The media are desperately trying to salvage Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s chances in Virginia’s governor's race, after his alarming comments about parents and education have cost him in the very tight election.
This week, MSNBC went so far as to call Loudoun County Public Schools in VA covering up a sexual assault as a “manufactured” and “made up” controversy.
On Mehdi Hasan’s Sunday night show, he was irate that McAuliffe, Obama and the media’s arrogant dismissal of parents’ concerns wasn’t doing them any favors in this race.
Hasan seemed to think parents shouldn’t be upset about these things, and if they were, they were just racists (click "expand"):
It's almost as if the GOP doesn't care about books or speech or consistency. They care about dividing people and acquiring power. There is a reason McAuliffe's GOP opponent Glenn Youngkin has made parental anxiety and manufactured outrage a focal point of his campaign. Because it seems to be working. The race is not only a toss up but education now tops the economy at 24% as the top concern of Virginia voters. Last month it was just 15%. Last month education voters favored McAuliffe by 33 points.
Now they tilt to Youngkin by 9, that’s a whopping 42-point swing. So yes we can talk about what is happening in Virginia and Florida and Texas in the context of racism and our ability or inability to talk about racism. Yes, we can talk about it in terms of elections and the future of the Biden build back better agenda. What good is it to save our infrastructure if we can't save our democracy?
The MSNBC hack went off the deep end, complaining this was about the right’s inability to talk about “racism” and the GOP’s desire for authoritarian rule.
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe the next morning, it wasn’t much better. Co-host Joe Scarborough and New York Times’ columnist Michelle Goldberg mocked the Loudoun County rape case as a “big lie”:
Scarborough complained that the first sexual assault by a boy wearing a skirt in the girls’ room happened before the transgender policy was in place, so any anger over it was inconsequential:
“This was a guy that went in and sexually assaulted a girl. There is no controversial bathroom policy regarding trans students. This is just a controversy that you and your column point out that's just been made-up,” he sneered.
Scarborough insisted again that the school’s transgender policy had nothing to do with the rape. (Does he think that allowing boys into girl’s locker rooms and bathrooms will diminish sexual assaults?):
Michelle, again, though the story line in the governor's race, the story line politically, even the story line in that NBC package is parents saying oh this has to do with a controversial new bathroom policy. That's just not the truth. This was a crime that took place in a high school bathroom but it had nothing to do with a quote "controversial bathroom policy" that a lot of Republicans are actually running around the state claiming it did.
Goldberg then outright lied about the district’s transgender policy, claiming that if the boy had *really* identified as a girl under the current school policy, he still wouldn’t have had access to the girls’ bathrooms. Not true, as the policy approved in August by the school board plainly states: “All students are entitled to have access to restrooms and locker rooms that are sanitary, safe, and adequate, so that they can comfortably and fully engage in their school programs and activities. Students should be allowed to use the facility that corresponds to their gender identity.”
Still she said the following:
Yes that’s correct, look it's true the boy was wearing a skirt and that was the germ of this whole sort of misinformation. But again the bathroom policy was not in place and the boy did not identify as transgender, would not even if the policy had been in place would have had access to the girls bathroom.
The Times columnist actually showed more grace to the school administrator who lied about the sexual assault, than she did to parents upset about the coverup.
“I also think it's not clear to me whether the school's superintendent really was covering this up or misunderstood the question to say, had there been sexual assaults as a result of this policy, I mean either way he’s guilty of severe miscommunication,” she argued.
Scarborough ended the segment lecturing parents, saying that if they were upset over the school’s transgender policy, they were upset over “a lie.”
MSNBC desperately attempting to help Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s governor's race, was paid for by advertisers Xfinity (Morning Joe) and Mercedes (Mehdi Hasan), whom you can contact at the Conservatives Fight Back page linked.
Read the transcripts below:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
11/01/2021
7:37 a.m. EasternJOE SCARBOROUGH: We are reading all the time and we are talking about the story about a trans student that goes into a bathroom and this is happening and it's going to have a big impact on the Virginia race. And then we read your column and then we go, read your column, of course even in that package, you hear this controversial bathroom controversy. This was a guy that went in and sexually assaulted a girl. There is no controversial bathroom policy regarding trans students. This is just a controversy that you and your column point out that's just been made up.
(....)
SCARBOROUGH: For viewers who are watching, let's be very clear here. The school board did make a terrible mistake. They can be judged on that and should be judged on that. Michelle, again, though the story line in the governor's race, the story line politically, even the story line in that NBC package is parents saying oh this has to do with a controversial new bathroom policy. That's just not the truth. This was a crime that took place in a high school bathroom but it had nothing to do with a quote "controversial bathroom policy" that a lot of Republicans are actually running around the state claiming it did.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Yes that’s correct, look it's true the boy was wearing a skirt and that was the germ of this whole sort of misinformation. But again the bathroom policy was not in place and the boy did not identify as transgender, would not even if the policy had been in place would have had access to the girls bathroom.
The boy and the girl had made plans to meet up in the bathroom. The prosecutor said the girl in this case had asked him to meet her there so that they could talk. So again the boy is guilty. I also think it's not clear to me whether the school's superintendent really was covering this up or misunderstood the question to say, had there been sexual assaults as a result of this policy, I mean either way he’s guilty of severe miscommunication.
There is another piece of this. Which is that there was a second sexual assault. He was transferred to another school, he was wearing an ankle monitor, The disposition of that case is this month. It's worth noting that he had restraining order against returning to the first school and so it's not clear what options the school had in terms of barring him from school all together. We’ve had a big controversy in this country for the last more than four years where boys accused of sexual assault and whether schools should be allowed to expel them or suspend them before there is a trial or hearing. The same people who are up in arms in many cases about the fact that he was allowed to return to the second school have in the past and including Betsy Devoss have been very clear that you can't bar them from education without due process.
SCARBOROUGH: Again, To be clear here and the purpose of your column and certainly the fact in the headlines we are showing from conservative websites. What occurred was called a quote, "Transgender bathroom assault." ...
(....)
MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan Show
10/31/21
8:05 p.m. EasternMEHDI HASAN: None of this is principled from the Republicans. To be clear, in Virginia the Republican candidate for governor wants to give parents the power to decide which books are on the curriculum but in Texas the GOP state government is trying to find out what books are on the curriculum and restrict them. It seems they want to decide. So which is it? It is almost as if the Republican body is running two contradictory campaigns at once. That is weird. It's almost as if the GOP doesn't care about books or speech or consistency. They care about dividing people and acquiring power. There is a reason Mcauliffe's GOP opponent Glenn Youngkin has made parental anxiety and manufactured outrage a focal point of his campaign. Because it seems to be working. The race is not only a toss up but education now tops the economy at 24% as the top concern of Virginia voters. Last month it was just 15%. Last month education voters favored McAuliffe by 33 points.
Now they tilt to Youngkin by 9, that’s a whopping 42-point swing. So yes we can talk about what is happening in Virginia and Florida and Texas in the context of racism and our ability or inability to talk about racism. Yes, we can talk about it in terms of elections and the future of the Biden build back better agenda. What good is it to save our infrastructure if we can't save our democracy?
Because the bigger picture that we cannot lose sight of, the dark bow to tie together, this is how facism works. This is Putin's playbook in Russia. The same one Erdogan turns to in Turkey and that Tucker Carlson's buddy Viktor Orban operates out of in Hungary. Republicans are doing everything in their power to turn the United States into the next authoritarian regime with the GOP in power, with a minority of votes indefinitely. So on this Halloween Sunday be afraid. Be very afraid about what is coming down the track.
