To me, one of the most amazing things about this election has been watching Ken Cuccinelli run just a godawful campaign. Wasn’t this the guy who, even if he’s nuts and extreme, was supposedly a great “retail politician,” blah blah blah? Well, you’d never have guessed it from this campaign, which has been a fiasco from beginning to end, pretty much. That includes losing “gimme” endorsements that they absolutely should have had, that basically ANY other Republican (except perhaps for Cuccinelli’s wacko/extremist ticketmates) would have had, such as from the Richmond/Republican Times-Dispatch. This morning, we have yet another example of this phenonemon, as the Lynchburg News & Advance – essentially a 100% pro-Republican newspaper – utterly RIPS Ken Cuccinelli. Before you read the juicy stuff, keep in mind that this is a paper which endorsed George W. Bush in 2004; Jerry Kilgore in 2005, McCain/Palin 2008, McDonnell/Bolling/CUCCINELLI in 2009, and Romney/Ryan in 2012. In sum, the Lynchburg News & Advance never met a Republican it didn’t like – including Ken Cuccinelli himself in 2009. But after four years of watching him as Attorney General, not to mention the 10 months or so watching his horrendous campaign for governor, the News & Advance has these choice words for Cuccinelli. Enjoy! 🙂
By its very definition, a governor has to govern…A governor should not be an ideologue who hews to his my-way-or-the-highway, I-am-always-right agenda at the expense of leading.
Cuccinelli, to be blunt, is a conservative extremist…
Lots more on the “flip.”
…and history has shown us time and again that extremists of any political stripe are not good for the body politic. The recent shutdown of the federal government and the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 that resulted in the first-ever credit downgrade of the United States are ample evidence.
Unlike any other governor in modern Virginia history save for Democrat Doug Wilder, Cuccinelli is also a politician who has proven he will do what is best for himself and his personal political standing rather than what is good for Virginia or Virginians. His attempt to sabotage Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan is only the most brazen, most recent example. Nor does he do what’s in the best interest of his own party: His machinations of summer 2012 to change the nomination process from a primary to a convention and stab Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling in the back are what’s led to the looming civil war in the state GOP.
We’ve seen the damage political extremism can do in Washington. Perpetual gridlock. Critical issues not being addressed because politicians refuse to compromise or make deals … to govern. And America has been harmed as a result.
We don’t need that same mindset in the governor’s office in Richmond.
From fiscal matters to social issues, Cuccinelli has proven himself to be an uncompromising ideologue. Taxes, support for public education, civil rights, women’s issues: The attorney general is dead-certain that what he believes is correct, that those who disagree with him are wrong and must be vanquished. It may make for good fundraising letters, but it does not make for effective governing.
I’ve now seen it all: a conservative Republican newspaper ripping the Republican nominee for governor no less than we do here at Blue Virginia. Will wonders never cease?
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