is the title of this Washington Post editorial this morning. It is well worth the read, especially after McDonnell spent more than an hour yesterday in a press conference call trying to distance himself from the thesis that is now appropriately causing him grief.
Consider the first paragraph:
ON MORE THAN one occasion, Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, has offered a soporific description of his graduate school dissertation as a "thesis on welfare policy." This is false.
And there is more. . .
After going through some of the content of the thesis, and appropriately describing it as
a wistful ode to a bygone 1950s America
the Post calls the thesis
A deeply researched, passionately written manifesto, the thesis posits a detailed Republican strategy to roll back the evils that Mr. McDonnell saw as afflicting American society generally and the family in particular. On the eve of his political career, Mr. McDonnell was a committed and convinced culture warrior of the right.
The Post notes that McDonnell has been trying to position himself as a centrist in order to draw the independent and moderate votes necessary to win a statewide election in Virginia. The problem is he is not now and never has been a moderate.
The editorial presents the defense McDonnell offered on his own behalf yesterday, but note the parenthetical remarks offered along the way, which are quoted from the editorial. McDonnell mentioned things like now opposing government discrimination against gays (though he backed Virginia's constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage) and no longer wanting to prohibit contraceptives (though as a lawmaker he voted often to oppose government-sponsored access to and information about birth control).
McDonnell's thesis offered 15 policy goals he thought should be pursued by the Republican part. Blogger Fake Virginia has tweeted his way through them, and you can follow that process here (if you scroll down, there are a series of tweets going through the goals in numeric order). The original Post story Sunday noted of these goals
During his 14 years in the General Assembly, McDonnell pursued at least 10 of the policy goals he laid out in that research paper, including abortion restrictions, covenant marriage, school vouchers and tax policies to favor his view of the traditional family. In 2001, he voted against a resolution in support of ending wage discrimination between men and women.
Let's return to today's editorial. It is worth quoting the entire extensive concluding paragraph:
Nonetheless, in his 14 years in the state's General Assembly, Mr. McDonnell did aggressively pursue a socially conservative agenda largely in line with his thesis. As governor he could do the same, although he would be constrained by a legislature at least partly controlled by Democrats. He could not ban abortion and contraception, but he could help restrict access. The Bob McDonnell who wrote that thesis would make 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. Virginians deserve specific answers about where the thinking of his early middle age has shifted, and where it remains consistent.
Virginians deserve specific answers about where the thinking of his early middle age has shifted, and where it remains consistent. But 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.
The phone rang off the hook in the Deeds campaign yesterday. They gained 300+ new donors. All the major papers around the state are still continuing to cover the story. People are examining in even more detail the votes McDonnell cast during his 14 years as a member of the House of Delegates.
Will this story pass? It is not yet clear how long the firestorm will continue. If nothing else, the brouhaha has reinjected the issue of Bob McDonnell's extreme positions on social issues into the discussion about the race for Governor. That cannot be to his advantage, because Virginians have made in clear that in general they are not extreme.
In the meantime, I strongly suggest that those interested in the topic periodically check Blue Virginia Blog where Lowell has done wonderful work digging out and posting additional relevant information.
Peace.