Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), the Republican nominee-apparent for governor this year, was asked by U.S. News how he planned to appeal to female voters. Rather than face up to his record of opposition to women’s reproductive rights, Cuccinelli told the publication that he thought women would vote for him because he’d worked to help the mentally ill:
US NEWS: [Can the GOP appeal] to women?
CUCCINELLI: I’m a person who appeals to women with a variety of issues that they just happen to care more about that I also happen to care about. I’ve worked to improve mental health and worked to help the mentally ill for over a decade and a half, including when I was in the legislature. Women’s issues aren’t just abortion. Women’s issues are everything women care about. And I have an awful lot of issues that I appeal to women on, just as a natural course.
While his empathy for mentally ill citizens is admirable, his record doesn’t hold up. Cuccinelli spent much of his tenure as Attorney General fighting against the Affordable Care Act — a plan that expanded mental health parity — even though the American Psychiatric Association called the landmark health care law “good for patients.”
He has also attacked Medicare as “despicable” and an attack on American freedom — despite the fact that the program provides mental health coverage for millions of America’s seniors.
(ht: Blue Virginia)
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