Any implications that this policy has anything to do with racism or dislike for queers are inappropriate and misplaced.

Please disregard the checkboxes on the form for race and sexual preference.

"McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said" What kind of name is Tucker and why is it associated with so many assholes. (Carlson et al) Jes ' askin'

Isn't he trying to have it both ways? He gets credit for the troglodytes for his "initiatives"; and his backing off shuts up his critics but isn't really backing off. His executive anti-discrimination order is toothless; the law remains rescinded. The Confederate History Month proclamation still doesn't mention slavery, right? Let's see if he really backs off the literacy test.

Great idea, felons would never plagiarize, because you know, it's unethical and all.

Funny how the party of small government always has some spare change when it comes to funding hair-brain schemes that usually deprive people of their rights.

"The letter was sent without approval by a well-meaning staffer attempting to continue to process requests even while new procedures were being considered"

This makes no sense at all. If a well meaning staffer is processing requests (assuming under an old procedure) while new procedures are being considered, where did this staffer get this letter outlining a new procedure? I await the right wing noise machine to call for a resignation of this staffer for embarassing their Mesiah McConnell.

What's next? Knowing "Taliban Bob," I expect him to issue orders for an official state prayer.

It's kind of like a kid testing his parents to see how far he can get away with something. Unless there's a real political price paid for one of these things, McDonnell will continue doing them.

Didn't they really mean to say the letter was sent by "some punk staffer"?

I applaud the concept of the "Personal Essay".

I would like to give every elected official a blue book and a #2 pencil and an hour to address the topic: "Why I should serve".

And, no, you cannot delegate the task to your staff. . .

This guy is off to a great start. Gonna be a loooooooong four years for you Virginia.

McDonnell's yet more proof that people support the conservative agenda until conservatives actually tell people what their agenda is. And then it all blows up in their faces and they're stuck blaming someone else for having noticed what they were up to.

Conservativism only works as a theoretical criticism of liberalism. But the more people get a taste of what it really means, the more they hate it. Even conservatives get upset when their "small government" policies come home to roost.

Did governor McDonnell also reverse his decision to score all of these essays himself?

All in all McDonnell is practicing his licks for reelection. Sort of like McAce in the last election when he and PALINaroundwithterrorists threw stuff against the wall to see what would stick. So far this knucklehead hasn't thrown the right combo but given his perpensity for stupidity, he hasn't hit the bottom yet. Buckle-up fellow citizens...

Bob McDonnell looks so much like a young Johnny Carson that I find it hard to take him at all seriously. Hopefully, Virginians will never elect him to anything again.

And this guy is one of the new "stars" of the Republican Party?

Oy.

I keep thinking there's some kind of plan behind this...

What Shortstop said: McDonnell gets credit from the wingnut base, but, since this was an 'error', he doesn't get tagged with it. Until GOPers pay the price for this, there's no incentive for them not to do this.

It doesn't matter if he rescinds. The dog whistle has been heard.

Maybe he should check out the law library. It's not that hard to look up federal and even state laws.
Or maybe he dosn't even know there are such things as law libraries.

All in all McDonnell is practicing his licks for reelection. -- Stevio, @13:50

Not for VA's Governor, he's not. We have a one-term-and-out rule here (reason why Warner couldn't stay, despite being hugely popular in both parties). And his little two-steps-forward-one-step-back approach to the "base" might not translate all that well into anything else (like Senate or presidential stakes).

What I'm hoping for is that our little Bobby McD will serve as a warning and a lesson, on the national scale, to all the "but our candidate is so unexciting" and "how bad can it be? it's only 4 yrs" brigades who think they have an excuse to stay home in November. Despite his "delicate flower" looks, this SOB is pure poison. And, because he's not actually stupid, he's all the more dangerous.

johnR@1.32p - don't forget Tucker Askew, that little Republican asshole bootlicker for McCain and Palin and "Republican analyst" often appearing on TV.

