samanthajane13
08-31-2009, 09:39 PM
By BOB LEWIS, AP Political Writer Bob Lewis, Ap Political Writer – 1 hr 25 mins ago
RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia's Republican candidate for governor said Monday he no longer believes his argument in a graduate thesis written 20 years ago that discrimination against gays and other groups is acceptable for the benefit of straight, married couples.
Bob McDonnell's research paper, first reported Sunday by The Washington Post, shakes up what had been a smooth campaign. McDonnell has maintained a clear lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in statewide polling.
In his first public comment on the 93-page conservative manifesto he wrote at the close of the Reagan presidency in 1989, McDonnell dismissed the paper as a long-ago academic exercise. He said life had moderated views he held then that government should "prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." Working women and feminists were also a detriment to families, he wrote.
The treatise, titled "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade," singled out the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling legalizing abortion and a ruling the previous year that legalized contraceptives for unmarried people. McDonnell, a Roman Catholic, has said abortions should be performed only to save the life of the mother.
Deeds' campaign adviser Mo Elleithee said McDonnell was 34 and on the verge of running for the Virginia House of Delegates when he wrote the paper, and can't shrug it off as misguided youth.
However, McDonnell complained that Deeds' campaign was exploiting the thesis to suggest he supported workplace discrimination against women. He noted that his daughters have master's degrees and that the oldest had served with the Army in Iraq.
McDonnell described himself as a "college student at the time, albeit a little older college student, within an academic environment and completely not restrained by the real policy world at the time."
McDonnell wrote the thesis as a course requirement for his master's and law degrees from Regent University, the Christian college founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. In it, he wrote that "If the government at all levels has a duty to uphold the family, then it follows that it has the authority to legitimately discriminate in support of this goal."
Asked if the statement still reflects his philosophy, he said it would be written much differently today.
"I don't think the government's got much business when it comes to cohabitation or any other living arrangements whatsoever," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_governor
RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia's Republican candidate for governor said Monday he no longer believes his argument in a graduate thesis written 20 years ago that discrimination against gays and other groups is acceptable for the benefit of straight, married couples.
Bob McDonnell's research paper, first reported Sunday by The Washington Post, shakes up what had been a smooth campaign. McDonnell has maintained a clear lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in statewide polling.
In his first public comment on the 93-page conservative manifesto he wrote at the close of the Reagan presidency in 1989, McDonnell dismissed the paper as a long-ago academic exercise. He said life had moderated views he held then that government should "prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." Working women and feminists were also a detriment to families, he wrote.
The treatise, titled "The Republican Party's Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade," singled out the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling legalizing abortion and a ruling the previous year that legalized contraceptives for unmarried people. McDonnell, a Roman Catholic, has said abortions should be performed only to save the life of the mother.
Deeds' campaign adviser Mo Elleithee said McDonnell was 34 and on the verge of running for the Virginia House of Delegates when he wrote the paper, and can't shrug it off as misguided youth.
However, McDonnell complained that Deeds' campaign was exploiting the thesis to suggest he supported workplace discrimination against women. He noted that his daughters have master's degrees and that the oldest had served with the Army in Iraq.
McDonnell described himself as a "college student at the time, albeit a little older college student, within an academic environment and completely not restrained by the real policy world at the time."
McDonnell wrote the thesis as a course requirement for his master's and law degrees from Regent University, the Christian college founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. In it, he wrote that "If the government at all levels has a duty to uphold the family, then it follows that it has the authority to legitimately discriminate in support of this goal."
Asked if the statement still reflects his philosophy, he said it would be written much differently today.
"I don't think the government's got much business when it comes to cohabitation or any other living arrangements whatsoever," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_governor