While Democrats squabbled among themselves this weekend, Republican Bob McDonnell began in earnest his effort to become the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Announcing some of his “big, hairy, audacious goals,” McDonnell, a graduate of televangelist Pat Robertson’s Regent Law School:
- blasted organized labor.
- condemned legislation that would make it easier for workers to form unions as a grave threat to “our sacred right-to-work law.”
- drew rousing ovations for his support for abortion restrictions and gun rights.
- tried to distance himself from the extreme conservative positions he took as a member of the House of Delegates.
- tried to hide his opposition to President Obama’s stimulus package, saying Virginians should receive their nearly $5 billion share of the federal money.
- claimed to support merit pay for public school teachers.
- called for oil and natural gas drilling 50 miles off Virginia’s coast.
Thanks to two consecutive moderate Democratic governors, Virginia has barely dragged the reactionary Republican-dominated General Assembly into the 21st Century. We hope internecine squabbling in Democratic ranks won’t enable McDonnell, imam Robertson, and their “big, hairy, audacious goals” to drag it back to the 19th.
Filed under: Bob McDonnell, Local, Pat Robertson, Republicans | Tagged: Bob McDonnell, Hampton Roads, Pat Robertson, Republicans
