Ethics

Right Wing Backpeddling

By Ed Brayton

OneNewsNow has an article that speaks to a real problem that hardcore right wingers have when trying to run for public office.

Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell (R-Virginia) appears to be backing away from a thesis paper he wrote at Regent University in 1989 that said Republicans should promote welfare policies that "prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators." In the paper, he also described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. In a statement released by his campaign, McDonnell says his beliefs have changed since the Reagan era and that he should be judged on 14 years in the Virginia House of Delegates and more than three years as attorney general. McDonnell adds that what he wrote in the thesis on working women "was simply an academic exercise and clearly does not reflect my views." In addition, he maintains that government should not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on September 05, 2009 (boomark / email).