# Virginia Gubernatorial Election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 25, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647 "2013-09-25T15:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/1 "2013-09-25T15:24:37Z")
No American above the age of 30 can say they’ve never had to choose the lesser of two evils in an election. We do the best we can and we keep moving forward. But when I consider this year’s Virginia Gubernatorial choices I am struck cold with terror. I am not exaggerating; I actually feel a cold tightness in my chest when I consider the possibility of Ken Cuccinelli gaining even more power in the Commonwealth. Or rather, at the realization that we’ve come so far down the slope that he was not only able to get elected as Attorney General, but has a very real shot at winning this one too. Cuccinelli wants to make it harder to obtain a divorce in Virginia, and make anyone who is divorced ineligible to re-marry. Hey Cootch! Have you ever read any Victorian fiction? There’s a reason it’s so rife with spouses sneakily poisoning each other. We made divorce easier to prevent that. He spent most of his first year in office attacking climate scientists. He even tried to re-interpret the laws to attack abortion providers as criminals. McAuliffe is not the sterling alternative I might hope for. Both sides have been [startlingly dishonest](http://www.politifact.com/personalities/ken-cuccinelli/statements/) even by American standards. It’s an indictment on all of us that anyone at all can get elected by these methods. McAuliffe is far from the intellectual man of character and integrity that I could hope for; but please, God let his 47% be enough to keep Ken Cuccinelli as far down the ladder of power as we can hold him. ::retching:: ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/2 "2013-09-25T15:38:07Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > and make anyone who is divorced ineligible to re-marry. Do you have a cite for this claim? I can’t seem to find any information on this accusation. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/3 "2013-09-25T15:50:27Z")
I’m kind of disgusted that I actually have to vote for McAuliffe this year, but Cuccinelli is so batshit nutbar that I feel much better than I would otherwise. It’s a very, very easy choice. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/4 "2013-09-25T15:52:51Z")
This reminds me of the Louisiana gubernatorial race of 1991, where Edwin Edwards, a Democrat of very dubious ethics even by Louisiana standards, beat the neo-Nazi David Duke in a campaign that featured the bumper sticker “Vote for the Crook - It’s Important.” McAuliffe’s bumper stickers, by comparison, should read “Vote for the Faceless, Soulless Hack - It’s Important.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/5 "2013-09-25T15:53:23Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > …and make anyone who is divorced ineligible to re-marry. Hey Cootch! Have you ever read any Victorian fiction? I don’t think this stands up quite so well to Victorian fiction, but I believe the claim above might be a little **TruCelt** ian fiction. In other words, cite? ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/6 "2013-09-25T15:57:19Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’m kind of disgusted that I actually have to vote for McAuliffe this year, but Cuccinelli is so batshit nutbar that I feel much better than I would otherwise. It’s a very, very easy choice. My husband and father are both very republican/conservative, but in different ways. Neither of them will vote for Cuccinelli. My father will likely go for the independent/libertarian write-in. My husband will vote for McAuliffe. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/7 "2013-09-25T16:08:48Z")
Cuccinelli, of course, is most famous for fighting to keep Virginia’s sodomy laws in effect, _Lawrence v. Texas_ notwithstanding. Yes, according to Cooch (who is currently Virginia’s AG), oral and anal sodomy are still Class 6 felonies in Virginia, punishable by between 1 and 5 years in prison. The fact that, in Cooch’s interpretation, I’ve committed a string of hundreds of felonies in Virginia dating back to the 1970s (which is relevant because there’s no statute of limitations on felonies in Virginia), goes to show how ridiculous the whole notion is. But he used taxpayer dollars to defend his interpretation before the Fourth Circuit Federal court of appeals, where he got turned down both by the usual 3-judge panel, and then _en banc_ as the lawyers say, that is, by a panel composed of every judge on the Fourth Circuit. To keep the case alive, he’s appealed to the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/8 "2013-09-25T16:48:46Z")
