Bob McDonnell

Presidential Ambitions, And Political Scandal Destroying Ambitions!

The ambition to be President is a “disease” which hits many people who think they are a “gift” to the nation, due to their own egotism and arrogance.

We have at least five potential Presidential candidates in the Republican Party who have gone through this metamorphosis of potential candidate, to the point of being engaged in a political scandal, destroying the careers of three of them, and potentially having the same effect on two others.

In the 2012 Presidential cycle, we had:

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who became involved in a sex scandal with an Argentine woman, which forced him out of office, and ended his Presidential ambitions, although he is now back in Congress by vote of his Congressional district, from where he had emerged as Governor before his downfall.

Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who also had Presidential ambitions, destroyed by a sex scandal, now back in his veterinarian practice.

Most recently, we had Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, whose Presidential ambitions went asunder, and now convicted of corruption, faces a prison term, a total downfall.

And then we have in the 2016 Presidential cycle two examples of ambition, egotism, and arrogance!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are both involved in political scandals, but both seeking to run for President, with the likelihood of failure in their Presidential campaigns at the least, and possible legal issues for both of them at the most!

Virginia: The Disgrace Of Bob McDonnell And Eric Cantor!

Virginia, the home of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson as Governors, has now seen its recent Governor, Bob McDonnell, convicted on multiple charges of abusing the office and accepting bribes from a wealthy businessman.

At the same time, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost his party’s nomination in a true shock to many, now is going to Wall Street to use his influence, and make millions of dollars off of his contacts with other legislative members and powerful lobbyists.

Both of these developments are disgraceful, and show that the Republican Party in Virginia is totally corrupt, an embarrassment to a state which has had remarkably little corruption historically, as compared to most other states.

Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson would turn over in their graves if they knew how politics has deteriorated from the idealistic times of the Founding Fathers!

Republican Governors And Potential Presidential Candidates Falling Like Flies In Political Corruption Indictments

It is amazing to watch as Republican Governors, interested in running for President in 2016, are falling like flies in political corruption indictments!

First, we had former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

Then, we had New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Next, we had Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

And now, news comes of the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry.

These Governors and one former Governor are all despicable in their public records, and it could not happen to a better group of politicians, than to see these Governors destroyed by the political scandals and corruption surrounding them.

These Governors prove that the concept that state government, and being Governors, makes them better qualified for national office, is a myth.

The more one studies state governments across the nation, including the state legislatures, the more one realized that no matter how much we complain about national government, overall, it does a far better job with far less corruption than state governments!

Conservatives and Republicans love to promote the idea of state and local governments as being “better” and more representative of the population they serve, but the truth shows, both historically and in the present, that national government is far better in results and ethics, even though there is plenty of room for improvement!

Political Reality: Those Accused Of Corruption Invariably Are Guilty Of Charges, Not Innocent!

We constantly see political corruption arise to the surface, and the saying is that corruption is as American as Apple Pie!

We are seeing, and have seen, governors, mayors, state legislators, and members of Congress, and even the executive branch, accused of corruption, exposed, and most often, forced out of office over time!

So when we hear that Bob McDonnell, Chris Christie, Scott Walker and others are being investigated for corruption of one kind or another, face the facts! Almost certainly, they are guilty as charged, but of course they deny it and fight it.

But it means their political careers are usually over, with an occasional exception such as Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, involved with a prostitution madam, but still reelected to the Senate, and now planning to run for Governor!

In certain states, corruption is more rampant than elsewhere, although it is endemic to American politics. But states such as Louisiana, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, Arizona, West Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Massachusetts, Florida and New York have more than their fair share of crooked politicians of one kind or another!

Republican Governors With Presidential Ambitions Falling Like Flies In Political Scandals!

So now it is THREE Republican Governors who have had Presidential ambitions, who are falling like flies in political scandals!

First, it was former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who now faces trial and the likelihood of prison for financial irregularities.

Then it was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is enmeshed in a number of scandals about his use of funds, and his payback to those who oppose him, including the blockage in Fort Lee, New Jersey of the George Washington Bridge.

And now it is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who had a recall campaign in 2012, and used outside groups to raise money, in unison with his own staff, an illegal action that could lead to criminal charges!

So three Governors with overriding ambition, and three arrogant, nasty, abusive Governors in their dealings with the news media, critics, and the general public, and all having a sense of entitlement!

But the more cocky and self serving they are, the more dramatic the fall!

Do not be surprised if all three Governors end up in prison, a place they richly deserve, and the likelihood of the states of New Jersey and Wisconsin is an overthrow of the Republicans in the Governorship, just as happened in Virginia with the election of Terry McAuliffe in November 2013!

Tea Party On The Defensive, And The Civil War In The Republican Party Begins!

The results of the off year election yesterday in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate a defeat for the Tea Party Movement, and the beginning of the civil war in the Republican Party for its soul!

