Bob McDonnell

Washington Post Assaults Bob McDonnell With Seven Hit Pieces In One Day

By Candance Moore | April 7, 2010 | 11:06 PM EDT

The national media are outraged this week by an announcement from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to observe April as Confederate History Month.

Several news outlets have jumped on the story, but the most energetic complaints came from the Washington Post, which published more than half a dozen pieces in the same day.

At this point it's safe to say the Post suffers from McDonnell Derangement Syndrome.

During last year's campaign, the Post enthusiastically endorsed his Democrat challenger, went into overdrive to push a faux-scandal that backfired rather epically, and then, upon McDonnell winning, immediately set to work undermining him with demands for higher taxes.

Some six months later, the animosity lives on as McDonnell tries to shore up Virginia's economy by emphasizing its historical significance. Observe this entry Wednesday at the paper's official Post Partisan blog by one Jonathan Capehart, with the not-so-subtle headline "Gov. McDonnell (R-Va.): Slave to the Confederacy":

HuffPo: Academic Thesis Worse Than Felony Sexual Offense

By Lachlan Markay | April 6, 2010 | 3:19 PM EDT

Pop quiz: which of the following political candidates would you be less likely to vote for: one who had written things offensive to many women in a master's thesis, or one who was convicted of trying to solicit sex from a minor?

If you think the felony conviction is a more condemnable offense for a political candidate, you may want to give up your dream job as a Huffington Post columnist. In the bizarre world of Arianna Huffington, the master's thesis is apparently the more reprehensible offense.

HuffPo columnists relentlessly attacked now-Va. Governor Bob McDonnell for his "frightening" views on marriage and the family as expressed in his 1989 thesis. But lefty blogger Tim Russo, who is running for office in Cleveland, is just the victim of local media that "want him to pay for [his felony conviction] for the rest of his life," presumably by suggesting that soliciting sex from a minor demonstrates a lack of judgment unbecoming a public servant.

I know, really radical stuff.

MSNBC's Ratigan Blames 'Snowpocalypse' on Global Warming

By Jeff Poor | February 9, 2010 | 10:44 AM EST

With Washington, D.C. buried beneath at least 20 inches of snow, and with more in the forecast, common sense would suggest global warming alarmists look elsewhere to make the argument to raise awareness for their concerns.

But no, Dylan Ratigan thinks it's ridiculous to suggest all the snowfall totals could cast doubt on the theory of anthropogenic global warming. On MSNBC's Feb. 8 "The Dylan Ratigan Show," Ratigan criticized those who would dare express misgivings about climate change based on the so-called "snowpocalypse."

"Here's the problem - these ‘snowpocalypses' that have been going through D.C. and other extreme weather events are precisely what climate scientists have been predicting, fearing and anticipating because of global warming," Ratigan said.

Today Show Skips Any Mention of Bob McDonnell’s GOP Response to State of the Union

By Scott Whitlock | January 28, 2010 | 12:36 PM EST

Of the three morning shows on Thursday, only NBC’s Today show skipped any mention of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address. Both ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s Early Show gave McDonnell’s rebuttal at least minor attention.

On the Early Show, Chip Reid explained, "Virginia's newly inaugurated governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response. He echoed the sentiment of many in his party who believe big government is not the solution." Reid then featured a clip of McDonnell calling for limited government.

ABC co-host George Stephanopoulos only referenced McDonnell as an intro to a question for former Governor Mitt Romney: "Jobs. That's the President's number one priority. In the Republican response last night, Governor McDonnell said the same thing."

Corporate-owned WaPo Slams Court Ruling that Corporations Can Engage in Political Debate

By Ken Shepherd | January 22, 2010 | 3:33 PM EST

A publicly-traded corporation, The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) publishes a daily newspaper which includes daily editorials aimed at influencing public opinion inside the corridors of Congress, White House, and regulatory agencies, and ultimately over voter preferences at the polls.

What's more, the Post Company's newspaper has demonstrated its willingness to devote virtually limitless resources in its efforts to pound out a negative drumbeat in the final days before an election. Just ask former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) or Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.), two targets of the paper's openly hostile campaigns to derail their candidacies in favor of their endorsed candidates, Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Va.) respectively.

