VA Governor's Race: The Republican Invented Squirrel

[jsteele]

As a youth I had a soccer coach who would encourage us to occasionally take a seemingly-impossible shot on goal. "You might hit a squirrel", he would say, implying that a squirrel might deflect the ball away from the goalie and into the net (i.e. another way of saying "you might get lucky."). In the Virginia governors race pitting Democrat Terry McAuliffe against Republican Glenn Youngkin, Republicans have found a squirrel. But this was not a wild squirrel that randomly wandered on to a soccer pitch only to be hit by an unexpected ball. Rather, this was a carefully nurtured squirrel, bred and raised by Republicans specifically to cause a deflection. The November 2 election will determine whether the ball is deflected into the net or narrowly misses.

When McAuliffe and Youngkin were nominated as their respective partys' candidates, it was clear that Youngkin faced an uphill battle. McAuliffe was a reasonably-popular former governor who had handily won his party's nomination. His successor as Virginia's governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, had won his election by 9 points. President Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points. In contrast, Republicans have struggled state-wide in Virginia and the state's Republican Party has been dominated by far-right Donald Trump supporting figures who alienate the state's moderates. The Republicans needed a squirrel and found one in local school boards, particularly in the northern part of the state that has been increasingly turning blue.

Frustration with school boards and other school officials was already growing due to Covid pandemic-related issues such as school closures, masking, vaccine mandates, and virtual learning. Outside of schools, Black Lives Matter protests had focused attention on racial disparities in policing and the removal of Confederate monuments within the state reflected a changing narrative of the state's history. As new attitudes toward race made their way into schools, the Republicans saw another opportunity. As Conservative activist Chris Rufo proudly explained, "The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think 'critical race theory'" He further explained that, "We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans."

Rufo obviously meant to classify any race-related topic as "critical race theory (CRT)", but as he says, "the entire range of cultural constructions" would be targeted. In 2015, a transgender high school student named Gavin Grimm had sued the Gloucester County Public Schools in Gloucester County, Virginia for the right to use the boys' bathroom. Federal courts with jurisdiction over Virginia ruled in favor of Grimm in decisions eventually left standing by the US Supreme Court. To reflect the new legal climate, Virginia state legislators passed a bill requiring school districts to enact policies that allowed transgender students access to bathrooms consistent with their gender identities. Transgender bathroom policies immediately became another acorn for the squirrel Republicans were grooming.

Another important phenomenon impacted the Republican strategy. History has shown that the American political and legal systems are not prepared to handle confrontational protests by the white middle class. Whereas negative stereotypes such as "black thugs", "illegal Hispanics", or "Muslim terrorists" are widely accepted, the white middle class is almost universally perceived as law abiding. Therefore, their protests are generally given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to have a legitimate cause. As far back as the "Brooks Brothers riot" of 2000, Republicans had realized that confrontational and sometimes violent protest could work to their benefit. This had become even more clear as armed white protesters took over state capitals during Covid-related protests, disrupted vote-counting throughout the country following the 2020 Presidential election, and climaxed on January 6 with the Capitol insurrection. Within days, the Capitol rioters were being excused as "tourists" or praised as "patriots", even among the high-ranking Republicans.

It is no surprise, therefore, that Republicans chose not to address school boards about their concerns with reasoned discourse or polite disagreement. Rather, their methods were disruption, confrontation, and not infrequent threats of violence. Again, American institutions were not suited to effectively handle confrontational approaches from the white middle class. As school boards clumsily attempted to regain control of their meetings, right-wing media portrayed the protesters as righteous defenders of American values being unfairly suppressed by un-American and undemocratic institutions.

As conservative media fed its viewers a steady diet of CRT misinformation, transgender bathroom horror stories, and supportive coverage of school board protesters, the Loudoun Country school board held its June 22 meeting at which it planned to pass the legally-required policy addressing transgender student access to bathrooms. Disruptions from and between audience members eventually caused the Board to stop comments from the audience. A confrontation between two parents led to officers from the Loudoun County Sheriff's office to attempt to remove one parent. When that parent resisted, he was handcuffed and dragged out of the room with a bloody lip in an incident that went viral on the Internet.

As abuse of school officials spread nation-wide with violent threats and intimidation occurring frequently, the National School Board Association wrote to President Biden decrying what it described as "domestic terrorism". The arrest in Loudoun County was specifically mentioned in their letter. Attorney General Merrick Garland reacted by issuing a memorandum calling on the FBI to coordinate with local law enforcement to "discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend". This led Republicans to falsely claim that Garland was targeting parents as domestic terrorists in an attempt to prevent them from peacefully contesting school board policies.

