The Importance of Re-electing AG Mark Herring in 2017

Last evening, we attended a fundraiser for Attorney General Mark Herring at the home of our friends Tim Bostic and Tony London, the lead plaintiff's in Virginia's federal court marriage equality case that brought equal marriage rights to Virginia and state's within the 4th Circuit.  I was in a bit of a fog given my hand surgery yesterday morning and the prescription pain pills I was on (Rush Limbaugh's favorite!), but attended since we were on the host committee. It was a very nice evening and underscored why it is critical that Mark Herring be re-elected next year, especially since his likely opponent is right wing Republican Bob Bell whose positions are akin to those of Ken Cuccinelli, including his off the charts homophobia and disingenuous "family values" positions.  

Before Mark Herring made his remarks to those attending, Tim Bostic made an introduction which outlined the difference that Herring has brought to the office of the Attorney General.  Here are a few highlights from Tim's notes and statements which he was kind enough to share with me:

For 20 years the Republican Party had controlled the office of the Attorney General, using the job to increasingly pursue ideological agendas that ignored the needs and rights of their constituents.  The logical extreme was found in in Ken Cuccinelli, who went to court to fight against access to affordable access to health care insurance, to deny LGBT Virginians the equal treatment they deserve, to silence a UVA scientist . . . and to shut down health clinics for women.  In 2013, Virginians had had enough. They swept in a new team and they went to work.

Just 10 days after being sworn in, Mark Herring had a chance to show Virginians a different approach to the job, and to remind anyone who had forgotten after two decades of one-party control, that the Attorney General can stand up and fight for the people he represents.  He joined the fight for marriage equality, guaranteeing that Virginia would fight all the way to the Supreme Court for the fundamental rights of its people, when many times before, Virginia politicians had stood in the way. He has fought on the side of the people of Virginia every day since.  In case after case, his actions have been upheld, and they have made a real difference in the lives of Virginians.

Tim went on to list 15 different areas in which Mark Herring has brought positive change, ranging from making college more affordable, protecting women's clinic's from closure, addressing campus sexual violence, filing a brief with 22 other attorneys general to defend the Affordable Health Care Act, addressing heroin and prescription drug abuse, defending Virginia's Chesapeake Bay clean up plan, aiding Southwest Virginia landowners in receiving millions of dollars in natural gas royalties, seeking to hold big banks accountable for gambling with state retirement funds, brokering a deal to keep Sweet Briar College open, and establishing the first ethics and gift policy for his office. 

All these positives could be undone if Mark's likely Republican opponent, Del. Bob Bell, a would be Ken Cuccinelli clone, were to be elected in 2017.  On his own website, Bell makes it clear that, like Cuccinelli, his prime concern is pushing through special rights for far right Christians, including license to discriminate laws, diverting public education fund to private interests, unrestricted gun rights, and "states rights" under the 10th Amendment - an argument used throughout Virginia's history to support slavery, the Jim Crow laws, force prayer in schools, and, of course, open discrimination against LGBT Virginians.  Here's a sampling of what Bell's agenda would likely be via his website:

Rob Bell is pro-life.  In their most recent scorecard, he received a 100% rating from the Family Foundation.  

Rob also supports the traditional definition of marriage, and voted for Virginia’s Constitutional marriage amendment. He supports  . . . religious liberty.

Rob supports the ability of parents to make educational choices for their children.  In addition to supporting tax credits for school tuitions, he strongly supports home schooling.  . . .  Rob has repeatedly patroned the “Tebow Bill” to give home schoolers better access to extracurriculars at their local public high school.

Rob also supports school choice for public school students.  In 2012, he co-patroned House Bill 1626 to create tax credits for scholarships for students to attend private schools.  

Moreover, the 10th Amendment specifically states that all powers not delegated to the federal government “are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

In 2010, Rob co-patroned House Bill 10, which opposed the individual mandate in President Barack Obama’s health care law and helped form Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s legal challenge against it. 

Rob is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment which he believes protects right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms for hunting, target shooting, self-defense, and other reasons. Rob is a gun owner, a concealed carry permit holder, an NRA member and a longtime member of the Rivanna Rifle & Pistol Club. He is rated ‘A’ by the NRA.

Rob also supports screening for illegal drugs to receive cash welfare benefits.  He thinks it is a terrible idea to give someone cash if they are addicted to methamphetamine or crack cocaine.

To garner a 100% score with The Family Foundation - a hate group in all but formal designation - Bell voted for a "personhood" bill that, if enacted, would have banned most forms of contraception in Virginia, and supports the closure of women's clinics that are often the sole source of health care for poor women.  He is obliviously an opponent of LGBT rights of any kind and uses the euphemism of religious liberty" to support special rights that place conservative Christians above the law. Similarly, Bell wants to shift public education funds to home schoolers and allow home schoolers on public school sports teams even as they reject the very same school educationally.  Common sense gun laws are anathema to Bell, and he would emulate costly drug testing laws of other states for welfare recipients where such tests have failed to turn up any drug abuse problems on the part of recipients.  Likewise, he opposes expanding health care for working class Virginians without health insurance.

What is remarkable - actually it's not with Christofascists - is that while Bell wears his supposed religiosity on his sleeve, most of his agenda is diametrically the opposite of what the Gospel message would call one to do. 

In short, having Bell in the office of the Attorney General would be a disaster.  Between now and the 2017 elections, be assured I will address this topic more and we have already offered to host one or more fundraisers for Mark Herring at our home. 

Don’t Fall for the GOP’s Over-the-Counter Contraception Racket

As more voters - especially women - wake up the the reality of just how extreme the Republican Party has become and that the party platform is to restrict contraception and to gut the Affordable Health Care Act, some extremist Republican candidates have disingenuously begun to claim that they support over the counter access to some forms of birth control.  These claims, of course, are diametrically opposed to the prior actions and stances.  Facing possible defeat they have done what their Christofascists always do: start lying.  It's the "Christian" thing to do right?  A piece in The Nation looks at this dishonest ploy and the truth about some of these candidates, including Ed Gillespie here in Virginia.  Here are excerpts:

It’s time to call bullshit on the GOP’s embrace of over-the-counter birth control. Several Republican candidates, under fire for radical positions on women’s health, have recently adopted the idea in a naked attempt to woo female voters. These politicians say they’re all in favor of access to contraception. But sudden calls for the pill to be available without a prescription do not signal a real shift in conservative attitudes toward reproductive rights. They simply mask tired opposition to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurers cover birth control.

