Breaking: Anti-Gay Former Gov. Bob McDonnell Sentenced To Two Years

Former Republican governor Bob McDonnell is going to jail for a few years.

Bob McDonnell, the anti-gay, anti-women, former governor of Virginia nicknamed “Governor Ultrasound” for his anti-abortion policies, is going to spend two years in jail for corruption. The 60-year old ultra-conservative Roman Catholic Republican was convicted in September and was just sentenced to 24 months for his crimes.

McDonnell “was found guilty of trading favors in return for $177,000 in loans, vacations and gifts from a wealthy family friend who was trying to promote his vitamin supplement business,” the New York Times reports. Judge James R. Spencer of Federal District Court sentenced him.

McDonnell first came to national attention after winning the Virginia gubernatorial race and was believed to be a contender for the Mitt Romney vice presidential ticket – some say even the White House as president – before his ugly anti-abortion and anti-gay politics became well-known.

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC nicknamed him “Governor Ultrasound” for his support of legislation that would have forced women wanting an abortion to first undergo an unnecessary and invasive ultrasound, with the physician describing the fetus to the woman whether she wanted to hear it or not. 

McDonnell also holds extremely anti-gay positions. In college, at Pat Robertson’s Regent University he, as CNN reported, “criticized ‘cohabitators, homosexuals and fornicators’ and described working women and feminists ‘detrimental’ to the family.”

The Times today reports that about “450 people, including Mr. McDonnell’s relatives and their friends, wrote letters seeking leniency to Judge Spencer. Some spoke of the former governor’s generosity with the homeless. Others noted his devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. Still others said he had always taken care to notice the lowest rungs of the political ladder during campaigns.”

 

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