In October, the parent arrested in Loudoun County entered the public limelight again when the right-wing Daily Wire reported that his behavior at the school board meeting was a result of his daughter having been assaulted in a Loudoun County high school bathroom by a boy who was dressed in a skirt. This version of events in which school officials had covered up an assault by a "gender fluid" student in a girls' bathroom and then had the protesting father arrested in order to protect transgender access to bathrooms seemed to confirm the Republicans' warnings. Moreover, the student had been sent to another school where he had been arrested for a second assault. In effect, Republicans were being shown to having been right all along.

The truth was much different. While the boy was wearing a skirt on the day of the attack, his gender identity is not clear and had nothing to do with his presence in the bathroom. He and the victim had an ongoing relationship and had twice previously met in bathrooms for consensual sex. On the day of the assault, they had agreed to meet in the bathroom. What occurred was essentially date rape with the he-said, she-said versions of events that frequently accompany such occurrences. While the Loudoun County Sheriff's office immediately launched an investigation, they found circumstances "complicated" and took weeks to reach conclusions. At the time of the June 22 school board meeting, the investigation was still ongoing and LCPS has a policy of not commenting on ongoing police investigations. As a result, it is not clear whether it would have been appropriate to bring up the case during the meeting.

Regardless of the facts, the narrative that untrustworthy school boards were implementing policies that harmed students with transgender access to bathrooms being just one example had become widespread. Republicans publicized that as governor, McAuliffe had supported Culturally Responsive Teaching. No matter that the practice has nothing to do with Critical Race Theory, they have the same initials and both can be made to sound scary to suburban white voters. The fact that McAuliffe had vetoed a bill allowing parents to ban books from school curriculums was used as the basis of a Youngkin advertisement. Not mentioned was that the book in question was Toni Morrison's award-winning novel “Beloved”. A quote from McAuliffe referring to the attempt to ban books from school curriculums was taken out of context and broadcast by Youngkin to demonstrate that McAuliffe did not want parents involved in education. McAuliffe and Democrats were transformed into CRT-supporting, trangender-promoting, parent-hating monsters while Youngkin and those disrupting school board meetings were cast as the protectors of students.

The Republicans had their squirrel in the form of local school boards and CRT, transgender bathroom policies, and federal government overreach targeting parents as "terrorists" became the focus of the campaign. They had taken a seemingly-impossible shot at goal and hit a squirrel that they had done their best to position in hopes of causing just such a deflection. Where the ball ends up will be decided within the next 24 hours. Hit or miss, however, our institutions' inability to successfully handle white middle class confrontation will remain. These tactics will likely be a normal aspect of all Republican political activity going forward.

[Anonymous]

If McAuliffe is defeated (and that remains to be seen), the worst thing the Democrats can do heading into the 2022 mid-terms is take the attitude that Youngkin's victory was some one-off example of "hitting a squirrel." We/they should take a hard look - much harder than an analysis just suggesting the Republicans won because they somehow duped voters with a stream of misinformation - at whether McAuliffe lost because of his own personal lack of charisma or instead because voters simply have grown exceedingly skeptical of Democrats' ability to govern effectively at the state, local, or national level. It's one thing to acknowledge the challenges that exist in Congress when the Democrats face unified opposition from the Republicans; it's another thing to confront head-on some of the governance failures that many have witnessed at the local level when Democrats completely control local government yet fail to deliver services (in particular, public education) effectively.

[Anonymous]

The democrats made the squirrel. The squirrel is identity politics. It ate all the party’s nuts, became rabid and started biting well intentioned people who accidentally swept an acorn, and then became so wild and outlandish that it became the main show.

I doubt Youngkin will win, but I do think democrats have lost the thread. This past year, I was driven to quit my job due to lack of school/childcare. My child is really behind because I was trying to work instead of homeschooling. I’m exhausted and depleted and fat from the ordeal. I just want working school without insane quarantines. People have really basic, practical concerns.

[Anonymous]

McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

[Anonymous]

The GOP will miss, with Terry probably winning by three points. But even in states that are far more left wing than Virginia is, such as Maryland, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, a GOP governor sometimes breaks through. I’m willing to believe that some parents had some good faith criticisms of the Loudoun and Fairfax school boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

The challenge McAuliffe faces is that presented by this post - one cannot read it and know whether it's sincere or anti-McAuliffe trolling in disguise.

So his closing argument is that the biggest problem Virginia is facing is too many white teachers? And that the remedy is for taxpayers to agree to underwrite the university education of students who are POC, but not white?

