- Bearing Drift - https://bearingdrift.com -

WaPO thesis count: 34

Thirty-four.

That’s how many articles in one form or another in the Washington Post have been written about Bob McDonnell’s twenty-year-old thesis paper in the past five days. A thesis written about restoring the American family at a time when fatherless families were on the rise, when it was more beneficial to declare yourself as single on taxes, and when welfare was at all time highs.

Consider the following [1]:

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes
–U.S. D.H.H.S., Bureau of the Census
85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes
–Center for Disease Control
80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes
–Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 14, p. 403-26
71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes
–National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools
70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes
–U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report Sept., 1988
85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home
–Fulton County Georgia jail populations & Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992

Translated, this means that children from a fatherless home are:

* 5 times more likely to commit suicide
* 32 times more likely to run away
* 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
* 14 times more likely to commit rape
* 9 times more likely to drop out of school
* 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances
* 9 times more likely to end up in a state operated institution
* 20 times more likely to end up in prison

Put aside that the paper was written in an academic setting.

Put aside that of all the bills McDonnell submitted as AG, Creigh Deeds voted for 98% of them.

“During my time [as attorney general], representing all Virginians, I proposed 105 pieces of legislation and 92 of the measures became law, a 90% success rate, said McDonnell. “Most of those bills passed with broad bipartisan support, and Creigh Deeds voted for 98% of them.”

Put aside that McDonnell was a key figure in helping reform welfare in the early 1990’s in Virginia that became a benchmark [2] for Clinton’s and the Gingrich Congress reforms later on.

Ask yourself, why would the post write 34 times on this subject, when the entire McDonnell campaign [3] has been about creating jobs, improving the economy, protecting an individuals right to work and the secret ballot, exploring for new energy resources, and improving transportation – and not, directly, social issues (all of the listed does strengthen the family)?

Why is the Post attempting to change the direction of the campaign?

Could it be that they endorsed Deeds [4] in the primary?

Could it be that many of the issues McDonnell is discussing are direct counters to federal overstretch and protection of the tenth amendment to the Constitution?

Could it be because the Post is worried about a repeat of 1993 where George Allen won the gubernatorial election following Bill Clinton’s victory in 1992 as president, which ushered in the Republican Congress of 1994?

Could it be that the Post is harboring protection for the Obama administration?

Could it be that Obama’s popularity has sunk below 50% and Creigh Deeds, whom they endorsed in the primary, trails their poll by 15 and the most recent poll by 9 [5]?

Incidentally, a cursory Google Search of Washington Post references to Obama’s Harvard Papers yields one hit. Ironically, there are several McDonnell references in the top 50. (And, of course, Deeds didn’t write any academic papers, so we don’t have the luxury of seeing his thoughts from 20 years ago; however, we do have a long list of legislative accomplishments by Bob McDonnell to judge his character by and an audio clip [6] from Deeds where he claims abortion is basically for the poor and desperate).

Clearly, the Washington Post wants to change the conversation. Clearly talking about improving the fabric of our economic and personal well-being and promoting our individual freedoms and liberty is not consistent with their agenda.

Update: Also read Garren Shipley’s piece [7]in NoVA Daily.

…If you take the time to read the whole thing, you’ll find some surprising entries.

“Republicans must believe in moral persuasion over compulsion in the family policy areas,” he wrote.

Wait, the GOP has no business in forcing its version of family values onto America through law? Doesn’t quite sound like something from someone Keith Olbermann labeled an “American Taliban.”

How about encouraging the Republican Party to “support voluntary parental leave programs by giving tax incentives for businesses that allow lengthy position-protected leaves?” Break out the burkahs.

That’s one of the bullet points in his “secret blueprint” for Virginia to turn the clock back to the 1950s.

McDonnell also opines in the thesis that Republicans should oppose a redefinition of family from the historic model. The majority of Virginians agreed a few years ago when they passed a constitutional ban on same sex marriage.

So why the furor? Cue the flamebait.

There’s a third rail in policy discussion, the issue of women working outside the home. To suggest that putting children in daycare might possibly, in some tiny way, not be the absolute perfect way to raise children is in some quarters the equivalent of burning a cross in someone’s front lawn.