A family values conservative candidate retreats under pressure

James P. writes:

The GOP candidate for governor in Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell, has come under fire for the content of his 1989 Master’s Thesis, which according to the Washington Post “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.” (The entire thesis is available at the Post’s site, but I haven’t read it yet.)

Parenthetically we may contrast the dogged determination of the press to obtain and publicize this candidate’s academic record with their absolute refusal to pursue Obama’s academic record. We still haven’t seen his Columbia senior thesis, have we?

Meanwhile, McDonnell says “his views have changed” since 1989: “In his call with reporters Monday, a calm and prepared McDonnell explained in detail how he feels about issues that include gay rights, abortion and women’s rights. He mentioned several times that on some issues he agrees with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), the state’s first Catholic governor, as well as with President Obama.”

What hope is there for conservatism if politicians have to retreat from conservative positions in order to get elected? McDonnell laid out a “Republican family policy” in his thesis, and if he had an ounce of integrity he would defend the need for such a policy and announce his intention of implementing such a policy as governor. Instead it sounds like he is conceding the correctness of liberal views on family issues, or at least he is refusing to defend conservative views.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 02, 2009 08:47 AM | Send