The list of Republicans that have endorsed the idea includes Senate nominees Cory Gardner (Colorado), Tom Tillis (North Carolina), Ed Gillespie (Virginia) and Mike McFadden (Minnesota). Republicans running for the House have also spoken up for over-the-counter access.

None of these people were championing the proposal before their campaigns. Instead, they were working to limit women’s access to abortion and other healthcare. Gardner, who started the over-the-counter trend in June with an op-ed in The Denver Post, has campaigned for “personhood” measures that would outlaw abortion and possibly some forms of birth control since at least 2006. Early in his campaign Gardner denounced the state-level personhood legislation he’d supported—yet he’s still a co-sponsor on a federal bill that would have the same impact. Gardner has resorted to claiming that bill doesn’t exist.

Then there’s Tom Tillis, who endorsed over-the-counter birth control during a debate with Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan in September. As the top Republican in the state House, Tillis shepherded extreme anti-choice legislation in a decisively dishonest manner, inserting restrictions into unrelated bills like one ostensibly about motorcycle safety. Tillis, like other Republicans trumpeting their support for over-the-counter contraception, opposes not only the ACA’s birth control mandate but the healthcare law in general, which has a range of other benefits for women.

The latest candidate to pivot to contraception when confronted about her record is Joni Ernst, a Senate hopeful in Iowa who supports a personhood amendment as well as criminal prosecution of doctors who provide abortions.

[A]ttempts to block abortion access—for example, by cutting funds for clinics like Planned Parenthood that provide a range of services besides abortion—can have the perverse effect of making it more difficult for women to get other healthcare, birth control included.

Nor is making contraception available without a prescription an alternative to the birth control mandate (or, needless to say, the entire healthcare law). Over-the-counter birth control has support from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a point that several Republican candidates have pointed out when their motives were questioned. Yet the same medical association is quite clear that women still need insurance coverage for contraception. Not all women can or want to take the pill, and other forms of birth control like the IUD are expensive and require a doctor’s appointment. In June, ACOG warned politicians against using calls for over-the-counter contraception “as a political tool.”

That Republicans need such a tool to alter their reputation among women is obvious. . . . why over-the-counter birth control, specifically? It’s a win-win-win for Republicans trying to appeal to female voters, while bashing Obamacare and boosting their free-market street cred. 

To understand why this sudden embrace of “access” is a racket, and a dangerous one, consider Kevin Williamson, National Review’s self-described “roving correspondent.” In a recent post titled “Five Reasons Why You’re Too Dumb to Vote,” Williamson characterizes women who care about preserving access to abortion or the birth control mandate as “women who cannot figure out how to walk into Walgreens, lay down the price of a latte, and walk out with her own birth-control pills, no federal intervention necessary.

When conservatives fight to empower women to make decisions about their own bodies in all cases, regardless of income, then maybe we’ll take them seriously. In the meantime, there’s little of substance in an ideology that promotes birth control without a prescription for some women and hanging for others.

Del. Bob Marshall - Still A Vile individual

I continue to wonder WTF is wrong with voters in Del. Bob Marshall's district that they continue to reelect such a vile and misogynistic  individual the the Virginia House of Delegates.  There seem to be few demographics that Marshall doesn't despise other than white, male conservative Christians.   Worse yet, Marshall makes no apologies for his vile statements and seemingly wears them as a sick badge of honor.  The man needs a serious mental health intervention, not election to public office where he routinely makes Virginia a laughing stock on the national and international stage.  Yet, Marshall remains the true face of the party base of today's Republican Party of Virginia.  The Washington Times looks at Marshall's continued war on women, gays and modernity itself.  Here are excerpts:

Delegate Robert G. Marshall has said that disabled children can be God’s vengeance against women who have had abortions. He has described incest as sometimes voluntary, and he has questioned the sexuality of a Supreme Court justice who has favored marriage equality.

But unlike W. Todd Akin, whose offhanded reference to “legitimate rape” cost the GOP a winnable Senate seat from Missouri in 2012, Mr. Marshall is unbowed over his history of controversial rhetoric as he seeks a seat in Congress representing Northern Virginia.

“I don’t care. I mean, if I say something in public, I say it in public,” Mr. Marshall said Thursday.

Democrats, who have built dossiers aggregating the delegate’s more outrageous statements from recent years, have been salivating at the prospect of his emergence from a GOP primary field this month seeking to replace retiring Rep. Frank R. Wolf.

Unlike Mr. Akin, who appeared to be speaking extemporaneously when he said women’s bodies know how to “shut down” pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape,” Mr. Marshall’s comments aren’t gaffes.

“For all I know, [Justice Anthony] Kennedy’s a homosexual,” he said. “You can’t be doing some of these things without this kind of conclusion.”  Like many of his other comments, Mr. Marshall stands by it.  “Clearly, some of the people who are making these decisions must be rationalizing their own bad behavior,” he said Thursday.

In 2010, at an event calling for an end to state funding for Planned Parenthood, Mr. Marshall suggested that women who have abortions are more likely to face “vengeance” from “nature” in children with a greater likelihood of having developmental disabilities.

The author of a 1989 Boston Globe column asked him about his opposition to all abortion — even in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. Mr. Marshall, then the research director for the American Life League, posed a baffling question of his own in response.  “What if incest is voluntary?” Mr. Marshall said. “Sometimes it is.”

Although only scant polling has been conducted in his current race, Mr. Marshall says he thinks he has solid support in the April 26 firehouse primary — a contest in which he is working to leverage his outsider status.

I hope Marshall gets the nomination and then goes down in total defeat.  The sooner Marshall is forced into permanent political retirement, the better off Virginians and Virginia will be.  

Will Obenshain and the Republicans Steal the AG Election?

Jeff Shapiro, political columnist for the Richmond Times Dispatch that looks at the frightening manner in which Ken Cuccinelli clone, Mark Obenshain, and Republican members of the Virginia General Assembly may yet steal Mark Herrings victory in the race for Virginia Attorney General.  One can hope that these individuals will not try to overthrow the popular vote, but given their eagerness to disenfranchise voters through voter ID laws and other machination, I for one do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the honesty or integrity of Obenshain in particular and the Virginia GOP in general.  The fact that the party's base now consists of a mix of religious extremists, white supremacists, homophobes and anti-women factions doesn't suggest a party that values the will of the general public or the rights of others.  Here are highlights from Shapiro's column:

Republican Mark Obenshain is trailing Democrat Mark Herring for attorney general by 164 votes. Obenshain could win with as few as 71 — with not a single one cast by an ordinary Virginian. It is a nuclear option that takes the election out of the hands of the electorate.

