The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Gov. McDonnell’s Tax Hike Is Key To His ‘George Allen’ Strategy

Posted on | February 25, 2013 | 11 Comments

by Smitty

If Virginia Republicans are going to continue to produce centrist milquetoasts for thrashing by statists in general elections, then putting in the largest tax increase in Virginia history is a must-do.

Nothing says ‘limited government, fiscal conservative’, quite like $1.13 billion/year at the state level, and then heading to a CPAC prayer breakfast. I don’t know, maybe Bob is going to offer an Oscar-level performance in public begging.


Trying to find some way to defend it, I suppose it acts as a sop to our blue-state tumors in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, while offering a fine rallying cry for conservatives this November in our off-year election: if you want to restrain government spending, vote Ken Cuccinelli, who, with enough electoral encouragement, may overcome his bashful, shy, retiring nature and go after this largess with pliers and a blowtorch. But is Virginia too far gone for a conservative recovery?

Erickson is kind of upset:

People like McDonnell say this is about evenhanded “problem solving”. But really it’s about the fact that they think conservatives are too stupid for there to be any negative consequences for breaking their promises – on taxes, on Obamacare, on anything. There will always be someone more liberal than a guy like McDonnell, so he doesn’t have anything to worry about. He has just shown us how fake he is, and he’s convinced he can continue to fake people out because they’re too dumb to keep track of it all.
Bob McDonnell is a perfect example of the worst kind of Republican. He has no principles that he won’t sell out if he thinks the situation demands it. He is interested in the praise of liberal editorial pages for his balanced leadership, which is really just selling out the people who got him elected. His policy legacy will now be trading higher taxes for a massive entitlement expansion. How pathetic.
Conservatives should recognize that between Bob McDonnell and Charlie Crist only Crist is honest about not believing in anything.

See, Erick, this is what makes a guy like McDonnell such a perfect setup for increasing the power of Ruling Class, at some nominal cost to, you know, liberty and representative government. McDonnell has enough name recognition to keep reformers off the ballot as Republicans, while retaining a sufficiently pathetic record as to be indistinguishable from the Democrat in the general election.

Laughing hysterically at all this: Mark Warner, who could have faced a significant challenge on his record from McDonnel in 2014, but now will do to McDonnell what Smilin’ Timmy Kaine did to George Allen, or, if you will, what Obama did to John McCain. Or Romney.

What a pile of bollocks. If there is some rationale or strategy to jacking taxes and spending when what’s needed is a downsizing of government, I’d be interested in hearing such.

Category: Virginia

Comments

11 Responses to “Gov. McDonnell’s Tax Hike Is Key To His ‘George Allen’ Strategy”

  1. Dai Alanye
    February 25th, 2013 @ 12:43 pm

    Not to be politicist, but this guy has looked RINO for quite awhile. Back mitt, didn’t he?

  2. McGehee
    February 25th, 2013 @ 12:46 pm

    I remember back in the early ’90s when Pete Wilson kicked off his presidential campaign by hiking state taxes to unprecedented (at the time) levels, telling legislative fiscal conservatives of his own party that they were, and I quote, “fucking irrelevant.”

    Everything old is new again.

  3. JeffWeimer
    February 25th, 2013 @ 1:12 pm

    It’s kind of a mixed bag to me. Gas prices will go down, but everything else will go up. I understand there’s also a provision that changes redistricting to a California-type commission model, is that right? I don’t like that part at all.

  4. Finrod Felagund
    February 25th, 2013 @ 1:18 pm

    I’ve had more than one social conservative tell me over the last month that there’s no such thing as a fiscal conservative because all they care about is money.

    (slaps palm to forehead)

  5. smitty
    February 25th, 2013 @ 1:20 pm

    Oh, you do too get it, right where you sit.

  6. McGehee
    February 25th, 2013 @ 1:26 pm

    In fact, the legislators Wilson dissed included social conservatives too, but they weren’t being dissed for opposing abortion or wanting to control illegal immigration — they were dissed for opposing the tax hike, and the additional government spending it would allow.

  7. JeffWeimer
    February 25th, 2013 @ 2:43 pm

    Good and hard?

  8. KLSmith
    February 25th, 2013 @ 2:44 pm

    Et tu, Bob? Enjoy your retirement from politics.

  9. ThomasD
    February 25th, 2013 @ 8:27 pm

    The John Edwards hair helmet should have been a clue.

  10. Wombat_socho
    February 25th, 2013 @ 10:31 pm

    Man, I hate when that happens. 🙁

  11. Excellent Overview Podcast Of Virginia’s Tax Debacle : The Other McCain
    February 26th, 2013 @ 10:56 am

    […] and Markets serves up a thorough, insightful review of just how thoroughly jacked up Governor McDonnell’s Folly was. The way that the bill was never released for public review before the vote, alone, is just the […]