The race for Governor of Virginia this year is of paramount importance. The Republican candidate is, simply put, a radical Right-wing Teabagger fanatic of the worst kind. His name is Ken Cuccinelli, and he represents everything--and I mean everything--that is dangerous and toxic about the modern Republican Party. As I will detail below, his views are so hateful, so authoritarian, so intolerant, so morally ugly as to beggar belief. The polls for his opponent Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate, look good so far.
But so did the polls on the Colorado recall elections. And we know what happened there.
We need to burn this into our consciousness:
THE RIGHT WING TEABAGGER FANATIC VOTERS WILL VOTE. They WILL show up.
Will we? We'd better. And here's why.
As Paul Begala laid out in a diary on these pages in late June (located here), Cuccinelli is "crazy bad". Let's emphasize Cuccinelli's horrendous record again.
He is savagely anti-gay. As policymic reminded us earlier in the year, in an article located here:
When it comes to homophobic action and words, Cuccinelli is no stranger. In 2009 when commenting on his opposition to a nondiscrimination policy against gays and lesbians by former attorney general Bob McDonnell, Cuccinelli said, "My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong."
Cuccinelli is not above using his public office to push or show that he is pushing his right-wing credentials. In 2010 he issued a lawsuit challenging that a prominent climatologist's work on global climate change was marred with fraud. In 2010 he sent a letter to Virginia’s public colleges and universities stating that they had no legal authority to issue nondiscrimination policies on the basic of sexual orientation.
He is demanding that the State of Virginia be given the right to regulate private sexual activities of all people in the state, including married couples:
...Cuccinelli wanted the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the constitutionality of Virginia’s recently struck down sodomy law, which states that anal and oral sex between two people is illegal.
Such laws were ruled unconstitutional in the 2003 Supreme Court Case Lawrence v. Texas. To be fair to Cuccinelli, part of the reason he wants the law to be upheld is to convict William Scott MacDonald. In 2005 MacDonald, then 47, was convicted under the law for attempting to solicit sex from a 17-year-old girl. However it was recently revealed that in 2004, Cuccinelli opposed a bipartisan bill that would have amended the law to comply with Lawernce v. Texas and still be applicable in the MacDonald case. The measure was defeated.
He is a hard-core enemy of women's rights. Get raped and impregnated by your own father? Cuccinelli says that the victim MUST carry the pregnancy to term. The woman's opinion means
NOTHING. She has
ZERO rights. He is also one of these right-wing moral frauds who demands that women carry all pregnancies to term but who wants to cut government support for families to the bone. Once they're born, you see, kids don't matter any more.
He has abused the powers of his office to wage a political witch hunt on climate scientists, especially Michael Mann. From Mother Jones, right here:
Of course, one might wonder what part of Cuccinelli's resume qualifies him to evalute the rigor of Mann's climate work. That aside, it also neglects to mention that multiple investigations into the so-called "ClimateGate" controversy found no evidence of any wrongdoing on Mann's part and the science has repeatedly been affirmed in other studies. UVa. has until Oct. 29 to decide whether to produce the requested documents or fight this subpoena as well.
Of course, this isn't really about Mann; it's about the bigger goal of undermining climate science and instilling fear in scientists. Francesca Grifo, senior scientist and director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program, said Cuccinelli is "flagrantly abusing his power" for political gain. "The attorney general continues to harass Michael Mann and other climate scientists simply because their results don’t fit with his political views," said Grifo, adding that the main goal is perpetuating public doubt and confusion on the subject.
Of course, Cuccinelli has been leading the charge to strip 30 million people of health care coverage. He filed suit against Obamacare
five minutes after it passed. In short, Cuccinelli has abused, and abused, and abused his office, again and again. He has used it to promote EVERY aspect of the horrifying Teabagger agenda. As one observer put it,
"He thinks he's the attorney general for Fox News," said Paul Goldman, a Richmond lawyer and former head of the Virginia Democratic Party. "He wants to be Glenn Beck's favorite attorney general, and he's moving right on up there."
Pretty horrendous, right? There's no way a lunatic like Cuccinelli could win, right?
WRONG. He's within a few points of victory. And as I said, his voters WILL show up. Period.
Think of what a catastrophe a Cuccinelli win would be:
--It would give the radical Right a huge morale lift going into 2014.
--It would be a body blow to Democratic enthusiasm.
--It would make the Teabaggers even more determined to force their hideous agenda on everyone.
--And worst of all, it would put Virginia under the control of one of the worst right-wing sociopaths in America, with all the suffering and chaos that would entail.
We thought we had Colorado won. WE DIDN'T. The Teabaggers voted. WE DIDN'T. We think we've got it in the bag in Virginia. WE DON'T.
Earlier today, there was a diary about this race that got all of 7 recommends. It contained a link to Terry McAuliffe's fundraising site (located here.) I urge you to go hit it. PLEASE.
CUCCINELLI HAS GOTTEN $7 MILLION IN BIG MONEY RIGHT-WING HELP. Koch money, too. These people mean to win. And they'll use every dime to put Cuccinelli in the governor's chair
We need TURN-OUT. In 2008, President Obama carried Virginia. In 2009 Virginia elected a Republican governor. In 2012 President Obama carried Virginia again. Let's not let history repeat itself.
MOBILIZE THE VOTE IN VIRGINIA.
And send Kenny boy back into obscurity, where he belongs.