Yet when it comes to conservative groups or non-mainstream media for-profit corporation engaging in the same use of "unlimited independent expenditures" to influence voters, that's an entirely different story for the Post, which slammed yesterday's Supreme Court ruling as "Judicial Activism Inc.":

WaPo's New Year's Resolution for Incoming GOP Governor: Raise Taxes

By Ken Shepherd | January 5, 2010 | 1:00 PM EST

While it has every right to do so, and we at NewsBusters do not take issue with a newspaper's right to issue liberal pronouncements on clearly-marked editorial pages, it is worth noting from time to time the persistence with which liberal newspapers lead the charge for liberal agenda items, particularly when the issue at hand is tax increases. That brings us to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR201001... target="_blank">the Washington Post</a> -- no fan of <a href="/people/bob-mcdonnell" target="_blank">incoming Republican Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (R-Va.)</a> -- which today counseled the incoming executive to "choose to be a problem-solver" on the state's transportation concerns by raising taxes. Of course, this lobbying for tax increases is hardly new. The paper endorsed tax increases during the 2009 campaign and <a href="/blogs/scott-whitlock/2009/11/05/after-failing-quest-defeat-republican-governor-wapo-begins-lobbying-" target="_blank">continued its pro-tax hike drumbeat</a> without skipping a beat the day after the election. As my colleague Scott Whitlock noted on November 5:<blockquote>

WaPo: McDonnell Should Denounce Robertson; Paper Praised Obama's Quasi-Repudiation of Wright

By Ken Shepherd | November 18, 2009 | 3:21 PM EST

Three days ago, I argued that <a href="/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/11/15/wapo-seeks-put-gop-gov-elect-mcdonnell-bind-over-pat-robertsons-remark" target="_blank">the Washington Post </a>was ginning up a new campaign to discredit Republican governor-elect Bob McDonnell, having failed to sink his candidacy by its continual harping about his culturally conservative graduate's thesis at Pat Robertson's Regent University. Today the Post confirmed my suspicions as its editorial board officially weighed in, proclaiming Robertson -- who made some controversial statements following the Fort Hood shootings about Islam -- to be <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/17/AR200911... target="_blank">"Mr. McDonnell's albatross"</a>:<blockquote>It's unfair to expect politicians to be held accountable for every asinine thing that a supporter happens to say. But in this case -- when the supporter is among Mr. McDonnell's most prominent associates, and the level of support is extremely high -- it's important to know that he is as disgusted by Mr. Robertson's casual bigotry as millions of his constituents are. </blockquote>This begs the question how the Post handled the Obama/Rev. Wright controversy. My research indicates the Post was thrilled at Obama's March 2008 non-denunciation denunciation of Wright so much that the next month it all but declared it would never hound Obama ever again for anything stupid Wright should say. Let's look first at the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/18/AR200803... target="_blank">March 19, 2008 "Moment of Truth" editorial</a> (emphases mine):<blockquote>

WaPo Seeks to Put GOP Gov.-elect McDonnell 'In a Bind' Over Pat Robertson's Remarks

By Ken Shepherd | November 15, 2009 | 4:18 PM EST

It failed to make his master's thesis at the university Pat Robertson founded a campaign killer, but the Washington Post is still intent on finding ways to damage governor-elect Bob McDonnell even before he takes office. In a Metro-section <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/14/AR200911... target="_blank">front-pager today</a>, Post staffer Rosalind Helderman insisted that some recent remarks by Robertson about the nature of Islam following the Fort Hood shooting have "put McDonnell in a bind" and are forcing the Republican governor-elect "to confront how he plans to handle his friendship with" the "long-time ally" and "highly controversial figure." Just four paragraphs into her story, Helderman cast McDonnell as one who "tried during the race to convince Virginians that he was a social conservative who could speak more broadly to issues that cross party lines." Of course, McDonnell did just that, winning the Virginia governor's race by an 18-point margin (59-41 over Democrat Creigh Deeds) in a race where the economy, taxes and transportation were the key issues, so it's specious for Helderman to paint the governor-elect as though he were someone of whom moderate voters were skeptical.

