Gov. Bob McDonnell gets the pink slip from CPAC while Cuccinelli gets the royal treatment

According to the Conservative Political Action Conference[1] (affectionately known as CPAC), Gov. Bob McDonnell of our very own Virginia didn’t pass the litmus test for being unjustifiably conservative. As such, Gov. McDonnell wasn’t invited to CPAC’s annual get together[2] of conspiracy theorists, climate change/science deniers, morally bankrupt, and totally delusional conservative political figures from across the country on March 14-16.

This supposed slight wrecks McDonnell’s two-year streak of invites to the annual CPAC gala. But never fear because Gov. McDonnell will be joining another potential 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate who was slighted, Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey).

Gov. McDonnell probably isn’t too shaken up about CPAC’s decision. He’ll be attending another conservative must-go-to, the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s[3] Prayer Breakfast next Friday.

But the question becomes, Gov. McDonnell isn’t conservative enough?! For CPAC, violating the individual rights of women, suppressing the minority and disadvantaged vote in a subtly legal way, rhetorically paying homage to tax cuts of Reaganite policies, among many other examples, wasn’t enough to put McDonnell into the really conservative camp.

Perhaps it was the recent compromise (oh no, not that word again!!) with Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly on the transportation bill[4] that also included new tax revenue and a huge boon for Virginia’s transportation system (hopefully!) that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for CPAC. Or maybe CPAC was just tired of McDonnell’s hair cut.

Either way, our next question is: so what is, then, conservative enough for CPAC?

I give you, fellow Virginians, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who has been reportedly invited to speak at the CPAC conference next week.[5]

Sarah Palin’s reincarnation, Ken Cuccinelli, has done just about everything imaginable to throw himself into the “I’m not sane enough to be an effective political leader camp,” so much so that CPAC has embraced him with rose-pedals and torrents of enthusiasm.

Something tells me, however, that Gov. McDonnell will have the last laugh in this game of political musical chairs.

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[1] http://conservative.org/cpac/

[2] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/03/mcdonnell-not-invited-annual-conservative-conference

[3] http://ffcoalition.com/

[4] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/general-assembly-passes-sweeping-roads-legislation

[5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-politics/cuccinelli-to-speak-at-cpac-conference/2013/03/05/eb06385c-85a1-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html