Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign for governor couldn’t find the truth if the sun were its flashlight

The political candidate is a reflection of his or her political ads and in the case of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, at least one of his political ads is full of misleading details, inaccurate suggestions, and subtly unflattering character critiques.

After allegations were made in Mother Jones magazine that some of individuals quoted in a political ad run by the Cuccinelli campaign for Virginia governor, a firestorm has grown around Cuccinelli and how his campaign has used political ads in this campaign. Subsequently, Cuccinelli’s attempt to take the heat off of his own character and political views has failed drastically.

The political ad in question run by Cuccinelli essentially attempts to peg Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe, as a Mitt Romney-like economic and political insider whose life of privilege is far outside that of the average Virginian. How can such an individual, the ad suggests, be elected to represent the Average Joe Virginian after “walking away with millions”?

The truth is, of course, different from the story that the Cuccinelli campaign has attempted to spin. The Washington Post notes the following:  “But McAuliffe was only an investor, and had nothing to do with the management, or mismanagement, of the company [Global Crossing].  Winnick—who earned at least $700 million from his sales of Global Crossing stock—was never charged with any criminal wrong-doing; the SEC staff wanted to pursue civil charges over the company’s accounting practices but they were overruled by SEC commissioners.”

Unfortunately for Cuccinelli and his campaign, the attorney general didn’t learn the lessons of his boss, Bob McDonnell: The quickest way to derail your political career and/or campaign is to lie to the people of Virginia and commit to behaviors that you know are wrong. In other words, Cuccinelli didn’t fall far from the sordid tree that Bob McDonnell spurred to life.