Thursday, January 23, 2014

Mark Herring and the Lies and Hypocrisy of the Virginia GOP


The screaming and conniption fits on the far right - e.g., the folks at The Family Foundation, a hate group in all but formal designation and Liberty Counsel - and within the Virginia GOP (the Washington Blade has some sound bites here) over Mark Herring's announcement today that he will not defend Virginia's gay marriage bans are off the charts.  And so are the lies and hypocrisy of the Virginia GOP which (i) applauded Ken Cuccinelli and Jerry Kilgore when they refused to defend "unconstitutional" laws disliked by the far right and the GOP base, and (ii) stood by Ken Cuccinelli when he sought to revive Virginia's twice invalidated sodomy statute, an effort that more or less "flipped the bird" to the U.S. Supreme Court (which thankfully bitch slapped Cuccinelli by refusing to hear his appeal without even issuing an opinion).  The condemnations have come from the usual suspects - The Family Foundation, Liberty Counsel the Virginia GOP chairman and even the sometimes sentient blog Bearing Drift which has published spittle flecked posts talking about "impeaching Herring." Oh, and let's not forget the Virginia GOP's desperation to change the topic from the federal indictment of Bob and Maureen McDonnell and all the sleazy details released to date.   In short, tawdry whores have more credibility and integrity than Herring's critics.  A post at Bearing Drift exemplifies the raging hypocrisy and bathitery that passes as reasoned discourse now on the far right and among GOP Neanderthals.  Here is a sampling:
They don’t call him “Red Herring” for nothing. We knew what sort of radical leftist we were getting in Mark Herring.  Little did anyone know that Herring would be showing his true colors so soon.

Meanwhile, the reaction from Republicans and Democrats has been swift and damning.

Herring has a constitutional duty — and swore an oath — to uphold the Virginia Constitution.  If one does not agree with the laws of the Commonwealth, there is a process where one can change and alter those laws, and it runs through the Virginia General Assembly.  To change by artificial fiat that process and have the Attorney General unilaterally decide which laws he will and will not uphold?

That’s horrifying.  Moreover, it’s wrong.  For Democrats gleefully slapping their hands together over this, what happens when say — a Republican Attorney General goes after Roe v. Wade in such a manner?

This current trend of might makes right vs. rule of law and process is terrifying in its implications. 
Pretty inflammatory stuff.  But where was Bearing Drift when Ken Cuccinelli by fiat decided to not defend the now discredited Bob McDonnell's education plan?  Or when Ken Cuccinelli squandered countless taxpayer dollars challenging Obamacare even after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld The Affordable Health Care Act?  As I've stated before, the GOP and the far right are the first to claim special rights and a different standard for themselves if it furthers their theocratic, anti-democratic agenda.  But God forbid that a Democrat apply existing case law and legal principles and find that beloved Christofascist laws are unconstitutional under the United States Constitution.  Yes, the United States Constitution which preempts the bigotry enshrined in the Virginia Constitution.

No comments: