The Virginian-Pilot today reprinted, without change, the op-ed piece written by Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation, which first appeared in the Washington Post. In the piece, Cobb implies that former AG candidate, Senator Creigh Deeds, is a supporter of the amendment:
In fact, McDonnell’s opponent for the attorney general’s office in the 2005 election, state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath), voted in favor of this amendment as a legislator.
It is not a lie that Deeds voted in favor of the amendment. The problem is the implication that such a vote means support for the amendment. It was this that prompted Deeds to issue a statement yesterday, which says in part:
Recently, it has come to my attention that va4marriage and other supporters of Ballot Question #1 have been using my name routinely in speeches, letters and OpEds to bolster their arguments in favor of the so-called marriage amendment. Since my name is being used in this manner, I believe that it is important for the voters to understand what I do and don’t believe about the proposed amendment and to know how I am voting on November 7th.
I will be voting NO
While I have no problem with the Pilot reprinting the article, I think they erred in not pointing out that Deeds is not an amendment supporter. I have emailed the Pilot and requested that this information be included in the Corrections on the editorial page.
Technorati Tags: Creigh Deeds, Marshall Newman Amendment, Virginia Marriage Amendment
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Well, we know how he voted in the GA, but how will we know how he will vote when he is alone in the ballot box?
We won’t know. We’ll just have to take his word for it.
Unfortunately, I think a vote carries more weight than a statement theswe days. With blogs, op-eds, talk radio, 24-hour news, words don’t quite have the same value. Unless, of course, Deeds wants to be known as “for the amendment before he was against it.”