April 7, 2010

Bob McDonnell’s Southern Aggression

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pablosanchez/3144387059/" target="_blank">pablo.sanchez</a> (Creative Commons)

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


When Republican Bob McDonnell was elected governor of Virginia last November, Times columnist David Brooks gushed about his prospects on ABC: “We’ve just had a guy elected Virginia governor who’s probably the model for the future of the Republican Party,” Brooks said. “Bob McDonnell, pretty serious guy, pragmatic, calm, kind of boring.”

The lesson, as always: Don’t trust everything you see on TV. With the early returns in, McDonnell has turned out to be every bit the social values crusader his masters thesis suggested. First he rescinded an existing executive order protecting state employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Then his attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, demanded that the state university system drop its policy of not discriminating against gays. Cuccinelli, with McDonnell’s support, then led the states-rights charge against health care reform and the EPA. Now, it seems, things have reached their logical conclusion: McDonnell has put forth an executive order making April “Confederate History Month.” Party time!

Virginia’s two previous governors, both Democrats, had declined to issue such proclamations, rightly concluding that there are ways to honor the state’s heritage without offending broad swathes of the population. (Besides, there’s no absence of Confederate monuments in Virginia). McDonnell’s declaration also makes no mention of slavery, which suggests that he either knew he was crossing the line of good taste, or he simply doesn’t think slavery was all that important to the Confederacy. I’m not really sure which option speaks worse of him. And as Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett notes, this isn’t exactly an isolated incident, either.

McDonnell looks like the type of person some pundits like to call “presidential.” And because good cheekbones are apparently an important qualification for the job—here‘s David Brooks arguing that South Dakota Sen. John Thune’s exquisite facial structure would lend itself well to the Oval Office—McDonnell is a rising star in the party. If Republicans really want a gay-bashing state-rights crusader to lead them into the 21st century, they should by all means go for it. But if they do, they should be prepared to live with the consequences.

Update: McDonnell just released a statement apologizing for having omitted slavery from the pronouncement. He also added the following language:

 

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders, and the study of this time period should reflect upon and learn from this painful part of our history…..

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

—Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

—Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate