion deprives an innocent human being of the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

According to AAFL, the idea is not only to collect enough signatures to get the measure onto the 2018 ballot, but also to encourage legislators to begin putting forward legislation to abolish abortion instead of merely regulating it. Per AAFL: "The Supreme Court cannot make murder legal. Pro-life politicians have passed incremental regulations for decades, but it's time to abolish abortion by recognizing it for what it is – cold-blooded murder – and prosecuting it accordingly."

The complete petition language can be seen atwww.abolishabortionfl.com.

As I have long said, there is really little difference between Christian fundamentalists and Islamic fundamentalist.  The open embrace of hatred of others and the embrace of ignorance is identical.  

The Financial Costs of GOP/Christofascists' Culture Wars are Skyrocketing

Time and time again we see legislators - almost always Republicans - using the culture was to turn out the spittle flecked, knuckle dragging elements of their party's base on election day.  Other times, the approach may be  to avoid primary challenges by the truly unhinged by embracing one of the three pillars of "family values" organizations: gay bashing, anti-abortion efforts, racism and disenfranchising non-white voters.  In nearby Gloucester County, Virginia, we see anti-transgender bigotry playing out and litigation costs soaring simply because school board members lack the spines to stand up to the always hate-filled "godly folk."  As a piece in the Washington Post notes, the costs of such sleazy behavior is sky rocketing.  Here are excerpts:

The culture wars are getting very, very expensive.

Once upon a time, politicians could use wedge issues to score cheap political points, emphasis on “cheap.” Put a gay rights issue on the ballot, or pass an antiabortion bill, and you could turn out the base at bargain-basement prices.

Even better, with minimal risk to the public fisc, you might be able to distract voters from other, thornier problems.

Facing a public education crisis? Take a page from North Carolina, and pass a law regulating where and when people can pee.

Is your state so broke it’s shaving days off the school year? Copy Kansas, and implement some draconian antiabortion legislation.

Have the highest uninsured population of any state? Look to Texas, and pass even more draconian antiabortion legislation.

Are your constituents unhappy with declining economic opportunities? Check out Indiana, Arkansas and Georgia, among others, and introduce legislation to make it easier to discriminate against gay men and lesbians.

Has your state’s credit been downgraded nine times? Is your governor facing a sex scandal? Have you become the nation’s tragicomic punchline?

Find role models in New Jersey, Alabama and Florida, respectively, and join the crusade against Planned Parenthood.

It all sounds relatively inexpensive. Lately, though, the ammo required in these culture wars has proved costlier than politicians, or their constituents, may have counted on.

In North Carolina, legislators last week voted to transfer $500,000 from the state’s emergency response and disaster relief fund to pay for litigation of the so-called bathroom bill. Good thing there are never any hurricanes in the Tar Heel State, and there’s no chance of a Zika crisis in its mosquito-dense coastal tourism areas.

Legal fees are likewise mounting in states that have attempted to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds (which often turns out to violate federal Medicaid law), to implement constitutionally dicey restrictions on abortion access, or both.

And of course in some cases, such legal expenses are peanuts compared with the broader economic costs of these culture-war laws.

After North Carolina passed its so-called bathroom bill, high-profile musicians such as Bruce Springsteen canceled concerts, companies such as PayPal and Deutsche Bank withdrew plans to expand in the state, and events and trade shows were called off .
politicians ought to be transparent about what they’re sticking taxpayers with when they choose to wage such culture wars.

Economic impact estimates are often more art than science, but minimum litigation costs at least are easier to estimate. Particularly when a state is considering a policy that has already come under serious legal challenge elsewhere. And especially when a state is considering a measure that courts have already repeatedly struck down, as with attempts to drug-test welfare recipients, or to bar patients from seeing the qualified and willing Medicaid provider of their choice if that provider is Planned Parenthood.

So here’s an idea: Any time legislators pass a law already facing a major legal challenge in another state, they should have to set aside funding for its defense. It’s time to remind voters that in the constitutionally fraught culture wars — as in everything else — there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Are More Attacks on Planned Parenthood Invevitable?

Murderer Robert Lewis Dear (L) and anti-abortion extremist, David Daleiden

Ninety-seven percent of the budget for activities at Planned Parenthood have noting to do with abortion services.   Services range from STD testing, treatment and vaccines to contraception services to sex education to cervical cancer screening; pregnancy testing, vasectomies; and LGBT related services.  Half of the Planned Parenthood facilities provide no abortion services whatsoever.  Planned Parenthood centers are known for providing services to minorities and the poor who have no other access to health care services other than hospital emergency rooms.  Of course, far right Christians oppose contraception of any form and have shown by their overwhelming support for Republican policies that providing health care services to the poor is not even on their radar screens.  Meanwhile, the Christofascists and professional Christian set continue to do all they can to spread lies and disinformation about Planned Parenthood - they spread similar lies and falsehoods about LGBT citizens - in the hope of whipping up violence against both Planned Parenthood and LGBT Americans.  With these "godly folk" the truth and honesty are unknown concepts. A piece in The Raw Story makes the case that the shootings in Colorado Springs yesterday were inevitable given the Christofascist non-stop propaganda.  Here are article highlights:

What happened at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood on the Friday after Thanksgiving was inevitable. After the deceptively-named Center for Medical Progress released the equally deceptively-edited videos accusing Planned Parenthood of profiting from the sale of fetal parts, someone had to die in the end.

Of all the phony attacks and accusations made against Planned Parenthood by a new generation of anti-choice activists like James O’ Keefe and Lila Grace Rose, the videos created by former O’Keefe confederate David Daleiden raised the bar — or lowered it depending on how you view them — on over the top accusations intended to fire up Christian conservatives and embolden lawmakers to do all they can to destroy Planned Parenthood.

Where Daleiden really hit one out of the park for the anti-choice crowd was when he accused Planned Parenthood of selling  fetal tissue — used by researchers looking for cures for Alzheimer’s, among other things — and making a profit off of it.  Which turned out to be a lie.

When interviewed, Daleiden carefully parsed his words and flagrantly misinterpreted the words of the people caught on tape, thereby filling his nothing-burger of an exposé — for which he received a nice budget that allowed him to work on the project for two years — with red meat for the anti-choice crowd.

Daleiden was more than modestly successful. Republican lawmakers in conservative states were able to cut some funding for Planned Parenthood, while GOP presidential candidates had yet something else to grandstand about in order to woo the evangelical base.

With so much heat thrown off by Daleiden’s anti-abortion project, it is no surprise — and it absolutely cannot be to him — that someone somewhere would take his lies to the extreme and try and do something about it. With extreme prejudice.

According to NBC, Robert Lewis Dear — who killed three people including a cop, making him a hero to these “pro-life” folks while shooting up a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood — reportedly told investigators “no more baby parts" after he was arrested.
So it appears that Robert Lewis Dear shot up a Planned Parenthood because he was familiar with David Daleiden’s videotape lies. This is not to say that this is something that Daleiden was hoping for. But when Daleiden published his videos with great fanfare, he primed more than a few future domestic terrorists to take the law — God’s or their own — into their own hands.

David Dalieden didn’t pull the trigger — he just showed Robert Lewis Dear where he needed to aim the gun.

Rather that obsess about Islamic terrorists, perhaps the FBI and Home Land Security ought to be paying more attention to Christian extremists and their allies who create an atmosphere where murders occur.

Ted Cruz, Planned Parenthood - A War Against Reality

While Scott Walker is hoping that his vow to kill labor unions nationwide will save his sorry ass and cratering campaign, the even more insane Ted Cruz is seemingly hoping - perhaps dreaming is a better term - that shutting down the federal government over funding for Planned Parenthood will save his sinking presidential prospects.  97% of Planned Parenthood's operations go to providing health care to poor women.  But all the GOP and lunatics like Cruz can look at is the 3% of operations.  As for the women who would be kicked to the gutter if Planned Parenthood were forced to close, Cruz and company have no alternative. Just let them die apparently.  Here are excepts from Salon:

The ability of the Republican Party to sabotage its polls and electoral prospects by clinging to narratives built on the hysterical voices shrieking nonsense through conservative minds like Santa Ana winds blasting across the vast desert wastelands of California will never cease to amaze.

Republicans [are] on the verge of leading a government shutdown over another fact-free assertion: That Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of healthcare for the underprivileged in America, is selling off the organs of aborted fetuses for scrap.

The controversy started in July when activists for anti-abortion group the Center for Medical Progress began releasing undercover videos they claimed showed Planned Parenthood executives colluding to sell tissue harvested from aborted fetuses to research labs for huge profits.

Subsequent investigations by at least five states of their Planned Parenthood clinics found no violations of the handling of fetal tissue. An analysis of both the videotapes and the raw footage released by the Center for Medical Progress indicated that, despite claims to the contrary, the allegedly unedited source tapes had in fact been edited, with no indication of what might have been taken out. Not one witness has stepped forward to corroborate the tales of the tapes, which is hard to believe if the disgusting butchery described had actually occurred.

In short, the whole controversy is garbage.

This has not stopped Republicans. First they subjected Planned Parenthood to the “kangaroo court” of Congressional hearings that mostly provided House members the opportunity to grandstand.

The extreme right wing, led by figures like Ted Cruz, is spoiling for this fight, convinced despite all evidence, both and that the Democrats and President Obama will be blamed if federal agencies are shuttered and more World War II veterans can’t get into the memorial on the Washington Mall. Those polling numbers that show otherwise? Lies. Other polls that indicate a majority of the American people don’t want to see Planned Parenthood stripped of its funding? That just means the lamestream media hasn’t really reported this story.

[H]ow can our country function when one half of the ruling political class bases its strategies and policies on nothing but the phantom voices in their heads? 

The answer is, we can’t. If we’re lucky, the candidacy of Donald Trump will cause a Republican Party split big enough to reconfigure the GOP into something resembling a functional organism, purged of the fanatical elements and composed of people who understand that no disagreement is worth turning off all the lights.

West Virginia Republican says Rape can be "Beautiful"

GOP's Brian Kurcaba

I never cease to be amazed by the batshitery that comes from the mouths of today's Republicans.  It's little wonder that so many of us Republicans of yesteryear have fled the GOP as it has become one big insane asylum.  The key ingredient to the party's descent into insanity?  The rise of the Christofascists within the party.  What began as a slow grow cancer has now metastasized.  How else to explain the statement by West Virginia Republican Delegate Brian Kurcaba who says rape is "beautiful" when it results in a child.  Perhaps in the crazy world view of the likes of Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson, Victoria Cobb, and Tim Wildmon, but not for those of us who live in touch with objective reality.  The Raw Story looks at this batshitery which increasingly is the norm for Republicans who see women as some sort of chattel property of men:

Republican state lawmaker in West Virginia said on Thursday that while rape is horrible, it’s “beautiful” that a child could be produced in the attack.

