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The Agenda | Tuesday, Sept. 1

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Decision time for GOP’ers
Wowsers, that Bob McDonnell guy is a piece of work, isn’t he?
My second thought – following, Wowsers – was that not only has McDonnell has his Macaca moment, to infinity and beyond, Republicans down the ticket are going to be facing their own moment of truth in the coming days and weeks as well.

Basically, are you, for example, Steve Landes, running for re-election in the 25th House District, with Bob McDonnell, the governor nominee for your party, on working women being “detrimental”? Are you, Dickie Bell, running in the 20th, are you with McDonnell in thinking that feminism is the enemy of the traditional family? Are you, Matt Lohr, running for re-election in the 26th, there with McDonnell in pining for a time when sex between unmarried people was a crime punishable by the state? How about you, Ben Cline – is government supposed to perform “covenantal duties” to God like McDonnell said?

They either have to run with the guy as a millstone around their necks, or they have to run like scalded dogs away from him.

Bill Bolling is the first facing the moment of truth. He happens to be in the position of running for re-election against one of those “detrimental” working women, former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner.

“Jody Wagner is extremely proud of her accomplishments as a mother of four, an attorney, a small-business owner, and a public official,” Wagner campaign manager Elisabeth Pearson said in a statement released today.

“She believes we should be doing more – not less – to help working families cope with the challenges of raising children while managing careers. Bill Bolling and Bob McDonnell have been joined at the hip for years, as Bolling voted for measures that would have weakened standards for child care and safety, opposed additional funding for public schools, and resorted to parliamentary tactics to defeat proposals to expand pre-K education. If Bolling agrees with the vision for Virginia that Bob McDonnell articulated in his thesis – as his votes indicate he does – he should say so. If he doesn’t agree, he should speak up,” Pearson said.

 

Video: Clips from coverage of the McDonnell Macaca

 

– Column by Chris Graham

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