Robert McDonnell

[ClydeR]

I had high hopes for Robert McDonnell, who is the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia. But recent events have left me disappointed with him.


He wrote in the thesis that working women and feminists had been "detrimental" to the traditional family and criticized federal tax credits for child care because they made it easier for women to be employed outside the home.

His efforts came as leaders of national organizations focused on the Virginia race, convinced that McDonnell's thesis shows that his election would erase gains for women.

McDonnell has said his views on working women have changed in the two decades since he wrote the paper at age 34 at Regent University in Virginia Beach.

More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103492.html)

He was right when he was 34. Working women are "detrimental." McDonnell should be ashamed for trying to weasel out of it by adopting a more politically correct position. Despite McDonnell's problems, I can't support the Democrat candidate who has pushed all sorts of women's issues during his sordid political career.

My only remaining hope is that McDonnell will be elected and then govern based on what is, and always has been, in his heart.

[Daniel]

Gotta love it.

[peam]

At this point, I believe McDonnell could come out as a National Socialist and still trounce Creigh (Why is his name pronounced KREE?) Deeds.

[Valthissa]

My only remaining hope is that McDonnell will be elected and then govern based on what is, and always has been, in his heart.

From the WaPo

“Democrats have long attempted to characterize McDonnell as an ultra-conservative who is playing down his views on such issues as abortion, school prayer and gay rights so as not to alienate moderate voters, particularly in Northern Virginia, who increasingly decide statewide elections.
“But McDonnell's public record and his reputation among colleagues paint a more complex portrait. He appears as a man with deeply conservative views that spring from a strong Catholic faith but also as reasonable, open-minded and increasingly focused on such issues as jobs and transportation.”


Evidently, his heart is more complex than his thesis might indicate.

If you know anything about Deeds, the political distance between the two boils down to their positions on abortion. Laws relating to abortion have exactly a 0% chance of changing in Virginia no matter who is our next governor.

I'm currently undecided. I'm certain that by the time they finish campaigning I'll dislike them both.

I think it is more interesting that the Republicans may lose the house (and they deserve to if they can't throw out Phil Hamilton) so it is possible we could end up with my least favorite type of government - one party control.

[ClydeR]

You should've focused on how his law school thesis was about how social conservatives (like he is) should lie/downplay how reactionary they are until they're in office and nobody can do anything about it.

Funny you should say that..

A lot of liberal Democrats are complaining that Obama ran as a liberal but is governing as a moderate. Moderate is another word for mediocre. He should be either hot or cold, not lukewarm.

[ClydeR]

Evidently, his heart is more complex than his thesis might indicate.

When people start scrutinizing a person at that level, it let's you know who your friends really are. Some of McDonnell's colleagues are coming to his defense and reminding him to stick to his roots.


The Deeds campaign brought out four former Republican lawmakers who said the views expressed in the thesis mirrored the positions they saw McDonnell take again and again in the General Assembly. McDonnell reiterated that some of his views have changed, particularly regarding women in the workforce, and attempted to change the subject to education.

At issue is a 93-page research paper titled "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade," in which McDonnell laid out a conservative action plan to promote the traditional family in government. McDonnell wrote against working women, feminists and homosexuals, and he decried the absence of religion in the public schools, the rise of single motherhood and the creation of tax credits for child care to encourage mothers to work.

More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103269.html)

Those are all fundamental Republican values, and McDonnell will regret it if he walks away from them.

[ClydeR]

McDonnell's opponent is trying to compare McDonnell to Thomas Jefferson! Since Jefferson is fairly popular, I don't think that's very smart.


Deeds's campaign has been trying to keep public attention on the document, in which McDonnell wrote that working women were detrimental to the family and that federal child-care tax credits were harmful because they encouraged women to work outside the home.

Wednesday's comments by the Democratic state senator were designed to extend discussions of the thesis, as was a speech he made at the opening of a campaign office in Alexandria, where a volunteer held a sign that read "Working Women for Deeds."

"He wasn't 20 years old when he wrote it. He was 34," Deeds said. "Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. . . . It's relevant."

More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/02/AR2009090203444.html)

[Warriorbird]

People who come out of Regent are 'ClydeR' conservatives to the core. You have to be to attend a religious wacko university like that. With that said... Deeds has got a number of issues as a candidate.

I wanted Terry McAuliffe to lose and I got that... I just wanted Moran to beat Deeds in the primary. It didn't happen.