This is a remarkably vicious article from the Washington Post… which is to say, it only attacked the Republican candidate for Virginia governor once and even then waited until about the sixteenth paragraph to do it. Apparently, the Post did not like Terry McAuliffe’s performance at the Northern Virginia Technology Council, particularly when compared to Ken Cuccinelli’s; and that disapproval seems to have slopped over on their reporting of some of the other stupid things that McAuliffe’s done lately. Case in point:

McAuliffe also seemed to back off what had sounded like a solemn vow: not to sign a budget that does not include money to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. GOP leaders have said the campaign promise amounts to a threat to shut down the government given opposition to expanding the health-care program in the Republican-dominated House.

Asked whether he really meant that he would not sign a budget without the expansion, McAuliffe said: “I always say, ‘Please make sure you send a budget that has the Medicaid expansion.’ ” He has left off the “please” in at least three campaign appearances.

For the record: there is not a chance in Hades that any Democrat governor would dare shut down a state government in the run-up to the 2016 election. Too damaging to the national Democratic party’s likely narrative, you see.

Moving on…

When pressed on his previous statements, McAuliffe suggested that he could talk reluctant Republicans into supporting expansion with a series of one-on-one meetings over meals.

“Here’s what we’re gonna do, after I get elected, the day after I get elected, I’m going to spend the ensuing couple months — I’m going to visit every single Republican House of Delegates member, every Republican state senator,” he said. “Breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever it may be. I’m going to visit every single one of them.”

…That’s his plan? Schmooze? – Look, the Democrats need to get something through their collective heads. The Right does not oppose Obamacare (and the associated Medicare expansion) because it’s a Democratic policy. We oppose it because it is a bad plan. I understand that Terry McAuliffe has no inherent, honestly-held moral or ethical sense… but I would appreciate it if he stopped implying that the rest of us are similarly broken inside.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Ken Cuccinelli for Governor. As the WaPo itself put it*, “Cuccinelli grasps the details and gravity of the job.”

*Quite deniably, mind you: that’s the “narrative,” you see. The WaPo will almost certainly endorse McAuliffe anyway, but it’s going to be as perfunctory as all get-out.