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Virginian-Pilot Rips Ken Cuccinelli on “fealty to coal,” $427k from coal industry

By
lowkell
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1

The Virginian-Pilot has a superb editorial in today’s paper that’s well worth quoting from.

The coal industry still has enormously powerful friends. Gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – like U.S. Senate candidate George Allen last year – has made fealty to coal a central tenet of his campaign.

It may have nothing to do with the $427,089 Cuccinelli has so far received from the coal industry. Then again, it might. It might also have a lot to do with running against the Environmental Protection Agency, the favorite bugaboo of politicians for whom the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act are plain examples of government meddling.

Cuccinelli’s love for coal certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the health of the folks of Hampton Roads, or the climate change he doesn’t believe in.…

By the way, you know how corrupt Ken Cuccinelli of all people “joked” in the last debate that Terry McAuliffe would change the state motto to “Quid Pro Quo?” The irony here – not that Cooch “gets” irony – is that he’s the “quid pro quo” candidate if there ever was one, from the Bobby Thompson/fake “Navy Vets” charity scam to the Jonnie Williams/Star Scientific scandal, to the $100k he’s taken from an out-of-state natural gas company while his office advised said company on how to rip off SW Virginia landowners, to all the money he receives from the Koch brothers and other polluters (while dutifully carrying out their agenda of gutting environmental protection), etc, etc. For Ken Cuccinelli of all people to joke about “quid pro quo” is just mind boggling, given that he’s the Quid Pro Quo King.

As for coal, Cuccinelli’s “fealty” to his paymaster is not surprising, but what’s disgusting about it is his rabid defense of this dying industry (because of increasing costs, environmental concerns, and most of all competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy) at the expense of the health and economic well being of 8 million Virginians. Oh, and also at the expense of Virginia’s place in the fierce, global competition for a piece of the enormous cleantech market of the 21st century. In short, Cuccinelli’s position would be like someone in the early 20th century fighting tooth and nail against cars, because they might put horse-drawn carriage makers out of business. Dumb. Dumber. Dumber-est.

P.S. See As VA Republicans Cue Coal Hysteria, Here Are a Few Actual Facts for more on Cuccinelli’s energy policy idiocy.

Virginia News Headlines: Friday Morning

By
lowkell
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2

Here are a few Virginia and national news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, October 4.

*A deadly end to chase near Capitol (“Woman with child tried to breach Capitol, White House”)

*What Happens When A Hurricane Hits The U.S. During A Government Shutdown? (We all thank the Republicans for destroying our country?)

*Aides: Boehner says he won’t allow a default (Effectively, Boehner just admitted that a) he and his caucus are 100% responsible for this crisis; b) he and his caucus can stop it whenever they want; and c) it’s basically a big game for them. Fire all Teapublicans the next chance you get!)

*Will GOP pay a price in the Senate? (If the GOP does NOT pay a price for their outrageous, reckless behavior, just like with a juvenile delinquent, they’ll keep escalating…)

*John Boehner’s turn to give in (“Republicans in Congress are like a dog that chases cars and finally catches one. There is a fleeting sense of accomplishment, followed by sheer panic.”)

*McAuliffe up 5 points over Cuccinelli in new poll on Virginia governor’s race

*Coal’s alternatives cleaner, cheaper (“The coal industry in America is struggling. Its product is dirty and not as comparatively cheap as it used to be. There was a time when coal was one of the least expensive ways to make electricity. Back then, the industry was also so powerful that it could force politicians to ignore the fact that it fouled the air and acidified the rain across America. Those days are gone.”)

*Pro-transportation stance wins McAuliffe road builders’ nod (And, of course, let’s not forget Cuccinelli’s ANTI-transportation stance.)

*Va. candidates call in big names to help (“Hillary Rodham Clinton aids McAuliffe; Rubio supports Cuccinelli”)

*McDonnell, senior lawmakers meet with ratings agencies

*Gerrymandering in action (“Gerrymandering has amplified the voice from the GOP’s far right fringe way beyond its numbers.” Exactly!)

