In defending the recently passed and bipartisan supported
transportation bill in the Virginia General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell used
the rhetorical wild-card to stifle the anti-tax critics of the bill: Ronald
Reagan did it!
During his monthly “Ask the Governor” radio appearance on
the Virginia News Network on Thursday, McDonnell defended his legacy bill by
noting that “Reagan pushed for an increase in the federal gas tax 30 years ago
to address highway funding needs.”[1]
So there you anti-tax critics!
The first caller during McDonnell’s radio appearance asked
the following: “I just wanted to know why you would have been willing to sign
the largest tax increase in the history of Virginia when you ran on a campaign
of no increased taxes and smaller government?”[2]
Not one to be deterred by contradictions, McDonnell shot
back that the caller’s representation of the transportation bill was “factually
incorrect.” McDonnell then proceeded to elaborate on just why the
transportation bill is a good thing for Virginia and Virginians.
“Over the past three or four years [McDonnell can’t
remember?!!], I’ve done everything that I had available to me as a tool in
order to try to improve the transportation infrastructure in Virginia. It’s a
jobs issue. It’s a quality of life issue. It is an issue that affects every
man, woman, and child here in Virginia…”[3]
The only surprising aspect of McDonnell’s response was how
off-kilter he seemed to be when defending the transportation bill. McDonnell
was no doubt just as aware before the bill was passed in the General Assembly
as he is now that the anti-tax wing would lambast the tax increases included in
the bill.
If the far-right nutty’s crawl back into their private holes
sometime in the near future, McDonnell could have a good shot at running for
and winning the Republican presidential nomination come 2016. With the passage
of Virginia’s first comprehensive transportation bill in many years, McDonnell
has certainly solidified himself as a political leader who can pull both sides of
the political aisle together to reach a legislative compromise.
Of course, not everyone is happy about the transportation
bill in the General Assembly.[4]
Shocker! But to make sausage you have to…actually I don’t know how you make
sausage, but it must be akin to the car-crash process that is legislative
deal-making. I’m just glad everyone made it out with only a few scratches!
[1] http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2013/02/28/mcdonnell-invokes-reagan-in-defending-transportation-bill/
[2] http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2013/02/28/mcdonnell-invokes-reagan-in-defending-transportation-bill/
[3] http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2013/02/28/mcdonnell-invokes-reagan-in-defending-transportation-bill/
[4] http://www.bluevirginia.us/showDiary.do?diaryId=8813
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