Oh, and for anyone wondering where little Bobby's heart really is, reread the official statement:

"The letter was sent without approval by a well-meaning staffer [...]

"Well-meaning". Not "misguided" or "over-zealous". That's how he views the erring staffer (always assuming that the "staffer" exists and isn't a figment of Bobby's imagination, a piece of flim-flam needed to cover his butt for the Independents). And that's all I need to know, to get Bobby's true measure.

This toad, Bob McDonnell, can be described as a 21st Century Gov. George C. Wallace.

I'm sure young Bob will think that's kinda cool...

sengber has got it right. These aren't gaffes or mistakes; the purpose of these initiatives to to assure racists that the GOP is on their side. The classic example is Reagan bringing up the KKK during the 1980 presidential election. His "gaffe" had the effect of making sure that everyone knew that he had been endorsed by the KKK. He could then repudiate the endorsement and watch as the 1980 election flipped the old confederacy from blue to red. What is somewhat surprising is that McDonnell feels the need to do this: this is a man with his eye on the White House (perhaps as soon as '12).

Oh neill (O'neill?), your toad comment is so spot on.. George Wallace the 22nd! McDonnell is just another (racist) pretty face in a suit (made exquisite by fags like myself).. This guy is a political rice cake (plain) but also a potential Great American liability. 2012 is up to the one republican sociopath who can muster the entire "Army of Idiots" at one time. Let's hope to Gawd it fails..

exlibra: Your not quite correct about Virginia's governor being limited to only one term. A sitting governor cannot succeed himself. He can serve as many terms as he is elected to, but he must take at least one term off before running again. See Mills Godwin, the 60th and 62nd governors of Virginia, (1966-1970 as a Democrat, and 1974-1978 as a Republican). After his current term is up, Bob McDonnell is eligible to run again in 2017.

Or maybe he dosn't even know there are such things as law libraries. - Marnie

Don't forget, he went to Regent University. The students are only allowed to read one book, for every class.

Well, that along with the Gospel of Pat.

Donald G, @ 15:21,

You're right, of course, about it not being two *consecutive* terms. It's easy to forget though, since it doesn't happen all that often. Most of the time, the Governorship is a stepping stone to something else, less term-constricted. Also, I didn't get to US till '73 and didn't become a voting citizen till ten years after that. As a result, I never heard of Godwin, since I was not paying much attention to US politics, never mind VA ones.

Still... I don't think Bobby is "running for re-election" (in 2017) as a Gov. He'd be concentrating more on keeping VA in the black (the model that Warner set up and Kaine maintained), instead of obliging his mentor Robertson and chasing all kinds of culture-war "wild hares".

This was his MO during the campaign, too -- he'd be caught having said or written some appalling reactionary claptrap about how government should operate (like his thesis), there would be a bit of uproar, and then he would say "I don't personally favor doing that" and it would all go away. (Never mind that when you're running for governor, whether you personally discriminate, for example, shouldn't get you off the hook for saying you believe government should.)

The only difference now is that he doesn't seem to be getting away with it any more, or at least not cleanly. But it's not like there wasn't ample warning.

I for one can't wait to see the door hit this one when he leaves office. It really is going to be 4 long years but I doubt they will be dull with he and Cuccie coming out with all sorts of stupid crap. Boy, do I miss Massachusetts. Can't wait to get out of Virginia.

"After completing my bachelor's degree while being incarcerated, I continued to take night classes working towards my Master's Degree. As well as finding employment, I've used my free time to volunteer to teach disadvantaged youth. I've also served as a community organiser working outreach to minorities, and was recently awarded the Martin Luther King Prize for my activities in helping steer young people away from drugs and teenage pregnancies."

FAIL

"Though I bin too busy gittin' drunk an' hangin' down at the strip bar to get a job, somebody dun give me five dollahs to give to the McDonnell election campaign and I got bussed to one of them Teabagger's rallies (got a real fine bag lunch for free, jes' had to spit on some spook in a suit}."

PASS