As part of MSNBC's Election Day 2021 preview on Tuesday, Andrea Mitchell labeled Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin a "textbook case" of a dishonest culture warrior who is pushing fake issues like opposition to Critical Race Theory.
Mitchell's false accusation against Youngkin matched up perfectly with the talking points being spewed by Democrat Terry McAuliffe's campaign: "Education, Glenn Youngkin is almost a textbook case of someone who has taken a cultural issue, and arguably distorted it, that is the accusation and according to all of our fact checking, you know, Critical Race Theory is not taught in Virginia schools, it’s not a big deal, but it’s become, you know, a cause of outrage in so many school boards."
MSNBC must not have very thorough fact checkers because the Virginia Department of Education's own website and reading list openly and approvingly uses CRT to give credence to their "equity" initiatives. In fact, the department has promoted one particular book that literally says "teachers must embrace theories such as critical race theory."
That did not stop chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker from echoing Mitchell's misinformation: "That's right, this race has been striking for that reason. Yes, they're talking about traditional issues like the economy, but here education is front and center and McAuliffe is accusing Youngkin of trying to stoke the culture wars because he’s talking about Critical Race Theory, which as you point out, we can't find that it is being taught anywhere, but it is resonating with some voters."
Welker then shifted the conversation to "Democratic enthusiasm or lack thereof" and various mayoral races, never realizing that maybe the reason push-back against CRT is resonating with voters is because it actually is in Virginia schools.
This segment was sponsored by Humana.
Here is a transcript for the November 2 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:05 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: No, exactly and Kristen Welker, you know, the issue of abortion, now in the suburbs, with suburban women in particular because its front and center in the Supreme Court, because of Texas, that’s become an issue. Education, Glenn Youngkin is almost a textbook case of someone who has taken a cultural issue, and arguably distorted it, that is the accusation and according to all of our fact checking, you know, Critical Race Theory is not taught in Virginia schools, it’s not a big deal, but it’s become, you know, a cause of outrage in so many school boards.
KRISTEN WELKER: That's right, this race has been striking for that reason. Yes, they're talking about traditional issues like the economy, but here education is front and center and McAuliffe is accusing Youngkin of trying to stoke the culture wars because he’s talking about Critical Race Theory, which as you point out, we can't find that it is being taught anywhere, but it is resonating with some voters. I think Chuck touched on a really important thing that we’re going to be watching tonight which is Democratic enthusiasm or lack thereof. If you talk to voters throughout Virginia, independents, Democrats, they will tell you they're frustrated by what they're seeing and not seeing in Washington. The fact that the president hasn’t been able to act on some of his agenda items and so I'll be curious to see what if any impact that has and then Chuck touched on the mayoral races, there are a lot of them tonight, and I think that will be fascinating to watch from Buffalo and Chuck, of course, talked about Minneapolis as well, really this tension between the progressive and more moderate branches of the Democratic Party.