> [@](#): > > . . .and make anyone who is divorced ineligible to re-marry I can’t find the cite now despite some pretty deep searching. I can only suppose that the site where I read it has retracted it; so I hereby do the same. 😕 > [@RTFirefly](#): > > Cuccinelli, of course, is most famous for fighting to keep Virginia’s sodomy laws in effect, _Lawrence v. Texas_ notwithstanding. > > Yes, according to Cooch (who is currently Virginia’s AG), oral and anal sodomy are still Class 6 felonies in Virginia, punishable by between 1 and 5 years in prison. . . Oral?? I hadn’t realized that. Hmmm. So, if McAuliffe were to start punching this point, Cuccinelli would lose all the male voters. . . but he might gain quite a few female ones as well. I wonder how that would balance out? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/9 "2013-09-25T17:12:01Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Oral?? I hadn’t realized that. Yep, the actual court case in question is one where a 47 year old man hit on a 17 year old girl for oral sex. Skeevy, to be sure, but the age of consent in Virginia is 16 years old, and if they’d fucked, it would have been legal as church on Sunday. But since he asked for a blowjob instead, Cooch threw the book at him, and has defended it through the courts as I mentioned, publicly defending it under the guise of keeping young girls safe from molestation. Now if he wanted to raise the age of consent to 18, and ditch the sodomy law - or even amend the sodomy law so it only applied to persons under 18 - that might be believable. But he wants to keep the sodomy law in its present form, with a pinky promise to never use it to prosecute consensual sex between adults. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/10 "2013-09-25T17:15:06Z")
“Crazy Ken” against no fault divorce: [http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-04/local/41744743\_1\_ken-cuccinelli-terry-mcauliffe-no-fault-divorce](http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-04/local/41744743_1_ken-cuccinelli-terry-mcauliffe-no-fault-divorce) The WashPost fact checker give the McAuliffe ad only one Pinocchio > **[Analysis | Terry McAuliffe’s claim that Ken Cuccinelli wanted to make it...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2013/09/23/mcauliffes-claim-that-cuccinelli-wanted-to-make-it-harder-for-moms-to-get-divorces/)** > > Fact checkers disagree over Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe's claim that his GOP rival wanted to make it harder for moms to get a divorce. I agree that McAuliffe is not appealing, but Cuccinelli’s stands are repulsive. Do we voters want to reward this behavior? ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/11 "2013-09-25T17:26:01Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yep, the actual court case in question is one where a 47 year old man hit on a 17 year old girl for oral sex. > > Skeevy, to be sure, but the age of consent in Virginia is 16 years old, and if they’d fucked, it would have been legal as church on Sunday. But since he asked for a blowjob instead, Cooch threw the book at him, and has defended it through the courts as I mentioned, publicly defending it under the guise of keeping young girls safe from molestation. > > Now if he wanted to raise the age of consent to 18, and ditch the sodomy law - or even amend the sodomy law so it only applied to persons under 18 - that might be believable. But he wants to keep the sodomy law in its present form, with a pinky promise to never use it to prosecute consensual sex between adults. Actually, an adult can be convicted of the misdemeanor “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” for consentually screwing a minor. Another reason why the “protecting your children from molesters,” doesn’t fly. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/12 "2013-09-25T18:37:39Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yep, the actual court case in question is one where a 47 year old man hit on a 17 year old girl for oral sex. > > Skeevy, to be sure, but the age of consent in Virginia is 16 years old, and if they’d fucked, it would have been legal as church on Sunday. Not true. Va. Code § 18.2-371 provides: > [@](#): > > Any person 18 years of age or older, including the parent of any child, who. . . engages in consensual sexual intercourse with a child 15 or older not his spouse, child, or grandchild, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. What church do you attend, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/13 "2013-09-25T18:47:43Z")