Obenshain could initiate what state law calls a “contest” in which the 140-member legislature decides the attorney generalship by a majority vote. That would be a minimum of 71. They shouldn’t be too difficult for Obenshain to round up. There are 87 Republican legislators. Many of them don’t like one bit that their party could be completely shut out of statewide office.

A contest would be high-risk. Democrats would almost certainly accuse Obenshain of stealing the election, having overridden the popular vote in an increasingly blue state. A contest also could be high reward. Obenshain would cement his status as his party’s titular leader and its likely gubernatorial nominee in 2017. But the big issue that year would probably be Obenshain’s scheming four years earlier.

Obenshain’s advisers are not saying what he will do. . . . . Continuing Republican fundraising by, among others, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the defeated candidate for governor, suggests that Obenshain is preparing for any eventuality.

On Monday, the Virginia elections board will certify Herring as the winner by what apparently is the closest margin ever in a statewide election here: 164 votes. At that point, Obenshain could request a recount at taxpayer expense, run by a Richmond court.

The supervising judge could be Brad Cavedo, chief judge of the city’s Circuit Court. He has a special tie to Obenshain. Cavedo, once a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, was the driver and confidant of Obenshain’s storied father, Dick, and was one of the last people to see alive the Republican U.S. Senate nominee before he died in a plane crash in Chesterfield County on Aug. 2, 1978.

Mark Obenshain could go through a recount — though it’s not required to seek a contest — hoping it does what no modern recount has done in Virginia: reverse the outcome of the election.

Then, having endured the recount — a process likely to drag into the countdown hours to Christmas — Obenshain would have political to launch a contest in the General Assembly. He could say he is taking this extraordinary step to ensure every vote is counted.  More to the point: that every one of Obenshain’s votes is counted . . . . 

The legislature serves as a court, hearing evidence and rendering a judgment.  And it would be a court that, if only because of the preponderance of a particular party label, presumably would be very friendly to Obenshain.

Do we really want a man who is willing to steal an election as the top attorney for the Commonwealth?  If Obenshain would do this, what else would he do in office.  I find the prospect nothing short of frightening. Today's GOP has turly become something toxic and dangerous.  The women of Virginia in particular should be terrified by the prospect of Obenshain stealing the election.

Election Eve Poll: GOP Ticket is Losing

Public Policy Polling is out with its final poll and the results are encouraging.  However, it is important that voters who oppose theocracy, the subordination of women, the disenfranchisement of minorities and institutionalized homophobia get out tomorrow and make sure that the extreme GOP ticket goes down in flames.  I for one want to see Ken Cuccinelli lose by double digits.  This is Virginia's opportunity to make a loud statement that the poltics of greed, racism, and religious extremism simply are not welcome.  Blue Virginia summarizes the PPP results:

*For Governor, Terry McAuliffe leads 50%-43% over Ken Cuccinelli, with Robert Sarvis fading (as most third-party candidates do in the end) to just 4%.

*For Lt. Governor, Ralph Northam is beating EW Jackson by 13 points (52%-39%). I find it disturbing that there are 39% of Virginia likely voters who would be willing to vote for this extremist huckster. Should be more like 3.9%.

*In the AG's race, Mark Herring's up over Cuccinelli clone Mark Obenshain, but not by much, at 47%-45%. The problem here, in my view, is that a lot of voters STILL don't realize how extreme Obenshain is, in large part because Obenshain's run a campaign that has obfuscated his views/votes (e.g., supporting a bill that would have made miscarriage a crime reportable to the police within 24 hours; supporting "personhood" legislation that would outlaw abortion and many forms of contraception; being anti-environment and  anti-background-checks; etc.) and even outright lied about them. All voters need to do to confirm these facts is about 15 minutes of using Google. But will they? If they do, then Obenshain should by all rights lose tomorrow by as large a margin as E.W. Jackson.

Turn out is critical and those who are complacent and lazy may rue the day that sat at home if somehow they allow this extremist GOP ticket to pull of an upset.  Go out and vote tomorrow!!

New Ads Focus on Mark Obenshain's Extremism

While I despise most everything about him, I will concede that GOP attorney general candidate Mark Obenshain has run a slick, although thoroughly dishonest campaign.  He has done everything possible to try to fool voters into thinking he's moderate on issues rather than the Ken Cuccinelli clone that he is in reality.  Thankfully, a new ad is set to run that will help inform voters that Obenshain does not work to "protect" Virginians as he claims and instead has backed policies and bills that aid violent criminals, especially those seeking easy access to guns.  Here are highlights from a piece at Politico:

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s super PAC is launching a $1 million ad blitz in the final week of the Virginia Attorney General’s race, focusing on Republican nominee Mark Obenshain’s record on guns in a saturation-level television buy.

The spending comes on top of nearly $2 million that Bloomberg has laid down in the Washington television market in negative spots against Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli . . .

And it creates a dynamic of Bloomberg directly going up against the National Rifle Association, which launched spots attacking the New York mayor shortly after his Independence USA PAC started reserving air time for the anti-Cuccinelli spots last week.

The Bloomberg spot broadly paints Obenshain as a hard-right candidate, using his support six years ago as a state senator for a so-called “personhood” amendment and pivoting to a vote against background checks at gun shows.

“Here are few things Mark Obenshain tried to outlaw,” the narrator of the ad says. “Birth control pills. Women choosing to have an abortion, even in the case of rape or incest.”

The ad goes on: “But when it comes to actual criminals, Obenshain voted to let convicted felons avoid background checks at gun shows, and voted to repeal the one gun a month law, meaning criminals could buy guns in bulk. Instead of dictating to women, Virginia needs an Attorney General who cracks down on real criminals.”

“Virginia has now become a major battleground with the NRA in the fight over sensible gun safety legislation,” said Independence USA PAC spokesman Stu Loeser.  The NRA is reportedly spending about $500,000 to air an ad against Herring in Virginia.

Obenshain, despite his grossly dishonest campaign, is a far right radical.  His votes on a personhood bill, his bill to criminalize women who have miscarriages and his record on guns all paint a stark picture of the real Mark Obenshain.

