Do Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli differ in any substantive way on the issues? Or, are they actually two peas in a pod, playing a “good cop/bad cop” game, in which McDonnell pretends to be the “reasonable” one while Cooch plays himself as “the right-wing crazy?” That’s certainly what Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post think, and I’m inclined to agree.
What McDonnell needed during the election last fall, and continues to need, is to establish that he is not a rigid right-winger whose ideological fervor trumps pragmatism. And that’s where Cuccinelli comes in so handy. In contrast to Cuccinelli, practically anyone looks like a moderate.
So when Cuccinelli staked out the hard-right turf by telling public colleges that they have no business banning discrimination against gays, it was like manna from heaven for McDonnell…
Look for McDonnell and Cuccinelli to maintain this good-cop-bad-cop routine for the foreseeable future, as McDonnell tries to cement the moderate cred that will make him a vice presidential contender in 2012 or 2016, and as Cuccinelli continues to sing sweet music to his base of gay-hating conservatives.
In sum, Bob McDonnell is probably ecstatic that Ken Cuccinelli is in the AG’s office, pandering to “the base,” and freeing up “Pat Robertson’s Manchurian Governor” to appear “moderate” in public while actually being a Closet Cooch Clone. A Clever Closet Cooch Clone at that!
P.S. For an illustration of what Cooch’s rigid homophobia and intolerance can lead to, read this superb diary by “The Nephew”. I’d recommend the diary to McDonnell and Cooch as well, but they probably believe their private parts will spontaneously combust if they so much as click on such a thing (either that, or they’re doing like “Sideshow Bob” Marshall and voraciously reading the “homosexual literature” – heh).
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