Is it even remotely possible that Virginians - the same people who voted to elect Mark Warner, Barack Obama, Tom Perriello, etc. - might possibly choose a "culture warrior" (as today's Washington Post calls Bob McDonnell) as governor? If so, this is what Virginians will be getting, a man who...*...at Pat Robertson's CBN (later Regent) University, launched "a full-throated attack on liberals, modernity, the Great Society and inheritance taxes...which he linked to and blamed for homosexuality, declining morality and the degradation of the traditional family, along with the proliferation of pornography, out-of-wedlock sex, day care, birth control, pregnant teenagers, divorce, single mothers, working women and feminists."
*...apparently wants to take Virginia back to "Father Knows Best," 1950s America, when "70 percent of American families were led by working fathers and homemaker mothers, and 'every state in the union made sexual intercourse between unmarried persons a crime.'"
*...was, on the eve of his political career...a committed and convinced culture warrior of the right."
*...says we should now trust him that he's changed, that "his thinking has evolved," even though there's lots of evidence to the contrary (e.g., "as a lawmaker he voted often to oppose government-sponsored access to and information about birth control").
*..."in his 14 years in the state's General Assembly...did aggressively pursue a socially conservative agenda largely in line with his thesis."
*...would be a "divisive, disruptive and partisan governor -- a sharp departure from the tradition of generally pragmatic executives who have helped make Virginia one of the better-managed states in the union."
Do Virginians want Bob McDonnell, a Pat Robertson "culture warrior," as our next governor? Do we have any reason to trust his last-minute, politically-motivated attempt at backing off his record? Do we really want to take Virginia back to the 1950's? I think that most readers of this blog will agree on the answers to these questions: NO, NO, and NO!
UPDATE: See teacherken's Daily Kos diary, which asserts that "Virginians deserve specific answers about where the thinking of his early middle age has shifted, and where it remains consistent." So far, according to Ken, "Bob McDonnell does not want to be specific in either case - each time he acknowledges change he risks alienating his base; each time he reaffirms one of these extreme positions, he risks alienating the moderates." Which is, of course, why we're getting all the misdirection, obfuscation, red herrings and desperate attempts at changing the subject. We can't allow them to do that.
