Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

That Danged News Media!

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by

Peter Galuszka
in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Peter Galuszka

After a deluge of negative national publicity in recent weeks over a number of socially conservative and highly controversial bills that he originally endorsed, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has complained on a WTOP radio interview that he’s disappointed with the news media.

“All we ever ask from the media is to be fair, cover what’s actually going on,” McDonnell told listeners.

Oddly, the news media has been covering exactly what has been going on. Virginia has suddenly become the tip of a spear in a hard right-wing agenda. The General Assembly has been flooded with bills to force women to have a transvaginal ultrasound exams before they get an abortion, to repeal laws restricting monthly handgun sales, to deny poor women abortion money in special cases, to force police to check the citizenship of anyone they arrest, among other legislation.

McDonnell whines that the media should be looking at 100 other bills, such as adjusting the state pension system, boosting education and easing traffic congestion.

He must want the good old days a while back when he was being touted as a modern and responsible new type of Republican governor who can cut budgets while attracting jobs.

Too bad for the governor. It may not be his fault in the most recent elections that a number of socially conservative Republicans gained enough legislature seats to push laws that had been held in check for years. Just after those elections. But he backed these people. He basked in media attention that his enlightened leadership was somehow responsible for their victories.

Yet once these fledglings got into power, they went so crazy with a multi-front socially conservative offensive that the national media could not help but notice. Nor was the humor (if any) of the situation lost on scriptwriters at “The Daily Show” and “Saturday Night Live.”

McDonnell wants to be ready for prime time. His WTOP complaints show that he isn’t.

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Comments

  1. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    either McD got in the bed with the social conservatives and carried their water OR he is one of them.

    no sympathy here. Someone with those kinds of “values” has no prayer (get the pun?) of appealing to a majority of independents.

    In the end, was McD fundamentally any smarter than Perry or Santorum?

    I don’t get these guys. what planet are they on?

  2. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    But for the votes of two Democrats in the Senate, the bill wouldn’t have passed. Peter, a bit inconvenient?

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    TMT got it right…. and in a way I’d rather see a mixed vote rather than a party line vote.

    Come October …all of these guys will be hunkered down playing the “who me” game when Virginia’s women start asking who voted for what.

  4. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    The GOP has not only moved further right but they have flushed the RINOs in Va and Nationally.

    Has the Country and Va actually moved further right?

    Does the Country and Va reject RINOs?

    In Va, if the same electorate that elected Obama turn out again (a questionable “if”), how much “bleed over” will affect Va GA and VA Congressional races?

    Mr. Allen is up 10 points on Mr. Kaine. I personally cannot believe Mr. Allen would be one of our Senators in Washington especially compared to Warner and Webb …and even the highly-respected RINO-like prior Warner but if a majority of Virginians (who actually do vote on a regular basis) actually support trans-vaginal ultra-sounds no matter the media kerfuffle, then Allen it will likely be.

    and a question for TMT:

    ” Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, said Tuesday that he will move to strip $42 million in “cost-to-compete” money from the Senate version of the state budget, in a jab at Democrats who’ve refused to approve the budget.

    Cost-to-compete funds are mostly received by Northern Virginia school districts, to help make teacher salaries more competitive.”

    TMT – did you know that RoVa was contributing 42 million to NoVa?

    do you know how much NoVa gets ripped off right now by the composite index?

    do the LCI and COC offset each other about the same or is there still a much larger LCI impact?

  5. RBV Avatar
    RBV

    “In Va, if the same electorate that elected Obama turn out again…..”

    VA is a winner-take-all scenario in November. If the R’s nominee for President wins VA then Allen will win the Senate race. If Obama wins the state Kaine will win the Senate seat.

    No way does VA go R for President and D for Senate or vice versa.

  6. TMT Avatar
    TMT

    I think Mark Warner is doing a pretty good job as a senator. What has Jim Webb done? While I would draw lines differently than he did, I respected his views that the Iraq War was not a good idea. But once the War changed parties, Webb has been silent. What has he said on Afghanistan or Iran? Zip. He’s a seat-warmer.
    People in NoVA are clueless about state and local finance. The way I view it is state money is fungible. We get screwed on K-12 money, but do much better on transportation dollars. I like shifting money from the sales tax from the General Fund to transportation since Fairfax County does better on the latter than the former. We have to pay whatever is left. If the what’s left gets smaller with the shift in funding, I’m fine with it. Most of those whining here, just don’t understand the issues. But they are good emoters for children.

  7. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    I thought Webb made his positions on MOST wars we have going on – pretty clear.

    Authentic is a word in use these days. I think Webb is authentic. He does very, very little double-talk and pol-speak.

    he’s a seat warmer NOW that he’s a lame duck, right?

    I respect him for leaving. He decided it’s not for him even though it’s likely he had the second term for the taking and he’d wipe out Allen who is IMHO as FAKE as they come.

    re:finance.. does the 40+ million Cost of Competing RoVa money offset the losses to education?

  8. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Economics lesson for Larryg:

    Larry, try this example out as an admittedly lopsided example of how state economics work:

    1. I am the only person who draws a salary in my immediate family. I support a wife and five children – none of whom are currently employed.

    2. Since I work, I have a relatively high “cost to clothe”. Compared to others in my family, I spend more on clothes than the family average.

    3. Are my clothes subsidized by my 6 year old son?

    Neither you nor TMT have even skeletal facts regarding the flow of funds in Virginia. Neither do I. As far as I can tell, nobody has these facts. You can’t deconstruct the gas tax into any meaningful regional data. The CTB budgets by regions set by Virginia’s 1932 population. Henrico “pays for their own roads” except that they still get a payment of their own tax dollars after Richmond takes its skim. The Henrico payment is vastly lower per lane mile than the payment received by Arlington County.

    Anybody who says they can unravel Virginia’s internal finances is either delusional or has access to secret information not available to the rest of us.

  9. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    ” Neither you nor TMT have even skeletal facts regarding the flow of funds in Virginia. Neither do I. As far as I can tell, nobody has these facts.”

    then how can you be so convinced that NoVa is getting screwed?

    I notice that down Hampton Roads way – those folks think they are getting screwed also – by NoVa.

    🙂

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