Friday, March 1, 2013

Democratic candidate for VA governor, Terry McAuliffe, calls Cuccinelli out on transportation


In a head-to-head match-up on overall hair-dos, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli would definitely beat Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. But on the actual issues that will help shape the lives of Virginians for four years, not so much. Not only does McAuliffe not cater to the extremes of his party, he also comes from a business background that gives him firsthand knowledge about how a business is actually run.

And one of the first rules of running a business is you actually have to invest in it to maintain it and see it grow. If Ken Cuccinelli had his way with the recently passed transportation bill, however, Virginia’s infrastructure would have been hit hard, so to speak, and with it, the people of Virginia.

McAuliffe wasted no time pointing out the problems with Cuccinelli’s position on the recent transportation bill. In a sly political move, McAuliffe noted, “If Ken Cuccinelli is attacking me, he’s attacking Gov. Bob McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, [state House speaker] Bill Howell and many others.”[1] It looks like Cuccinelli just got backed into a tough political corner!

In response to McAuliffe’s criticism, Cuccinelli can either retract his previous position on the transportation package, attempt to ignore or downplay the issue, or attack his Republican colleagues. The latter option would only help to further isolate Cuccinelli from the ‘mainstream’ of the Republican Party.

The following words by Virginia Senator Janet Howell will probably never ring true in the ears of Cuccinelli, but they’re worth noting: “We’ve all disagreed with Gov. McDonnell on certain issues, but this was a time when we came together. Like any compromise, no one got exactly what he or she wanted – in fact, there are parts of [the legislation] that make me want to gag – but we made progress in Virginia.”[2]

Compromise. Yes, compromise! If Cuccinelli has any shot at becoming Virginia’s next governor, he’ll have to learn to throw off the looney-mantle, talk seriously about political issues, and learn the word and political action of compromise. But it may be too late now. Cuccinelli may already be so far engrossed in his far-right rhetoric that all the king’s (i.e., Bob McDonnell) horses couldn’t put Cuccinelli back together again.


[1] http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/terry-mcauliffe-attacks-ken-cuccinelli-on-transportation-plan-88128.html?hp=l8
[2] http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/terry-mcauliffe-attacks-ken-cuccinelli-on-transportation-plan-88128_Page2.html

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