Herring Ad Highlights What VA Newspapers Are Saying About Mark Obenshain

Earlier I wrote about GOP Attorney General candidates lies and conniption fits about Mark Herring's ads that highlight Obenshain's true record.   And that record has been published by leading newspapers around Virginia, so it is not just something that has been fabricated by the Herring campaign.  I will be candid.  I have no use whatsoever for liars and hypocrites.  Obenshain's documented history shows that he is an extremist who is out to keep Virginia's women a subservient class that lacks the right to make decisions relating to their own bodies.  His reaction and despicable ad claiming that Mark Herring is "lying" about Obenshain's record confirms that the liar in this picture is Obenshain.  When he was backing all of these extreme, anti-women bills and proposed amendments, perhaps Obenshain should have though how those outside of his far right senate district would view his actions.   Blue Virginia quotes the Herring campaign on its effort to expose the real Mark Obenshain:

"Our latest ad highlights what news organizations are saying about Mark Obenshain - that he is going to continue Ken Cuccinelli's ideological agenda, focused on telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies," said Kevin O'Holleran, campaign manager for Democratic candidate for Attorney General Mark Herring. "Virginians are tired of the extreme Tea Party approach of Mark Obenshain and Ken Cuccinelli. Mark Herring will take the politics out of the office and put the law - and Virginians - first."

One can only assume that Obenshain believes that Virginian's are so stupid that they will believe his false shrieks of "lies" when his track record and extreme agenda is in full view for anyone who makes even a slight effort to check it out.  Obenshain is nasty individual and sadly an all too typical "godly Christian" liar.

Richmond Times Dispatch's Disingenous Endorsement of Obenshain

In the prior post it was noted that the Richmond Times Dispatch chose to endorse no candidate for governor of Virginia.  Moreover, in the process of deciding to endorse no candidate, the Times Dispatch raked Ken Cuccinelli over the coals citing in particular his extremism on women's reproductive health rights and gay marriage.  Yet in the next breath, the editorial board endorses Mark Obenshain for Virginia Attorney General even though (i) Obenshain's positions on women and gays is IDENTICAL to those of Cuccinelli and (ii) Obenshain has said he would model his conduct as Attorney General on that of Ken Cuccinelli.  One can only wonder whether the Times Dispatch editorial board (i) is on mind altering drugs and/or is suffering from amnesia in respect to Obenshain's legislative record, (ii) feels compelled to endorse at least one Republican (the Times Dispatch endorsed Ralph Northam for Lt. Governor), or (iii) simply isn't thinking clearly because their heads are so far up their asses.  It is simply intellectually dishonest to dish Cuccinelli yey then endorse his clone in the form of Obenshain.  Has the editorial board forgotten:

1. That Obenshain backed the very same "personhood" bill that was championed by Cuccinelli.  In the context of Cuccinelli, the editorial board said "we remain troubled by Cuccinelli’s approach to personhood and to regulations on clinics."  Hello!  How can you be concerned by Cuccinelli yet endorse Obenshain? 

2. Obenshain introduced legislation that would have mandated a year in prison and a $2500 fine for any woman who had a miscarriage without a doctor present who failed to report the miscarriage to the police within 24 hours.  Do editorial board members have their heads so far up their asses that they do not comprehend the extreme nature of this bill?

3. Obensahin are birds of a feather on the views of gays and same sex marriage.  Indeed, Obenshain walked out of the Virginia Senate rather than vote to affirm Tracy Thorne-Begland for a judgeship.  Why? Because the eminently qualified Thorne-Begland is gay.

I am sorry, but a tawdry whore is more honest that the Richmond Times Dispatch editorial board when it comes to endorsing Mark Obenshain.

Mark Obenshain: a Self-Described Successor to Cuccinelli; Vote for Mark Herring

GOP attorney general candidate Mark Obenshain has continued to run extremely disingenuous folksy and family focused ads seeking to foll Virginians into falsely believing that he's a nice guy.  What Virginians really need to know is that Obenshain has himself said he would be a successor to Ken Cuccinelli's extreme ideological agenda if elected to the office of attorney general.  Like Cuccinelli, Obenshain supports a personhood amendment and introduced a bill to criminalize women having miscarriages who failed to notify police within 24 hours.  It doesn't get much more extreme.  If gays, women,  minorities and non-climate change deniers want more of Cuccinelli's lunacy and efforts to police their bedrooms, then Obenshain is their man.  On the other hand, if you support individual freedoms, modernity and rational though as opposed to religious extremism, then you need to get out and vote for Mark Herring.  Moreover, you need to encourage everyone you know to vote for Herring as well.  The Washington Post looks at the real Obenshain, which ought to make sane individuald run screaming away from him.  Here are highlights:

The race to succeed Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II pits a Republican who has been philosophically in step with the incumbent against a Democrat who says he’d head in the opposite direction.

State Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) faces Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun) in the low-profile but consequential contest.

The attorney general’s race is always overshadowed by the one for governor, and this year’s slugfest between the departing Cuccinelli (R) and Democrat Terry McAuliffe (D) has had no trouble dominating the Virginia political scene. 

But the attorney general’s race will decide who serves as the commonwealth’s top lawyer, presiding over a 400-employee public law firm that reviews, interprets and defends Virginia law. The contest also could help determine who’s at the top of the ticket four years from now, given that the last six attorneys general have run for governor . . .

On the campaign trail, as in the ornate Senate chamber, they have had sharp philosophical disagreements on matters ranging from Medicaid expansion to gay rights. 

Herring, also a lawyer in private practice, has sought to make the campaign largely about Cuccinelli, a social conservative who developed a national reputation for his battles against the federal government, a university climate scientist and a public colleges with policies that protect gay people from discrimination. Herring has said that Obenshain is likely to take the attorney general’s office further down that activist path, one that he says has made Virginia a less appealing place to do business.

“Time and again, he has bent and twisted the law and misused and abused the power of the office in order to advance personal ambition and an extreme ideological agenda,” Herring said of Cuccinelli in the debate. “Senator Obenshain would be a continuation of what we’ve got.”

When it comes to his own record, Herring has highlighted his sponsorship of legislation to strengthen penalties in domestic violence cases . . . . . He has also stressed his support for a $1.4 billion-a-year transportation funding overhaul passed this year, which Obenshain opposed.

Those in Hampton Roads and Noerhtern Virginia should be most concerned about Obenshain's anti-transportation mind set.  As in the gubernatorial race, the choice could not be more stark.  Obenshain's base consists of  those motivated by reaction against modernity, reaction against racial demographic change, reaction against the larger population’s rejection of a fear- and hate-based version of Christianity, and reaction against the decline of white privilege.  We need Mark Herring, not Mark Obenshain to be the next attorney general of Virginia.