According to Huffington Post, Charleston Gazette reporter David Gutman was on the scene when Delegate Brian Kurcaba (R) said, “Obviously rape is awful,” but “What is beautiful is the child that could come from this.”

Kurcaba made the remarks during a House of Delegates discussion of a law outlawing all abortions in the state after 20 weeks’ gestation. At 20 weeks, anti-choice activists and lawmakers allege, a fetus can feel pain and is therefore too viable to abort.

The bill was passed by West Virginia Republicans in 2014, but vetoed by Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Now the state GOP has revived the bill and voted to remove an exception for victims of rape and incest.

Kurcaba’s remarks echo a string of embarrassing statements by Republicans regarding rape and women’s bodies. 

In 2012, Missouri’s Rep. Todd Akin said that pregnancy can’t result from rape because “If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that while sexual assaults are unfortunate, the resulting pregnancy is a “gift from God.”

Republican leaders convened an emergency meeting in 2013 urging the rank and file to stop talking about rape altogether lest it further alienate women voters, who have been abandoning the Republican Party in droves.

Nonetheless, Kurcaba — a financial advisor who was elected in 2014 — appears eager to bring discussions of rape back into the dialogue about women’s access to reproductive health care.

Here in Virginia, Republicans are seeking to pass a similar law with no exception for instances of rape. 

Federal Court Morning-After Pill Ruling Riles Christianists

America continues to have a far higher teen pregnancy rate than other developed countries for a simple reason: American sex education programs and access to contraception is opposed by the Christofascists who live in a fantasy world where they believe that "abstinence only" sex education is the only approach that can be allowed.   Sadly, too many politicians including in the Obama administration are afraid to take on this batshitery.  Meanwhile, the Bible belt has the highest teen pregnancy rate (and the highest divorce rate).  A federal court ruling has struck down the ban on sales of the so-called morning after pill to women under 17 and has reignited the convulsions and spittle eruptions among the "godly Christian" crowd who seemingly would prefer more pregnancies - and ultimately more abortions -  than otherwise would need be the case.  Combined with their lack of any concern for children once they are born as evidenced by their support for draconian GOP cuts to programs for poor children, it demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Christofascist crowd which might just as well have "Modern Day Pharisee" tattooed on their foreheads.  A story in the Washington Post looks at the court ruling.

A federal court ruling Friday requiring the government to make the morning-after pill available to females of any age without a prescription reignited a politically fraught debate that has stretched for more than a decade, vexing two administrations.

In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York offered a scathing rebuke of the 2011 decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bar over-the-counter sales of the pill to girls younger than 17. Sebelius had overruled a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration, which had found the emergency contraceptive was “safe and effective in adolescent females” and could be used properly by young women without consulting a doctor.

The judge ordered the FDA to lift the age restrictions within 30 days. The Obama administration has not said whether it will appeal the ruling.  Korman called Sebelius’s decision “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified, and contrary to agency precedent.” 

Women’s health advocates and major medical groups were quick to praise Friday’s ruling, saying it would help prevent unwanted pregnancies and remove unnecessary hurdles that often prevent teenagers from getting the pill in a timely manner. 

Meanwhile, antiabortion activists called the decision short-sighted, saying it could lead to more unprotected sex among teenagers, while also lowering the number of sexually active teens who are likely to discuss such issues with their parents or a doctor. 

Plan B is classified by the FDA as an emergency contraceptive and greatly reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after intercourse. It differs from abortion drugs such as RU486, which is intended to terminate a pregnancy that already has been established.

Rather than condemning the decision, if Christianists truly want to lower abortions, they ought to be welcoming the ruling.  The fact that they are not shows that their real issue is a religious based obsession that sex is dirty, etc.  Teens will have sex no matter what  these fantasy world dwellers want to believe and the best way to prevent abortions is through better sex education and wider access to preventive measures such as Plan B.  These folks aren't really "pro-life," they are anti-sex.

Anti-Abortion, Anti-Contraception Group Trying To Buy Virginia’s Governor’s Mansion

If LGBT Virginians have reason to wake up with night sweats at the thought of Ken "Kookineelli" Cuccinelli in the Governor's mansion come 2014, so too do women.  Kookinelli would cause untold damage to women's rights if elected, packing boards and commissions with extremists hand picked by The Family Foundation and virulently anti-abortion and anti-contraception groups.  As note here earlier in the week, the farcically named Susan B. Anthony List (Anthony was an early feminist and thought by some historians to have been a lesbian) has launched the extremist effort to buy the governor's mansion for Kookinelli.  A piece in Think Progress looks at not only this effort by extremists but also Kookinelli's views towards women which echo those of failed senatorial candidates Todd Akin (R-MO) and Richard Mourdock (R-IN).  Anyone who isn't a far right Christianist or angry while male who wants to disenfranchise blacks and sabotage freedom ought to be terrified at the prospect of Kookinelli winning in November.  Here are article highlights:

Virginia’s gubernatorial election, is eight months away, but a leading anti-choice group is already spending big money to buy the governor’s mansion for Tea Party Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA). Susan B. Anthony List — an anti-abortion group that launched a program early this year to teach Republican candidates how to talk about rape without using words like “legitimate” or “gift from God” — pledged at least $1.5 million to Cuccinelli’s campaign, an amount that approaches the entirety of its spending on federal races in 2012.