*Cantor Prepares House Republicans for Long Fight (In other words, “Can’tor to Virginia: Drop Dead!”)

*Cuccinelli campaign stands by Eppes ad (“Tichi Pinkney Eppes filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection Wednesday – during the week the Cuccinelli campaign began airing an ad featuring the lifelong Democrat’s support for Cuccinelli’s education policy.” Also see this article, which describes a confrontation Eppes had, about which Eppes said, “I will admit, I said I’d whoop her ass.” Classy, huh?)

*Unwasted (It appears that the Republican Richmond Times-Dispatch is going to either endorse Robert Sarvis or nobody in the governor’s race. That says a great deal about Ken Cuccinelli, given that the RTD always endorses Republicans.)

*McAuliffe slams Cuccinelli-Cruz appearance in new ad

*Cuccinelli: Open Government, Then Fight Health Law (What a joke, Cuccinelli is close allies with the Teahadists in Congress, but knows that the government shutdown is very unpopular and that people are blaming his pals Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Eric Cantor, etc. for it. It’s deeply cynical, dishonest, political calculation for Cuccinelli on this one.)

*Virginia Medicaid panel member calls ‘Obamacare’ expansion unlikely in near term (Callous AND stupid, a combination that’s become a Republican calling card.)

*Bob McDonnell: Washington’s shutdown crisis is not good for states and their people (I stopped reading at the Big Lie, “There is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the debacle on the Potomac.” Sorry, Bob, it is YOUR party 100%.)

*Caps rally from 3-0 hole to win home opener in shootout over Flames

*Continued heat before possible rainmaker arrives early next week (“We bake and sweat a bit the next few days while we await a potential rainmaker.”)

It’s Deeper Than You Think

By
Andy Schmookler
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3

( – promoted by lowkell)

We’ve been hearing a lot about the Republicans’ deep opposition to Obamacare. It’s not about Obamacare.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the Republican’s ideological positions. It’s not about ideology.

It’s way deeper.

Does it make sense that an idea that came out of the Heritage Foundation, and was put forward in the 1990s by the Republican caucus in the Senate, that today’s Republicans would find it so profoundly objectionable –that they’d truly believe it represented such a monstrous a threat to America — that they’d launch this kamikaze war to oppose it?

(That makes as much sense as that Wayne LaPierre, who supported universal background checks in the late 90s, would truly believe now that such checks would represent the intolerable assault on American liberty he lately declared them to be.)

Does it make sense that if Obamacare were really what’s driving the Republicans, they’d have to wage their campaign against it with so many lies about what it is and what it does?

If they were really against “big government,” if they were really ideologically opposed to government involvement in the American people’s medical process, would this same Republican Party, around the country in the states under their control, be passing versions of the “transvaginal ultrasound” requirement– a politically imposed, medically unnecessary procedure?

No. None of these things makes sense in the terms in which they are presented by the Republicans, and generally discussed in the media.

It’s way deeper.

If there were no Obamacare, the Republicans would launch a political war on something else. Any outfit that will create a national crisis over the implementation of what were once THEIR ideas is simply itching for a fight.

The driving force here is the spirit of war.

It is a spirit that foments conflict, and whips people up into a state where they only feel at peace –only feel in their proper element– when they are at war with some Them.

It’s the same spirit that drives this same political set into anxiety about a plot to institute Sharia Law in America. The same spirit that has made “compromise” a dirty word (that is, until this week when the Republicans brought it out to denounce the president’s unwillingness to “negotiate” the terms on which their blackmail would be rewarded.)

Deeper things are going on here than politics. Bigger things are going on here than the participants understand. The battle is in the political arena but it goes deeper than politics.

Will we as a nation be ruled by the Spirit that builds things, that brings people together, that serves the truth, that values integrity, that fortifies hope, that puts the well-being of humanity as a top priority?

Or will we as a nation be ruled by the Spirit that tears things down, the sets groups of people against each other, that operates through lies, that fosters hypocrisy, that cultivates fear, and that degrades the quality of life for humanity and other living things?

That’s what this battle raging in our political sphere is about.