Ken Cuccinelli Is Lying About His Anti-Woman Agenda

Cuccinelli's solution to abortion

No one tells bigger lies or lies more frequently than the self-anointed "godly Christian" crowd who seek to impose their fear and hate based religious views on all of society.  The folks I call the Christofascists.  Seemingly, the end justifies the means, so truth, veracity and basic honesty are quickly thrown out the window.  In the 2013 Virginia elections, we are seeing it constantly as the Virginia GOP's slate of Ken Cuccinelli, "Bishop" E.W. Jackson, and Mark Obenshain lie over and over again about their past extremist actions and statements.   In the gubernatorial race, Cuccinelli is shrieking that McAuliffe ads that slam Cuccinelli's anti-woman agenda, including his support for a "personhood" amendment that would have outlawed all abortions and many forms of birth control are "untrue."  Of course, the ads ARE true and that's what really has Cuccinelli's panties in such a wad.  He already trails by a large double digit deficit with women voters and, if more truly understand his agenda, the deficit will soar even more.  A piece in Blue Virginia looks at Cuccinelli's disingenuous crocodile tears.  Here are a few highlights:

You know, for years I've heard that although Ken Cuccinelli might be an extremist, nuts, and all that, he was: a) an ace politician, particularly at the "retail" level; and b) very, very smart. Then 2013 came along, and "a" pretty much went down the tubes, as Cuccinelli has run an inept, flailing, and ultimately LOSING campaign for governor. As for "b," you've really got to wonder when you read stuff like this.

Virginia state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli accused former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe of lying about his record on women's issues... "Take birth control, my opponent is flat out lying and he knows he's lying," said Cuccinelli of a new ad McAuliffe's campaign is running in the Virginia governor's race. "I do not support government playing a role in adults' choices about contraception. Just don't, period. Haven't in the past, he would like to say that I have, but I haven't. And I'm committing to not doing that in the future."

OK, so there are two possibilities here, neither flattering to Cuccinelli. Possibility #1 is that he's just lying through his teeth, knows full well that he's lying through his teeth, and just doesn't care. In other words, he'll say ANYTHING to get elected. . . . .  but Cuccinelli's a "true believer" type, so I tend to think he actually might have convinced himself that he's telling the truth on this.

Which, of course, he's not. As Chris Cillizza notes in his article (which should have just outright stated that Cuccinelli is lying, but of course didn't, because that would be...uh, real journalism or something), the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said about Cuccinelli's "personhood" legislation that it "could limit women's access to preventative health care and contraception, including birth control medication." Don't believe the American Congress of Obestetricians and Gynecologists? Well then, fine, here's what Cooch's actual constitutional amendment said:

"That life begins at the moment of fertilization and the right to enjoyment of life guaranteed by Article 1, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia is vested in each born and preborn human being from the moment of fertilization."

Adding to the Virginia constitution that "the right to enjoyment of life" is "vested in each born and preborn human being from the moment of fertilization" clearly would do several things. 

*First, it would criminalize abortion at any stage, for any reason (including rape or incest).
*Second, it would criminalize embryonic stem cell research.
*Third, it could criminalize in-vitro fertilization.
*And finally, it would criminalize several popular forms of contraception such as birth control pills and IUDs. 

None of this is a secret, by the way . . . . [A]s the top-rated comment on Chris Cillizza's article puts it: "Does he really not understand anything about science?...He's either lying or stupid, neither of which are qualities I want in a governor."

Cuccinelli may be insane (at least in my opinion), but he's not stupid.  For years he has pandered to the ultra extremists at The Family Foundation and pushed their Christofascist agenda, which includes a jihad against gays, abortion and contraception.  He's lived in the far right bubble for too long and now is hitting the brink wall of the media and the McAuliffe campaign quoting his past statements and legislative history.  Indeed, had the media been as thorough with its coverage of his actions in the Virginia Senate, he may never have been elected as Attorney General in the first place.   Virginians - especial women - need to know the real Ken Cuccinelli.  Once they do, his campaign will be toast no matter how much he tries to lie.

McAuliffe Widens Lead Over Cuccinelli Ahead of Debate

UPDATED: In follow up to the first version of this post, a new Washington Post/Abt-SRBI poll puts Terry McAuliffe's lead over Ken Cuccinelli even larger that reported in the NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll.  Here are highlights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in a Virginia governor’s race that has left many voters sour on both candidates, according to a new Washington Post/Abt-SRBI poll.

McAuliffe leads 47 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis’ 10 percent suggesting an unrest among voters not satisfied with either major-party contender.

The shift in the race has come almost exclusively from women voters, who prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli. The candidates were effectively tied among women in Washington Post poll in May.

McAuliffe’s strength among women is likely due in part to an intense campaign to portray Cuccinelli as a threat to women and the issues they might care about most deeply. A new McAuliffe ad, for instance, features a Norfolk OB-GYN speaking directly to the camera about how she is “offended” by Cuccinelli’s position on abortion rights.

The challenge for Cuccinelli is stark: Nearly half of all voters view him unfavorably, and they trust his opponent as much as or more than him on every major issue, according to the poll.

While the poll trends are encouraging, Cuccinelli not only needs to be defeated, but defeated in a landslide.  All efforts to motivate and turn out likely Democrat voters need to remain in high gear.

Like most Virginians, I am exhausted from this year's mud slinging gubernatorial race pitting the GOP's closeted and insane Ken Cuccinelli against Democrat Terry McAuliffe.  As my latest column in the September issue of VEER Magazine stated, McAuliffe may not be my dream candidate, but compared to sodomy law and personhood bill supporting Ken Cuccinelli, McAuliffe is the better choice for numerous reasons.  Apparently, other Virginians are beginning to draw a similar conclusion.  A new NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll shows McAuliffe with a five point lead over Cuccinelli.  Ten percent of voters polled are "undecided," so it is critical that efforts not let up in turning out voters to vote for a straight Democrat ticket on November 5, 2013.  Here are highlights from NBC Channel 4 in Washington on the poll findings:

Fueled by support with women and better likability ratings, Democrat Terry McAuliffe leads Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli 43-38 percent, with Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis at 8 percent among likely voters in the Virginia governor's race, a new NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll out Monday finds.

The poll of 546 likely voters and 1,069 registered voters, conducted from Sept. 17 to 19, comes two days before a debate between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli sponsored by NBC4 Washington and the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and moderated by NBC News Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director Chuck Todd.

