Having known Bob McDonnell for over 20 years I still find it amazing how power, apparently unbridled greed, and blind ambition can corrupt. Yet, as the corruption trial of McDonald and his wife - a former Washington Redskins cheerleader of all things - continues to get underway, the statements coming out from the trial look like something one would expect in the National Enquirer rather than what one would expect in the governor's mansion in Richmond. Another ironic coincidence is that as McDonnell increasingly sold his soul to the Christofascists and extremists in the GOP base, one could see less and less of the once fairly nice guy I knew in the early 1990's. The New Civil Rights Movement looks at the tabloid bombshells coming out of the trial. Here are excerpts:
Less than three weeks after taking office in 2010, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was positioned as a GOP savior. Clean-cut and handsome, he looked presidential. Some thought he might make it to the White House -- as president or VP. Today, after a tumultuous four-year gubernatorial term, Bob McDonnell is on trial for corruption.
As The New Civil Rights Movement reported then, Gov. McDonnell advocated for a state ban on same-sex marriage, and ushered in an administration openly hostile to its own LGBT citizens. In 2012, for example, Gov. McDonnell said gay parents threaten the ability of their children to achieve the American dream, and only straight parents can give children the right start in life. The year prior, McDonnell announced he wanted to block adoptions by same-sex couples. And just days after the newly-elected Governor Bob McDonnell took office, he signed a new state policy that specifically removed LGBTQ protections from state workers.
McDonnell, who graduated from Pat Robertson's Regent University, wrote a 1989 thesis which proffered that the government should make policy favorable to married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators."
But McDonnell was perhaps best known, thanks to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, as "Governor Ultrasound," for supporting a bill forcing women who were seeking an abortion to undergo a wholly medically-intrusive and wholly-medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasound. It was, of course, a GOP attempt to dissuade women from having abortions.
Today, Politico reports that "Bob McDonnell’s marriage was broken and his wife developed a crush on a businessman who lavished her with expensive gifts and attention, an attorney for the first lady said Tuesday during the couple’s corruption trial:
It goes without saying that Bob McDonnell's continued self-prostitution to The Family Foundation and apparently feigned support for that foul organization's "pro-family" agenda was nothing short of abject hypocrisy. Years ago, Bob was a nice guy and always exceeding gracious to my children - and very cute - but he threw all of his goodness away in the pursuit of power. If reports of his marriage being broken are true, he lived a lie just as deceptive as gays who remain in the closet. I hope he doesn't take a fall for Maureen - she doesn't deserve it.Maureen McDonnell’s lawyer William A. Burck said during opening statements that the former first lady was “duped” by Williams into thinking he cared for her. Williams filled a “void” in her life, and she and her husband were pretending to be a happy couple although their marriage had “broken down” long ago, Burck said.
“There were barely on speaking terms,” Burck said.Burck said Williams and Maureen frequently exchanged text messages and phone calls, and that Williams often visited the Executive Mansion. Burck said the pair had a relationship that “some people would consider inappropriate” and that one potential witness may describe Williams as Maureen McDonnell’s “favorite playmate.” He did not indicate that their relationship was physical.