A (Lyrical) Letter to Virginians

By
FisherShannon
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0

We can’t take flight

And ignore the plight

Of strong attacks from

The religious right.

We must open our eyes

And shine a light

On the ardent fight for

Women’s rights.

Though the view from the ground

Is not as nice,

We cannot smite

Unless we’re downright

Defiant.

One city birthed

A renewed crusade.

On the national stage,

An icon made:

The Capitol Steps.

They swept us away that day,

As we protested mistakes

The General Assembly made.

But an awakening dawned,

And we spawned

A movement

Of modern-day

Feminism.

Issues of choice cause a great divide,

But we’re changing the tide

And leading the nation,

Which brings us great pride.

Ultrasounds and TRAPs

Started a fight

In which the government

Used their might.

But the power of the people

Found the side of right.

And while both sides fight,

We all would like:

Freedom.

Though political games

Are perpetually played,

We are not swayed

By the flex of their muscles.

We’ll scuffle and hustle

And increase our resistance

With great persistence

Until they are staid.

Though protest we may, I do contend

That in order to win,

We must end and

In all ways de-friend these

Legislators.

They passed poor laws

And kept their paws

In places they shouldn’t.

And though we couldn’t

Stop the close of clinics,

We did get the probe

Removed from the bill

Passed on Richmond’s Capitol Hill

But the most important

Pavement we can pound,

With our eyes open wide,

And our feet on the ground is to

Vote.

Election Day is Tuesday November 5.

Video: Important New Message from Ken Cuccinelli!

By
lowkell
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0

P.S. To me, this video by the NextGen Climate Action Committee makes a million times more sense than Ken Cuccinelli’s nonsense about donating $18,000 of the money he took from Star Scientific con artist/slimeball Jonnie Williams. Meanwhile, we still await answers as to why Cooch thought it was perfectly ethical to take that money in the first place. We also await answers on his many other scandals, including the Bobby Thompson/phony “Navy Vets charity” scam, the CONSOL Energy scandal (he took $100k from that out-of-state gas company while his office provided legal advice about how to screw over SW Virginia taxpayers), etc.

SHOT/CHASER: E.W. Jackson “the unifier?!?!”

By
lowkell
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0

From the DPVA: 

SHOT: “What the lieutenant governor should be focused on is not attack(ing) people with different visions and values, but work(ing) on those issues where we have common ground,” Jackson said. “I am going to reach out to Democrats — let’s find a way to work together. Focusing on divisive issues is not the way to get things done.” [Richmond Times-Dispatch; October 2, 2013]

CHASER: 

  • E.W. Jackson says non-Christians are engaged in 'some sort of false religion' [Washington Post; September 23, 2013]

  • Jackson says he differs with pope on gays [Richmond Times-Dispatch; September 23, 2013]
  • Jackson doubles down: Democratic Party is 'anti-God' [Virginian Pilot; August 1, 2013]

  • Virginia Lt. Gov. Candidate E.W. Jackson: Gays Are “Ikky” [Mother Jones; May 23, 2013]

 

Shocker: “GOP Attack Dog” Barbara Comstock Goes With the Big Lie(s) in New Ad

By
lowkell
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0

Before we get to Del. Barbara Comstock’s new ad, a bit of background. According to Talking Points Memo, this “GOP attack dog…ran oppo research for the RNC and chaired Scooter Libby’s defense fund,” also “served as a lead investigator for the notoriously partisan House Government Reform committee during the 90s, chaired by GOP congressman Dan Burton.” Comstock also was “a “close associate” of Monica Goodling, the Christian conservative lawyer and Muckraker favorite who later would help keep the Bush Justice Department stocked with good Republicans.” She then “moved to the Bush DOJ, in 2001, to run the department’s public affairs operation — doggedly stiffing reporters as they sought information on the administration’s aggressive tactics in the War on Terror.” As if that’s not bad enough, she then “spent some time helping then-GOP Majority Leader Tom Delay play defense on a host of ethics problems.” On and on it goes – ugh.

