Patrick Muldoon = hypocrite
Who is Patrick Muldoon? I don’t know a lot about him, other than his strategic brilliance to make telemarketing phone calls over the Thanksgiving holiday. So off to the internet to research! According to his website, he is running for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor because we need “strong leaders in Virginia who want to promote our traditional values by being committed to fight for us, 100% of the time.”
Apparently Mr. Muldoon believes gambling is a traditional value. Mr.Muldoon is an attorney at Duane Morris, a DC law firm, whose lobbying arm, according to their website, represents casinos and gambling interests such as Hilton Gaming, Keystone Gaming Alliance and Oberthur Gaming Technologies.
Is gambling a traditional conservative value? I doubt professional associations with gaming interests is hardly representative of the 100% pure conservative he claims to be.
But, wait there’s more. Muldoon and his supporters have been critical of politicians that have received donations from Barr Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company that employs hundreds of Virginians and has engineered affordable generic drugs to fight cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
Barr also created a “morning-after” pill. Haven’t Muldoon and his supporters claimed that anyone who accepts money from Barr is pro-choice? On Duane Morris Consulting’s website, you’ll see Barr Labs listed a client.
From Muldoon’s definition of associations with Barr, shouldn’t we hold Muldoon to the same standard? Is that an association of a pro-lifer?
Now, I’m not making any judgments about gambling or Barr Labs. This is about campaign honesty. Before Patrick Muldoon starts attacking Republicans with his 100% litmus test, he should be ready to meet the same test, shouldn’t he?
He has lost every election he has entered and is now the Democrats’ best friend as he forces us to spend money that could be spent beating a well-funded Democrat.
If he’s going to run on the “100% conservative” banner, he better meet his own test. On first glance, Patrick Muldoon is a hypocrite.
Category: Uncategorized
Loading ...
So, the man who has been attacking people for not being conservative enough is taking money from people who want gambling? AND he’s attacking people who take money from Barr Labs even though his paycheck comes from the money Barr Labs pays his firm.
Muldoon just isn’t a hypocrite, he’s a liar and an opportunist in my opinion.
I hope you don’t mind me republishing this article on my blog. I thought it was really good and wanted to pass it on. I will put a link to your article on the top of the page, and it has your name etc in it. If you don’t want me to do it, i won’t repost it. Hopefully though you don’t mind.
Respectfully,
Willie Deutsch
Be my guest. I’ve long been a critic of the “100%ers” who open the door to Democrat victories.
Nice. Just goes to show what kind of guy he is, and that he thinks people are too dumb to do a little research. Honestly, if owning stock is bad, how bad is actively lobbying for and promoting that company? This guy is a complete joke, why is anybody even talking about him?
Muldoon is wasting everyone’s time with this. Guess what? He’ll have yet another loss to add to his abysmal political resume.
I am sickened by this group of people. They are so quick to point the finger at someone else, but they are never as “pure” as they claim to be.
[...] Posted on December 16, 2008 by Riley Brian Kirwin over on Bearing Drift simply decimates LG candidate Patrick Muldoon today. A MUST [...]
OMG. Muldoon’s bio also indicates that he worked for the Army from 92-95. That must mean he supports the “Don’t Ask — Don’t Tell” policy or he is a hypocrite is doesn’t.
You people are clueless about the private practice of law. Duane Morris is an Am Law 100 law firm with 650+ lawyers. Of course the firm is going to have a diverse client base. Its about as silly to impute everything the firm does to Muldoon as would be to impute everything the current Virginia government does to its current Lt. Governor.
Rudder you are missing the point. If Patrick Muldoon wants to attack other folks (and he has) for associating with such companies, or taking money from such companies he CANNOT be doing it too. If he wants to argue he is a purist, he must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is not associated with immoral outfits. Obviously he is. Therefore, I will never vote for him.
To echo some of the sentiments from Hard Right Rudder;
Mr. Kirwin, was it really necessary to mention the gambling angle? The company he works for represents casinos, so somehow he now has to defend gambling as being a traditional value? As far as I know he hasn’t claimed gambling is such a value.
And if he does, is gambling somehow not a “100% conservative” value? Does someone have to be against the practice or else they somehow fail the conservative litmus test?
I believe I see the point you are trying to make, however I believe it could have been articulated better. This notion that somehow we have to bow down to whomever the Republican frontrunner is, so we can “devote all our resources to the Democrats” is absolutely asinine.