After a summer of mudslinging and negative campaign ads, neither candidate is well liked, but Cuccinelli has taken a bigger hit. Just 34 percent of registered voters view Cuccinelli favorably, while 47 percent say they have an unfavorable impression of him. Back in May, it was the reverse – 42 favorable, 27 percent unfavorable.

McAuliffe, on the other hand, is on the positive side – 41 favorable, 34 percent negative – though those unfavorable numbers are up 10 points as more people have gotten to know the former Democratic National Committee chairman under Bill Clinton and party fundraiser.

Sarvis may be something of an outlet for disaffected Republican voters who are calling themselves independents. With the national GOP brand suffering, there has been a trend nationally and in Virginia that more Republicans are identifying as independents. Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012, after all, won independents, but lost the election.

Between now and election day, I hope more voters learn about Cuccinelli's improper assistance to energy companies against Virginia landowners, his support for a personhood amendment that would criminalize all abortions and many forms of contraception, his desire to change divorce laws to favor fathers against women, and his extremism on other social issues, including employment protections for gay employees.

U.S. Senate Unanimously Confirms Gay Judge; Mark Obenshain Walked Out Rather Than Vote for Gay

Obenshain with certifiable loon "Bishop" Jackson, the GOP Lt. Governor nominee

Watching Mark Obenshain's disingenuous campaign ads is enough to make me vomit.  Obenshain claims to be mainstream and conveniently fails to mention his support for a "personhood" amendment to Virginia's constitution that would make a fertilized egg a full citizen from the moment of conception - even though so many are naturally spontaneously miscarried.  Similarly, he fails to mention his goal to send women to jail for a year if they miscarried and failed to notify local police officials within 24 hours - seemingly so that the police could investigate to insure that the woman had done nothing to somehow induce the miscarriage.  And then there's his virulent homophobia.  When Tracy Thorne-Begland's confirmation for a District Court judgeship went before the Virginia General Assembly, Obenshain walked out of the Virginia Senate rather than vote for a gay person.  The extremism of this action was underscored today when the U. S. Senate unanimously approved Todd Hughes’ nomination to be a judge on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on a 98-0 vote.    Blue Virginia sums up Obenshain's glaring anti-gay bigotry:

Another day, yet another example of how far out of the mainstream Republican Attorney General nominee Mark "Criminalize Miscarriages" Obenshain is, even by the standards of hard-core conservatives. First, check this out:

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Todd Hughes' nomination to be a judge on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on a 98-0 vote, making him the first out gay federal appellate judge in the nation's history.

Among those 98 Senators voting "yea" on the nomination of an openly gay judge were: Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, James Inhofe, Mitch McConnell, and assorted other ultra conservatives. 

Now, contrast that with what happened when an openly gay judge was up for a confirmation vote in the Virginia State Senate. That's right, Mark Obenshain walked out of the Virginia Senate, rather than sully himself by voting on the nomination of a gay judge. In other words, when it comes to LGBT equality, Mark Obenshain is so far out of the mainstream that he wouldn't even do what Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, James Inhofe, and Mitch McConnell were capable of doing earlier today - voting on an openly gay judge's nomination, and even (gasp!) voting "yea!" It says a great deal, none of it good, about Mark Obenshain.

And one needs to remember that Obenshain voted in 2011 to allow discrimination against gay and lesbian employees in Commonwealth of Virginia departments and agencies.  In 2011, Obenshain also voted against letting state Virginia government workers share health benefits with their same-sex partners. 

On election day, those who care about women's rights and gay rights need to make sure they go out and vote for Mark Herring for Attorney General.  We do NOT need or want Mark Obenshain in the AG's office.  The prospect of Obenshain as Attorney General is nothing short of scary.

 

New Mark Herring Ad Focuses on Obenshain's Horrific Miscarriage Bill

Throughout the 2013 Virginia statewide campaign Mark Obenshain has been shamelessly and disingenuously seeking to depict himself as a moderate who holds mainstream views.  Of course, for those who have followed Obenshain's career in the Virginia General Assembly, nothing could be more far from the truth.  Obenshain is every bit as extreme as his ticket mates, Ken Cuccinelli and "Bishop" E. W. Jackson.  Democrat Attorney General candidate Mark Herring has unveiled a new ad that seeks to educate Virginia voters as to the full extent of Obenshain's extremism which is perhaps best typified by the bill he introduced which would have subjected women having miscarriage to jail time if they failed to report their miscarriage to local police withing 24 hours.  Here are details on Mark Herring's very important ad via his campaign web site:

In a new, emotionally-packed web ad, a Virginia family reacts to Mark Obenshain’s politically-driven measure that would force families going through the trauma of a miscarriage to report that miscarriage to the police. The ad features Virginians Lorilie and James Neckel from Leesburg sharing their deeply personal story of trying to build their family for five years and the torment they would have experienced if Senator Mark Obenshain’s callous bill had become law.

“When I read that Obenshain sponsored this bill requiring women to register a miscarriage with the police, I just thought that was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard; it blew my mind,” said Lorilie Neckel. “To even think of trying to go through an investigation at that time is just ridiculous.”

“At that time in our life, it was very personal issues that we were dealing with and it was very hard times. I couldn’t imagine Lorilie being treated as a criminal going through this time,” said Lorilie’s husband, James Neckel. “I can’t believe someone would sponsor a bill like this for political gain. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Senator Mark Obenshain has pushed a truly radical record in the General Assembly without considering its effects on Virginians,” said Democratic candidate for Attorney General Mark Herring. “For Mark Obenshain, it's all about pushing his own personal political views onto others. His record is totally out of the mainstream and when Virginians find out more about his record, there is no way they will support his brand of radical politics.”

A recent internal polling memo shows that Mark Obenshain’s bill to force women to report miscarriages to the police is so unpalatable that it will sink his campaign. The memo shows that the race moves from a toss-up to an eight-point lead for Herring after voters hear about Obenshain’s record of assault on women’s health issues.

