Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Cuccinelli Pouts After Loss

—

by

Peter Galuszka
in , ,

cooch-ageddonBy Peter Galuszka

The latest from the parallel universes of Virginia politics: failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Cuccinelli is pouting like a child while planning his next step.

According to an hour-long interview he gave to The Washington Post, Cuccinelli is lying low and eating dinners at home several nights a week which he finds comforting. Otherwise, it is sour grapes:

“He did not make the customary phone call to the winner, and he has not made any public appearances. His chief strategist, Chris LaCivita, has complained that the Republican Governors Association and other GOP donors prematurely stopped giving to Cuccinelli’s campaign at a time when a victory was still possible. That has led some observers to call Cuccinelli a sore loser.”

Cha! Now compare that to outgoing Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s recent sermon on “the Virginia Way” of gentlemanly politics that could teach those barbarians in Washington a thing or two. He wrote: “In Virginia, we still believe in the quaint notion that to succeed you must turn down the rhetoric, work together to find solutions and get things done.”

Excuse me? Maybe we should repeat that for Ken before he decides to go up against U.S. Sen. Mark Warner.

All in all, however, the scenario here is rather simple. Urged on by edge elements like the tea party, Cuccinelli invented his own bubble and still resides in it. Small wonder that his own party, at least the grownups therein,  cut back on throwing good money after bad in a losing campaign. Something they seemed to have figured out — had the Cooch won, lots of people would have been in trouble from the LGBT crowd to Main Street business.

And, once again, we’re presented with myths. One is that Cuccinelli’s abrasive and abusive personality and politics had nothing to do with his defeat. It was the ill-timed government shutdowns and Republican governors. It was the biased news media. Not to worry: he’ll nail Warner on Obamacare (presumably if it isn’t figured out when that campaign starts).

Meanwhile, Richmond’s dream-spinners, led by the editors at the Times-Dispatch, are doing their best to make up a legacy and a history for their favorite son McDonnell. No mention that he’s still the target of a federal corruption probe. No mention of the state GOP being in disarray.

Someone should capture this and put it all down on some DVDs, “Lord of the Rings” style. Fantasy after fantasy after fantasy. It could sell.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

6 responses to “Cuccinelli Pouts After Loss”

  1. Breckinridge Avatar
    Breckinridge

    To steal a line from the murdered president we are all remembering this week, defeat is an orphan. But these “that party is about to die” moments always prove fleeting. As noted before, the GOP owns the House of Delegates, remains within striking distance of a true majority in the Senate of Virginia, and holds a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. Far more than half of registered Virginians either didn’t vote or didn’t vote for McAuliffe. To be successful he will have to work with both parties, and to his credit he seems to be getting that.

    But the GOP needs another candidate to challenge Warner, logically one of the current congressional delegation.

  2. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I’m wondering if the Conservatives have reached their nadir in their current configuration…

    They still hold the high cards..in the GA and the Congressional delegation, I agree..

  3. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    If Obamacare had been rolled out September 1, Old Cooch would have won.

    I don’t expect McAuliffe will achieve much unless he gives up the stuff that got him votes from NoVA’s crazies. But if he wheels and deals like old Slick Willie, he might get something done. The question is: What would McAuliffe want to do? Unless he wants to reform Medicaid, in ways that his Party might not like, Medicaid expansion is not going to happen. McDonnell did transportation. The village idiots from NoVA would likely support increasing state taxes for schools — send dollars to Richmond for pennies. Maybe, McAuliffe can just steer the ship of state. That would not be a bad result in my view.

    If I were running a campaign against Warner, I’d hit his lies about “You can keep your health insurance if you like it.” Over, and over, and over again. I don’t know whether this would stick, but the ABC/WaPo poll found a 2012 do-over would put Romney over Obama.

  4. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I think the conventional wisdom mostly from the right about the election turning on ObamaCare might be wrong.

    but you do have to ask yourself – from a voter perspective – what would be gained for Virginia in voting for a right-wing ideologue as a “protest” vote against ObamaCare?

    what would you say about that voter – that, as a protest, he’d turn the Governors office to someone like Cucinelli for 4 years?

    How many people in Blue Va would do this?

    WHO would do this? The only ones I can think of are those in Red Va that would characterize themselves as “undecided” but usually don’t vote but would be motivated to turn out to vote Red.

    that’s possible… and maybe enough would… who knows

    but it’s mind blowing to think that any voter would vote to put a right wing ideologue into the Governors office for 4 years knowing full well what his agenda is….

    And perhaps it’s not that crazy anyhow. Just look at some of the elected Congressmen and even Senators from other states…

    If Texas can have a Ted Cruz and Florida a Rubio and Kentucky a Rand Paul, what not Va – a Cucinelli?

    I’ve said before and I’ll say it again. I totally support the way the founding fathers designed our governance. If I’m on the losing end of things, so be it but if this is where the country is headed… we’re in a heap of trouble.

  5. Peter Galuszka Avatar
    Peter Galuszka

    Agree it is naive to put too much on obamacare and pro cooch. Just way too much baggage

  6. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Times like these make me recall Genesis from the Bible.

    Eisenhower begat Kennedy/Johnson, Johnson begat Nixon, Nixon begat Carter, Carter begat Reagan, Reagan begat Clinton, Clinton begat Bush, Bush begat Obama.

    The sine curve of liberalism and conservatism in national politics has a very predictable pattern.

    This latest tide of liberalism has crested, hit its high water mark and is receding.

    Five years into his presidency George W Bush’s approval rating was 40%. Today, Obama’s is 37%. I personally think Obama is destined to descend to the eye-popping 25% level that Bush touched on three separate occasions.

    Where Bush had his wars Barry has OFraudmacare. The train wreak of Ofraudmacare hasn’t even started. So far, the brakes have been pulled, the train is making screeching sounds and some luggage has fallen out of the overhead compartments. But the train hasn’t wreaked …. yet. The wreak will come when:

    1. The youngsters decide to pay the fine rather than buy the insurance. After all, they can’t be turned down for pre-existing conditions of they get sick and then need insurance.

    2. It becomes clear that you can’t keep you doctor if you like him or her. Period.

    3. Hackers steal private medical information from the goat rodeo of technology called the healthcare.gov complex.

    4. Employers start moving employees to a part time basis at scale to avoid the mandates.

    Bye bye to Barry. Bye bye to this national flirtation with liberalism.

Leave a Reply

Read More