No longer do we seem to have any loyalty to principle, but rather to a party. We’re so afraid of what the other party will do to us that we only stand against things as opposed to standing for them.
A giant “D” is suddenly a death sentence while we continue to promote (sometimes atrocious) candidates on all levels of government just because they have an “R” next to their name… Forget what their principles are.
If Mr. Muldoon feels like he presents voters with a better choice, then let him run a campaign The voters will choose who they like best.
This being said, from my few interactions with Bill Bolling, the Lt. Gov has shown himself to be agreeable, respectful, philosophically sound, and has exhibited true leadership. He seems very capable of running a campaign and from my (again being objective) very few interactions with him, he seems like an excellent, A+ individual, to serve once again as Lt. Governor of Virginia.
However he doesn’t deserve the position, and he certainly isn’t owed it. He needs to earn it and win his election like everyone else.
As always Mr. Kirwin thank you for your work on a great political website.
Steve, Mr. Muldoon is free to do whatever he wishes, including running against a Republican incumbent. I just don’t think it does anything but help Democrats win.
I do tend to chafe against the 100% right wingers who would complain that Ivory soap is unpure because it’s only 99 and 37/100ths % pure.
I see no problem in holding those who promote such a litmus test to the same test.
While I definitely respect Mr. Muldoon’s right to run. I think he has a thin arguement as to why we should dump Bolling. Bill Bolling has been an effective leader with his conservative 100 ideas campaign. He has been a very solutions oriented Lt. Governor.
[...] But today, Brian Kirwin over at Bearing Drift gives us a pretty detailed account of why the sooner the Muldoon campaign ends, the better: Patrick Muldoon = hypocrite. [...]
Oh SNAP!!!!!!!
Action always speaks louder than words.
Bill Bolling says he is pro life. However when he had the opportunity to support a candidate that was pro life over a candidate that allowed abortions from 8-12 weeks he chose to support the man that supported abortion.
Bill Bolling chooses to take money directly from an organization that supports abortion, his choice.
It’s time we stop just looking at what someone says and look at what they do.
I like Bill but it’s time we put principles first. The failure to do this has run the Republican Party into the ground. When someone strays the party needs to say this is not acceptable. The only chance for resurrection of the Republican Party is to hold those who seek support from it to be accountable to the principles the party SAYS it stands for. Until we can regain public trust don’t expect to win races by supporting those who say one thing and their action shows another as pointed out on the life issue in this case.
Hard Right Rudder,
Just because Muldoon served in the military does not mean he supported “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. While I am not going to go into my own personal opinion on this, I will state that I too served in the military during that time (my service period was 1976 to 1997) and I can attest that many (not all) service personnel were unhappy with the policy, and those unhappy with it went in both directions.
As a military service member you did not have to personally support the policy, but it was REQUIRED that you salute and officially accept it.
1Patriot,
You seem to be a one issue voter, and you would kick out of the party anyone who failed to support your one issue.
You sound like one of them fellahs that would vote for Satan himself, as long as he campaigned pro-life.
This party is in big trouble if these people continue to wield disproportionate influence. This is my biggest problem with these damn conventions. The Dems understand the middle better and will continue to win as long as the GOP goes hard right. Spare me all the “principle” BS, none of that matters if you can’t get elected in the general.
1Patriot is exactly the problem in this debate that Brian K. was trying to focus on. If you look hard enough, you can twist the facts to make someone appear to be pro-choice even if they are 100% pro-life.
Patrick Muldoon may be a nice guy, but his critique of Bolling borders on the ridiculous. To call LG Bolling a moderate or pro-choice is laughable at best and dishonest at worst. Muldoon’s “proof” attacking Bolling is weaker than Muldoon’s connections to organized gamblilng and the morning after pill. Muldoon’s candidacy is a waste of time, resources, and energy. He brings nothing to the table and should just go home.
Bill Bolling has extensive pro-life credentials. He cast the tie-breaking vote to stop funding for planned parenthood among other things. He has been an advocate in Richmond for the life of the unborn and I believe him to be a great leader.
little david
I would vote for the devil if He was Pro-Life.
LittleDavid — my comment about Muldoon and the Army was sarcasm to illustrate the absurdity of the original post in calling Muldoon a hypocrite because some clients of the 650+ lawyer law firm he is employed by have different views than him.