Anyway, now Comstock – who really wants to take Frank Wolf’s House seat the minute he retires, and most certainly has no interest in staying in the House of Delegates a second longer than she has to – is out with a reelection ad that is in character with everything about her we’ve outlined above. The two biggest of her Big Lies in this ad?

First, she touts education funding — “More In-State College Spots for Virginia Students” and “Increased Funding for Education” – when in reality she has specifically voted AGAINST these things (e.g., she voted against the conference report to the budget bill which included that money). She also has a long history of voting against education funding in general. Perhaps that might help explain her abysmal 14% rating from the Virginia Education Association in 2012 (on the other hand, the extremist, theocratic “Virginia Family Foundation” just loves loves LOVES her!).

Second, she claims to have gotten a “funded sound wall” for the district. In fact, that was a county project that Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member John Foust (D) delivered (see his website and also here, and note that Barbara Comstock’s name is NOT mentioned anywhere), but that Comstock likes to claim credit for, regardless of the fact that she had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

I asked Kathleen Murphy’s campaign manager, Raymond Rieling, for comment on Comstock’s Big Lie ad, and he responded: “Delegate Comstock has consistently voted to de-fund public education. Her record speaks for itself, and this ad is another example of her saying one thing in Northern Virginia and voting another way in Richmond.”



So true. That’s why, on November 5, I encourage everyone in the 34th House of Delegates district (McLean, Great Falls) to vote for Kathleen Murphy, and to send Barbara Comstock back to being just another GOP “attack dog” in Washington, DC.

Terry McAuliffe’s Gutsy Call Defines 2013 Election

By
Goldmanusa
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11

by Paul Goldman

Terry McAuliffe’s “all-in” poker play on Medicaid expansion may be the gutsiest 200-proof political position taken by a candidate for Governor in the modern era. In stark contrast to what I hear from Republicans, the press, and even some Democrats about how the TMacker is an empty suit, this is utterly ludicrous to us at 200-proof. Why? I will make tihs clear shortly.

Again, we analyze the politics of things. We leave the moralizing to those with superior moral values. We leave deciding what is the best policy decision to those with superior wonkish credentials. We leave what is the best power play to those who are the folks with the power. And we leave the strategy/academic thing to the gurus so they can do their guru thing.

We just ask for a little section, a little piece of astroturf, to sit and call the game based on what is happening on the field AS IS. However they got to that part of the field to run a particular play is for the brainiacs to decipher and pontificate. We ain’t that smart. Whether by blunder or brilliance, they are where they are on October 3. We just deal with it.

We are like Aristotle, not Newton or Einstein: we have to use our common sense, we ain’t got all the technology. Heavier stuff falls faster than lighter stuff: how can that not be? And common sense tells us at 200-proof: Democrats don’t appreciate the gutsy nature of Terry’s Medicaid “all-in” expansion call. Cuccinelli and his posse are sure they do. My sweep prediction has long been premised in good measure on my belief that while Terry’s team had “game-on”, the Cuccinelli team could talk the talk but could not walk the walk.  

Obamacare and Medicaid Expansion are supposed to be Cuccinelli’s closing argument. The polls show it should have been a good issue for the GOP guv guy. Terry knew that when he went “all-in” on Medicaid and Obamacare. Like I say, this a very underappreciated move. A major league play really.  

A quick aside: I am not suggesting that legendary Henry Howell was somehow less courageous when he challenged the segregationist Byrd boys. But Mr. Howell was a “cause” guy. Nor am I suggesting that Terry’s position on Medicaid somehow eclipses Wilder’s  “all-in” play becoming the first GUV candidate in the nation to risk it all by making the pro-choice side of the abortion debate the defining substantive issue in the campaign. But Wilder was a big underdog, never with a statistical way to get to 50% without two miracles really. So he had no choice but to make that play, if you studied the playing field. The trick was how to nuance it to get around the “abortion on demand” tag that had killed Democrats in other states.  