Mark Obenshain’s campaign is based on avoiding his radical right-wing record on social issues because he knows that his record is far outside of the Virginia mainstream. His record includes one of the strongest anti-women legislative agendas in Virginia history:

• Led the charge to stop the campus health center at James Madison University from dispensing emergency contraceptive pills. [The Washington Post, 04/24/03; Richmond Times Dispatch, 04/22/03; The Washington Post, 04/24/03; Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, 02/18/04]

• Voted in 2004, along with Ken Cuccinelli, to defeat “a ‘contraception is not abortion’ bill. [SB 456, 2004]

• Co-Patroned the “Personhood” bill that would outlaw all abortion and many common forms of birth control. [HB 2797, 2007; SB 1207, 2011]

• Voted in 2012 for a “Personhood” bill that would criminalize contraception. [HB 1, 2012]

• Introduced in 2009 a bill that would require women to report miscarriages to police within 24 hours. [SB 962, 2009]

• Mark Obenshain voted in favor of the 2012 transvaginal ultrasound bill, calling it “common sense legislation.” [HB 462, 2012; SB 484; World Virginia, 2/08/12]

• Sponsored a 2012 bill to outlaw abortions after twenty weeks, also known as the Virginia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act or Fetal Pain Act. [SB 637, 2012

Virginians need to know the truth about Mark Obenshain.  His agenda for Virginia is truly frightening.

Mark Obenshain Bill to Criminalize Miscarriages Drags Him Down

Mark Obenshain with con-artist/lunatic E. W. Jackson

Mark Obenshain is running hard - not for Attorney General but rather from his own legislative record.  Among the things Obenshain doesn't want voters to know about are (i) that he sponsored a so-called "personhood" bill that would have outlawed many forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization, and (ii) that he sponsored a bill that would have criminalized women who had miscarriages and failed to report the miscarriage to the local police within 24 hours.  It goes with out saying that Democrat Attorney General candidate Mark Herring believes voters need to know Obenshain's true record.  A record that when not pandering for votes, Obenshain still supports 100% as do his Christofascist masters at The Family Foundation.  A new poll by the Herring campaign shows just how toxic Obenshain's true record is wityh voters.  Here are some highlights:

According to the findings from our recent survey1, it is crystal clear that though he may try to reframe his extremist record, Republican Mark Obenshain will have a hard time doing so. 

 

After voters are presented with information about Obenshain’s sponsorship of a bill that forces women to report miscarriages to the police, the race moves against him, with Herring capturing majority support and leading, 52 to 44 percent.

 

Indeed, among the strongest attacks against Obenshain is his authorship of a miscarriage registry, which would force women who have a miscarriage to register with police within 24 hours or risk going to prison2.  Besides this message’s obvious salience and the doubts it creates about Obenshain, it also has the overall effect of joining Obenshain hip-to-hip with E.W. Jackson and Ken Cuccinelli, a ticket already seen as among the most extreme in Virginia’s history.

Obenshain can try to run from his past actions, but Herring and many others will do all possible to educate voters on the real Obenshain, not the phony image being paraded for uninformed voters. 

 

Conservative Columnist: Cuccinelli Isn’t a Good Fit For Virginia

The Virginia Republican Party increasingly lives in some bizarre alternate universe dominated by Fox News, the heinous theocrats at The Family Foundation, strident gun rights advocates, Tea Party Neanderthals, and those from backward areas of Virginia.  The result?  The most extreme - dare we say insane? - GOP statewide ticket in Virginia's history.  And the ticket increasingly seems to be anathema to Virginia's most populous regions.  Everyone but one of Hampton Roads' seven mayors has endorsed Terry McAuliffe for Governor.   And Ken Cuccinelli seemingly is growing ever more toxic in Northern Virginia, especially among women voters.  As noted many times, Cuccinelli and his extreme ticket mates need to lose in November and lose big.  It may be the only thing that will save the Republican Party of Virginia in the longer term.  Jennifer Rubin (not always one of my favorite columnists) slams Cuccinelli in an op-ed in the Washington Post.  Here are highlights:

The polls show it. The shakeup in his campaign staff confirms it. Republican Ken Cuccinelli is losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race.

Sometimes when things aren’t going well, a campaign reorganization can help. But more often, it is just a case of rearranging deck chairs. The problem in Cuccinelli’s case is not who does what task in the campaign but rather the candidate’s inability to connect with voters beyond his hard-core base.

Cuccinelli has spent so much time attacking Democrat Terry McAuliffe — who, granted, is a juicy target — that he has failed to make himself the better alternative. McAuliffe may be a shady businessman, many voters concede, but why would Cuccinelli be any better as governor? He hasn’t answered that question.

Cuccinelli’s problems are exacerbated by McAuliffe’s sharp and omnipresent campaign aimed at women in Northern Virginia. The TV ads bombard voters with the message that Cuccinelli is hostile or indifferent to the concerns of today’s Virginia voters. Democratic ads slam him for opposing the Violence Against Women Act, opposing abortion even in cases of incest or rape, encouraging civil disobedience to oppose the Obamacare birth-control mandate (a view which Dems cast as anti-contraception) and championing a controversial “personhood” bill.

[O]nce elected, is he going to focus on his highly divisive agenda, one that obviously animates him? Cuccinelli hasn’t given them any assurance (e.g. I think Virginia has enough laws on the books). This in part explains the double-digit gap Cuccinelli faces with women.

The Star Scientific scandal also has been a drag on Cuccinelli, highlighted by his decision to give $18,000 (the value of disputed gifts) to charity. But the problem is broader than that.

Cuccinelli isn’t coming across as very likable or relatable. Opinionated? Yes. Experienced? Yes (voters say he’s got enough government service). But how does he do on the critical question of whether voters believe he really cares, if you will, about people like them (the key question on which Mitt Romney lost, 80 percent to 20 percent, against Obama)? Poorly.

Cuccinelli’s hard edges and confrontational approach appeal to national conservatives but are generally a turn-off in Virginia.

It’s unclear whether Cuccinelli can or will change that perception. He is, after all, hard-edged and confrontational. He is as anti-abortion as a politician can be without banning abortions altogether. He will fight with the Obama administration. Coming across as something different at this stage may only lead to claims of opportunism.

Cuccinelli supporters say McAuliffe is just as bad, in his own way. But he doesn’t come across as such to the average, non-ideological voter. . . . These days average voters, especially in Virginia, are in no mood for pols preaching ideology at a fever pitch.

This is a long way of saying that Cuccinelli isn’t a good fit for areas of the state with the most people. Maybe he can finally breakthrough, but for now McAuliffe is looking to voters like the lesser of the two evils.

Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson Tell Crowd They’re "Running Together"

I have long maintained that Ken Cuccinelli is just as insane and extreme as "Bishop" E. W. Jackson, the only difference between the two being that Jackson is less discrete about voicing his batshitery outside of closed events beyond the media's view.  Over the weekend, however, Cuccinelli and Jackson appeared together at with Mark "Miscarriage is Abortion" Obenshain near Roanoke and any illusions being spread that these three extremists are not one in the same in mindset out to be totally dispelled.  The Washington Post captured the true picture of this ticket.  Here are highlights:

Republicans Ken Cuccinelli II and E.W. Jackson this weekend disputed the notion that their respective campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor are not working together.

