Governor’s Race Devoid of Issues, Filled With Fibs
Published: September 27, 2009
Despite lacking any real fireworks, much less a discussion of the important issues facing Virginia, the gubernatorial campaign between Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds has been a dirty one.
And mostly, the camp to blame for the grime has been Deeds.
After a come-from-behind victory over frontrunner Terry McAuliffe in the party primary primary in June following his surprise endorsement by The Washington Post, Deeds has run a lackluster campaign devoid of any real discussion of any real issues.
He ignored multiple requests from McDonnell for an expanded series of debates across the commonwealth, and he tried to change the ground rules of the debates he did agree to at the last minute.
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A 20-year-old grad school paper emerged as his main avenue of attack on McDonnell, rather than McDonnell’s own record as a legislator and attorney general. The thesis was an easier weapon to wield than the weighty issues Deeds has consistently ignored in his relatively few broader conversations with the Virginia electorate.
His television ads have been below-the-belt and beyond-the-pale attacks. The most egregious was the spot entitled “$300 Million,” which has been on a constant loop in Central and Southwest Virginia. The ad outright blames McDonnell for the increase in electricity bills that Appalachian Power Co. customers have seen in recent months, a blatant lie and distortion. Equally as disturbing, because it reveals quite a bit about the ethically challenged campaign, was the ad, again based on the infamous 20-year-old thesis, all but painting McDonnell as a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal on women’s and social issues.
Were Deeds TV ads about McDonnell the only source of information about the Republican, you would easily get the impression that McDonnell’s entire public career has been about nothing more than trying to outlaw all contraception, ban all abortions and put women “back in the kitchen.”
On the real issues, the issues that matter to Virginians, Deeds has been irritatingly silent: transportation, economic development, government reform and on and on.
That changed — sort of — this past Wednesday when The Washington Post printed an op/ed column by Deeds, touting his transportation “plan.” In the days since, it’s been hailed by his supporters as monumentally important analysis and fleshing-out of his transportation program.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even a cursory reading of the commentary reveals it to be little more than a rehashing of his economic and transportation platform, available for download at http://www.deedsforvirginia.com/issues.
Both the campaign’s 19-page pamphlet and the Post commentary are filled with platitudes and nice-sounding proposals — high-speed rail lines across the state to allow folks in Blacksburg to commute daily to their jobs in Northern Virginia, for example.
But there are no specifics, none at all, regarding the source of the money for his proposals. He mentions forming a bipartisan commission to examine the state’s transportation system and to recommend funding mechanisms, but that’s it.
And this is a break-through moment in the campaign?
Anyone who has followed government at any level knows that a bipartisan, blue-ribbon commission is where ideas — good, bad and indifferent — go to die a death of utter neglect.
That’s hardly leadership, Mr. Deeds. It’s copping out.
McDonnell’s transportation funding mechanisms stretch credulity almost to the breaking point, but at least he has put specifics out in the public arena for analysis. That’s more than Deeds has done ... or likely will do before Nov. 3.
Virginia needs a governor who leads from the front, not the rear. And right now, Creigh Deeds is gazing at the backsides of his followers, while Bob McDonnell is staring straight at the critical issues Virginia faces.
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Reader Reactions
Then may I look forward to seeing you at the Gala?
Clare…I’m w/ you. Taught in public schools for 30 years. I was just saying that because SOME call me the Dem. enforcer,apologist,cheerleader on here. A nickname I claim w/ honor as well!
hardcore - I have no idea why President and Mrs. Obama choose to send their kids to private school, but that is their choice. I’m glad they’re not getting vouchers that we pay for that choice. ESEA/NCLB has put into place a system of testing that changes the definition of “failing” on a yearly basis. In 2014, anything other than 100% passing on every test by every student will be failure, which is ridiculous. Then we’ll pay to send kids to schools that don’t have to provide any data at all? Where is the accountability for private schools receiving public vouchers? Do you have concrete data that private schools are that much better or are you simply relying on the “perceived value” of paying tuition?
