The Washington Post reports its new poll finding that 52% of voters think the state is moving in the right direction. (!?!?!?) 62% approve of the way Bob McDonnell is handling the governor’s job, while only 26% think otherwise, says the Post. Huh?
This may explain the findings:
More than half of Virginians – 54 percent – say they have just enough money to maintain their standard of living. Nineteen percent say they are getting ahead financially, and 27 percent say they are falling behind. In 2007, 33 percent said they were getting ahead financially, while 16 percent said they were falling behind.
Ordinarily, you would not think that having just enough to hold on would serve as a benchmark. But in our ill-fated economy, courtesy of the disastrous Bush reverse stewardship, that’s what we get.
As Obama has to contend with obstructive, extortionist tactics waged by House Republicans, Virginia legislators are far more accommodating to McDonnell. I would like to think that voters voted (and responded to polls) not just for their self-interest, but also for those things making us a better state and country. But maybe not.
Our sense of economic well-being filters much of our reaction to political issues and news. The bad news is that this doesn’t help Dems running for top state offices or for national races. It does suggest that Bob McDonnell has fooled Virginians concerning how extreme he really is. His FOP (friend of Pat Robertson) extremeness is well known, but easily forgotten, apparently. So too was his rush to show his approval of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) draconian destruction of jobs, paychecks and the ability to negotiate a contract in Wisconsin. “Right to work” in Virginia, as in other labor-hostile states, means freedom to accept joblessness or low wages.
WAPO claims that McDonnell has brought a whopping 1,677 jobs to Virginia. Assuming he has really done “that well,” talk about underwhelming! In fact, McDonnell earns little credit for job creation. Yet, the WAPO pep club band plays on. But because Virginia’s voters are doing relatively well, no thanks whatsoever to McDonnell, but more likely to federal jobs, the public gives him a pass. If the GOP has its way and drowns the federal government in the proverbial bathtub, what then for Virginians? With a broadside attack on state and federal workers, we will surely lose more jobs than McDonnell or any Republican governor ever creates.
It all shows, there is no one better at spin than today’s GOP. With gullible, easily manipulated voters, and myth creation unabated, we have our work cut out for us. Read more about the poll at WAPO.
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