Chris Christie became the front runner for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016, as a result of his smashing victory over Barbara Buono, the Democratic nominee, for Governor. Christie attracted Democrats, Independents, and Latinos, something no Tea Party advocate could accomplish, and he has become, clearly, the “establishment” choice for now in the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who appealed to the Tea Party Movement, and came out with outrageous stands on interference with sexual privacy, abortion, and global warming, and was also involved in a financial scandal that also undermined Governor Bob McDonnell, lost to Terry McAuliffe, backed by Bill and Hillary Clinton, who he had raised money for in the 1990s. Cuccinelli’s “Puritan” and anti science views caused women, in particular, to vote against him, making clear that if the GOP continues its “war on women” and their rights, they will be slaughtered in Congressional races in 2014 and the Presidential race in 2016.

Before anyone gets too excited about Christie, though, one must realize that the New Jersey Governor is a definite conservative on the issues–health care, education, labor unions, abortion—and he gained most of his support from his reaction to Superstorm Sandy a year ago, including his willingness to work with President Obama directly.

That will be his Achilles heel, however, in GOP primaries and caucuses, as he competes against right wingers such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan, and there is no guarantee that Christie will survive bruising, bloody primary and caucus fights.

But even if, somehow, he does make it through to the nomination, do not forget that Chris Christie has a short fuse; is highly temperamental when he does not like what one is saying, or opposes him; is still what this author said in the past (a bully); a man who could cause war with his bluntness, as he lacks all diplomacy and tact; and there are hints of corruption and inappropriate actions in his past record, and even some supposed connections to the Mafia.

One can be sure that ALL leads will be followed, and that Christie, who caused “red flags’ for Mitt Romney, making the 2012 GOP nominee pass Christie by for Vice President, will be fully vetted, and it could destroy any hopes he has for the Presidency.

To believe that Chris Christie will be the next President still means one has to be delusional. By comparison, he might be seen as “better” than Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Ryan and others, but ONLY by comparison, nothing more than that!

Financial And Sexual Scandals Seem More Endemic Than Ever!

Even for one who loves politics, it is becoming disillusioning how politicians seem unable to control their behavior, whether financial or sexual!

So just now, we see Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell facing the end of his political career, even as he is due to finish the one term limited office in his state, with the possibility of having to resign before the end of the term, facing possible prison time if put on trial for his willingness to accept massive gifts for himself and his family from corporate interests who do business with the state of Virginia, and dreams of being President going by the wayside!

And Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett seems to be facing similar accusations, and probable political destruction, proving once again that Republican officeholders are particularly obsessed with money, never having enough of it, and thinking that they are entitled to favors from their corporate friends!

But then Democrats have problems with sexual scandals, not unique to them, but right now the center of the political realities in San Diego and New York City!

San Diego Democratic Mayor Bob Filner, once a quite outstanding Congressman, hardly in his first term as Mayor, is obviously a male chauvinist, who is unable to control his behavior with women, is under fire to resign, refuses to do so, and instead is undergoing soon a two week course in how to behave, as if a 70 year old man with a major problem, can somehow resolve it almost overnight! To top it off, he is being sued for sexual harassment, and wants his legal fees paid by the city government of San Diego! What gall, and outrageous conduct, and Filner needs to be run out of town on a rail, so to speak!

And the biggest story in New York City is not the problems the city faces, but the inability of former Congressman Anthony Weiner to stop sexting, after having been caught at it two years, forcing him to resign, and claiming he had changed his behavior when he announced for Mayor, and then the discovery that he had continued to sext even recently, in an embarrassing charade for New York CIty, for his wife, and for his own reputation! And yet, he refused to quit the Mayoral race, leaving it to the voters in the primary in six weeks, to determine his fate! This man is eating up all the oxygen in the room, and the thought that he could be Mayor of the nation’s largest city is enough to make the whole concept of the importance of the Mayoralty a total joke! His wife needs to stop defending him, and push him out of the race, or else declare she is leaving him, divorcing him, and condemning him, as anything else only hurts the whole point of a suffering wife making clear she is not going to tolerate such public misbehavior any longer!

And ironically, this Weiner caper is undermining the Bill and Hillary Clinton reputation, reminding voters of the unfortunate willingness of Hillary to tolerate Bill’s sexual misbehavior, supposedly to promote her own political career, but demeaning the concept of what a wife’s reaction to her husband’s misdeeds should be!

Who can say that this Weiner disaster might not affect Hillary Clinton’s supposed status as frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination? Every day this goes on, it is as if it is dripping poison on the image of the Clintons, for those who believe in common decency in their politicians, something we are failing to see much too often at any point, but most notably right now!

GOP Virginia Gubernatorial Nominee Ken Cuccinelli: Puritanism Revived!

Republican Virginia gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli is a nightmare in the making, as he is a 21st century extremist Puritan, wishing to control the private social and sexual behavior of adults, as if one can do that!

Already shown to be extremely prudish, and constantly promoting theocracy in government as Virginia Attorney General, he has now made it clear that he wants to declare oral and anal sex of consenting adults to be illegal and prosecutable, along with stating total condemnation of gays and lesbians as having no souls and being self destructive in their behavior, and not being entitled to workplace protection against discrimination because of their sexual orientation!

Cuccinelli ordered the covering up of the Virginia state seal, which shows a bared breast of a Roman goddess, and claims natural law, which is in his mind Christian Biblical law, should govern all relationships between people, including in the privacy of their own bedrooms!