But Terry McAuliffe was not the underdog when he went “all-in” on Medicaid Expansion. So his situation is different than Henry’s and Doug’s.  At 200-proof we would say: So you choose the “limited hangout” route, you nuance it, straddle a little, play the angles, don’t go “all-in”, find that sweet spot where you play both ends against the middle. That’s just 200-proof strategy. What are Don in the Senate, Dave in the House, Monique at DLOV, Bobby in Congress, Levar with Terry’s campaign, and the usual suspects on MSNBC and the like gonna do about it? The Washington Post too. What are they gonna do, switch to Cuccinelli?

This is politics folks, straight up, no ice, “neat’ as James Bond would say. Terry chose to go “all-in” — no study groups, no commissions, no hedge. IN. That’s The Babe pointing at the Bleachers. That’s Clint Eastwood in the terrific movie “Trouble With The Curve” saying: “You will know the sound of the real thing when you hear it.”

So at 200 proof we say: ANYONE who says a candidate for Governor backing an “all-in” play on Medicaid Expansion, gay marriage, along with historically risky plays on the gun and coal issues lacks a platform is smoking the same weed, IF NOT THE HARDER STUFF, that libertarian GUV dude Robert Sarvis wants to legalize in Virginia. Get to the doctor, fast. These are bold political stands for a major party candidate for Governor on an historic basis. B-O-L-D. But given the politics of the state, the gutsiest play is the “all-in” posture on Medicaid Expansion.

I believe the future of Virginia politics, indeed the 2016 national elections, will be impacted in significant ways by Terry McAuliffe’s ability to win in Virginia while being “all-in” on Medicaid Expansion.  He isn’t throwing into coverage because that’s the only receiver that might be able to catch the desperation pass to “keep hope alive,” as Reverend Jackson might have said in his political prime. I mean Jessie, not E.W. Terry had a clear 200-proof choice: and he took the gutsiest play possible.

Terry will still have to sell it to the General Assembly. And he will. At which time, for those who had failed to see it back in November, they will realize what we at 200-proof believe: For hundreds of thousands of Virginians, the “locked out and the left out” as Wilder would say, and Howell would agree, they will owe their new Governor a literal lifetime of thanks. For all this – guts and gratitude – Terry deserves a big Democratic turnout for an off-year election.

New TV Ad Highlights Cuccinelli Plan to Campaign with Ted Cruz, Architect of Tea Party Shutdown

By
lowkell
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1

Great stuff from the McAuliffe campaign:

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s campaign released a new television ad Thursday, “Over the Brink,” regarding Ken Cuccinelli’s refusal to condemn the Tea Party tactics that caused the government shutdown. Later this week, Cuccinelli will bring the architect of the Tea Party shutdown, Senator Ted Cruz, to Virginia to campaign for him. At the same time, the shutdown has jeopardized the jobs of thousands of Virginians employed by the federal government, and Virginia’s more than 800,000 veterans are at risk of seeing their benefits delayed.

“The Tea Party shutdown is already negatively impacting thousands of Virginians and will hurt more every day, but Ken Cuccinelli refuses to condemn the tactics that Cruz and his Tea Party allies used to implement this ideology-driven shutdown,” said McAuliffe spokesperson Josh Schwerin. “Now, Cuccinelli is bringing the architect of the Tea Party shutdown to Virginia to campaign for him. Virginians deserve real leadership from their next governor, not someone who will continually put his own ideological agenda ahead of Virginia jobs.”

In 2004, Cuccinelli said he “wished” Virginia Republicans had shut down the state over then Governor Warner’s bipartisan budget bill that he opposed, going so far as to brag that “in my view we shouldn’t have chickened out. I’d have taken them right to the brink. I’d have gone right over the brink” to stop Warner’s budget bill.

Virginia News Headlines: Thursday Morning

By
lowkell
-
1

Here are a few Virginia and national news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, October 3 (day #3 of the Republican shutdown).

*Shutdown talks sputter as focus turns to U.S. debt (Yep, now Teapublicans are threatening the full faith and credit of the United States of America.)