Cuccinelli has not been captured on film expressing the kind of career-ending gaffe about rape that kept candidates Todd Akin (R-MO) and Richard Mourdock (R-IN) out of the United States Senate last year, but his stance regarding the rights of women who are raped is more or less identical to Akin and Mourdock’s. In his first campaign for elected office, Cuccinelli said that he “opposes abortions that are not for the purpose of saving the mother’s life.” So women who are pregnant because of rape or incest are out of luck.

Rape survivors aren’t the only people who face a bleak future in Ken Cuccinelli’s vision for America. In a book he published last month, he endorsed the view that Medicare is “despicable, dishonest, and worthy of condemnation.” He claimed that Social Security, Medicaid and Food Stamps are attacks on people’s freedom. And he suggested that we should stop spending money on these programs because “[y]our government will never love you.”

The man is down right scary and, in my opinion, certifiably mentally ill.

Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli Book May Boost Democrat Campaign

As regular readers of this blog already know, in my opinion Virginia Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli is certifiably insane and belongs in a mental ward rather than the Virginia Governor's mansion.  He is a religious extremist of the highest order and unlike EVERY attorney general who has run for the governorship over the last 30+ years, Kookinelli has refused to resign from office while he campaigns full time for governor.  In effect, Kookinelli is forcing every Virginia tax payer to underwrite his extremist campaign as he pushes an agenda dangerous to the rights of countless Virginians.  Now, Kookinelli is publishing a book that may well help document just how crazy this man is and how unfit he is for any elected office, including the office he currently holds.  It is also noteworthy that Kookinelli wrote the book of his director of communications who is also on the state payroll.  As Politico reports, Kookinelli's delusional book may well be embraced by Democrats seeking to convince voters that Kookinelli is a clear and present danger to Virginia and every Virginian who isn't an angry white ultra conservative Christian. Here are highlights from Politico:

Ken Cuccinelli will publish a book next month that could boost Democratic efforts to define him as an overly-ideological conservative in the increasingly purple state of Virginia.

Promotional materials promise that “The Last Line of Defense: The New Fight for American Liberty,” out Feb. 12, will offer “a behind-the-scenes account” of the Republican nominee’s clashes with the Obama administration as the state’s attorney general.

The synopsis provided by the publisher notes that Cuccinelli was the first state attorney general to argue in federal court against Obamacare, as well as “an unapologetic defender of the Constitution, and a man admirers and detractors alike said ‘was tea party long before there was a Tea Party.’”

The book was written in collaboration with Brian Gottstein, who is employed by the state of Virginia as the attorney general’s director of communications. The longtime activist was formerly a radio host and columnist for the Roanoke Star Sentinel, an alternative newspaper

Polling shows that “tea party” has become a more politically-perilous term over the last three years. The movement now is viewed unfavorably by many independents in places like the Northern Virginia suburbs that will be critical to the outcome of November’s general election.

Professionals believe Cuccinelli’s best hope to win the race is to replicate outgoing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s successful 2009 campaign model of focusing on pocketbook issues such as the economy and roads — and deemphasizing many of the controversial social issues that have been centerpieces of Cuccinelli’s tenure as attorney general.

Just last week, he [Cuccinelli]  told an Iowa-based radio show that opponents of a federal mandate for contraception coverage should be willing to “go to jail” to fight the law.

Campaign-year books are not unusual. Many politicians with national followings write books to drum up support, lay out plans and cash in on their celebrity. The list price for this book is $25.

But books can also backfire, giving ammunition to opposition researchers. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) was damaged during his failed 2006 reelection bid for questioning two-working-parent households in a book that came out in 2005 called “It Takes A Family.”

Rick Perry published a book called “Fed Up!” in the wake of his 2010 reelection that called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and “violent attack” on traditional American values — among other controversial points later seized upon by Mitt Romney’s campaign.

Indeed, the only explanations for the timing of the book are (i) that Cuccinelli is insane and (ii) Cuccinelli hopes that other Neanderthal religious extremists will buy the book and then be convinced to contribute to his Inquisition inspired agenda.

Why Romney/Ryan and the GOP Are Bad for Women

I continue to be shocked by some members of the LGBT community that I know who "like" Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan on Facebook.  Do they really not understand what a Romney/Ryan victory could do in terms of setting back LGBT civil rights progress?  And the same holds true for women who just don't seem to grasp that the extremist GOP agenda is not woman friendly.  One can only hope both groups of GOP leaning individuals wake up and educate themselves before election day or, if they don't, that they stay home and do not vote.  A piece on CNN lays out why women need their head examined if they intend to vote for anyone in the GOP in November.  Here are excerpts:

The image makers were in overdrive at the Republican National Convention this week. They finally had their candidate but now they had a problem: The guy wasn't likable. And nowhere was that problem more acute than with women voters.

Concerns about Mitt Romney's slash-and-burn economic approach at Bain Capital, coupled with displays on the campaign trail of his stunning lack of empathy had shaken confidence among women voters. Add in the wound reopened when Senate candidate Todd Akin spoke aloud the GOP's twisted ideas about women and rape and pregnancy, and the mandate to the handlers was infinitely clear: Make every night Ladies' Night at the Mirage in Tampa.

Then, in a deluge of red, white and blue balloons, the pretty show ended and the workers began to dismantle the Mirage, leaving the harsh sunlight of the day-after to reveal the intractable reality of what a Romney-Ryan presidency would mean for American women.   

Women voters care most about the economy and jobs. But with a critical caveat: nine out of 10 women say that a candidate must "understand women." To do that requires an acknowledgment of two things: that women's economic security -- by almost every measure -- still lags behind that of male counterparts and that their economic security is inextricably tied to their ability to control their health, including reproductive choices. And on those points, no illusions and tradesman's tricks can obscure the fact that the GOP agenda fails the test.

