From GeorgeAllen.com

Front and center on his campaign website is a graphic comparing gas prices from the artificially low $1.85-per-gallon average from January 2009 (driven down by the economic meltdown) with the $3.87-per-gallon average of several weeks ago.

Throughout his campaign, Allen has promised lower energy prices, which he says can be achieved by pushing for more offshore drilling and more deregulation. The League of Conservation Voters called described him as having “one of the worst environmental records ever.”

In February, March, and April, Allen blamed the President for energy costs, complaining that “The Obama administration may not think rising gasoline and energy prices are severely straining budgets – but the families and small business owners of Virginia tell a different story.” The effort to pin rising gas prices on the President was echoed by Republicans across the country — though history consistently has shown gas prices have virtually nothing to do with any U.S. policy decision.

But according to AAA’s “Daily Fuel Gage,” the national average for a gallon of gas has dropped from $3.849 a month ago to just $3.676 today. And in Virginia, the state Allen hopes to again represent, it’s at an even-lower $3.485.

Allen has updated neither this graphic nor his rhetoric. Just yesterday, the campaign posted a comment from Allen’s wife Susan that Virginia entrepreneurs want “real change in Washington to get rid of burdensome regulations and create a real energy policy to alleviate the pain at the pump.” And a week ago, George Allen tweeted, “High cost of gasoline touches virtually every aspect of our economy. We need to unleash our American energy resources.”

When prices were going up, Allen and others on the Right, were all too happy to blame it on President Obama. Now that prices are going down, rather than give any credit to the Obama administration, they seem content to just ignore it. Allen owns between $108,009 and $370,000 in coal, oil, and other energy companies’ stock, received at least $15,000 in consulting and speaking fees from the dirty energy sector in the previous year, and was paid $20,000 for his work as chairman of the American Energy Freedom Center, a pro-dirty energy group which engages in global warming denial.

But Allen said he does not think sexual orientation should be a consideration for judges. “What I’d look at as far as judges is, I’d look at their qualifications. As far as judges are concerned, sexual orientation is not one of their criteria for being a judge,” Allen said during a campaign stop in Prince William County, according to Inside Nova.

Allen is hardly an LGBT-friendly lawmaker. He’s said that gay rights are not civil rights, co-sponsored a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, and often used to raise the specter of same-sex marriage in stump speeches.

Gay judicial candidate Tracy Thorne-Begland during his military service

Earlier this week, the Virginia House of Delegates rejected Tracy Thorne-Begland, a former Navy pilot and top Virginia prosecutor, for a seat on Virginia’s lowest ranking trial court because, in the words of Del. Bob Marshall (R-VA), Thorne-Begland’s gay “lifestyle is exactly contrary to” his obligation to uphold the state constitution. On CNN this morning, Marshall doubled-down on this view, explaining that he blocked Thorne-Begland because the judicial candidate had the audacity to serve his country while gay:

MARSHALL: [Thorne-Begland] had to misstate his background in order to be received into the military in the late 1980s. There was a specific question, “are you a homosexual?” He had to say no. He took an oath of office which he had to defy. . . . Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks never took an oath of office that they broke. Sodomy is not a civil right. It’s not the same as the Civil Rights Movement. You have to look at the past, and, in fact, look, in late 2011 he was critical of the, you know, Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. He criticized our attorney general simply for explaining what the law of Virginia is with respect to certain protected classes.

Watch it:

First of all, “sodomy,” as Marshall so quaintly puts it, is a civil right. That was the holding of Lawrence v. Texas, which established that consenting adults have a right to be free from government interference in their “private sexual conduct.”

Additionally, while it may in fact be true that Thorne-Begland once misrepresented his sexuality in order to serve his country in the United States Navy, it is important to understand exactly what he signed up for when he told this potential lie. Tracy Thorne-Begland was a Navy pilot, and his superiors did nothing to hide from him the dangers inherent in this job. When Thorne-Begland was stationed at Virginia Beach, he was informed that 25 percent of pilots are killed in action over the course of a 20 year career. This was the job he might have lied in order to sign up for — to risk his life every day in defense of his county. Bob Marshall, by contrast, never served a day in the United States military.

