From Progress Virginia, this is truly appalling:

The Family Research Council today endorsed Ken Cuccinelli's gubernatorial campaign, bringing into question the type of values Cuccinelli would represent as Governor. FRC is a Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate group. The organization has repeatedly demonized the LGBT community and endeavored to block women's access to birth control. 

"We already know Ken Cuccinelli is far outside the mainstream, insisting on protecting policies that allow Virginians to be fired for being gay and campaigning to allow employers to determine if women can access affordable birth control," said ProgressVA Executive Director Anna Scholl. "This endorsement from a right-wing hate group simply reinforces that Virginia families can't depend on Cuccinelli to to focus on homefront investments that support opportunity and economic growth because he's too busy pushing an extreme ideological agenda." 

(I would just add that the Washington Post’s fierce opposition to Ken Kookinelli is one of the ONLY redeeming qualities of that “newspaper.” – promoted by lowkell)

by Paul Goldman

We write 200-proof; to quote the great baseball movie with Kevin Costner, “for the love of the game.” If you love the game, then you have to comment if someone just stands there at the plate and takes three straight strikes without taking a swing. There is no bigger “sin” in baseball…or in politics.

Case in point: Ken Cuccinelli’s refusal to investigate the for-profit education industry, including one of its heavyweight entities, Kaplan University. The industry has been a subject of discussions between Lowell and myself, reflected in our writings on this page.

200-proof politics lives by this basic rule: when someone is trying to kill you politically, you have a right, if not a need, to kill them off first, metaphorically that is. Or at least, make it so you have a very plausible narrative to tell voters why such a person/entity/party/special interest has you on their hit list.

This is, as they say, a messy business, not for the squeamish. War is hell, said General Sherman.  

The Washington Post is trying to destroy Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign for Govenror. Let’s be honest: When you demand a guy resign because you say he will use his power to destroy the transportation deal, and then, after he saves it with his legal opinion, you then say he needs to resign because his opinion shows how difficult it is to wear two hats, there is no place to hide from the truth.

Yes, they were right – we wrote this yesterday – in saying Cuccinelli tried to have it both ways on transportation. So they whacked him. Fair enough. But it is also true the Post tried to have it both ways. This is the sign they have gone from journalism to flatout political war.

I have been there several times. This is not in doubt: The Post is into 200-proof attack on Cuccinelli. Like Caesar, there is no turning back for them. It is either him or us. Or, as they use to say in the cowboy movies, this town ain’t big enough for the both of us. The state either.  

But what really amazes me is this: Cuccinelli could have mortally wounded the Post with the eager help – they were begging him to do it – from the liberal base of the Democratic Party! It is a 200-proof bafflement. The guy has sued just about everyone else on the planet, so why not the “Kaplan Post?”  

Democratic Senator Jim Webb, liberal icon Senator Tom Harkin, the NAACP, respected educators from across the country, the historically black colleges, UVA and others practically begged him to sue the Post, or more actually their affiliate Kaplan University, and he wouldn’t do it.

I don’t write to pick on Kaplan University. But 200-proof tells it like it is: We don’t choose sides in a fight, we examine the fight from each side. So let me say: Cuccinelli, for all his image, is a wuss. A big wuss. Kaplan University, the private college living off government funds, whose profits are keeping the Post from having to go 100% internet (or 100% belly up) is part of an industry that has been universally decried from the Democratic side, with the Obama Administration leading the way.

To repeat: All the colleges, all the education groups, all the minority groups, all the women’s groups, would have backed him 100% in going after these folks who the NAACP – not your usual Cuccinelli group – says are destroying black youth. I didn’t make that up. Actually, they said destroying black communities too. This group has super-low graduation rates, but super high average student debt. It is about 10% of the total post-secondary college enrollment but 50% of the defaulted loans.

These loans are killing these minority kids and veterans, a big thing with Webb. They get a degree which doesn’t get them a job and they have crushing debt they can’t pay. So who gets stuck with the bill? The middle class of America who can barely afford to pay their own kids tuition.

IF THERE EVER WAS A SURE-FIRE WINNING POLITICAL ISSUE, THIS IS IT.

If Cuccinelli had gone after Kaplan, the for-profit industry, the Post would not be able to attack him with any credibility. Indeed, they would have helped him with any attack. Webb, Harkin, et. al saw it; they wanted a Democrat to get the credit!  

Unfortunately, political consultants think a campaign is about their TV ads and their polling and maybe some get out of the vote. The actual campaign is sort of a legal requirement, not a political one. They don’t love the part of the game that has fascinated guys like me since Plato: the campaign give and take, the boxing match, the matching of the wits on the stump.