Cuccinelli, the sitting attorney general, and Jackson, a Chesapeake minister, sounded a message of unity and cooperation at a breakfast event Saturday near Roanoke. State Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), who is running for attorney general, also attended.

“Would you please greet a man who I have the utmost faith in and honor for,” Jackson said as he introduced Cuccinelli, according to audio posted on YouTube. “We are friends. We are working together. Don’t believe the rumors. We’re working together.”

Cuccinelli told the audience,“It’s great to be here with the whole ticket. As E.W. said, we’re running together. We’re running hard.”

After keeping the outspoken Jackson at a distance and stressing economic themes meant to attract independent voters, Cuccinelli is moving to shore up his conservative tea party base, the observers say.  

After the event, Cuccinelli tweeted photos of himself, Jackson and Obenshain.  “@KenCuccinelli: Had a great time in Salem this morning at the GOP Breakfast with the Republican ticket!” he tweeted.

Anyone who seriously believes that jobs and Virginia's economy are Cuccinelli's top agenda is either insane or on mind altering drugs.   This trio's whole agenda boils down to social issues and dragging Virginia back when gays had to be in the closet to survive, all abortions were illegal (even in cases of rape), and women were chattel property of their husbands.  As for minorities, they are expected to know their place, shut up and do as they were told by their white betters.  Jackson may be black, but for power and elective office, he is apparently willing to sell his soul.
 

Virginian Pilot: Mark Herring for Attorney General

 

I have written a number of posts about the Virginia Attorney General race that pits the GOP nominee, extremist Mark Obenshain against Democrat nominee Mark Herring.   In my view, there's no contest in determining that Mark Herring is the far superior candidate.  Apparently, the Virginian Pilot editorial board felt the same way as it endorsed Mark Herring for Attorney General and in doing so cited some of Obenshain's extremism that I described in an editorial at LGBTQ Nation that can be found here.  As I noted in the op-ed, if one knows Obenshain's background and voting record in the Virginia General Assembly, he is every bit as extreme and – I would argue insane – as GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli and GOP Lt. Governor candidate “Bishop” E. W. Jackson.  Here are highlights from the Pilot's endorsement of Herring:

The record reflects Herring is better suited for the job.

Obenshain has developed a reputation in the Senate during the past nine years as a legislator who favors ideology over the common interest. That approach has led him to support proposals that tread on shaky legal ground: granting legal rights at conception, mandating photo identification to cast a ballot and gerrymandering Senate district boundaries in an off year, for example.

Herring fought each of those measures and has increasingly established himself as a socially liberal, fiscally pragmatic voice.

Unlike Obenshain, Herring supports expansion of Medicaid and voted for the bipartisan transportation-funding package that has become Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell's crowning achievement. He has reversed his position on gay marriage, favoring repeal of the constitutional amendment that he supported in 2006 as a freshman senator. He has noted that his job, if he is elected attorney general, would require him to try in good faith to find a basis to defend the amendment's legality, a duty that he has pledged to fulfill.

Herring also supports legislative efforts to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and opposes further restrictions on abortion. He has repeatedly suggested Obenshain is of the same mold as Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor, who has championed conservative social causes and relished fighting the federal government.

[T]he contrast between the two candidates - in judgment, in legal analysis, in priorities - couldn't be clearer. Herring is the better choice to be Virginia's next attorney general.

P.S. For non-Virginians, until the nomination of the current GOP statewide slate, Mike Farris was the most extreme candidate ever nominated in Virginia.  As for the Duggars, they are a virtual baby factory and, in my opinion, more than just a little unhinged.  And Obenshain calls these nutcases his "good friends."  Need I say more?

 

Ken Cuccinelli’s - And Mark Obenshain's - "Personhood" Problem

There is some sweet divine justice in seeing Ken Cuccinelli's extremism popping up to bite him in the ass.  The same goes for GOP attorney general candidate Mark Obenshain who is just as extreme as Cuccinelli even though Obenshain is striving desperately to put on a charade and convince Virginians that he's a moderate rather the far right religious extremist that he is in fact.  And one of the issues that continues to dog both of these unsavory candidates is their support for "personhood" laws in Virginia which would not only ban all abortions but also ban many forms of contraception and in vitro fertilization.  The Washington Post has an editorial that looks at Cuccinelli's (and by extension Mark Obenshain's) efforts to dodge and weave to avoid acknowledging their Christofascist agenda.  Here aare excerpts:

SIX YEARS ago, when Virginia’s General Assembly considered the so-called “personhood amendment” to the state constitution, which granted full rights to “preborn human being[s] from the moment of fertilization,” the list of co-sponsors was short. In the state Senate, five of 40 lawmakers, all Republicans, signed on. Among them were then-Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II and Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, the current GOP candidates for governor and attorney general, respectively.

There’s a reason the amendment had relatively few sponsors, and there’s a reason it failed even in the Republican-dominated House of Delegates. Not only would the amendment have banned abortion, as the sponsors clearly intended, it also provided an opening to prohibit common methods of birth control, including the pill and intrauterine devices.

Mr. Cuccinelli, now the attorney general, is understandably interested in casting himself as a moderate in the gubernatorial election. He has bristled lately at questions about his past positions on abortion and birth control.

In response to questions at a retirement community in Ashburn last week, Mr. Cuccinelli insisted that government should not interfere with contraception and denied that he ever backed legislation that could do so.  The facts suggest otherwise.

The practical effects of “personhood” measures, including the one in Virginia to which Mr. Cuccinelli affixed his name, would easily include banning the most popular forms of contraception. This is because the pill, as well as other forms of birth control, work partly by preventing the implantation of eggs in the uterus wall after they have been fertilized. If the “preborn” are protected “from the moment of fertilization,” as the 2007 bill demanded, then contraception — which defeats a fertilized egg’s chances of becoming a living being — could be prohibited. In fact, the legislation seems to demand it.

As the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists pointed out, “Some of the most effective and reliable forms of contraception — oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices, and other forms of FDA-approved contraceptives — would be banned” by “personhood” measures.

The conclusion to be drawn?  Not only are Cuccinelli and Obenshain far right extremists, but they are also liars when they pretend that they never backed extremist legislation no doubt championed by The Family Foundation.

Mark Obenshain