Fearing a lost governor’s race, Virginia Republicans confront party divide

[brooklynite]

Washington Post:

With just three weeks remaining before the election, Republican leaders in Virginia fear that their nominee, Ken Cuccinelli II, is on his way to losing the governor’s race and that the party will squander command of a state that is key to their quest to dominate next year’s midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race.

Distressed over a flurry of recent polls showing Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a solid lead, Virginia Republicans are talking about rebuilding their organization, which is suffering from deep internal rifts similar to those roiling the national party.

“It’s a party that is disunited, in flux, in transition and defeated,” said Thomas M. Davis, the former Republican congressman. “We have nominated a ticket that Virginians don’t want to buy.”

While some Republicans say enough time remains for Cuccinelli to recover, Davis said that a defeat would require the party to confront like never before the division between the tea party activists who spurred Cuccinelli’s

Considering how well the national Party rebuilding is going, maybe they want to consider a different approach?

[annabanana]

1. They're past healing.

Any attempts to "right the ship" will merely hurry the capsizing.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Have to de-gerrymander Virginia and permanently put it out of reach of gerrymandering polititicians.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-26/local/36565051_1_congressional-district-maps-virginia-republicans-bob-holsworth

[gopiscrap]

3. Yes!

[cer7711]

4. Turns Out Advocating the Criminalization of Oral Sex Is Unpopular w/ the Electorate

Who knew?

[Happyhippychick]

5. My DH was in VA yesterday at a coffee shop and overheard a convo between 2 politicians in VA

I can't go into detail about who they were but they were republicans and the entire discussion was about how completely fucked the republican party is in VA and how the state is not necessarily purple anymore but really is blue.

It was a thing of beauty to hear about.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Oh, man, I would have loved to have heard that.

How satisfying.

[JPZenger]

6. They cancelled the Republican primary and let insiders pick their wacko candidates in a caucus

It is just shocking that the Va. Republican Party find that they have become out of touch with voters. This is after they cancelled their Republican Primary election for Gov, Lt. Gov and Attyn. Gen. and instead let a small group of teabaggers hand-pick all 3 candidates in a caucus. That should be illegal. In the process, they convinced the leading moderate Republican candidate (the current Lt. Gov) that he had no chance to win in the caucus, so he dropped out.

Cucci had developed too many enemies. Then, in the last month, he has been grouped together in the public mind with teabaggers who caused the govt. shutdown, which has affected a huge percentage of Virginians and their relatives.

[Nay]

8. Exactly. Pubs had their governor/lt gov picked for them, and both were

teabaggy wackos. Now, Cooch was OK with the run-of-the-mill pubs, but the crazy black lt gov nominee, not so much, esp after he came out with some crazy religious stuff.

A pub acquaintance is totally disgusted with the whole thing, and I don't think he is alone. He has spent his life as a very active pub in the local pub org, and he's given up on them. I don't know if he still votes pub, tho.

Cooch has enemies for sure, but he also got caught taking thousands of dollars of 'gifts' from various donors, including a supplement manufacturer who has gotten plenty of state support for his business. It was too blatant even for the pubs, and happened too close to the election to be forgotten.

Plus, of course, Cooch's whole attitude toward private sexual activities AND the whole vaginal probe shit has hurt him. Even pubs got queasy thinking about that.

What's amazing is that Cooch's dem opponent is also pretty sleazy, but he's still polling way ahead because Cooch is even sleazier. Now there's some sleaze.