While Romney's jobs plan is still notoriously vague, with little to offer other than a regressive nod to trickle-down economics, Paul Ryan has been frighteningly clear that his top priority is essentially dismantling our government -- a fixation projected to result in a whopping 4.1 million lost jobs over two years. Even the lucky few women who hold or get jobs under a Romney-Ryan administration are likely to be paid far less for equal work. In the aggregate, women are paid on average 77 cents on the dollar to men, but Romney still refuses to support the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Check Fairness Act.

The 24 million women who live in poverty in America span all ethnic groups, with single moms twice as likely to be poor as single dads. Still, Ryan has proposed cutting nutrition assistance to these households, often the only thing that stands between them and malnutrition.

Adding insult to injury, Romney's Republican platform includes an extremist anti-abortion amendment that removes exemptions even for rape and incest victims. A party that eliminates a woman's right to choose while at the same time cutting pay, jobs, and access to health care and food security exposes a bizarre and dangerous lack of understanding of the challenges facing American women.

The Code Behind Todd Akin’s "Legitimate Rape" Statement

The media continues to be awash with stories and commentary on Republican U. S. Senate nominee Todd Akin's vile statement on "legitimate rape."  As it should be.  Particularly because Akin is merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the actual attitude now pervasive in the GOP which is bigoted and chauvinistic towards women.  Other groups such as gays and Hispanics receive only bigotry without the chauvinism.  The good news is that so far Akin refuses to withdraw as a candidate and therefore will keep this radioactive aspect of GOP policy front and center.  Akin is the face of today's GOP.  The Washington Post has a main page editorial that calls out Akin and his GOP brethren who despite their protestations to the contrary are engaged in a war against women.  Here are excerpts:

LITTLE WONDER that Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, is trying to back away from his comments about abortion and rape. So ignorant and offensive were his remarks that members of Mr. Akin’s own party, including its presidential standard-bearer, issued strong condemnations, though it took them a while to get strong enough. Mr. Akin was utterly unconvincing in explaining that he “misspoke.” It is scary that someone so ill-informed could hold elective office or have a chance of becoming a senator.

To suggest there are different categories of rape — some real and awful and others that are not — is loathsome. Even from someone who would liken student loans to Stage 3 cancer, as Mr. Akin once did, the comment was stunning in its stupidity and insensitivity. 

At first, Mr. Akin issued a statement saying that he “misspoke” and his “off-the-cuff remarks” didn’t “reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.” The explanation was hard to square with the fact that opposition to abortion has been a core tenet of his time in office — the issue isn’t new to him, in other words — and that he expounded on his thoughts during a lengthy interview with KTVI’s Charles Jaco.

Unfortunately, Mr. Akin’s remarks are not the first, nor are they likely to be the last, in a long-running effort to downplay the horror of rape as a way to restrict access to abortion. Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic catalogued how anti-abortion politicians, since at least 1988, have used the canard of “legitimate rape” or “assault rape” in efforts to restrict and outlaw abortions. What they’re really saying is that not all rape victims are victims, and so we shouldn’t worry if they have to deal with unwanted pregnancy.

Earlier this year, every House Republican and 16 Democrats voted for a bill that would have rewritten the rape exception in federal abortion funding bans by inserting the phrase “forcible rape,” words eerily similar to Mr. Akin’s notion of “legitimate rape.” Among the 227 co-sponsors was Rep. Paul Ryan, now Mitt Romney’s running mate. The bill never made it to the Senate floor; let’s hope the same will be said for Mr. Akin and his unacceptable views.

As noted in a post yesterday ALL of the Hampton Roads Republicans in Congress backed the "forcible rape" bill.  Every one of them,  including Scott Rigell of the 2nd Congressional district.  I hope women in Rigell's district wake up to the level of contempt Rigell has for them and vote for his opponent.

The True Ugly Face of The Family Foundation

As has been noted in many media articles the true moving force against Tracy Thorne-Begland's judicial nomination was The Family Foundation ("TFF") - the Virginia affiliate of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, although the latter group's name has quietly disappeared from the TFF web page since FRC was named a registered anti-gay hate group.  TFF likes to pretend that it's not a religious extremist organization that hold particular animus towards LGBT Virginian's but its actions speak louder than it always disingenuous words.  In Virginia politics one might describe TFF as akin to "The Empire" in the Star Wars movies: utterly ruthless, always out to trample on the freedom of others, seeking to impose its will on all citizens, and quick to malign and destroy those who dare to differ with its extreme right wing dictates.  In short,TFF is a pestilence that constantly pushes to move Virginia back into a 1950's world where white conservative Christians call all the shoots.  A piece in the American Independent looks at the real face of TFF - something every major news outlet in Virginia ought to do - and underscores the organization's toxicity and how it continues to dictate policy to the Republican Party of Virginia.  Virginia will not fully move into the 21st century until the power of TFF is broken.  The fact that the husband of the TFF president is a member of Bob "Governor Ultrasound" McDonnell's cabinet demonstrates the insidious power of TFF.  Here are article highlights:

The Family Foundation of Virginia was founded in 1985 and calls itself “the largest and most influential Virginia-based organization of its kind.”

The foundation, which identifies as nonpartisan, lists among its successes: requiring pre-abortion ultrasounds, adding a traditional marriage amendment to the Virginia constitution, instituting a ‘conscience clause’ to allow discrimination in adoption, and defeating an amendment to protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination. The group said the 2012 legislative session was “one of the most successful policy sessions we’ve ever seen.”