Clinton loved the game, he is among the best ever at. So did Reagan. President Obama loves the game, but I think he is the exception now. None of the Republicans have, starting with Bush the elder. Romney hated the 47%. Cuccinelli vs The Post, that’s the ole game, you have to do it slickly, but it has to be done.

Now these for-profit schools give a lot of money directly and indirectly. We are in a pay-for-play system, so they have a lot of pull. And a lot of Wall Street has made a lot of money on them. They even stared down the Obama Administration, who watered down the rules especially in terms of how you score whether a student graduates on time, when you have to count a loan in default.

For example: Last I checked, a loan was in default after 9 months of non-payment. However, if the school took the old loan, and rolled into a new loan at the 8-month mark, the 9-month timeline started anew. Why is this important? Because if a school has too many defaulting loans, the students at the school can’t get federal loans. Which means the school shuts down.  Have you ever heard of a private enterprise living on 95% government money except a military contractor? Plus: they don’t have to count their veterans money as government at least that was the rule. It is a scam of scams.

The point being: Dr. Harvey, the renowned educator who led Hampton University, exposed them, and the harm they were doing to minority kids, a while back. Lowell and I tried to get the VA Democrats to fight for these minority kids. We couldn’t do it; heck, Democrats put the industry’s top lobbyist as its party head. But even then, Cuccinelli’s posse was politically brain dead.

This is not a hard play for a real 200-proof player. A conservative AG goes out, hires the most liberal law firm he can hire willing to take on the Post. He tells them not to worry about the bill, just find him the goods to “nail the coonskin on the wall” as Davy Crockett might have said. You pay a lawyer enough, an investigator enough, you get your information. Especially when Democrats in the Senate have already compiled most of it along with other education groups! All you need are some people to put in a 30-second ad.

If you got to hire Harvey Keitel to be the “cleaner” ala his super role in “Pulp Fiction”, then do it – don’t worry about how much blood as to be spilled. Yes, there are no rabbis, priests, ministers, whatever working at 200-proof. We call it like is.  

The Post editors are in 200-proof war mode. At some point, they might go too far, people have a basic sense of fairness. But by then, the damage will be done. If Cuccinelli doesn’t have the stomach for the game, then he is going to lose, and 200-proof politics says he deserves to lose.

Terry MAC is a player. He has proven that many times. Like Wilder and Warner and Kaine, he is prepared, if need be, to win ugly. I love the underdog by nature, having had to help so many of them over the years. The overdogs never figure they need us underdog types.

Bottom line: Give me a player any day. At least the Mighty Casey went down swinging.  

As you probably know, there are two Democrats running for the party’s nomination to be Virginia’s next Attorney General. The first candidate is State Senator Mark Herring, who I’m supporting and also consulting for. To read my full endorsement of Sen. Herring, please click here, but the bottom line is as follows:

…Mark Herring is a candidate who is running for all the right reasons, with superb qualifications for the job, with a sharp mind and with a clear vision for what the Virginia Attorney General’s Office should, and should NOT, be doing. As if all that’s not enough, Senator Herring also has proven his ability to win elections in a “purple” part of Virginia, one which happens to be arguably the most important “swing” area of the state. Add all that up, and what we’ve got here is what is known in technical terms as a “no brainer.” 🙂 In all seriousness, though, there is no doubt in my mind that Mark Herring should be Virginia’s next Attorney General, and that WHEN he’s elected, he will do a superb job.

In addition, Mark’s been a champion for protecting a woman’s right to choose, against rolling back voting rights, and against Ken Cuccinelli’s assault on science. Sen. Herring has also “championed legislation to target those who would commit financial scams against our seniors and as a member of the Governor McDonnell’s Domestic Violence and Response Advisory Board…sponsored and passed legislation to strengthen penalties for acts of domestic violence.” In sum, Sen. Herring is eminently qualified to be Virginia’s next Attorney General, knows the issues facing our state inside-out, and is a proven winner at the polls. As I said, it’s pretty much a no brainer.

Then there’s the other Democratic candidate for AG, Justin Fairfax, a guy who almost none of us had ever heard of before he started running for one of the most powerful offices in the state.  Which is fine, everybody has a right to run for any office they want to run for in this country. Of course, just because people can run for the office doesn’t mean that: a) they’re in any way, shape, or form qualified for that office; b) they have any serious track record of accomplishment, either in Virginia or nationally; c) they have ever been elected to anything and/or demonstrated any ability to win elections; or d) that we should support them.

Still, Justin Fairfax has managed – with about 1/2 hour to spare before the deadline – to get on the ballot for the June Democratic primary. Congratulations. But that also means it’s time to start asking some questions about this guy. Here are three for starters; more will follow in coming weeks.

