At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master's thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." He described as "illogical" a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.
It gets worse. These socially conservative views that the Washington Post thinks have been hidden from public view actually appear to have guided Bob McDonnell in his legislative work to promote pro-family policies in the House of Delegates.
The 93-page document, which is publicly available at the Regent University library, culminates with a 15-point action plan that McDonnell said the Republican Party should follow to protect American families -- a vision that he started to put into action soon after he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
During his 14 years in the General Assembly, McDonnell pursued at least 10 of the policy goals he laid out in that research paper, including abortion restrictions, covenant marriage, school vouchers and tax policies to favor his view of the traditional family. In 2001, he voted against a resolution in support of ending wage discrimination between men and women.
Amazing. Shocking. A Republican backing pro-family policies. A Republican supporting restrictions on abortion. A Republican backing . . . Republican policies!
This will certainly doom Bob McDonnell in November. At this point, I feel confident that he will not reach the 60%+ landslide that he was on track for earlier. He may only hit 55%. What a campaign disaster!
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