The foundation also issues a report card for legislators every two years, which it calls “one of the most sought after political documents in Virginia.” The group says it distributed 100,000 report cards during 2009.

While legislators said the group held a great deal of power among the religious right, another faith-based group in Virginia said the Family Foundation misinterprets scripture and represents a fading sect of ultraconservative Christianity.

“It was clear that [the Family Foundation] frightened a great deal of folks in the General Assembly into either voting against Tracy’s nomination, or scared them out of showing up to vote,” said John Humphrey, an attorney and board member for People of Faith for Equality in Virginia.

“They talk about protecting families and protecting marriage and that they are not an organization that wants to discriminate,” Humphrey said, “but their actions opposing Tracy’s nomination clearly show that bigotry is at the root of the stands they are taking.

“They have the patina of a great deal of authority and influence,” Humphrey said, “and they do cow many legislators into following them, but the reality is that they represent a minority of opinion in the state on these issues and their influence is waning.”   [Delegate Jennifer] McClellan said that there was an understanding among Republican legislators, especially those from heavily conservative districts, that failing to follow the Family Foundation’s agenda could lead to political distress. She said votes on trans-vaginal ultrasounds and anti-abortion rights legislation earlier during the session demonstrated that reality.

“I have heard either directly or indirectly from some people who are a little more moderate or who personally don’t believe in some of the bills,” McClellan said. “But between pressure from the Family Foundation and conservative members of the caucus, they feel compelled to vote a certain way because those groups say, ‘If you don’t, you will get a primary challenge from the right and we will take you out.’”

Despite the fact that the Family Foundation’s efforts succeeded in blocking Thorne-Begland’s appointment, Humphrey said it would ultimately hurt the group in the long run.

“Their organizing of the opposition to Tracy’s nomination reveals how much oppression and venom remains embedded in our politics,” Humphrey said. “But, in that sense, I’m thankful for their opposition because it helps to point out and bring to light how deeply unfair and hate-filled their stance is.”

 From watching The Family Foundation's agenda over the years, it is best described as a constant campaign of hate, fear and bigotry.  Virginia will never achieve a better society until TFF ceases to weld power through threats and intimidation and the dissemination of deliberate lies and untruths.

Oklahoma Supreme Court Strikes Down Proposed GOP Backed Embryo Amendment

While I suspect that the members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court are hardly what one would call flaming liberals, I also suspect that nonetheless there will be hyperventilating about "activist judges" who oppose "the will of the people."  Or at least the people who live in some bizarre alternate universe where protecting embryos is a highest priority while taking care of the living - particularly if they're gay - doesn't rate very highly. Politico looks at this defeat for the batshit crazy Christianists and their political whore Republican allies.  It speaks volumes that the GOP and Christianist forces in Virginia still seek passage of a similarly unconstitutional measure in this state.  Here are some highlights:

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday halted an effort to grant “personhood” rights to human embryos, saying the measure is unconstitutional.

The state’s highest court ruled unanimously that a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would define a fertilized human egg as a person violates a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Pennsylvania case and “is clearly unconstitutional.” Supporters of the personhood amendment are trying to gather enough signatures to put it before Oklahoma voters on the November ballot.

Opponents contend the measure would ban abortions without exception and interfere with a woman’s right to use certain forms of contraception and medical procedures, such as in vitro fertilization.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed a protest with the state Supreme Court on behalf of several Oklahoma doctors and residents. They asked the court to stop the group Personhood Oklahoma from gathering signatures.

The nine-member court determined the initiative petition “is void on its face” and struck it down.

“The only course available to this court is to follow what the United States Supreme Court, the final arbiter of the United States Constitution, has decreed,” the court said.

The ruling is the latest setback for abortion opponents who have been pursuing personhood measures in several states. In December, a judge in Nevada ruled that a personhood initiative petition was vague and could not be circulated for signatures to qualify for the 2012 ballot. Similar personhood proposals were defeated last year in Mississippi and Colorado.

The backers of the signature drive have said their goal is to set up a legal challenge to the landmark Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 that gave women a legal right to abortion.

Opponents argued that the proposed amendment “would confer rights on a fertilized egg that trump the rights of each woman to determine whether and when to conceive and whether to carry a pregnancy to term.”

Court documents filed by opponents noted the state Supreme Court rejected an attempt to use the initiative petition process to ban abortion in 1992, ruling that the process could not be used to curtail rights secured to women by the U.S. Constitution.

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the Oklahoma Constitution specifically prohibits amendments that are “repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.”

Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the ACLU’s Oklahoma chapter and a former Democratic lawmaker, said the court’s decision Monday supports the notion that a woman and her family, “and not the government,” should be making decisions on reproductive health care.

Bob "Governor Ultrasound" McDonnell Does a Fast Dance on Abortion

With a number of articles now predicting the Bob "Taliban Bob" a/k/a "Governor Ultrasound" McDonnell's chances in the GOP vice presidential sweepstakes have plummeted, it looks like Taliban Bob is jettisoning some of his decades old opposition to abortion in almost all cases in a desperate attempt to make himself more palatable.  Taliban Bob's spokesman is trying to spin the changes as a case of McDonnell's views not having been properly understood.  He's taken a position for roughly 20 years and only now it's "misunderstood"?  I don't think so.  Not surprisingly, the Virginia Christofascists are none too happy with Taliban Bob.   The Washington Post looks at McDonnell's effort to do his own version of Etch A Sketch reset.  Here are some highlights:

As a legislator, attorney general and governor, Robert F. McDonnell has said he opposes abortion in all but one instance: if continuing the pregnancy would put the woman’s life in danger.  But McDonnell, a possible vice presidential candidate, recently said through his spokesman that he would also allow it in cases of rape or incest.

