McDonnell's Thesis

[cinyc]

Yawn.  Much ado about nothing.

Soon after calling the Supreme Court's decision on contraceptives "illogical," McDonnell blasts "the perverted notion of liberty that each individual should be able to live out his sexual life in any way he chooses without interference from the state" (pg. 15).

It's VIRGINIA.  The Supreme Court's decisions on abortion and contraceptives (one pretty much followed the other) is illogical to many voters there.  It's also illogical to someone writing a thesis for an evangelical school twenty years ago - if he wants to get a good grade on his thesis project.

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It's VIRGINIA.  Outside of the Liberal Northeast (including NoVa to some extent) and Left Coast, the idea that the traditional nuclear family is the building block for society and should be encouraged by government policy to the detriment of alternative arrangements isn't all that controversial.   Nor was it as controversial 20 years ago, when this thesis was written.  Heck, it's written into our tax code.

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It's VIRGINIA.  How many Virginia politicians lose votes over plans to fight pornography, drug abuse and, 20 years ago when this thesis was written, homosexuality?  This isn't Massachusetts or California.

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It's VIRGINIA.  Traditional family values still resonate.

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It's VIRGINIA.  And please tell me how many politicians lose elections because they criticized no-fault divorce.

BTW - as far as I know, there's only one state left without no-fault divorce.  Care to guess which ultra-red state that is?  New York.

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It's VIRGINIA.  Family values matter.  And, believe it or not, these policy questions ARE debatable, without a clear-cut answer outside of the liberal bubble many posters here live in - especially 20 years ago, when this thesis was written.

The rest is more of the same.

[cinyc]

Cynic, there's a reason why McDonnell held an hour long defensive press conference, is distributing talking points, is walking back on some of the more controversial things in the essay, and a lot of smart partisans on both sides are generally either trumpeting it or trying to halt the damage, simply railing against 20 year old liberal Democrats not understanding that IT'S VIRGINIA is hackneyed and boring.

There's a reason why McDonnell leaked it to the press on the slowest news week of the year when nobody is paying attention - as an attempt to get in front of the issue when few are watching so that when his opponent brings it up, it's already old news.

The essay appears to contain fairly mainstream social conservative thought of the late 1980s.  Some of his points, arguably, still are mainstream social conservative thought today - especially on the sanctity of marriage and importance of the traditional nuclear family.  I know concepts like those sound like they are Martian to Northeast and West Coast social liberals (who are the most vocal on this forum), but some of it still plays well in Virginia outside of NoVa.   Remember - according most recent polls, McCain voters are more likely to get out to vote than Obama voters.  Virginia McCain voters generally weren't social liberals.