Blog Archives
What is Creigh Deeds' Focus?
So…after focusing on Bob McDonnell’s thesis, we finally learn what Creigh Deeds will be focusing on: improving the economy. However, one has to ask where is his plans for boosting the economy, how he plans to bring more jobs to Virginia, etc.
Who's the Copycat in the race for Governor?
When are we going to see any of Creigh Deeds’ original ideas for improving the Commonwealth’s economic situation or the ideas for bringing new jobs to Virginia? (Crickets are still chirping)
There's No Reset in Politics
There is no way to go back in time to fix the mistakes you made, and this applies to everything in life, including politics. Perhaps, Creigh Deeds should realize this.
Ready for more taxes?
If Creigh Deeds is elected Governor, one of his first acts will be to raise the gas tax. Right now, families in Virginia are already tightening their budgets, and one more tax will definitely add to the stress.
McDonnell and Cuccinelli Unveil Public Safety Plans
Yesterday, at the Virginia Chiefs of Police Conference, Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli announced their public safety plans to continue making Virginia a safer place to work and to raise a family. They were also joined on stage by Polly Franks, who is a crime victims advocate. While McDonnell served as Delegate and Attorney General, he worked tirelessly to keep Virginians safe by continuing to strengthen the penalties against sex offenders and continue the crackdowns on gang violence.
Here are some of the highlights of the plan:
- Requiring a form of intensive lifetime monitoring of violent sexual predators not eligible for civil commitment but who continue to pose a danger to society
- Proposing that the penalty for a convicted sex offender who fails to register for Virginia’s Sex Offender Registry be elevated to a Class 6 felony
- Creating a Domestic Violence Prevention Advisory Board to advise on domestic violence issues
- Improving the protective order system by clarifying our current laws and simplifying the process
- Making Virginia’s protective order forms more consistent with neighboring states to enhance cross-jurisdictional enforcement
- Making the commission of a violent crime in the presence of a child a separate Class 4 felony
- Expediting the process to remove children from abusive and neglectful homes by having appeals for termination of parental rights go directly to the Court of Appeals rather than Circuit Court
- Cracking down on career drug dealers by proposing tougher mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders
- Breaking the cycle of addiction by supporting and encouraging the use of drug treatment court programs
- Increasing mandatory fees for convicted criminals
- Strengthening the juvenile justice system
- Supporting growth and expansion of the Commonwealth Challenge Program for youth offenders
- Requiring juveniles charged with repeat violent felonies to be tried as adults in circuit court
- Cracking down on crimes against the elderly
- Combating identity theft
- Ensuring crime doesn’t pay by strengthening asset forfeiture
McDonnell said that his public safety plan would help his jobs plan, as you can not bring businesses or create new jobs without having a safe place to conduct business.
Cuccinelli, who announced his own individual public safety plan, said:
“I’m pleased to be here with the next Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell. Like Bob, I believe that the first priority of government is public safety. To that end, Bob and I will work together to ensure all Virginians are safe from those who do not abide by society’s laws. We will work to ensure our children are safe from predators who use computers to perpetrate their crimes; to protect senior citizens from those who harass and pressure for deals that are nothing but scams; and to protect our communities, urban and rural, from drugs and those who push them in our communities. Our focus always has and always will be on preventing crimes, and punishing those who commit them.”
Cuccinelli’s plan focuses on McDonnell’s initiatives, in addition to focusing on reforming Virginia’s mental health program, which impacts both public safety and public health. While serving as a State Senator, Cuccinelli has been a champion of mental health reform and public safety.
Have they ran out of attacks?
It appears that the Democrats have run out of attacks, when they resort to spreading lies about Bob McDonnell’s campaign having a Confederate flag in their booth. The flag was in the neighboring booth, not McDonnell’s booth, as reported on Not Larry Sabato. This picture clearly proves what I am talking about. This is exactly the type of reporting that will hurt bloggers and give us bad credibility.
It is especially bad, when The Washington Post‘s Virginia Politics blog calls you out on the bad report. Other bloggers have chimed in on this issue:
- Jim Hoeft reports on Bearing Drift that the Confederate Flag report hurts blogging credibility.
- Shaun Kenney also has a post on this issue as well.