Martha - I am a fan of public education. If I end up with that nickname I would be proud! I only wish that more people would support our students and our public schools. The people who keep tearing them down haven’t set foot in a public school for years, so they have no idea what they’re talking about. Just sound bite after sound bite after sound bite. Their newest move is calling them “government schools” - ooooh, scary!
Watch out Clare…they will start calling you the public school apologist,cheerleader,enforcer.
Woooooooo scarey!!
Why are there so many private schools in NYC?
Why does Obama send his kids to private schools?
If a school is failing, why wouldn’t you want to allow poor families the ability to send their kids to the school of their choice?
Is Harvard a public school?
Is Yale a public school?
Clare378… There are GREAT Private Schools. The kind our politicians went to and send their kids to. They cost $40,000 to $45,000 a year.
If we don’t support PUBLIC EDUCATION we will fragment our nation, as Thomas Jefferson realized long ago.
hardcore - I am thinking of the students. I have yet to see a shred of evidence showing that the private schools are superior to the public schools. What are their SOL pass rates? Oh, wait - they don’t have to take SOLs. Are the private schools meeting AYP? Oh, yeah - they don’t have to.
The only “evidence” I have heard about private schools being superior to public schools has been anecdotal, in the form of, “Johnny was failing at the public school, so we transferred him to ABC private and now he has straight As!“ Ooh, wow. There could be any number of reasons for that.
If we’re going to rely on anecdotal evidence, here’s some: I attended public schools, as did my siblings. We had a plethora of activities and opportunities from which to choose and we took those opportunities. The material was never spoon-fed to us, we were held accountable for our work, and all of us attended college right out of high school and graduated 4 years later. We were also exposed to other children from all different backgrounds and to various viewpoints. My friends who left public schools for private schools ended up with very different outcomes. Most who left for private schools did have better grades than they had had in public schools, however, when it came time for us to go to college, most of them dropped out after first semester. When I got to college, I found myself overprepared for the academic material, having written 10 page papers beginning in 9th grade. My college classmates who had attended private schools simply didn’t know what to do with themselves - how to study, how to manage the assigned tasks, how to deal with a failing grade in an appropriate manner (i.e. without going in and yelling at the professor), and how to deal with people of different backgrounds and beliefs.
I do not believe the public schools are perfect by any means and I have seen some data that certain strategies employed by charter schools result in better outcomes - so I advocate for some of those strategies to be incorporated into the public schools. But to advocate for public funds to be used to pay for private school tuition without any data showing better outcomes? Ridiculous.
I am thankful for the education I received here and for the opportunities that were presented. I’m also VERY thankful that my parents chose not to raise me in a bubble. It worked!
VA bizwoman… I beg to disagree with you. EVERY election is about leadership. EVERYONE running for office promises the world. 99.9 percent of what they say is what falls out the back end of a bull.
I am interested in how a person lives his life. It’s all I really have to go on. The idea of putting someone in charge of Virginia who sides with the utter lunacy of Pat Robertson and the “Lets go looking for Noah’s Ark AGAIN” crowd is asking way too much of anyone who cares, even a little, about human rights… not to mention science.
...“Economy, jobs, transportation, energy independence.“—-
Do you know how much the Governor of Virginia has to do with those issues? Z-E-R-O
No offense, but we will just have to disagree.
Shadow, can you post ANYTHING that isn’t an “Ad Hominy Grits” attack? Fred and I are both flattered that you seem to obsess about us, but, it’s too much. We don’t deserve such attention.
I meant 18th century. But Hume was still and atheist. And brilliant.
Re:Cosmothe24th ) “I’m with you on that Clare378. I think what we see in the VA bizwoman is someone who shares McDonnell’s “Religious” views.“ WRONG AGAIN. I’m not a church-goer. There are Bob McDonnell supporters of all faiths and ethnicities. Again, here you go with the stereotypes, which is a sign of your desperation to understand what this election is really about—Economy, jobs, transportation, energy independence.
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