Nor, apparently, did Marshall familiarize himself with civil rights history during all that time he spent not serving his country. Martin Luther King may not have taken an oath of office, but his entire career was rooted in a campaign to peacefully defy unconstitutional laws. And while there is some dispute over whether Rosa Parks’ famous decision to keep her seat on a Montgomery bus violated a city ordinance or merely a racist custom, her refusal to stand is widely perceived as an act of civil disobedience that triggered a movement of opposition to Jim Crow laws. A judge’s oath is to the Constitution, and Thorne-Begland acted with the greatest respect for our founding document when he fought back against the unconstitutional and now-repealed Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy.

The Greene County Republican Committee's March 2012 Newsletter

We have before us a challenge to remove an ideologue unlike anything world history has ever witnessed or recognized. . . . The ultimate task for the people is to remain vigilant and aware ~ that the government, their government is out of control, and this moment, this opportunity, must not be forsaken, must not escape us, for we shall not have any coarse[sic] but armed revolution should we fail with the power of the vote in November.

The editor of the newsletter, listed as Ponch McPhee, is the latest Virginian to threaten violence towards the president or his administration. Just this week, Christopher Hecker was charged with a felony for threatening to kill the president and other officials, as well as bomb landmarks along the east coast.

The eight page newsletter features remarks from the chairman of the Greene County Republican Committee alongside contributions from fellow members, and is heavy on generic tea party talking points on President Obama, socialism and the liberal media.

The Secret Service, which is tasked with investigating all threats made against the president, wasn’t immediately available for comment on whether they have — or will — conduct a similar investigation into McPhee or the county committee.

Crossroads GPS Attack Ad (Virginia)

Crossroads GPS, which almost exclusively backs Republicans, claims, “these spots [are] intend to alert citizens to the anti-job policies in Washington and push for real economic solutions to create jobs,” but the spots are little more than dishonest attacks against Democratic candidates and President Obama.

The ads attempt to cast the Democratic candidates as stand-ins for Obama, but because Heitkamp and Kaine have never served in Congress, the attacks on these two are particularly disingenuous.

In North Dakota, Crossroads GPS uses the same clip of Heitkamp as the National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC) posted on YouTube last week. Like the NRSC, Crossroads takes out of context an innocent comment by Heitkamp that she expected then-candidate Obama’s 2008 convention speech to be “amazing,” and it attempts to use that as a way of blaming Heitkamp for everything the group dislikes about Obama and the Affordable Care Act.

The clip comes from a 2008 video made by North Dakota attorney and Democratic National Committeeman Chad Nodland. Nodland successful got YouTube to remove the NRSC’s posting of the video, citing his copyright of the footage. In an email, he confirmed to ThinkProgress that he is already preparing a cease-and-desist letter to Crossroads GPS and will alert YouTube and North Dakota television stations to the copyright violation. (Out of respect for Mr. Nodland’s legal right to the video, ThinkProgress will not link to the Crossroads GPS spot).

Meanwhile, the Virginia video attempts to tie Kaine to Obama — by blaming him for the economic failures of former President George W. Bush.

Watch the Virginia video:

It is true, as the ad claims, that Kaine, as governor, proposed spending $1 billion of the Virginia surplus, much of it to address the state’s transportation woes. But if operatives at Crossroads had bothered to read the same stories they cite, they would know it was hardly “reckless spending.” In fact, Kaine’s proposal was blasted in the referenced story by Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates William Howell for not spending enough on transportation. According to the same Washington Times article the ad cites:

House Speaker William J. Howell said Mr. Kaine’s amendments put transportation “on the back burner.” The Stafford County Republican again urged Mr. Kaine to use more of the state’s surplus, take advantage of the state’s bond power and support abuser fees.

