FALLS CHURCH, Virginia — At an event at a local concert and theater venue where former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed his candidacy, Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe said he fears the Tea Party movement.
“The Tea Party here in Virginia is very strong, as well as nationally,” McAuliffe said amid boos from the crowd of about 200. “Just look at what happened in Washington over the past month. They are spending their time trying to make this election about personal attacks on me instead of policy differences. They know that if this election is on the issues that matter to Virginians they cannot win. That’s why I need your help now more than ever in the last few days of this campaign.”
McAuliffe focused his remarks at the event on trying to rally the leftist base of the Democratic Party, aiming to rile voters up on issues like abortion, birth control, the so-called “War on Women,” racial division, and other hot-button subjects.
“We want all Virginian children to grow up knowing that they’re going to have the opportunities to succeed, and that shouldn’t change because of your race, religion, or where you were born,” McAuliffe said. “And it shouldn’t change if you are a man or a woman. Dorothy and I want our three daughters, Sally, Mary and Dori, to have the same opportunities to succeed as any young man their age. It’s one of the reasons that I decided to run for governor. In Virginia, women still make about 79 cents for every dollar a man makes.”
McAuliffe said that “part of that” is “due to discrimination.”
“That’s why I proposed increasing penalties for wage discrimination against women by 50 percent,” McAuliffe said. “That will put real teeth into the law and create an even larger disincentive for discrimination. If you work the same job, you should earn the same pay.”
McAuliffe said he plans to accept the Medicaid expansion that is part of Obamacare if he’s elected governor. “By accepting the federal expansion of Medicaid, we can expand health coverage for nearly 200,000 uninsured Virginia women and by bringing federal Virginia tax dollars back to us,” McAuliffe claimed. “It’s going to mean life-saving healthcare coverage for so many Virginians and it will create over 30,000 new jobs.”
“Accepting the Medicaid expansion is one way that we can increase access to better care,” he continued. “Virginia women should have access to critical preventive services like cancer screening and pre-natal checkups. It’s the right thing to do morally, and it makes sense economically.”
“I also want Virginia women to know that as governor, I will be a brick wall to stop any efforts to take away your rights,” McAuliffe said. “Let me be crystal clear: I trust women to make their own decisions about their own personal health.”
“As governor, I will veto any legislation that would restrict birth control. I will fight hard to stop the closure of women’s health clinics that some in Richmond want to close,” he declared. “As governor, I will oppose divisive legislation that really is just an effort to erode a woman’s constitutionally protected right to make her own healthcare decision.”
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