Deeds, teller of tall tales

Replicating his great awakening in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, R. Creigh Deeds has arisen from slumber in his run for Richmond against Republican Robert F. McDonnell. In so doing, he’s demonstrated that a position in which he’d once appeared only casually interested he wants at almost any price. Honesty is precious, but like an heirloom for a family in sudden financial straits, it’s among the first things to go when a politician sees within grasp the seat he covets.

Casting aside probity’s shackles, Deeds has launched a series of ads exposing McDonnell’s social conservatism as though it were a string of bodies in a serial killer’s wake. “He opposes a woman’s right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest,” one ad declares. Gasp! “Bob McDonnell introduced 35 bills restricting a woman’s right to choose,” declares another. The horror! “And McDonnell opposed birth control for married adults.”

And he supports dunking gossips, hanging witches and requiring adulterous women to wear scarlet A’s on their frocks. OK, we added that one. From the perspective of Deeds, why not? He’s closed a gap in the polls that once was as wide as 15 percentage points to as few as two. Depict McDonnell wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a large buckle in the front and calling himself Cotton Mather, and maybe Deeds finally can take the lead.

It’s true, McDonnell opposes abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. Those cases make up less than 1 percent of abortions, according to state statistics. It’s not true, however, that McDonnell during 14 years as a state delegate introduced 35 anti-abortion bills. In fact, just eight of almost 400 bills he introduced opposed abortion.

The claim that McDonnell voted against contraceptives for married adults is also false. He favored a bill allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives under a so-called conscience clause. The point was to support pharmacists — not target married adults. He also opposed initiatives favoring the morning-after pill, which pro-lifers consider to be an alternative means of abortion. A veteran lawmaker, Deeds knows the difference between reality and what his ads claim.

He also has smudged lines on McDonnell’s tax record while obscuring his own position on the issue. During a debate last week, Deeds vowed he wouldn’t raise taxes then said he’d consider doing so to pay for roads. Which is it? This matches his refrain that McDonnell plans to steal from education based on the fact that the former attorney general would use general-fund money for transportation. The contention is silly.

All of this has produced the effects Deeds desires. In addition to fueling his surge in the polls, Deeds’ prevarications have obfuscated his want of clear plans for how he’d run the state. He runs a supreme risk, that voters eventually will sift fact from fiction. If they do, he might awaken Nov. 4 to an unpleasant truth, that Virginians don’t desire a governor who cares so little how he wins.