Cuccinelli’s Crummy Timing
The timing of this “announcement” by Cuccinelli is disgusting and extremely self serving and selfish. He does this right before The Advance when people would have been otherwise fawning all over Bill Bolling with his new found power as the Senate tiebreaker. Or maybe Bob McDonnell and his election as RGA Chair. Instead Cooch takes this particular moment to upstage Bolling so people will talk about this all weekend and fawn all over Cuccinelli. Cooch has always been all about Cooch before anything else, so this really shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Think about it, he leaks out a non-announcement “announcement”, saying he’ll make a more formal announcement later after all these other things happen so as not to divert attention from those important things. And in doing so he creates a media frenzy surrounding himself right before the big annual state GOP GTG. Completely narcissistic self promotion. But that’s the Cult of Ken Cuccinelli for you.
WOW.
Just wow.
What in the hell are you talking about, this timing is brilliant. Thank God Ken has announced now before big donors piss their money away donating to Bolling. In 2009 Bill had 3 choices, lead, follow or get out of the way and he exposed his weakness by choosing the last 2 options. KC4G!
I would have expected nothing less from LI but to put down AG Cuccinelli for his announcement. Had it ever occurred to you and Lt Gov Bolling that perhaps Mr. Cuccinelli is actually putting the best interests of the Commonwealth ahead of his personal ambitions in this case? If there’s one thing you can know for sure about Cuccinelli, his involvement in politics is not at all about a quest for personal power or self agrandizement, but rather about making a difference to protect and defend our Commonwealth and our Country.
Bolling needs to stay as Lt. Gov. to protect the Republican majority in the Senate. We don’t need to leave open to chance the possibility of an unknown quantity losing the LG race and then the Senate. Cuccinelli can win as the GOP candidate for Governor against the best the Dems can come up with. Bolling should do the best thing for the Party by announcing he will once again run for LG.
LI,
This is not Ken’s preferred timing. He was forced into this by the supposed insider who is not authorized to speak for Cuccinelli who is the source for the Post story. It appears it seemed better to simply come clean with his intentions than hold off the announcement until after the G.A. session as he intended.
Ken will not be at the advance as he will be one of the questioners in a presidential debate over the weekend. If this were his preferred timing, he would announce and then take the advance by storm – in person.
This was forced on him.
BTW he’s not so bad, you should seriously reconsider a kneejerk anti-cuccinelli response.
For the record – I am not a Cuccinelli spokesman.
Are you kidding? Ken Cuccinelli did this to force Bill Bolling into a third term as Lt. Governor? Do you really think anyone will believe that?
I have voted for Ken in every race that he’s ever run in. I live in his old district. I’ve worked hard for the man because I believed in him and his conservative principles. Never again. He’s become just like the rest, selfish and self serving. Loudoun Insider is right, Ken did this so that the entire focus of the Advance would be on him. Disgusting. I would never have believed it. I thought he had more morals and principles than to do something like this.
Bill Bolling is every bit as conservative as Ken Cuccinelli so there is no reason for Ken to run now, other than he wants to. He could remain as AG for another term and then run for Governor. Or he could run for Senator in 2014. There is no reason for him to run now, other than selfish greed. He’s going to put the party through a two year nasty primary. For what? Even if he could win, how would he be a better Governor than Bill Bolling?
Ken Cuccinelli should do the right thing and not put our party through this and not risk losing the Governorship, and the AG spot. No republican has ever won Governor after a primary. Why is he going to force Bolling and himself to beat each other up for two years? Making it all the easier for a democrat to win? Ken is being nothing but selfish, and the timing is awful. How obvious could he be?
Ken, I am very disappointed in you. I expected better. Please reconsider doing this to our party. You had a great future, don’t blow it with your impatience to be Governor. You may very well lose it all.
I do find the timing of the leak very interesting.
Someone trusted was either very careless, or deliberately untrustworthy, just in time to divert a major gathering.
Whoever that individual is, I would consider them the very last person to ever work with closely again, on anything. That’s the problem with really really good intelligence: if you use it in any way other than to guide or inform your own decisions and actions, you completely burn the source.
I agree with pprados.
I also think that agreeing to step aside may be statesmanlike, but it isn’t a guarantee that everything stays static for next time.
I like and respect both choices, and am maybe Pollyanna enough to hope that these two can show people how a hard fought contest can be done cleanly (and all bets are off on the anonymous idiots who will fight dirty anyway–either mistakenly on behalf of a preferred choice who won’t benefit from the slime, or deliberately to screw things up in the grand tradition of “we’s the smartest snarksnarksnark–the hell with ALL of them).
As someone said on one of the proliferating threads discussing this hither and yon, it’s a BAD thing to have two good people to choose from?
(btw, Virginia NARAL is already soliciting donations on the leak–it may be more telling how the progressives react to this than how the Rs do)
The blame the messenger game is moot at this point. Cooch has already come out and confirmed he’s running.
At this point, I hope Cooch gets a TON of competition. He’s unelectable in the general.
Why is he “unelectable?”
Why is he “extremist?”
These are the same things I heard during the last primary campaign with him for AG. I supported his opponent, John Brownle, during that primary. We went to the convention and got beaten soundly by the unelectable expremist who then went on to have the greatest margin of victory at the state level.
I think you all are delusional. The guy is a formidable opponent and will likely beat Bolling and whoever the Democrats put up.
I am not a Cooch fan either, but he has proven that he is electable statewide, primarily because the Dems put up a huge dud against him. That will likely be the case again in 2013, so he is electable. i definitely think Bolling would be a more effective mainstream Governor, but he will most likely lose the nomination. That sucks for Bolling, but the Cult of Cooch is too strong in RPV circles.
DD, I think KC will beat Bolling. Bolling wins the general; KC doesn’t. That’s why I would like to see KC challenged.
KC is a formidable opponent among zealots like yourself, but he’s not appealing to Independents. Too extreme is correct. Big difference between Gov and AG. Adding to LI’s comment, KC was swept into State office via a strong ticket lead by McD. Don’t become delusional thinking it was “KC appeal” that took him over the top.
BlackOut, while I too see no benefit to changing focus to the messenger, I also see no benefit (to either candidates or voters) in letting them (whoever they are) trundle happily forward as either a careless stooge, OR a complete loose cannon, in the inner workings of the upper levels of a party.
Cooch lost the moderate vote when he directed the state’s colleges and universities to rescind their non-discrimination clauses covering sexual orientation and gender identity. It was an embarrassment to the state and, like the Michael Mann nonsense, an unnecessary overreach in the administration of the state’s public schools.
I was disinclined to like Bob McDonnell, but I think he’s been a good governor for Virginia. He earned some respect when his non-discrimination ED laid the smack down on Cooch’s too-big-for-his-britches approach to the office of AG.
KC will not be our next governor. He’s too singleminded, agenda-driven, and divisive.
BO, KC has won all 4 campaigns he has been in. He won liberal Fairfax 3 times. He has had national exposure and will be on the presidential debate panel in a few days. Yes, his state ticket was strong, but he won by the largest of margins in a state race. I think you are falling prey to the same mindset of KC’s opponents time and time again. And, I suspect, they will do the same failed tactics. They will point to KC and say “too expreme” and not say what they stand for. And then lose.
KC appeal did not carry the day in the AG race. His appeal has grown since he won the AG slot.
I think you are overestimating the influence of Independents in Virginia right now.
PS And you are discounting that this election is in 2013, and off year. That benefits KC also. More supporters towards the ends of the spectrum will come out and the middle will sit home.
ref, with the new Climategate releases by FOIA, Michael Mann is right up there with Penn State’s other “ethical” issues of whitewashing anything that brings in dough. It will be interesting to see how that progresses.
In addition, only the GA can create official protected classes, and in the absence of that creation, state universities can certainly posture for political purposes, but it doesn’t change the fact that if they adopt things outside of the parameters of state law, then it’s kind of a no-brainer for the AG to point that out to them, particularly when some of the adotions were in response to a protest to McDonnell’s failure to reissue the executive order of the two preceding Dem governors that took the place of the necessary GA action. I.e., if he’s their attorney, it behooves him to inform them that if they’re sued over a difference between THEIR policies and STATE LAW, guess which one is going to “win”?
p.s.–McDonnell’s “smackdown” of a belated and truncated executive order “smacked” what, exactly? I’d say it smacked the protest-driven distractions from the business of local governments and state universities who were joining in the policy posturing.
Lobby the GA on that issue–the ball’s in their court, where it always HAS been.
Ref,
I am not commenting on KC for gov or not. But you need to explain this:
“It was an embarrassment to the state and, like the Michael Mann nonsense, an unnecessary overreach in the administration of the state’s public schools. ”
Michael Mann, and others engaged in – at the minimum – horribly bad science. In reality, when you look at the actual science in “Hide the Decline” you see what could reasonably be called “fraud”.
I am going to guess you don’t know this subject well and are just misinformed. Scientists who take public money and engage in what can be reasonably be called fraud need to be investigated and held accountable.
I would be happy to provide you any level of detail you would like on the issues involved. The new emails recently revealed that the “Hiding of the Decline” was worse than thought when KC began his investigation. The emails show that all data in that proxy post-1940 were deleted. This is 20 years more than previously understood.
They also show the Mann was informed of this and was told of how this could be a scientific problem. And yet he still published. Al Gore went on to use this in his film.
All of this is from emails released by a hacker. We have them completely in context. Requiring his emails from the university is completely appropriate.
So I challenge you to explain how his work on the Michael Mann issue is wrong. If you don’t have sufficient information on Michael Mann’s emails that have gone public, I can refer you to a database of their complete text with full context.
