See the following video for yet more evidence that no matter how far Democrats – in this case Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, the former Republican (voted twice for George W. Bush, no less) who is about as “moderate” as a Democrat can get – bend over backwards to try and work with Republicans – in this case, the Virginia House GOP caucus, as led by hard-right Del. Todd Gilbert – it simply doesn’t work. Evidence? Check out Majority Leader Gilbert’s speech this morning on the Virginia House of Delegates floor, ripping into Gov. Northam for supposedly “checking off of the boxes of issues that seem to play only to an increasingly liberal/progressive base” with supposedly “nothing but passing references to bipartisanship.” Uh huh.
Even better, Gilbert claimed that when Democrats talk about bipartisanship, it really means “Republicans doing what Democrats want.” For good measure, Gilbert completely/WILDLY mischaracterized Gov. Northam’s budget/tax proposals and declared that they are “dead on arrival” in the Virginia House of Delegates.
So what is NOT “dead on arrival,” in Gilbert’s view? Shockingly, it’s the Republican caucus’ right-wing budgetary, tax and other ideas. Unfortunately, this “my way or the highway” stance from Virginia House Republicans means that little is likely to get done this session. The good news is that those same Republicans will have to explain their irresponsible behavior to voters this November, and potentially (likely?) lose their majority if voters don’t buy their nonsense, lies and absurd spin.
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