Cuccinelli campaign won’t answer why Cuccinelli attacked academic freedom and science

In what can only be called a pathetic attempt by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign to circumvent U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (Rhode Island) criticism, ‘Kooks’ campaign suggested that his Democratic opponent for governor, Terry McAuliffe, put Sen. Whitehouse up to criticizing Cuccinelli on science and academic freedom.[1]

But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to find something about Ken Cuccinelli to criticize, especially his views on climate change.

In a floor speech given by Whitehouse in the U.S. Senate, the senator from Rhode Island stated, “In 2010, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli used his powers of office to harass former University of Virginia climatologist Michael Mann and 39 other climate scientists and staff.”[2]

For the sake of argument, however, let’s assume that McAuliffe did put Sen. Whitehouse up to criticizing Cuccinelli for his political attacks on academic freedom and science (even though there is no evidence to prove this preposterous claim), the next question would be, so what?

For the Cuccinelli campaign, the “so what” is being answered by an attempt to frame Terry McAuliffe as an elitist outsider who “doesn’t understand anything about Virginia.”[3] So what the Cuccinelli campaign is arguing is that making money and having friends outside of Virginia is bad politics. Interesting…Didn’t Cuccinelli just finish writing a book? Wasn’t Virginia’s attorney general just at a conservative convention touting his illogical and demagogic political views outside of Virginia!? Say it ain’t so!

But the REAL ISSUE here is the Cuccinelli campaign’s unwillingness to substantively respond to claims that Cuccinelli attempted to undermine academic freedom and science when he went on a widely publicized political witch hunt for climate scientist Michael Mann’s research demonstrating man-made climate change.

Cuccinelli won’t knowingly enter into a discussion of his past misdeeds because it is clear that Cuccinelli not only spent precious taxpayer dollars attempting to drag scientists through the mud, he did so largely as part of a political ideology that blatantly disregards science when it doesn’t suit his political ends.

Cuccinelli will never be able to run a moral campaign. He will have to sell fear and prejudice and narrow-mindedness to have any chance of winning the election for governor. Because if Cuccinelli attempted to argue his own policy positions, Virginians would quickly see just how far removed he is from the politics of most Virginians.

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/cuccinelli-blasted-on-climate-change/2013/03/15/cedfd26e-8db7-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_story.html

[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNMn9JH6OBw

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/cuccinelli-blasted-on-climate-change/2013/03/15/cedfd26e-8db7-11e2-9838-d62f083ba93f_story.html