The statement has prompted many supporters and opponents to believe that he has modified one of his core political stances. Some suspect he has done so to improve his chances of being picked as a running mate for presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, whose own position on abortion has shifted over time but makes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the woman.

“That shocks me,’’ said Olivia Gans, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, which endorsed McDonnell for governor. “I have never heard him make those comments. It was certainly not his position when he ran for attorney general or governor.’’

But McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said the governor’s position has not changed. It has been misunderstood, he said, over the past two decades. He did not explain why McDonnell had not tried harder to correct the record if that was the case.  Since McDonnell’s days as a delegate from Virginia Beach, countless news accounts have reported that he opposes abortion except when the woman’s life is in danger.

Political observers say McDonnell’s inclusion of rape and incest exceptions could help him on the national stage, allowing him to appeal to conservatives who oppose abortion rights while picking up the backing of moderates and independents.

Most pundits weighing McDonnell’s vice presidential prospects say the chairman of the Republican Governors Association’s biggest negative is that he may be perceived as too socially conservative, especially after signing a bill into law last month requiring that women undergo an ultrasound before an abortion.

Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, said McDonnell is trying to change his views after years of being out of the mainstream.  “Privately, he still holds extreme positions while publicly he is trying to portray himself as someone else,’’ she said. “You don’t switch your viewpoint on this overnight. These are your core values. It’s obvious governor McDonnell is trying to Etch a Sketch his record.’’

For years McDonnell has prostituted himself to the worse religious extremists in Virginia and it would be poetic justice if that is what now sinks his national level ambitions.  Bob, you should have thought about these issues a bit more in the past.   

Susan G. Komen's Foundation's Self-Inflicted Wounds

In what will probably go down as one of the worst public relations disasters for a non-profit organization, the Susan G. Komen Foundation gave in to anti-gay Christianists and dropped its funding to Planned Parenthood even though only 4% of Planned Parenthood's operations involve abortion services. The public reaction was swift and furious and the Komen leadership crowd found itself under attack and, worse yet, received countless messages from past contributors that they'd be directing their donations elsewhere. In an effort to stop the self-inflicted damage, the Komen Foundation has reversed course and restored Planned Parenthood's eligibility for funding for breast cancer testing services. The long term question is whether or not outraged donors will forgive the organization for it's pandering to religious extremists and their political whores in the Republican Party. An article in The Daily Beast has this telling statement:

Much of the controversy dates back to Komen’s decision to hire Karen Handel, an outspoken anti-abortion politician who vowed to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood during her unsuccessful gubernatorial run in Georgia. Komen officials denied that Handel, who was hired as the organization’s vice president of public policy in April 2011, had a hand in the decision. But many observers couldn’t help but make the connection.

Personally, I will never donate again until the Komen board is completely purged of those who gave in to the Christianists. The Washington Post looks at this case study in why giving in to the far right - which despite the volume of its anger, does not represent mainstream America - is not wise move for charitable organizations or businesses. Here are highlights:

Caught in a maelstrom of public reaction to its decision to cease funding Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced Friday that it would reverse course.

“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” the Komen foundation announced in a statement Friday morning.

But officials across the organization said they were still reeling from the fallout of what many described as a public relations fiasco created by Komen’s leadership. “I felt like we were eaten alive,” said Logan Hood, executive director of Komen’s Aspen affiliate in Colorado. “We had no advance warning.. . . We were sent into battle without armor.”

Still unclear is the long-term impact on a charity long regarded as unassailably apolitical.

“Honestly, we have been turned into a political association without any political skills,” said Laura Farmer Sherman, executive director of the San Diego Komen affiliate. “There was not a crisis-management plan. I think they were completely caught off guard.”

The affiliate has already lost $50,000 in corporate sponsorship for a Race for the Cure in the fall. Farmer Sherman said she has scheduled meetings Saturday to try to make amends with supporters. “There are some relationships that are, perhaps, irrevocably damaged,” she said.

Hogan and Farmer Sherman were among a slew of Komen regional officials who had publicly criticized the national group this week. E-mails flew between affiliates Wednesday and Thursday, with multiple Komen chapters sending letters to the Dallas headquarters opposing the defunding policy.

Meanwhile, several Planned Parenthood affiliates said they had been deluged with offers of financial support. When Gina Popovic, a vice president at Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and Northern Idaho, arrived at her office Thursday, she found multiple donors waiting for her, checks in hand. . . . . The national group said it has received a total of $3 million from more than 10,000 donors since Tuesday.

Abortion opponents expressed dismay at Friday’s announcement. . . . . Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, the anti­abortion group that pushed for the congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood, said the “clear intent” of the Komen foundation’s latest move is “them trying to get out of the box that Planned Parenthood has put them in. . . . I see this as a large organization trying to bring closure to end this.”