Every budget enacted in Kaine’s four-year tenure as Virginia’s governor needed approval from the solidly Republican House, led by Howell, a national boardmember and former national chairman of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. So it seems strange that the ad blames Kaine for the $3.7 billion shortfall the state government faced in early 2009.

And it seems even stranger that an organization connected with Rove, nicknamed “Bush’s Brain,” would forget that Virginia and other states faced revenue shortfalls in late 2008 and early 2009 due to the worst economic crisis in 60 years following the financial meltdown of late 2008. Blaming Kaine for “red ink” is like blaming fish in the Gulf of Mexico for being covered in BP’s spilled oil.

In his lone Senate term, Allen voted for about $4.4 trillion in discretionary spending appropriations, 52,000 earmarks, and four debt limit increases. He also backed George W. Bush’s massive tax cuts for the rich, which exploded the deficit.

In all, the public debt increased by about three trillion dollars — more than 51 percent — during Allen’s tenure, making him the last person Johnson should trust to change the spending and debt culture.

Virginia House Speaker William Howell (R)

Virginia House Speaker William Howell (R), himself a national board member of ALEC and its 2009 national chairman, took issue with the report and called it “inaccurate.”

In an exchange caught on camera, Howell berates the group’s executive director Anna Scholl, mocking the group’s website and her. Howell criticizes the Washington Post’s article about the group’s as “full of half-truths or un-truths.”

In a failed attempt to back up his accusation, Howell notes that while the Commonwealth paid about $230,000 on ALEC-related expenses, it spent even more on travel for the same and other legislators to attend conferences by the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislators.

When by Scholl pressed as to how omission of that irrelevant detail constituted an inaccuracy, Howell berated her:

I guess I’m not speaking in little enough words for you to understand.

When Scholl responded to the slight, telling him “I’m a smart girl, actually I went to the University of Virginia,” more than capable of understanding polysyllabic words. Howell curtly replied, “We’ll good for you.”

Watch the video:

On a day when Republicans desperately are trying to play down their “war on women,” this apparent sexism by the man who presided over and backed House passage of a forced trans-vaginal ultrasound bill so extreme that even Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) wouldn’t support, hardly helps their cause.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA)

The Washington Post quoted the interview:

In a brief interview at the Republican Attorneys General Association meeting, Cuccinelli said it would be “contrary to the law” not to implement it. But he pointed out that it might not be easy for the federal government to force states to comply if they continued to resist. “It’s not like there’s criminal penalties out there — it becomes a power struggle,” he said. Cuccinelli noted that it would not be the first time that states have tried to obstruct federal laws, pointing out that states resisted complying with the Alien and Sedition Acts and fugitive slave laws. “There have been periods of time when states have just thrown their hands up and said, ‘We’re not going to do this,’” he said. “It’s still possible, but it’s outside the expected legal structure.

But when pressed on this subject yesterday, Virginia Organizing caught him striking a rather different tone — saying “I expect everyone to obey the law,” if it is upheld by the Supreme Court.

Watch the video:

It’s wonderful that Cuccinelli now wants everyone to obey the law. Perhaps he might start with himself.

-Zachary Bernstein

But a few state lawmakers are offering counter legislation that seeks to give men a taste of their own medicine:

EVERY SPERM HAS A RIGHT (OKLAHOMA): To poke fun a “personhood” bill that give full rights to a zygote, state Sen. Constance Johnson (D) introduced an amendment that would also declare every sperm to be sacred. “However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child,” her amendment stated.

CHILDREN DENIED BIRTH BECAUSE OF VASECTOMIES (GEORGIA): State Rep. Yasmin Neal (D) introduced legislation that would limit vasectomies. “Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies,” Neal explained. Her measure is in response to a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks on the grounds that a fetus can feel pain — a claim disputed by doctors.

