I'm really starting to wonder if Bill Bolling needs to up his medication or something, because the letter from his campaign I received today is, to be blunt, bonkers. That this garbage is even being sent out by a candidate for elected office is bad enough, but that Bill Bolling is running for Lt. Governor of Virginia is downright frightening. I mean, either Bolling really believes the crazy shit he's spewing out here, or he's totally gonzo. Either way, Bolling's not qualified to be Lt. Governor of our state. Anyway, this is what Bill Bolling has to say (in bold) about his Democratic opponent, Leslie Byrne. My comments are in italics.
Last Tuesday, Democrats nominated former Congresswoman and State Senator Leslie Byrne to run against me. Without question, Ms. Byrne is the most liberal person to ever seek statewide office in Virginia.
Not that there's anything wrong with being liberal, but this is simply false. Byrne is not more liberal than former Senator Chuck Robb, for instance. For 1994, Byrne's last year in Congress, the American Conservative Union (ACU) gave her a 19% postive rating. Not high, but slightly higher than Chuck Robb's 16% ACU positive rating in 2000, his last year in the Senate. Similarly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gave Byrne a 40% positive rating in her last year in Congress, compared to 67% for Chuck Robb in 1999, the last year the ACLU rated him. Finally, the non-partisan League of Conservation Voters (LCV) gave Byrne an 85% positive rating in her last year, compared to 86% for Robb.
During her twenty years of public service, Ms. Byrne has consistently staked out extreme positions which oppose the values Virginians believe in.
Here we go with that word "extreme" again. How carelessly Bill Bolling throws that one around.
Here is a brief look at Ms. Byrnes record:
--As a member of Congress in the early 1990s, Ms. Byrne cast the deciding vote for President Clintons largest tax increase in American history.
This is not true on so many levels I barely know where to start. First of all, it was Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-Pa) who cast the "deciding" vote. Second, though, that's completely meaningless, because the budget passed by one vote, with not ONE Republican supporting the bill by the way, meaning that EVERY Democrat who voted for the bill was the "deciding" vote. That's just simple math and logic. Third, calling this the "largest tax increase in American history" is a gross distortion in so many ways, it's incredible. In actuality, this was a DEFICIT REDUCTION bill that raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but at the same time expanded the earned income tax credit for the working poor. The end result was to put the U.S. budget back on the path to balance and even surplus, after the disastrous years of "Voodoo Economics," as George HW Bush accurately called it, under Ronald Reagan. Apparently, Bill Bolling needs to review history a bit before making inaccurate, misleading, and false statements like the one above.
--While in Congress Ms. Byrne voted for President Clintons liberal, big government agenda over 95% of the time.
This is also not true. First of all, Bill Clinton did not HAVE a "liberal, big government agenda." In fact, under two terms of Bill Clinton, domestic discretionary spending went up only 10% TOTAL. Under the current President Bush, domestic discretionary spending went up by 25% in less than ONE term. And that doesn't even count defense spending. If you add that in, it's a complete blowout: Bush is the "big government"/"big deficit" President; Clinton was the "era of big government is OVER"/"budget surplus" President. So how could Leslie Byrne have voted for something that didn't exist? And what about the current Republican Congress, which has gone on a big government spending spree? Again, Bill Bolling is completely clueless or just lying.
--Ms. Byrne received a 100% pro-choice grade from NARAL
Yeah, she's pro-choice. And Bolling's wildly anti-choice. As if we didn't know that already? Yawn.
--Ms. Byrne received a 100% voting record from the Sierra Club, an anti-business environmental extremist group.
The Sierra Club is an "extremist" group? It's "anti-business?" Gee, I could have sworn that the Sierra Club was America's "oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization," with 750,000 members. I also could have sworn that the Sierra Club was part of the Apollo Alliance, "a broad coalition within the labor, environmental, business, urban, and faith communities in support of good jobs and energy independence." This coalition includes a group called Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, with members like Admiral Stansfield Turner, Vice Admiral John J. Shanahan, and Brig. General Dallas Brown, Jr. Yeah, crazy bunch of radicals, huh?
--Ms. Byrne has long sided with organized labor over business and economic growth.
Yes, Leslie Byrne is a supporter of organized labor. You see, she has a thing for protecting American workers against having their jobs shipped overseas, their pensions raided, their wages and benefits slashed, and their job security eroded. How horrible. I would also point out that, under the "extremist" economic policies of Bill Clinton, which Byrne supported, the US economy enjoyed its best period of economic growth in history, while business raked in huge profits. Yeah, the 1990s were a rough time, and it was all those damn liberal extremists' fault. Ha.
--Ms. Byrne was the manager of Howard Deans campaign for President in Virginia.
You mean, the Howard Dean who governed Vermont as a balanced budget fiscal conservative who received an "A" rating from the NRA? The same Howard Dean that the libertarian CATO Institute agreed was "a Democrat [they] could work with?? The same Howard Dean who launched a school voucher program, supported ?electricity deregulation," and talks constantly about the importance of respecting Southern values? Again, horror of horrors that Leslie Byrne was Howard Dean's campaign manager.
As you can see, Virginians will have a clear choice in November between responsible, mainstream conservatives like Jerry Kilgore, Bob McDonnell and me or extreme liberals like Tim Kaine, Creigh Deeds and Leslie Byrne.
Well, this one is sort-of correct, at least with regard to the "clear choice in November." The only thing you have to do is reverse the adjectives, making Kilgore/Bolling/McDonnell the "extreme" ones in this race, and Kaine/Byrne/Deeds the "responsible, mainstream" candidates. Unfortunately, in months to come, the Republicans are going to try as hard as they can, lie as much as they feel necessary, and spend as much money as they can raise, to convince you otherwise. Don't listen to them.