1. Where has Justin Fairfax been, and what has he been doing the past few years, as we’ve worked our butts off to elect Virginia Democrats, defeat Virginia Republicans, and fight for the progressive values we so strongly believe in?

The fact is, pretty much nobody in Virginia had ever heard of Justin Fairfax prior to his run for AG this year. There are excellent reasons for this. For starters, there’s no sign of any involvement by Justin Fairfax whatsoever in helping to elect Virginia Democrats, whether we’re talking about Tim Kaine vs. Jerry Kilgore in 2005, Jim Webb vs. George Allen in 2006, Tom Perriello vs. Virgil Goode in 2008, Creigh Deeds vs. Bob McDonnell in 2009, Gerry Connolly vs. Keith Fimian in 2010 (a race Connolly barely won), the crucial Virginia State Senate elections in 2011, Tim Kaine vs. George Allen in 2012, etc, etc., etc. Heck, there’s not even any sign that Justin Fairfax was a member of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee all those years. And there’s no particular sign of monetary contributions to Virginia state and/or local Democratic candidates, with the exception of Mike Signer in 2009. Note that Signer is supporting…Mark Herring for AG this year. Hmmm.

Anyway, the bottom line is that while the rest of us have worked our butts off the past few years (in my case, since 2005) to turn this state around politically, Justin Fairfax was…nowhere to be found. Thanks a lot. And now he wants to be our state’s Attorney General? Alrighty then.

2. What makes Justin Fairfax believe that he has the detailed knowledge of, and experience with, complex Virginia issues of all kinds, despite having had zero involvement in Virginia politics his entire life?

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like someone as our state’s Attorney General who has worked on the important issues – transportation, health care, energy, environment, voting rights, civil rights, economic development, a woman’s right to choose, LGBT equality, etc, etc. – facing our state, who is a proven champion on many of the things we all care about, and who has a track record of success. Mark Herring has all of those things. Justin Fairfax doesn’t have any of them. Which is fine, for a private citizen, but how does that make him even remotely qualified to be Attorney General of Virginia? Uhhhhh.

3. How can we trust someone who wildly exaggerates all the time?

It’s almost laughable, at this point, and I’ve been biting my tongue to see if Justin Fairfax even made it on the ballot, but I’ve watched in amazement as this guy has told one whopper after another, yet has not been called on any of it. For instance, on his campaign website, he claims that he “used his much-praised skill-set to hold criminals accountable and protect Virginia’s citizens, businesses, and government agencies from violence, fraud, financial crimes, and drug and human trafficking.” In reality, Fairfax was in charge of only x cases, lost y of them, was basically in a junior capacity, and in no way left a record of accomplishment, despite his supposed “much-praised skill-set.” Also on his website, he claims that he “served as an assistant to then Vice Presidential candidate Edwards during the Kerry/Edwards 2004 Presidential Campaign.” Except for one problem: Fairfax wasn’t an “assistant” to John Edwards, he was an extremely junior advance person who received a grand total of two (2) paychecks from the Kerry-Edwards campaign. Wow. Also on his website, Fairfax claims that his “accomplishments have been recognized and written about in media outlets,” but he provides absolutely no evidence that this is the case, since in fact it isn’t the case. Recently, he suggested on his Facebook page (see photo above) that not only had DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz endorsed him, but that she was doing a fundraiser for him. Neither was, or is, in any way, shape, or form true. And when called out about this on his Facebook page, he responded by…leaving up the misleading advertisement for the fundraiser. Classy.

Oh yeah, and how can I forget how his press secretary told me, the night of the Mt. Vernon Democrats’ fundraiser and straw poll, that he was another Barack Obama. Yeah, except for Obama’s tremendous accomplishments – his years working as a community organizer, running for (and winning) election to the Illinois State Senate, serving in the Illinois State Senate for 7 years,  running for (and winning) election to the U.S. Senate, etc, etc. – none of which Justin Fairfax even comes close to matching. Nice to have a high opinion of oneself, though.

4. Finally, how would Justin Fairfax not get eaten alive by Mark Obenshain or Rob Bell in the general election?

Given all of the above – no serious knowledge of Virginia issues; no relevant experience; no track record of ever running, let alone winning, a campaign – how would Mark Obenshain or Rob Bell, both of whom have tremendous knowledge of Virginia issues (although of course they’re both totally wrong on everything), not eat Justin Fairfax alive? It would truly not be a pretty picture.

So those are four questions, for starters, which it would be great to hear Justin Fairfax respond to. Not in glittering generalities, either, like his all-style-zero-substance stump speech, but with actual specifics about what he’s done, where he’s been, and why on earth he thinks his first elective office should be Virginia Attorney General. We’re all ears.