MORE HOOPS TO CLEAR FOR VIAGRA (OHIO): In response to Ohio’s so-called Heartbeat Bill, which would prevent abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, state Sen. Nina Turner (D) will introduce a bill that would make men jump through hoops, like a psychological screening, before they could obtain Viagra and similar drugs for erectile dysfunction. “All across the country, including in Ohio, I thought since men are certainly paying great attention to women’s health that we should definitely return the favor,” Turner said.

RECTAL EXAMS FOR A VIAGRA PRESCRIPTIONS (VIRGINIA): To protest Virginia’s bill requiring women to receive an ultrasound before an abortion, state Sen. Janet Howell (D) attached an amendment to the bill that would have required men to receive a rectal exam and pass a cardiac stress test before doctors wrote them a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. “We need some gender equity here,” Howell said. The Virginia Senate rejected her amendment, but both chambers passed the ultrasound requirement after clarifying that women would not be forced to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound.

KNOW THE SIDE EFFECTS OF VIAGRA (ILLINOIS): State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) decided to push back against GOP attacks on women’s health by offering an amendment that would require men to watch a “horrific video” about the side effects of Viagra before the received a prescription for the drug. His bill is in response to a measure requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion. “If we are going to do this, we need to do it in a way that is applied equally,” Cassidy said.

PROTECT ALL SPERM (DELAWARE): Mocking the “personhood” measures, the town council in Wilmington, Delaware approved a satirical resolution “that asks state legislatures and U.S. Congress to enact laws that forbid men from destroying their semen.” The resolution notes that if lawmakers think a female egg has full rights, then they should say the same thing about sperm.

State police in riot gear respond to peaceful Virginia capitol protest (Credit: J.C. Whitmore/The Richmonder)

Police forces — including state police, under the control of Republican governor Bob McDonnell’s administration, wearing riot gear — arrested 31 protesters for ignoring an order to confine the demonstration to the corner of the Capitol grounds for where they had a rally permit.

Watch the video:

Virginia Democrats objected to the disproportionate show of force. Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax County) said the on the state senate floor “Not since the massive resistance days in the 60s have I seen such a disgraceful display of excessive police presence in my state.” Sen. Chap Petersen (D) noted that though “there was no indication that anyone was in any harm,” the police showed up dressed “for a bar brawl.”

The response from the McDonnell administration? Blame the Democrats.

McDonnell:

I understand today, on the floor of the Senate, we witnessed something that I haven’t heard in the 21 years I’ve been up here, and that is legislators taking to the floor of the Senate of Virginia and essentially attacking our law enforcement officers for doing their job.

And his lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling (R) said the Democratic critics “owe an apology to Virginia’s law enforcement professionals.”

According to the state police, there were 19,033 violent crimes in Virginia in 2010. Perhaps they would be better off focusing on preventing those?

Source: WTOP

Following a public outcry, McDonnell revised the measure to exempt women from the more invasive procedure, but not before encountering the wit of comedian Jon Stewart, who characterized the bill as “a TSA pat-down inside their vagina.” McDonnell addressed the contradiction between supporting mandatory ultrasounds for women and opposing “invasive” TSA pat downs during a radio interview this morning on WTOP and claimed that there is no comparison between the legislation and the enhanced security procedures:

MCDONNELL: There are things that are required in the interest of public safety, like TSA procedures. There are ways to accomplish the same result without an invasive patdown. [...]

I believe this is something that respects the dignity of women by making sure they have necessary information.

And while McDonnell has regularly attacked President Obama’s health care reform plan as an unfunded mandate, he brushed off concerns that the ultrasound bill would create an unfunded mandate for women. He described the ultrasound as a necessary mandate that provides women with more information before having an abortion. “If there are legitimate mandates for health and safety, obviously I’m for those,” he explained.

The ultrasound bill passed the Senate earlier this afternoon and now heads to McDonnell for his signature.