I've been really busy today and haven't had time to watch this yet, but I definitely wanted to post it as I hear Cooch said all kinds of crazy-ass stuff (e.g., denied global warming). For the rest of the debate video, please click here.
UPDATE: Cooch says...
*"We do not have to give full faith and credit to other states' same-sex marriages...I absolutely intend to defend our marriage amendment."
*On whether he supports a usury cap on payday loans: "No, I would not."
*On climate change:
We've had a number of bills over the years that addressed this, and they start with the presumption that we are inexorably warming. And, of course, one of the problems with that is that in the last 8 or 10 years we haven't been. But this is part of a philosophy pushed by folks who believe in an environmentalist agenda. and I don't mean conservation, I mean really far out there on the left. This is a way to put the clamps on capitalism and free market production, and you're seeing it run amok in Washington. Cap and trade would be utterly destructive of Virginia's economy. As Attorney General, I will fight the federal government if they try to put that on Virginia and destroy our economy.
*"I don't believe in using environmental regulation as a way to backdoor regulate business, which is what we're starting to see from Washington, and it's being used to implement other agendas. Cap and trade isn't just about environmental issues, it's about capitalism and government control...and whether we're going to conduct a free economy or not."
*"We have a massive shipbuilding, maritime industry here in southeast Virginia. And all a [drilling] rig is a vertical ship..."
*"There hasn't been a spill in 40 years, folks; this stuff is so environmentally safe now that it is well worth your confidence in going 50 miles off Virginia's coast here to do this. And that oil spill 40 years ago was a geological anomaly..."
*On abortion: "The doctors doing these things are not your average ob-gyn's; by and large, these are bottom of the barrel doc's and these women are not being treated well...as Attorney General, I will appeal that case [the 4th circuit court on "partial birth abortion"]; what will Steve Shannon do?"
Steve Shannon says...
*"The role of the attorney general is not to...promote a political agenda."
*"I have prosecuted drug dealers, I have prosecuted gang members, I have prosecuted gang activity...I have the prosecutorial experience, Senator Cuccinelli does not."
*"In the most extreme cases, I believe that a jury should be able to consider capital punishment for someone who has committed heinous murders against our citizens."
*"[In the Brenda Paz's 2003 murder]...Republican Delegate Gilbert of the Shenandoah Valley introduced a bill that said if you kill a material witness in a criminal prosecution you shall be eligible for the death penalty...It passed on a bipartisan vote through the House of Delegates, went to Senator Cuccinelli's committee of Courts of Justice, and what did they do, did they vote on it? No, they punted. They punted for a year."
*"I will enforce the law [on capital punishment/"triggerman rule"] and if Senator Cuccinelli says he will too I'll take him at face value but his record as a legislator is inconsistent on this issue."
*"The Attorney General is the advocate for the consumer in Virginia."
*On payday lending: "I don't think we should have any product that has a 3,600% annualized interest rate...We need to make sure that predatory lending is not hurting our citizens and payday lending is not hurting our citizens."
*On energy, "We need to do it all...I agree that we need to keep every option on the table. The key is to make sure, when we're looking at all these options, we do it in a way that is enviromentally safe. But I don't think there is one particular source that's going to solve all our problems, we need to have a portfolio of energy sources to deal with this issue."
*"I have built a relationship with Attorneys General across the country, particularly those who have states that are within the Chesapeake Bay area. This is an enormous issue...for our economy, for tourism, for recreation. It is a huge issue for our citizens in the Northern Neck, and I will be aggressive with regard to making sure that we clean up the Chesapeake Bay..."
*"I believe that a woman has the right to make medical decisions with regard to her own body and I don't believe that it's appropriate for us to criminalize women or health professionals for medical decisions that they make...[but] I think there are a lot of areas we can agree upon rather than fighting about whether a woman has the right to make medical decisions over her own body...I think there are real things that we can do to coming together to reduce the incidence of abortion rather than simply fighting the battle whether a woman should be able to make decisions over her own body or not."
*On Ken Cuccinelli accusing Democrats of stopping anything to reduce abortions: "It's unfortunate that on an issue this important that it gets broken down by Democrats and Republicans. The reality is when I've tried to push the Virginia General Assembly to figure out why our agency adoption placement rate is relatively low compared to other states across the country, it was assigned to the Rules Committee controlled by Republicans and I couldn't even get a vote or a hearing."
*"[Ken Cuccinelli and I] are friends, but we have profound differences with regard to the role of public policy and the role of government."
*"I am running for Virginia's Attorney General position for a specific reason, I am running to make Virginia a safer place for all of our families to call home."
*"My opponent has not been a prosecutor, he does not know how to deal with the issue of combating gang recruitment and gang violence."
*"I will be an Attorney General who is fighting for you and I would appreciate your vote in November."