[Downtown Hound]

7. They could start by ending the shutdown. n/t

[carolinayellowdog]

9. My exchange with Rep. Griffith, into whose district I just moved

I think taking back the 9th, represented for almost three decades by Rick Boucher (D), is more feasible now that the incumbent has made his position so clear.

me:
The current government shutdown is the worst abuse of the political process I have witnessed in six decades, and I have never feared for the future of our republic as I do now. Obamacare will reduce my health insurance cost from over $8000 year to just over $2500-- without costing the government one penny in subsidies. As a pre-Medicare retiree driven to the brink of poverty by outrageous health insurance prices, this is the best thing the government could do for me at this point, and that is true for MILLIONS of Americans.
The Tea Party is willing to destroy America and the world economy in order to prevent this aid to the American people, and their ignorant fanaticism has led the House in a disastrous direction. Please follow the example of the sane Virginia Republicans trying to end this crisis rather than deepen and prolong it. As a historian I am sadly confident that this is a disaster that will be remembered for decades for the harm done to America if House intransigence continues.

him, blaming the Senate!:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the partial government shutdown. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. To receive up-to-date information on the partial shutdown, I encourage you to visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov .

In business negotiations, it's not wise to bid against yourself. But that's exactly what the House of Representatives repeatedly did in order to try and keep the government open. As you know, I do not like the Obamacare plan and would prefer that it be repealed. Notwithstanding my position, the House recently passed the following legislation with my support that would have funded the government and prevented a partial shutdown.

On September 20, the House passed a government funding bill (H. J. Res. 59), which included a provision to defund Obamacare and to prioritize Social Security payments in the event the debt ceiling is reached. On September 29, the House passed a 75 day funding bill that included the repeal of the medical device tax and delayed implementation of Obamacare by one year. On September 30, despite not receiving any counterproposal from the Senate, the House passed a funding bill that included a one year delay of the individual mandate within Obamacare (the President has already delayed the employer mandate within Obamacare). That bill also included a provision to ensure that Members of the House and Senate, their staff, the President, and his staff, do not receive special treatment within the Obamacare-created health insurance exchanges. When the Senate refused to vote on that proposal, the House passed a bill to "appoint conferees" (negotiators) to the government funding bill. Appointing conferees is a process whereby the House and Senate each appoint a select number of members to form a conference committee (a working group) in order to negotiate the differences between House-passed and Senate-passed legislation.

Unfortunately, the Senate has refused to appoint negotiators in order to find a solution to end the partial government shutdown. In fact, despite the House having passed the assortment of bills listed above, the Senate has not shown a willingness to negotiate in good faith. For example, earlier this year, the Senate voted 79-20 in favor of repealing the medical device tax in a symbolic vote. Ensuring Members of the House and Senate do not receive special treatment in the health insurance exchanges has its original underpinnings in the Obamacare law. And yet, the Senate is now unwilling to accept these very same things? If the Senate has changed its mind and now disagrees with these provisions, and everything else passed by the House, that's their right, but why are they unable or unwilling to make a good faith counteroffer to the House with their own preferences?

Because of Senate inaction on legislation to fully fund the government, the House has passed a number of bills with my support to fund certain parts of the government until a wholesale resolution can be reached. These bills include funding for veterans' benefits, national parks, National Institutes of Health (NIH), national guardsmen and reservists, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), District of Columbia, and nutritional assistance for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). One week into the partial shutdown, the Senate has refused to fund any of these programs.

It is my expectation that the House will continue to propose solutions to the partial government shutdown that will add to the already numerous choices awaiting action in the Senate. Please know that I stand ready to work with my colleagues in the House to quickly consider any good faith offer from the Senate that will fund the government and allow it to reopen.

[Arugula Latte]

10. No, no, no GOP. No need to change. You're good.

Us wimmenfolks just looooooove being treated like third-class chattel, and you don't want to let those uppity minorities get out of hand, do you?

[Stuart G]

12. A very good read on this divide...nt k and r

[SunSeeker]

13. The VA GOP sure does want to "probe" a lot of stuff.

[Heather MC]

14. Wow who knew embracing racist, and Women Haters would damage your party

As a Black Female I was fully on board with them 100%

[Bandit]

15. The problem is their candidate is just not far enough to the Right

They need to purify their Party even more if they are EVER going to get the people to like them...

[msanthrope]

16. They wanted the Kook, and they gots him!!! "Watch out, you might get what you're after...."nt

[freshwest]

17. Virginians have been hurt by the shutdown. Toss all your GOP out of office, quick!