There is a BIG difference between working for a large law firm that may represent Barr in legal matters and accepting campaign donations from Barr.
Loudoun — moderate republicans do not get elected in general elections. Reagan had appeal because he stood by his conservative principles. Why is the Va. GOP nominating a candidate for governor that has publicly proclaimed himself to be the “moderate” in the race? Oh, I forgot, because thats what the good ole boys decided in some smoke filled room with this bs about party unity. Bolling is part of that group and I am glad to see someone step up and challenge the “unity” ticket. This group has steered the party off course and we need to take action immediately to get back on course.
What would you rather have; nothing done or progress in the “wrong” direction…
If it is not politicaly expedient nothing gets done, the right thing is never expedient and is normally way more complicated than the average person can understand. We live in a democracy people, without a nation of smart people we are doomed to fail.
Max — We live in a constitutional republic. Also, I would suggest changing your last thought to “without a nation of ‘moral’ people we are doomed to fail.”
Morality and intelligence are not mutually exclusive. You can be smart, but not moral and moral, but not smart. Many horrible things have been done in the name of both, but I would prefer an educated electorate to a moral one. Morals are open to interpretation, logic is surely not.
A democracy is a representative form of government, a constitutional republic is a democracy…
Oh please, Bolling was part of the HB3202 cabal and BIG advocate of the HPV boondoggle. That’s not leadership, that’s guv of the insiders for the insiders.
Muldoon ought run hard and give folks a real choice, not another stupid pol plot. There is no way he nor any one else can do worse than Kilgore and Gilmore in the general … both shared the Marcus/Allen consulting team that runs Bolling.
And you Bolling trolls should really stop whining. Really,
ciao
Oh please, Bolling was part of the HB3202 cabal and BIG advocate of the HPV boondoggle. That’s not leadership, that’s guv of the insiders for the insiders.
Muldoon ought run hard and give folks a real choice, not another stupid pol plot. There is no way he nor any one else can do worse than Kilgore and Gilmore in the general … both shared the Marcus/Allen consulting team that runs Bolling.
And you Bolling trolls should really stop whining. Really.
ciao
[sorry for double post]
[...] Bearing Drift on Patrick Muldoon’s LG campaign (Bearing Drift) [...]
1Patriot – you forget that Bolling has a 100% pro-life rating with the Family Foundation. And he voted to stop state funding to Planned Parenthood. Those are not strong enough actions? Just because he didn’t support the candidate you liked more in some past primary is a sorry, sorry reason to oppose him.
By your logic Patrick Muldoon should return any money he received from his firm that touched Barr Labs. Are you going to call on him to do that?
A couple of my friends got together this weekend and decided that I should run for the US Senate against Webb.
Now since I’ve already called dibs, I expect every Republican to support my campaign. Afterall, we shouldn’t be wasting resources fighting for the nomination when it could be better spent capaigning against the Democrats.
I anticipate your immediate endorsement.
Max Shapiro
There is a big difference between a true democracy and a republic.
A democracy is the will of the majority. In our constitutional republic it protects the individual’s rights against the will of the majority. You will not find the word democracy in the Constitution but you will find the requirement of a Republican form of government by the states. That we live in a democracy is a misrepresentation of the truth. You might want to see what the founders had to say about a democracy.
Little David
As far as being a one issue voter, the life issue was an example, of how people say one thing and with their actions do another.
To all
The failure of the Republican Party to win elections is because it has failed to hold elected officials accountable to the principles for which it stands. Pretty simplistic, but the point is surely being missed, as evidenced by some of the comments posted.
For those who do not get this point, how long would you support a product that a company sells to you when it does not do what they claim it does?
In this case the party has been selling a product that has failed to perform as advertized and trust has been lost. Is this really so hard to understand, bait and switch. If someone does not stand for the principles as contained in the Republican Creed move to another party but don’t make excuses for those who fail to adhere to such.
So Muldoon is a hypocrite? I would care if I were 17. That said, I hope that his campaign goes south ASAP.
Further, what sort of kool-aid slurping Bircher thinks that Bolling is insufficiently conservative?
To those who are wondering why Republicans keep losing statewide elections, you may wish to look to Virginia’s demographic changes before consoling yourselves with the notion that Republican candidates/elected officials not conservative enough. Would that it were not so.