By the way, the only emails we have of his are ones that went to or cc’d a University in the UK. It is likely that other evidence of him committing fraud will be found if his full email set is looked at.
LA, agreed.
” He’s unelectable in the general”
Are you not tired of being wrong. This coming from you means he wins by 15 points.
I hate to lose either of these fine republicans but Ken has chosen a path that means we will lose one of them, more likely both. Winning the AG slot is very different from winning Governor. Ken was helped in that slot because McDonnell was on the top of ticket. As much as I hate to say it, we’ve just lost that office and many others.
Our party was on top in Virginia. Ken has just shot us in the foot. Why must Virginia republicans do this to themselves over and over again?
So many things to comment on about this, so little time….
“Ken is too extreme to get elected”
Didn’t we here a lot of that recently about a race for State Senate? Did the candidate who was ‘too extreme’ win that race? I forget.
“Ken should wait his turn”
That is a stupid argument. Politics need people who demonstrate leadership. Bill Bolling, who I like and respect, ran for the most useless job in the world, then chose to run for re-election to the most useless job in the world. His ‘response’ to the news that Ken might run for Governor sounded petulant and childish. Not the best way to convince people that he has what it takes to lead.
“Ken’s timing was bad”
Actually, I agree with this statement but not for the same reasons as LI.
It is a pretty foregone conclusion that, barring some monumental collapse on the part of the Republican nominee, or some miraculous turnaround in the economy in the next 10 months, Barack Obama is going to lose the Presidency next year.
Virginia has a 38 year history where the party that wins the Presidency loses the Governor’s race the next year. You have to go back to 1973 to find the last time that the Presiden’ts party actually won the Governor’s office in VA the following year. In 1972 Richard Nixon won re-election, and Mills Godwin, Jr. won the Governor’s race as a Republican in 1973.
Ironically, Godwin had been elected Governor 8 years earlier – as a Democrat.
Unless KC thinks he has it in him to break a 38 year historical trend, I would wait and let Bolling run in 2 years. There’s no need to get into a primary fight where the eventual winner is most likely going to go down in defeat no matter how well they run their race.
So bottom line, I like both BB and KC, but between the two I like KC better. If it came to a primary between the two, I would vote KC. If I had to pick which one of them I would rather see run the hail mary campaign that would most likely end in a loss, it would be Bolling so KC can continue to do good work as Atty Gen.
I have been thinking about this issue. I am honestly neutral I only moved to Virginia four years ago, so I have no specific loyalty.
I think I would make my vote based on whom I would think would be the best Governor. Who would reduce the state budget and decrease the number of functions performed by the state to the minimum.
Bottom line is I would vote for whomever would be best. Right now I personally don’t know enough to answer that, so would be interested in hearing thoughts on why one or the other would be a better Governor.
Not the timing, not the history. Just who would be a better Governor and why?
Two thumbs up to Loudoun GOPer,that was smart stuff.
Loudoun GOPer. No doubt KC can count on the 17% that voted for Black. Big difference in the interest for Gov as opposed to a local.
That’s about the peak of support for extremism.
Stoner, you make me laugh. I’ll go up against your losing record any day of the week big fella.
BO called Stoner a loser???
Stoner got all of the races correct, except Phillips.
BO and LI got one right.
Go figure.
Hey Monk, how bout those cans of whoop ass you promised to open? You got em or were you just making stuff up?
BTW, found a great website for you. Should come in handy for your resume pumping…
http://www.bullshitjob.com/title/
” I’ll go up against your losing record any day of the week big fella.”
The last election alone knocks you out of the race. Quit while you are ahead.
For God’s sakes. I said all along it would be a big Republican year, but they did not deserve a free ride to victory and if they stray from what they ran on they need to be held accountable. I put the bulk of my efforts into getting Mike Chapman elected, over the continual attacks from the LCRC Chapman Haters, who said constantly that I would bring him down. That’s the one race I cared most about and he won handily.
No chance Stoner. I love poking you with a stick from time to time. You’re an easy target big fella.
But hey that’s just for entertainment. I prefer to continue my base of over 27 years of solid Loudoun County activism. Unlike Monk, most people win some and lose some.
Does anyone want to make any kind of case of who would be the better governor? I would love to see some smart analysis of that.
Yeah… Tout that Chapman thing. I mean, when that’s ALL you’ve got to hang your hat on….
For BO’s amusement..and so he never again mispeaks about my record…
I’m batting around 90% correct in my endorsements and calls .
Back in 2007, you’ll remember (and it’s saved for posterity on the old NTH Blog) that I called Sterling for Delguadio by 150. He won by 220, but a call is a call…I did not designate a perfect margin.
My one miss that year was Clem. I thought he’d also remain.
This year, I also stated that York would run as an independent rather than face the Stockman challenge..and Scott proved me wrong. Something that I make him buy me a beer for everytime I see him, now.