Alan Simpson - A vanishing Breed in the GOP

I know I've mentioned it before, but once upon a time I - and pretty much the rest of my extended family - was/were Republicans. Indeed, we were proud of our political party. But that was then and also when the GOP was not a party of religious extremists and know nothings - not to mention total political whores in the case of GOP elected officials. And now, we all vote for the Democrats who despite their many faults do understand the concept of separation of church and state. Now, I shudder at the thought now and find my former involvement in the GOP to be a point of embarrassment when confronted by those who do not understand that a sea change has occurred in the Republican Party - and not a change for the better. Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) exemplifies that former GOP which focused on real fiscal responsibility and staying out of individuals private lives. Think Progress has a piece in which Simpson reads the riot act at the Christofascists and homophobes who are the GOP's new puppet masters. Here are some highlights:

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On MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews today, former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chair of President Obama’s debt commission, railed against the social conservatives in the Republican party. He admonished male legislators for voting on abortion issues and “homophobes” like Rick Santorum who say “cruel, cruel things” about gays and lesbians:
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SIMPSON: Who the hell is for abortion? I don’t know anybody running around with a sign that says, “Have an abortion! They’re wonderful!” They’re hideous, but they’re a deeply intimate and personal decision, and I don’t think men legislators should even vote on the issue.
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Then you’ve got homosexuality, you’ve got Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. We have homophobes on our party. That’s disgusting to me. We’re all human beings. We’re all God’s children. Now if they’re going to get off on that stuff—Santorum has said some cruel things—cruel, cruel things—about homosexuals. Ask him about it; see if he attributes the cruelness of his remarks years ago. Foul. * Now if that’s the kind of guys that are going to be on my ticket, you know, it makes you sort out hard what Reagan said, you know, “Stick with your folks.” But, I’m not sticking with people who are homophobic, anti-women, moral values—while you’re diddling your secretary while you’re giving a speech on moral values? Come on, get off of it.
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I find it both sad and dangerous for the nation that the GOP is now defined more by who is hated by its adherents as opposed to intelligence and reasoned argument. Yahoo News also looks at Simpson's condemnation of the bigots in the GOP.

The Macaca Thesis - And What Does McDonnell Believe

EDITORS NOTE: Some readers may not appreciate why I am giving so much coverage to the Bob McDonnell thesis debacle. If you have read prior posts that have detailed McDonnell's anti-gay agenda over the last six to nine years, then you know that McDonnell has played a significant role in making Virginia one of the most anti-gay states in the nation. To see McDonnell hopefully spiral down to defeat is a potential huge step in turning Virginia around on discrimination against LGBT citizens. The thought of McDonnell in the Governor's mansion is indeed frightening.

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The Washington Post - which launched McDonnell's nightmare on Sunday - has a good column today that looks at why Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell's 1989 thesis is important and why it needs to remain under high scrutiny and a major part of the campaign for Governor. It highlights everything that I have wanted brought out about McDonnell and his extremism and devotion to the agenda of Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation, the Virginia affiliate of James Dobson's foul Focus on the Family. Here are some column highlights:

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Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, didn't really mean it when he equated homosexuality with drug abuse and pornography as evils that "the government must restrain, punish, and deter."

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Or when he urged that "every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators," adding, "The cost of sin should fall on the sinner, not the taxpayer."

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McDonnell's thesis is a 93-page, 170-footnote "macaca" moment -- and, like that moment, self-inflicted. Had McDonnell not mentioned the thesis to Post reporter Amy Gardner -- he misleadingly described it as an essay on "welfare policy" -- it might never have surfaced. There are so many delicious aspects to the McDonnell uproar:

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The irony of watching a staunch social conservative complain that hot-button social issues are being deployed against him -- this after years of social conservatives revving up their base with this approach. Now that McDonnell needs votes from the bluest part of the state, it's suddenly foul play that Creigh Deeds, his Democratic opponent, "continues to focus on divisive issues."

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The irony of watching what-they-do, not-what-they-say politics flipped upside down as well. Just a few weeks ago, Republicans were focused on a single sentence from Justice Sonia Sotomayor about the "wise Latina." Then, it made sense to focus on Sotomayor's sentence, not her copious judicial record. Now, it's unfair to look at McDonnell's writings when his legislative history is open for all to see.

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[I]t seems just as likely that McDonnell's supposed restraint stems from pragmatic acceptance of political reality as from a marked change in views. There's every reason to think that McDonnell would govern as conservatively as the current politics of the state would allow. His professions of relative disinterest in social issues are unconvincing. As for his efforts to dismiss the thesis as the idle musings of a callow youth: Those are simply insulting to the voters of Virginia.

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The Roanoke Times likewise goes after McDonnell and ask questions that he needs to be forced to answer. If he refuses to answer, then I venture that it is a safe bet that McDonnell still holds the views laid out in his CBN thesis. That would speake volumes to Virginia voters:

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McDonnell, today, flees his earlier writing lest Virginians see through the carefully crafted mask of moderation he wears while campaigning for governor. We were heartened to hear him reject some of the views he once held.

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McDonnell points to his record in the General Assembly and during his partial term as attorney general as proof that he has changed That record is not as flattering as he seems to think, though. Those who have followed his political career found few surprises in his thesis. Several colleagues say he worked zealously to implement many of the proposals he espoused 20 years ago. He twice won the conservative Family Foundation's legislator of the year award.

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McDonnell owes Virginians a more detailed explanation. He might start by answering some lingering questions based on his thesis, explaining where his views have changed, when and why.

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Should abortion be illegal? In all cases, including rape and incest?

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Do political leaders and the Supreme Court still need to "correct the conventional folklore about the separation of church and state"?

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Will you oppose "special rights for homosexuals or single-parent unwed mothers"? Which rights are special? Which are not?

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Do your Democratic friends and colleagues "seek to shepherd a nation of powerless incompetents"?

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Do all your Republican friends and colleagues share a philosophy that "embraces the talents and worth of all people?" Do you?