Why Corrupt Democrat Terry McAuliffe Won the 2013 Virginia Gubenatorial Race

[jordan179]

Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton insider and crooked businesman famous for engaging in corrupt political deals which looted literally hundreds of millions of dollars from various public treasuries between 1990-2013, is now Governor of Virginia, taking the previously Republican-held post.  He won the election with 48.0 percent of the vote

Comments

[lostboy_lj]

Jordan, what happened in Virginia is about losing battles to win the war. The Republican party mandarins need to do more than play footsie with us small government libertarians. They need to stop trying to peal a few of us off as a form of stoploss for their bleeding, shrinking religious right, and instead alter their platform in a way that is totally consistent with the principles of individual liberty -- personal and professional, public and private.

A broad internal realignment needs to happen in the Republican party. Virginia is a single battle lost, but some battles must be lost to win the war, just as a lost chess match can teach the loser more than the winner. If Cuccinelli's loss informed Virginia Republicans and the RNC in general about the changing electorate and the opportunities therein, it was a very good loss. After all, we're all headed toward a cliff with 90 trillion in explosively unfunded liabilities in the trunk. Salvation isn't the difference between the driver going 60 and the driver going 80; we need the

[ford_prefect42]

125 trillion in unfunded liabilities... not counting Ocare.

[lostboy_lj]

Sure, I'd stipulate to that number, which is always growing like a cancer. I'd also stipulate to "a gonzo shitload timebomb of unfunded liabilities", plus the Super-Medicare entitlement to come following the death spiral of the Obamacare-infected health insurance industry.

The point is to stop blaming libertarians for not getting in line with the GOP. I've voted mostly Republican for all of my adult life, endured Republican legislatures and Republican presidencies and all sorts of nonsense from the puritanical Religious Right. And all the time I've watched Leviathan grow and grow regardless, as our liberty shrinks and shrinks. And the feckless GOP wants us to get in line with them? Nonsense. They need us as much as we need them... more, actually, since they refuse to be the grownups in the room and use their purse-string power to start taking this hydra-headed monster apart at the seams. They always threaten to do so, but never commit, and they demonize those within their own party who would. It's no accident guys like Ted

[jordan179]

I certainly hope that some good comes out of this in terms of the Republican Establishment realizing that they really do need to please all Republican factions on core issues if they want to start winning elections. I also hope that the Libertarian and Religious wings are then willing to compromise -- especially with EACH OTHER. If they aren't, then this is going to lock-in Democratic control of the Congress and Presidency long enough that it may never change short of violence.

[marmoe]

Jordan, don't assume, ask the voters.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/06/mcauliffe-wins-virginia-governor-race/
Was the Libertarian candidate Sarvis a spoiler? In a word: no. In a straight two-way matchup, voters preferred McAuliffe to Cuccinelli by two points. That’s almost identical to the final outcome. In fact, Sarvis drew from independents and moderates, and took at least as many votes from the Democrat as the Republican.
You are barking up the wrong tree

[wombat_socho]

This is correct. Most of the Sarvis voters weren't going to vote for Cuccinelli or McAuliffe anyway, so it didn't cost either campaign anything. It is true that Democrats did put a lot of money into Sarvis' campaign, but in the end he was really a non-factor. In the end it was a contest between a ton of money and the voters' growing unease over Obamacare; another week, and Cuccinelli would have pulled it out.
Whether Bolling would have won is a question for the alternate-history fans to argue over.

[marmoe]

You may want to read this statement:
http://www.lp.org/with-libertarian-sarvis-mission-accomplished
You may want to ask yourself, why Breitbart News does not publish the entire interview with Wes Benedict on which they base their story.

[wombat_socho]

What made you think I was getting my information from Breitbart? I read the local papers and know people who are active in both the RPV and the local Democratic Party.

Ron Perot'd

[shadowfox24]

Libertarians f the nation again?

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

[xiphias]

McAuliffe was a terrible choice.

But Cuccinelli was worse.

[jordan179]

Given that McAuliffe will almost certainly not only be working to rig the 2014 and 2016 Virginia elections (including the Federal ones) but also to loot the Virginia state treasury, what do you imagine Cuccinelli would have done which would have been "worse?"

[xiphias]

Fuck with abortion rights even worse than they already are.

[jordan179]

So retaining the freedom to have cheap and easy abortions (and note: Cuccinelli couldn't ban abortions, since that's secured by Supreme Court Decision) is worth the price of having one's state's political system corrupted to the point of disenfranchising the voters, and the State Treasure looted to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? Really?

[eta_ta]

A RINO or a religious nut is a worst choice than a right-out Lib. Let them show and prove themselves and owe the crap they are going to inflict on people. Do not follow our (NY) example, when we (not me, but you understand) listened to advocates of "choosing the least evil" and made the mistake of voting in RINO Bloomberg, 3 times. Now the pendulum moved, they get their outrageous commie Bill deB (deBBill?), let's see how soon they will recall the times of Dinkins(D) and remember WHY Giuliani won in a landslide...