Rachel Maddow Shreds Creigh Deeds as Inept, But Suggested Bob McDonnell Was Sinking in September

By Tim Graham | November 9, 2009 | 1:26 PM EST

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, MSNBC hostess Rachel Maddow broke out the ten-foot-pole of disgust for losing Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds. But back in September, she suggested Bob McDonnell’s thesis from "Pat Robertson’s Liberty University" would sink him: "Here’s where Republican electoral chances stop being separate from the wild-excesses of the conservative movement."

Oops. Actually, double oops, Miss Maddow: Robertson’s college is Regent University. Isn’t it amazing that her liberal fans always tout how she "does her homework"?

Here’s Maddow on Sunday:

I think that if, if Republicans could choose to have anything to extrapolate from the, from the Bob McDonnell race, it would be to have as an opponent Creigh Deeds. If they could pick anything that they wanted. I mean, Creigh Deeds was a, was a marketably ineffective Democratic candidate, essentially running away from the president, running from everything popular in the Democratic agenda and doing it in a stylistically poor way. So I'm sure he's a very nice guy; he was a very bad candidate.

After Failing in Quest to Defeat Republican Governor, WaPo Begins Lobbying Him for Tax Increases

By Scott Whitlock | November 5, 2009 | 12:48 PM EST

During the 2009 Virginia gubernatorial election, the Washington Post waged a relentless campaign to defeat Republican Bob McDonnell. Starting on Wednesday, after the GOP nominee received almost 59 percent of the vote, the newspaper began dispensing advice: Raise taxes.

On Wednesday, a Post editorial assessed the "lessons" of the election and whined, "We remain skeptical of the flimsy filigree he passed off as a transportation plan, which rejects any fresh taxes to pay for new roads. But by dint of his victory he has earned the right to show it will work." [Emphasis added.]

Even though voters overwhelmingly opposed the higher taxes candidate, Democrat Creigh Deeds, the editorial continued: "Yet it remains true that the two of the most successful, best-respected and most popular of Virginia's governors in the past quarter century...raised taxes to put the state's finances on a surer footing and invest in the long-term health of its roads, bridges, school and public safety."

WaPo Chronicles How McDonnell Survived Its Smear Campaign

By Ken Shepherd | November 5, 2009 | 11:50 AM EST

Today's Metro section front-pager by Washington Post's Amy Gardner -- <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/04/AR200911... target="_blank">"McDonnell team rose to challenge in darkest hour"</a> -- reminded me of <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anchorman:_The_Legend_of_Ron_Burgundy" target="_blank">a line</a> from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" "From deep down in my stomach, with every inch of me, I pure, straight hate you. But g*d***it, do I respect you!" seethes rival TV station anchor Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn) to Burgundy (Will Ferrell). The Washington Post hatefully <a href="/blogs/scott-whitlock/2009/09/09/wapo-expands-quest-torpedo-mcdonnell-12-hit-pieces-11-days" target="_blank">threw all it had </a>at making <a href="/blogs/scott-whitlock/2009/10/19/wapo-shocks-no-one-endorses-va-dem-paper-has-been-boosting-months" target="_blank">the "thesis issue"</a> a career killer for McDonnell, who went on to <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/03/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry... target="_blank">win 54 percent of the women's vote</a> in Tuesday election. But looking back, Post staffer Amy Gardner gave readers a look into how the McDonnell campaign hunkered down, stuck with a disciplined message, and thwarted the paper's scheme to "macaca" McDonnell:<blockquote>

No Dems Among Hotline 'Losers'

By Mark Finkelstein | November 4, 2009 | 6:42 PM EST

Does the National Journal's Hotline inhabit the same universe as the rest of us? Democrats lost two-out-of-three among last night's big races. But in declaring Winners and Losers among non-candidates involved with the campaigns, the only Losers Hotline saw were . . . Republicans and conservatives, with nary a Dem in sight!

Chris Matthews was only too happy to seize on the Hotline hitlist during his Sideshow segment on this evening's Hardball. Here were Hotline's three Losers:

Sarah Palin: for jumping into Hoffman's losing cause, whereas McDonell and Christie didn't invite her in and won.
Pete Sessions: the Chairman of the NRCC, who went 0-2 in special congressional elections.
Club For Growth: which backed Hoffman.

Hotline's inconsistent logic was glaring . . .

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