This man is very sick and totalitarian in his desire to control people’s private lives, while denouncing ObamaCare as intrusion in the lives of Americans!

So government is not designed to deal with real problems such as health care, according to Cuccinelli, but should have police break into bedrooms or other private places to control the sex lives of adults!

What could be more tyrannical or dictatorial action by government at any level than such a belief in the right of the state to control the most basic rights and freedoms of all people than this?

This man is a menace, and hopefully, the state of Virginia will have the common and good sense to send him packing into private life! And do not be surprised if, in the future, we will find that he is a typical “religious”, Puritanical hypocrite who says one thing, and does another! And realize that Cuccinelli has already been implicated as taking money from the same company that has been connected to outgoing Governor Bob McDonnell, who faces the threat of being removed from office before his term ends at the close of 2013.

The Virginia GOP is in tatters, and the good name of the state of Virginia requires that the party be repudiated as a party of not only corruption, but also of religious hypocrisy and totalitarian bent over the private love lives of all Virginians!

Virginia Republicans: Scandal, And Right Wing Extremism On Display

The state of Virginia, the home of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, W H Harrison, Tyler, and Wilson is in political crisis as the state faces not only political scandal of its Governor, Bob McDonnell, but also of its gubernatorial candidate to replace McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who makes McDonnell look “progressive” by comparison, due to his extreme right wing social views! This is not saying that McDonnell is less right wing, but less confrontational in his public statements than Cuccinelli!

McDonnell, who has Presidential ambitions, has been shown to have accepted major gifts from a corporation which does business with the Virginia state government, including large amounts of cash given to his wife and children. There are already calls for his resignation, and it seems likely that he will face criminal charges and the possibility of time in prison.

But Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli also has accepted gifts from the same corporation, although he denies any wrongdoing, just as much as McDonnell so declares! The fact of a denial means nothing, however, as that is standard for politicians of both parties who are accused of wrongdoing, and almost always are shown to be engaged in just that, wrongdoing!

Cuccinelli has also been extremely controversial with his anti gay, anti women, anti immigrant, anti science crusade, stronger in rhetoric and action than even Governor McDonnell!

This gubernatorial nominee has abused his power as Attorney General, and called for the criminalization of private sex acts between adults, along with doing everything he can to insure that ObamaCare is never instituted in the state of Virginia. He has also worked to intimidate all immigrants of Hispanic-Latino ancestry in Virginia. He has also campaigned against the promotion of environmental standards on global warming, declared war on science, and attempted to intimidate various state university faculty who promote such standards. And he is a leader in taking away the rights of women to their own reproductive lives!

To top it off, Cuccinelli’s running mate for Lieutenant Governor, an African American minister named E. W. Jackson, has made statements that make him seem even more extreme than Cuccinelli himself, Jackson has said that the Great Society programs of the 1960s under Lyndon B. Johnson were worse than slavery had been for African Americans! He also has declared that homosexuals and Planned Parenthood are worse than the Ku Klux Klan ever was, and that Barack Obama has Muslim tendencies!

These crazy lunatic statements have made the team of Cuccinelli and Jackson extremely right wing, and with the corruption surrounding both McDonnell and Cuccinelli as well, it has made Virginia a center of controversy and embarrassment that can only be ended by the hoped for victory of Democrat Terry McAuliffe, former head of the Democratic National Committee, who would be in the tradition of former Democratic Governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, who now grace the two Senate seats from Virginia!

The Beginnings Of The Republican Field For The Presidency In 2016 Start To Emerge: More Circus Like Than 2012!

Anyone who is clear headed knows that the GOP Presidential field of 2012 was a circus, with such horrible, embarrassing candidates as Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich, all having the effect of making Mitt Romney the LEAST horrible candidate for the White House!

But already, in July 2013, we can see the likely Republican field for the Presidency in 2016 emerging, and if anything, it is more circus like than 2012!

It begins with the two “Ricks”, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, both true embarrassments to themselves and to others, but both believing that God is behind them, and that they will emerge as the next President of the United States, despite the reality that they both represent regressive, mean spirited, and reactionary views out of tune with the changing American electorate!

Then, there are the following potential candidates, all of whom have major flaws and shortcomings that insure they will have a rough time becoming the nominee of the Republican Party for President:

Ted Cruz
Rand Paul
John Thune
Paul Ryan
Scott Walker
Bob McDonnell
John Kasich
Bobby Jindal

Then, there are the potential candidates who would have some appeal to the mainstream, but likely will self destruct due to their catering to the Tea Party Movement, or their refusal to do just that, including:

Marco Rubio
Jeb Bush
Chris Christie
Jon Huntsman

Also, do not dismiss the concept of a Senator Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President, running for President if she wins the Wyoming Senate seat coming up in 2014!

But in the end, the Republican battle for the Presidency is a lost cause, as it is clear that Hillary Clinton, or any other Democrat, will have the Electoral College edge for the Presidency, along with the popular vote edge in a nation moving away on a long term basis from the Right Wing message that the Republican Party seems bent on perpetuating, at its own destruction!