The Party of No appears to be degenerating into the party of No, Really? Thanks to Bob McDonnell, the GOP's newest asshat, Virginia is being transformed from a cosmopolitan urban center to a suburb of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The new governor is attempting to prove that, even in 2010, it's possible to be an insensitive bigot. Lester Maddox and George Wallace would have been proud.
Following his colossally tone-deaf reintroduction of April as Confederacy Month in Virginia, Governor Retro has involved himself in the legislative effort to restore voting rights to non-violent felons. During the 2008 election, in order to persuade a few black people in Norfolk and Hampton Roads to vote for him, McDonnell ran on a promise to restore voting rights to non- violent offenders. Currently Virginia and Kentucky are the only states that don't automatically restore those rights upon completion of sentence. An appeal to and approval of the governor is required.
McDonnell has decided that before you get the right to vote again you will be required to submit an essay on your contribution to society since your release. (If McDonnell were required to submit such a term paper, his right to vote would vaporize.) This Jim Crow-like restriction is being vilified for what it is, a roadblock to the restoration of voting rights to predominately black citizens. Whether you think felons should be allowed to vote or not is irrelevant. What matters is that McDonnell is singlehandedly towing Virginia into the arms of Southern, Conservative, Tea Party rednecks. We get it; Virginia is a Southern State. It's not necessary to segregate water fountains to underscore the point.
But wait...another state is heard from. Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi has weighed in (and his weight is considerable) to defend McDonnell. As a bastion of civil rights and progressive thinking, we all need to be taking our cue on equality from Mississippi. Barbour, whose entire exposure to slavery appears to be a slavish devotion to donuts, thinks that ignoring slavery is just fine. Why Southern politicians continue to treat ignorance as a point of pride is a constant wonder.
Anyway, no one should be surprised if Governor McDonnell continues to drag Virginia down this path to antibellum bliss. Remember, Virginia Governors can only serve one term so no reelection worries for Old Bob. How about a poll tax? Hey, we have to balance the budget somehow. Maybe a minstral show in Richmond? Don't be shocked to see Governor McDonnell reintroduce miscegenation laws prohibiting interracial marriage. After all, that law was only changed in 1967. The ink is barely dry.
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