So you Muldoon supporters are complaining that our party has lost the last few election cycles, and your solution is to replace one of the few candidates that have won with a guy that’s lost every race he’s been in?
Heston,
What people like myself are actually saying is that the current Republican leadership has led the party to failure. So why let them choose our candidates for us? It’s this top-down strategy that has injured the Party.
How utterly disappointing would it be if we had all three candidates nominated without a single party vote! Muldoon will likely be crushed, but at least we all get to vote on it.
1Patriot, democracy is a general term for a government by the people, that is the definition, look it up. We are a democracy, period, end of story. Our method of democracy is a constitutional republic. We are a failed constitutional republic because our electorate has been dumbed down to an irretrievable point. Our upcoming generation is stupid beyond belief. 30% of 8th and 4th graders are proficient at their grade level in math and reading. This country is unarguably on the decline. People need to wake up and learn some real history, not the bullsh*t people on these boards spit. You all have had a more bias education than I can comprehend, people in Europe know exactly why America is hated, they know all about the evils we have rendered upon the world. It is only the American people who are too dumb to realize our government has enslaved us while we have been asleep at the wheel. For goodness sake we (the US Government) are funding Iran’s nuclear program and we just seized a building belonging to a company funneling money through Russia to Iran…
The party hasn’t hand picked Bolling to be our Lt Governor candidate. He’s the INCUMBENT Lt Governor. The party and people have already chosen him. It’s you and other Muldoon supporters (all 60 of you) who think the party and the people are wrong. Stop acting like he was hand picked from left field and nobody new about it.
This is why nearly every GOP activist is angry at Patrick Muldon for running. He’s telling them and Virginia voters they are too dumb to make this decision so the far reaches of the Republican Party are coming out to correct their mistake. And this is exactly why not one single Muldoon supporter can effectively articulate why in the world this man is trying to unseat Bolling.
Heston,
I missed Muldoon’s press release attacking the intelligence of Virginia voters. Here I thought he was just trying to run for office. (Maybe, just maybe you’re reading a bit too much into Muldoon’s candidacy.)
Even INCUMBENTs should be targets of party challenges now and then. If you disagree, maybe you should lobby for a RPV rule change forbidding all challenges to Republican incumbents. Think of the resources we could save!
And for the record, I haven’t decided who to support. I’ve got nothing against Bolling. I’m just a HUGE fan of using the political process we’ve been given. If Muldoon can raise the money and support necessary to challenge Bolling, then have at it!
But let’s be honest, Bolling won’t spend dime one against Muldoon until Muldoon shows some sort of real support. Other than solidifying his numbers at the Convention (which is the best way to create a grassroots organization for the general), the Bolling team’s sites are fixed on November.
There is a bright side in all of this for you: Muldoon has given you a chance to vote for Bolling twice in one year.
MoreConservative,
Wow, you are right! I have seen the light. I think everyone should be challenged all of the time. So when Ken Cuccinelli wins the AG nomination, we can start fishing for a challenger for him. And we can tell him it’s a healthy exercise. Then we can see if someone is willing to go against Eric Cantor, Randy Forbes and Bob Goodlatte and tell them to suck it and let us vote. Then in the off year, we can focus on challenging all of our Republican delegates and Senators. Let freedom ring and let democracy happen.
Actually we should be finding someone for every seat even if we like the one that’s in the seat right now. It seems sports teams have a back up for their players on the field. A quarterback seems to play a better game when he knows there’s someone ready to take his place. I think it’s about time we put as much importance on those who are taking and oath to protect our rights as we do on sports. You see this is one game we can’t afford to loose.
Oh Max, take a look and see what the meaning was at the time of our founding.
Heston,
Mixed within your sarcasm is actual truth. I’m not saying that the RPV has to recruit candidates to run against Republican incumbents. But if a Republican decides he wants to try (whether futile or not), we shouldn’t begrudge him the ability to do so out of some sort of skewed party loyalty. What’s the problem with that? As you mentioned, that would be “democracy in action.”
It sounds like you would rather the opposite, eh? No inter-party challenges allowed against Republican incumbents at all? Or does this only apply to politicians you personnally like?
Oh and BTW: I like Cuccinnelli, but if he wins AG runs for re-election in 2013, I’d expect there would be some interparty challengers. (Or at least I wouldn’t be angry about it.)
