Posted on 02/21/2013 5:31:22 PM PST by Timber Rattler
Until three months ago, when he dropped out of the race to become the Republican nominee for governor, Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling had to keep mum about his unhappiness with the GOP’s shift to the right.
He couldn’t say, as he did in an interview here Tuesday, that he thought the Republicans had become so extreme that they were alienating voters and blocking the commonwealth’s progress.
(snip)
To say all that previously would have meant giving up any chance of beating Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a tea party favorite, for the nomination.
As it happened, Cuccinelli and his allies in the party bureaucracy still managed to outmaneuver Bolling and his then-supporter, Gov. Bob McDonnell. The attorney general’s forces arranged for the GOP to pick its nominee not in a primary but at a convention, sure to be dominated by pro-Cuccinelli activists.
(snip)
Bolling hasn’t yet given up hope of winning the governorship. He’s going to decide by March 14 whether to run as an independent. He would position himself as a moderate conservative between the right-wing attorney general and the likely Democratic nominee, Terry McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's another case of RINO's demanding that Conservatives fall into line whenever they win Republican nominations but absolutely refusing to do so themselves when the shoe is suddenly on the other foot.
What shift to the right??
This is BS
Gearing up to run as an independent so he can spoil Cuccinelli’s chances.
Yep, he’s got political sabotage on his mind.
Failure to shift to the Left is viewed as a shift to the right.
It is the same logic that makes only increasing spending by 4% instead of 8% into a "50% spending cut".
Liberals...
They do not perceive nor are they worried in the least that the democrat party has gone to the far left.
Never mind the past words and associations of leftist politicians like Obama. Never mind the gaping gulf between the rhetoric they use to win office and their actions once safely inside.
The leftist MSM is koo-koo. There is no reasoning with the delusional.
THe GOP that “shifted to the right” in Virginia is about to approve a huge tax increase, going along with the democrats to grow government to solve a “transportation crisis”.
And btw, Bolling was polling much below Cuccinelli in a primary as well, he wouldn’t have won a primary. I still wish we were HAVING a primary, because then when Bill lost, he’d be unlikely to be able to turn around in time to launch a campaign to get democrats elected.
Well. he’s got a good chance- Cooh is hated by the left and waht’s his name is hated by anyone with a brain.
The Romney campaign is in place to back him with volunteers and money.
The huge downside is it will end his chance to ever run as a Republican again. If MacDonell is going against Warner maybe he doesn’t see anything to lose then.
I don’t think he will. Heck, he’s calling for a gas tax increase! That worked ‘great’ for Deed’s campaign...
This is a joke, right?
Extreme shift? One could only hope....
This is the same old VA GOP politics. Warner never supported Ollie North and got a candidate to run as an independent so Ollie would lose. These ‘Sour Grapes’ one-way Pubbies are all over the Old Dominion, sorry to say ...
You beat me to it.
This seems to be a GOP self promotion.
IMO it's at least as accurate to say that the media wants Independents to believe that the GOP has become 'extreme'. These kinds of stories are more deliberate, knowing propaganda than reporting.
I first voted in 1962. Compared to today, JFK was a hard core conservative.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.