*Analysis: Republicans Get Opposite of Stated Goals

*Tea party effort laid groundwork for battle (“Conservative Republicans elected to the House in 2010 have largely succeeded in scaling back federal spending.” The problem is, they’ve cut stupid, not smart. The other problem is, these people are extremists in every other way – on “social issues,” the environment, and now shutting down the government or even defaulting on our debt to get their way. Ugh.)

*Ted Cruz blasted by angry GOP colleagues (“Ted Cruz faced a barrage of hostile questions Wednesday from angry GOP senators, who lashed the Texas tea party freshman for helping prompt a government shutdown.”)

*Today’s top opinion: Just do it (Republican Richmond Times-Dispatch: “The debt-ceiling limit approaches. House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who represents Virginia’s 7th District, now have one job – and it does not entail placating the tea party caucus. Their job is to protect the best interests of the nation, which means hammering out a budget deal and protecting the full faith and credit of the United States.”)

*Boehner could end the shutdown now, but he’s got his eyes on a bigger threat (“The House speaker may survive one vote relying on Democrats, but two would leave him on political life support.”)

*White House moves to tackle glitches that thwarted Obamacare enrollment (“Officials scramble to add servers to handle unexpectedly high demand.”)

*Republicans are going to need a bigger lifeboat (“Perhaps more revealing were those who haven’t earned a place in the conservatives’ lifeboat: entities that check the power of industry and entities that protect workers and the poor. They may be the most hurt by a government shutdown, but they don’t have a place in the conservative utopia as defined by the lifeboat strategy.”)

*Why this government shutdown is different (“It’s different because Republicans are badly divided over the government shutdown while Democrats are united. President Obama and his party want to say, firmly and unequivocally, that they will never again give in to the Republicans’ abuses of the governing process – or to their willingness to risk catastrophe.”)

*Government shutdown puts U.S. security at risk (Wow, the Post nails it again! “…this week those same Republicans are putting U.S. embassies across the world at risk with their shutdown of the U.S. government. More broadly, they are endangering national security at a time when the United States remains under threat from al-Qaeda and affiliated groups.”)

*The GOP endangers democracy (“Do 97 percent of Republicans hate Obamacare even more than they hate death and taxes? Who cares? In a functioning democracy, it doesn’t matter what the majority happens to think at any given moment. What matters is what the legitimate, representative, legal institutions have already decided.”)

*Libertarian alternative to McAuliffe, Cuccinelli gains some traction in Va. governor’s race

*Rivals for two Virginia offices spar in debates

*E.W. Jackson feels some shutdown heat at debate

*E.W. Jackson re-brands himself during lieutenant governors debate (“The Republican candidate talked about reaching out. Democrat Ralph Northam brought up Jackson’s previous comments.”)

*Shutdown puts Virginia’s GOP in a vise (“The government shutdown has put House Republicans from Virginia in an awkward spot, pulled in different directions by conservatives in their own party and constituents back home.”)

*Cuccinelli, Cruz scheduled to appear at Family Foundation dinner (Other than Ted “Shutdown” Cruz, check out what the theocratic Family Foundation stands for.)

*Landowners group criticizes Cuccinelli over natural gas companies (“Virginians for Clean Government called on the candidate to return campaign contributions. A Republican Party representative said Ken Cuccinelli did not pick ‘energy companies over Southwest Virginia.'”)

*Cuccinelli on Star Scientific scandal: ‘The governor knows things about that situation that the rest of us don’t.’ (Bob McDonnell, meet underside of bus, courtesy of your former running mate, Ken Cuccinelli.)

*WATCH: Virginia red district ‘devastated’ by shutdown (“Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia’s Democratic junior senator and the former governor of the state, said his state is suffering from the government shutdown”)

*Virginia Democrats file federal lawsuit to stop use of voter ‘purge list’

*Furloughed federal workers begin filing for unemployment checks in DC, Maryland, Virginia

*Federal shutdown idles Air Force expert honored for saving government $1 billion (There are many, many more superb federal employees sitting home right now because of the Teapublicans. Everyone should be livid right now, at Ted Cruz, Eric Can’tor, etc, etc.)

*Fairfax County crime hit another record low in 2012, statistics show

*Fall weather gets a furlough, too?

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