From the Democratic Party of Virginia:
This week the College Republican National Committee released a new reportbreaking down why the party did so miserably in 2012 with young American voters and offering advice for how the party can up its appeal with that key voting bloc in future elections.
Given that Virginia has the most competitive statewide races in the nation this year, the Commonwealth should offer a test case for how much Republicans have learned since they nominated candidates who were far too extreme for Virginians or Americans, particularly young voters.
Or at least it would, if Republicans had not nominated a ticket far more out of touch with what Virginians want in their leaders than any this Commonwealth has ever seen. Below is a breakdown of several of the report’s key recommendations (as reported by Politico) and how the 2013 Republican ticket’s agenda lines up with what College Republicans say is imperative to improve the party’s standing with young voters.
Spoiler Alert: They’re not off to a good start.
The report on gay marriage: “On the ‘open-minded’ issue, yes, we will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table. In the short term, the party ought to promote the diversity of thought within its ranks and make clear that we welcome healthy debate on the policy topic at hand.”
- Jackson: “Homosexuality is a horrible sin, it poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think of.” [Right Wing Watch, 10/25/12]
- Cuccinelli: “When you look at the homosexual agenda, I cannot support something that I believe brings nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul.” [Washington Post, 2/05/08]
The report on women’s health: “The Republican Party has been painted — both by Democrats and by unhelpful voices in our own ranks — in holding the most extreme anti-abortion positions.”
- Obenshain and Cuccinelli Co-Patroned “Personhood” That Would Outlaw Abortion And Ban The Birth Control Pill. [HB2797, 2007]
- Cuccinelli: “Start right at the beginning, slavery. Today, abortion. You know, history has shown us what the right position was.” [WJLA, 3/19/13]
- Jackson: Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.” [Bishop E.W. Jackson Message to Black Christians, 9/8/12]
The report on reaching out to Latino voters: “Latino voters … tend to think the GOP couldn’t care less about them.”
- “One issue bound to attract more attention is legislation [Ken Cuccinelli] authored in 2008 that would allow a company to fire employees who don’t speak English and deem them ineligible for unemployment benefits. The English language proposal never went anywhere, but civil rights groups howled that Cuccinelli’s bill would have placed employees at risk even if they spoke a different language on their break or in the lunch room. At the time, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw called it “the most mean-spirited piece of legislation I have seen in my 30 years down here,” according to The Washington Post.” [The New Republic, 4/23/13]
- Jackson: “I’m in favor of a moratorium on all immigration except for those that deal with our own national security… I think sadly we are bringing in people now who very often hate the country rather than love it and are not interested in being a help to the country as we’ve seen sometimes they’re interested in attacking us.” [2012 Senate Forum, Uploaded 1/20/12]
The report on young peoples’ perception of the party’s economic stance: “We’ve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won’t offer you a hand to help you get there.”
- Cuccinelli: Medicare and Social Security make people dependent on government “goodies.” [Last Line of Defense, page 62-63]
- “The Richmond-based Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis examined one piece of that proposal — Cuccinelli’s plan to reduce Virginia’s top individual tax rate from 5.75 percent to 5 percent — and found that the state’s wealthiest citizens would benefit the most.
‘“Nearly 4 in 10 Virginians (39 percent), mostly low- and moderate-income households, would see no reduction in their income tax bill,” the institute said. “No Virginian earning less than $21,000 would receive a tax cut under the proposal and only half of all families earning between $21,000 and $39,000 would see their taxes reduced.”
“More than three-fourths of the benefits of the tax cut would go to households earning at least $108,000, the analysis found, while middle-class taxpayers would get a relatively small cut.” [Washington Post, 5/16/2013]
If national Republicans were hoping this year’s elections could be a dry run for “new direction,” they probably won’t get their wish with a Cuccinelli-Jackson-Obenshain team only knows one direction: backward.
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