If you hit on a 17 year old girl for oral sex, you are not attempting to have intercourse with her. As Bill Clinton can attest, oral is not sex. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/14 "2013-09-25T18:59:04Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Cuccinelli, of course, is most famous for fighting to keep Virginia’s sodomy laws in effect, _Lawrence v. Texas_ notwithstanding. > > Yes, according to Cooch (who is currently Virginia’s AG), oral and anal sodomy are still Class 6 felonies in Virginia, punishable by between 1 and 5 years in prison. The fact that, in Cooch’s interpretation, I’ve committed a string of hundreds of felonies in Virginia dating back to the 1970s (which is relevant because there’s no statute of limitations on felonies in Virginia), goes to show how ridiculous the whole notion is. This is an absolutely wrong interpretation of the case. Cuccinelli – and the Commonwealth of Virginia, his client – does not contend, as you say, that “…oral and anal sodomy are still Class 6 felonies in Virginia.” The Commonwealth argued that Virginia’s laws against sodomy were still viable _when applied to a minor_, as the victim in this case was. In other words, the Commonwealth read _Lawrence v. Texas_, and focused on this text: _The present case does not involve **minors**. It does not involve persons who might be injured or coerced or who are situated in relationships where consent might not easily be refused. It does not involve public conduct or prostitution._ So, says Cuccinelli, we readily agree that as applied to consenting adults, the Lawrence decision means that sodomy laws are dead. (Note that this explicitly and directly contradicts the view you ascribe to him). But, he goes on to argue, when applied to minors, Lawrence by its own words does not apply, and thus the law remains constitutional, AS APPLIED IN THIS CASE. > [@](#): > > But he used taxpayer dollars to defend his interpretation before the Fourth Circuit Federal court of appeals, where he got turned down both by the usual 3-judge panel, and then _en banc_ as the lawyers say, that is, by a panel composed of every judge on the Fourth Circuit. To keep the case alive, he’s appealed to the Supreme Court. That’s his job. Now, what reasoning did the Fourth Circuit use to turn him down? Yes, they said, you’re right: if Virginia wants to criminalize sodomy between an adult and a 17 year old, they may legally do so. But they didn’t. The sodomy law they have doesn’t make any distinctions as to age. It’s not for the courts to re-write criminal law to keep it alive. The legislature needs to write a new law if that’s what they wish to do, and that new law will be perfectly constitutional. But the existing law can’t have age limits added to it by the courts. That bears so little resemblance to what you said that adjectives fail me. The cite is _MacDonald v. Moose_, 710 F. 3d 154 (4th Circuit 2013). Would you care to explain why you completely misstated the arguments made by Cuccinelli in the case? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/15 "2013-09-25T19:07:05Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > …and if they’d **fucked** , it would have been legal as church on Sunday. > [@Bricker](#): > > Not true. > > Va. Code § 18.2-371 provides: > > > [@](#): > > > > Any person 18 years of age or older, including the parent of any child, who. . . engages in consensual sexual intercourse with a child 15 or older not his spouse, child, or grandchild, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. > > What church do you attend, anyway? > [@BobLibDem](#): > > If you hit on a 17 year old girl for oral sex, you are not attempting to have intercourse with her. As Bill Clinton can attest, oral is not sex. What is the relevance of this observation? **RTFirefly** said, “…if they’d fucked, it would have [been legal].” I replied that this was untrue. You now point out, appropos of nothing, that oral is not sex. True. But sex - sexual intercourse - is relevant here only in the context of **RTF** ’s hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/16 "2013-09-25T19:42:47Z")
Even by whatever lowered standards we operate by today, this race is just dismal. McAuliffe is a lamprey who somehow attached himself to the Clintons and built a career from that; otherwise he’d just be a crooked businessman. Cuccinelli is a maniac and he’s got some fun ethical issues, too. Are any retired professional wrestlers mounting a write-in campaign? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/17 "2013-09-25T20:32:28Z")
I know a lot of folks who are voting against crazy cooch and McAulliffe knows this. So he’s keeping his head down and letting the Cooch self destruct. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/18 "2013-09-25T22:33:48Z")
Say, why does VA elect its governor in odd-numbered years? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/19 "2013-09-25T23:59:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Say, why does VA elect its governor in odd-numbered years? Essentially an accident of history. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647/20 "2013-09-26T00:08:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Are any retired professional wrestlers mounting a write-in campaign? Paging Darren Young! (I know, he’s not retired, but 'twould be so kewl!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virginia-gubernatorial-election/669647.md?page=2)