27 Days to Go, Cuccinelli Campaign Goes Completely Off the Rails

(UPDATE: More bad news for Cooch – Gabrielle Giffords group to join in Virginia races. 🙂 – promoted by lowkell)

Wow, what a day for the Cuccinelli campaign. Not a “wow, what a day” like after you get that dream job, win the lottery, marry the love of your life, stuff like that. No, more like, “wow, what a day” after you step in a pile of dog poop walking out the front door, causing you to slip into the mud, all while wearing your best suit (now ruined), forcing you to go inside and shower and change, leading you to miss a crucial meeting, resulting in you getting fired, etc, etc. That kind of “wow, what a day.” With that image in mind, let’s recap Cuccinelli’s day from hell.

1. Cuccinelli lost yet ANOTHER case, this time on women’s health clinic (“TRAP”) regulations. No, it’s not your imagination; the number of times Cuccinelli has lost in court over the past four years keeps growing, as does the waste of Virginia taxpayers’ money and the Attorney General office’s time. #FAIL all around. Plus, just what Cuccinelli needed, to remind people of his war on women’s reproductive freedom.

2. Cuccinelli’s campaign pumped up a “major announcement,” to be made via “live stream” no less. In the end, it turned out to be a total dud – a rehash of Cuccinelli’s usual (not to mention wildly speculative, aka “totally made up steaming horse manure”) attacks on Terry McAuliffe that the Democrats will CRANK UP SPENDING AND RAISE YOUR TAXES AND TURN US ALL SOCIALIST AND DESTROY CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT!!! Yeah, just like Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, right? Whatever. Also, who knows where Cuccinelli got any of these numbers (out of his a***?), but the whole thing is completely absurd for a number of important reasons. For one, the Republican-controlled House of Delegates would have to pass any of McAuliffe’s proposals. So, if they DO become law, it will be with the approval of Speaker Bill Howell et al in the Republican House of Delegates. Is that likely to happen if the proposals are as horrible as Cooch makes them out to be? Nope, don’t think so! Also, note how Cuccinelli doesn’t mention that he supports some of these same proposals? Finally, note how he doesn’t include any of the net benefits that would flow from the proposed investments in education, transportation, etc? Sorry, but Cuccinelli’s simply not serious in any way, shape or form.

3. Then, whatever tiny hope the Cuccinelli campaign might have had of gaining some traction with their utterly minor “major announcement” was ruined by their angry, undisciplined, flailing candidate. That’s right, Cuccinelli managed to step all over his “major announcement” by hurling absurd accusations at the Republican mayor of one of Virginia’s most important cities electorally speaking – Virginia Beach. This prompted an angry response from said mayor, Will Sessoms, who called Cuccinelli’s charges “reckless” and “infuriating,” among other things. It also prompted Virginian Pilot reporter Julian Walker to note that Cuccinelli’s accusations were “bold and unsubstantiated,” and that they managed to “[overshadow] the message of his Newport News event.” Other than that, great job by the Cooch! LOL

4. Just to top off their day from hell, the Cuccinelli campaign sent out a bizarre, hyperventilating email, which darkly warned of a dystopian future in which “clergy might face imprisonment for teaching the Christian morals from the pulpit,” in which home schooling could be outlawed, and in which “[o]ur freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, second amendments rights, parental rights, and property rights are all slowly being strangled by our federal government” (also the mandatory wingnut line about the “overreaching tentacles of the liberal policies of the Obama Administration”). That’s right, all those horrors – and more! – will happen if you don’t SEND MONEY TO KEN CUCCINELLI RIGHT NOW, and of course if you don’t elect Cuccinelli governor in 27 days. Can we say “unhinged tirade?” Oh, and if that’s not absurd enough, the email took over 900 words of rambling, ranting lunacy to finally get to the money “ask.” My understanding is that “best practice” for a political campaign is to NEVER send out a fundraising email in which it takes more than 150 words to get to the first such “ask.” Who on earth is running this campaign’s email program? Whoever they are, they should be fired immediately. My god…

To an extent, this level of hysteria and desperation is to be expected, what with Cuccinelli down in every real poll since last spring (and falling further behind with the government shutdown, the collapsing approval ratings for Republicans, his close ties to shutdown architect Ted Cruz, etc., etc.). Still, it’s amazing that someone who had such a reputation prior to this election as a top-notch politician, even if he was extreme and crazy, can fall apart this completely. Yet here we are, 27 days from election day, and that’s sure what it’s starting to look like.