Tea Party Prince Cuccinelli and the art of bad politics: you don’t need that job, do you?

If you, dear reader, are partying like it’s 1776 due to the government shutdown, then Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is unequivocally your candidate in Virginia’s ‘race’ for governor. If, however, you disagree with the practice of bleeding yourself until the alleged ailment has abated, then Democratic candidate for Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe is your man.  

While Cuccinelli has recently taken steps to distance himself from the radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress (e.g., Sen. Ted Cruz), the attorney general’s early and consistent tea party rhetoric has seemingly formed a strong link between himself and the behavior of congressional Republicans who have refused to stop holding America’s economy hostage.

Such a link in the minds of Virginia’s voters can perhaps be seen in poll numbers that have been taken since the government shutdown began on October 1. According to the L.A. Times, “With the election just weeks away, Cuccinelli's poll numbers have tumbled [emphasis mine] since federal agencies were closed Oct. 1.”

For anyone who has been keeping up with the governor’s race in Virginia, it’s not surprising that Cuccinelli has had difficulty shaking off the tea party image that he has worked so hard to capture. Tag, you’re it! Now that Cuccinelli has been crowned one of the princes of the tea party movement, he can either sink with the rest of his friends in the political nuthouse or betray the revolution that hoisted him to national prominence and allow his old comrades to undercut his aspirations for higher political office. Decisions, decisions.

Who would have thought that Virginians connected to the federal government for their paychecks would dislike moves to throw their well-being into a tailspin?! Cuccinelli won’t even give up his position as attorney general while he runs for governor. Anyone else see the hypocrisy?  

Republicans like Cuccinelli are a party of destruction and demolition whose political creativity runs dry in the face of solving problems with constructive and positive solutions (e.g., create more jobs, create a larger tax base, lower the nation’s debt, etc.). No, the Cuccinelli Republicans appear to find joy in the destruction they cause until their respective constituencies take notice and throw them out of office.

There’s an old wisdom saying that goes something like this: the road to paradise can’t be paved with wrongful acts. Throwing people out of their jobs and throwing the economy into default are certainly wrongful acts. If Cuccinelli is elected governor, we can expect more of the same.