- Also reporting:
“No one will remember this blatant lie (the second for the Deeds campaign in as many weeks), but what they will remember is how reckless and irresponsible bloggers bring down the entire medium through their flagrant narcissism…and how desperate candidates are quick to go negative and spread falsehoods, ruining the nobility of public service.
Creigh Deeds Flips on Abortion
After promising not to focus on social issues, Democrat candidate for Governor Creigh Deeds has decided to attack Republican Bob McDonnell’s pro-life positions. In today’s Washington Post, Deeds will be holding a press conference tomorrow to highlight his stances on abortion and to paint McDonnell as placing much of his focus on limiting abortions.
Meanwhile, the economy is tanking, and unemployment is at an all time high across the Commonwealth. Deeds would rather focus on attacking his opponent for being pro-life, rather than proposing solutions on how he would get the economy back on track and boost jobs. I guess Deeds is too afraid to allow his agenda to be revealed, since it is loaded with tax increases and favors to the union bosses.
Bob McDonnell Delivers Republican National Address
Here is the transcript of Bob McDonnell’s address:
Hi, I’m Bob McDonnell from Virginia.
Times are tough in our state, and in yours.
Yesterday’s jobs report is yet another reminder that families and small businesses are struggling as unemployment remains high.
Here in Virginia, we face unemployment rates at a twenty-five year high.
As I travel throughout Virginia, I listen to our people who are concerned about the jobs they have, worried about finding the jobs they need, and concerned about what jobs will be available for their kids in the years ahead.
As a father of five, I share those same concerns; that’s why our main goal is to bring Virginians together to create jobs and more opportunities all across our state.
And we want government at all levels to be a partner in promoting small businesses and entrepreneurship.
As Republicans, we believe you create jobs by keeping taxes and regulation low, and litigation at a minimum.
Americans succeed when government puts in place positive policies that encourage more freedom, and more opportunity.
Right now Virginians are particularly concerned about federal cap-and-trade legislation. This legislation would amount to a huge new national energy tax. If implemented, electricity rates would skyrocket and jobs would be lost.
Two weeks ago I was in Covington, in Western Virginia; I visited Mead Westvaco, an international packaging company. It’s the largest employer in the area, providing 1500 good jobs. They told me the cap-and-trade legislation, if passed, would threaten those jobs. Mark George, the vice-president of the facility, told me this, ‘I feel that the next governor of Virginia, and every representative we have, should care about keeping those good jobs in Virginia; I agree.
We must do everything we can to keep and grow jobs in Virginia, and every state in the Union. That’s why we strongly oppose cap-and-trade, a job-killing energy tax that would put American companies at a tremendous competitive disadvantage with employers in other countries; it’s the wrong policy for a nation struggling with the worst economy in generations. That’s why we’ve fought against the job-killing card-check legislation being pushed by big national labor unions and Democrats in Congress.
It’s why we are committed to helping more Americans get the healthcare and coverage they need; not through nationalizing the system with a costly government-run plan, but rather by supporting free-market incentives and helping small business owners make coverage more accessible and affordable, and ensuring that Americans can keep their individual private policies.
Government must be more efficient, and more accountable; which is why we are calling for an end to runaway government spending that is leading to an exploding deficit and burdening our children with new debt that they will have to repay.
The cornerstone of our founders system of federalism is that the states are the laboratories of democracy, where new ideas can be tried and innovations unleashed. I’m calling for environmentally friendly offshore drilling, selling our state-run liquor stores to put more cash into transportation, and expanding access for Virginia students at our colleges.
I’ve said that the President is right in his call for real education reform, with more charter schools, and performance pay for great teachers and principals. Now that’s a bipartisan reform that will help all our children get the education they need today to get those good jobs of tomorrow.
Together, we will use innovation and free-markets to bring new jobs and more opportunities to Virginia, and America.
Have a great weekend!
"Dirty" Deeds wants to raise your taxes
Creigh Deeds wants to raise your taxes, Virginia. At a recent campaign stop in Hillsville, Deeds told one of his supporters he would support a tax increase to pay for transportation improvements. There are better solutions than raising taxes, and Bob McDonnell lays those out in his transportation plan. If Deeds thinks that raising taxes is the solution to our problems in the Commonwealth, then this should send the voters a clear sign who to vote for on November 3rd.