1Patriot, democracy has always meant government by the people, you should stop trying to make it seem as if you were right. If anything the founders thought democracy was a horrible idea and put many safeguards in the constitution to care for its many woes. Primary among these woes was an uneducated electorate.
I think convention and primaries are fine, but there comes a point where you have to ask yourself why certain ones happen. According to Muldoon he is gunning for Bolling because of failures from Republican leadership. In that case, why not run for party chairman against Frederick? Muldoon is attacking Bolling for supposed support of 3202, yet he says nothing about McDonnell and Cuccinelli who in fact supported it. Why not run against one of them. He’s an attorney, right? Why not run him for AG?
The problem becomes when you have to grasp at straws to make an argument against some one with no real clarity as to why. Muldoon takes money from Barr Labs, period. It doesn’t matter that it is watered down because it’s changed hands. He takes their money. Why is his acceptance of their checks different from everyone else? Neither he, nor Steve Waters, or anyone else around him can answer that question.
This is a completely pointless inter-party fight. There is absolutely no reason for it. Muldoon is nothing more than an opportunist who will get smashed in the convention. Hopefully he’s man enough to endorse the Republican candidate, unlike others in his fringe group of friends.
I don’t disagree with anything you just wrote. Seriously. In my book those are all valid questions. Questions that Muldoon will have to answer if he wants to win the nomination.
The only argument I don’t like reading is the whole “you’ll hurt the party” junk. I have never seen anything that supports the idea that a strong nomination fight (or in this case, probably a quick one) hurts the nominee in the general election. If anything, I believe that contested conventions force campaigns to begin organizing well in advance of the general.
As for Muldoon’s attacks, they are trying to push Bolling as a centrist — not really a bad place to be in the general election. There’s worst things to be accused of than being the anti-cervical-cancer candidate.
MC, I’d agree with you about “strong nomination fights” if we had no incumbents. In Virginia, we usually don’t. This year, we do. It’s stupid to have a nomination battle over Bolling and Mundane.
Max
Something I thought you might find interesting.
One of the reasons a democracy was not chosen and our Constitutional Republic was.
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)
You mentioned “primary among these woes was an uneducated electorate” when you were trying to say we live in a democracy. I think you need to do some more research.
This reminds me of the separation of church and state which some think is a part of our Constitution. It’s been repeated many times but it’s not in there. We do not live in a democracy just because you have probably heard this repeated from the time you were born, as I have. Although there are those that want to pass on this deception, the fact is, it’s not true.
If we expect to know who to support for election it would be good to understand that we live in a Constitutional Republic based on the laws of God not of men. This is no little thing. The will of the majority is always wrong if it conflicts with Gods Law. In a democracy the will of men rule. If the majority wants it that’s what you get.
Brian, so in your opinion only when their is an open seat we should have more than one person running for office. That’s truly brilliant Brian. I guess that type of thinking is why weak politicians like Marty Williams lost. Something is owed to them by the citizenry. You forget they serve the public not us serving them. They only thing they are owed is a hard time if they aren’t leading or doing what is best. Give me examples of Bill Bolling’s great leadership as Lt. Gov. since 2005 or for that matter as a state senator. I would love to see what you come back with. If you want to beat democrats you can’t keep using the insanity clause to do so. If republicans don’t start governing on principle and going on the attack with these principles to show through leadership how they work then we will never deserve to lead. Muldoon isn’t the problem is bad leadership at the present that is killing the republican party, let’s see… George Allen, Jim Gilmore, Jerry Kilgore they’ve been great examples of success and leadership for our party at the state level. How about all the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation that voted for the bailout, that’s impressive leadership as well. If Bolling and McDonnell were Congressmen chances are they would have voted for the bailout as well based on their past behavior.
Continuing Brian, I guess Jim Gilmore was a great example of how great our leadership has been. A former Governor and Attorney General of Virginia got 35% of the vote in 2008. Let me see, didn’t McDonnell and Bolling endorse him as he had what it takes to lead. Give me a break. That kind of leadership only shows a death wish for our party’s success by it’s leadership. Instead you and others keep blaming others for our losses. One day you will wake up and see it has been the top killing the bottom and driving us off in the masses.
? ??????????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??????????. ???? ??????? ?? ????????????? ? ?????
[...] reported some months ago how Patrick Muldoon’s employment as an attorney at Duane Morris, a DC legal [...]