Were the Asian students who were excelling in public school - so much that the VDOE under Northam urged local school systems to reduce their representation in the state's Governor's Schools - unable to achieve due to the under-representation of Asian teachers in Virginia? Would it pass muster under the Constitution to confer a benefit on one group of college students based on their race, but not another (that alone makes me think you may be mischaracterizing his proposal).

Was this already part of Terry's education platform (and, if so, why wasn't he giving it more emphasis), or is this a last-minute policy proposal to respond to poll numbers suggesting McAuliffe's favorable ratings on education issues were declining (in which case it comes across as desperate)?

In any event, I don't begrudge the moderator for using the forum as a platform to audition his editorial-writing skills, even if he's a DC resident and his ability to speak authoritatively on issues of concern to those who live in Virginia carries about as much weight as someone from Vienna or Springfield weighing in on whether Janeese Lewis George is doing a good job representing Ward 4 on the DC Council. I do suspect that most Virginians have already made up their minds at this point, and that last-minute appeals on election eve are largely exercises in vain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

I have an idea! Hire and promote teachers based on excellent teaching skills regardless of identity politics. Good grief. No wonder Youngkin is polling so well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

The challenge McAuliffe faces is that presented by this post - one cannot read it and know whether it's sincere or anti-McAuliffe trolling in disguise.

So his closing argument is that the biggest problem Virginia is facing is too many white teachers? And that the remedy is for taxpayers to agree to underwrite the university education of students who are POC, but not white?

Were the Asian students who were excelling in public school - so much that the VDOE under Northam urged local school systems to reduce their representation in the state's Governor's Schools - unable to achieve due to the under-representation of Asian teachers in Virginia? Would it pass muster under the Constitution to confer a benefit on one group of college students based on their race, but not another (that alone makes me think you may be mischaracterizing his proposal).

Was this already part of Terry's education platform (and, if so, why wasn't he giving it more emphasis), or is this a last-minute policy proposal to respond to poll numbers suggesting McAuliffe's favorable ratings on education issues were declining (in which case it comes across as desperate)?

In any event, I don't begrudge the moderator for using the forum as a platform to audition his editorial-writing skills, even if he's a DC resident and his ability to speak authoritatively on issues of concern to those who live in Virginia carries about as much weight as someone from Vienna or Springfield weighing in on whether Janeese Lewis George is doing a good job representing Ward 4 on the DC Council. I do suspect that most Virginians have already made up their minds at this point, and that last-minute appeals on election eve are largely exercises in vain.

DP. I am on my phone and can’t get it to link, but saw the same Twitter post the PP mentioned. It accurately reflects what Terry McAuliffe said about diversifying teachers. I would also like to see more male teachers, but he did not mention that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If McAuliffe is defeated (and that remains to be seen), the worst thing the Democrats can do heading into the 2022 mid-terms is take the attitude that Youngkin's victory was some one-off example of "hitting a squirrel." We/they should take a hard look - much harder than an analysis just suggesting the Republicans won because they somehow duped voters with a stream of misinformation - at whether McAuliffe lost because of his own personal lack of charisma or instead because voters simply have grown exceedingly skeptical of Democrats' ability to govern effectively at the state, local, or national level. It's one thing to acknowledge the challenges that exist in Congress when the Democrats face unified opposition from the Republicans; it's another thing to confront head-on some of the governance failures that many have witnessed at the local level when Democrats completely control local government yet fail to deliver services (in particular, public education) effectively.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The democrats made the squirrel. The squirrel is identity politics. It ate all the party’s nuts, became rabid and started biting well intentioned people who accidentally swept an acorn, and then became so wild and outlandish that it became the main show.

I doubt Youngkin will win, but I do think democrats have lost the thread. This past year, I was driven to quit my job due to lack of school/childcare. My child is really behind because I was trying to work instead of homeschooling. I’m exhausted and depleted and fat from the ordeal. I just want working school without insane quarantines. People have really basic, practical concerns.

This is also well said. The idea of actual concerns on the part of MANY voters (not just Republicans) being dismissed as some kind of "squirrel" or detraction, is ludicrous. Parents across the state, of all political stripes, have had it and are showing their frustration at the polls. Youngkin may not be able to pull off a win, but he will come very close - there's a reason for this, and it's not due to some made up BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

How appealing. More race pandering. Just what we need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

The challenge McAuliffe faces is that presented by this post - one cannot read it and know whether it's sincere or anti-McAuliffe trolling in disguise.

So his closing argument is that the biggest problem Virginia is facing is too many white teachers? And that the remedy is for taxpayers to agree to underwrite the university education of students who are POC, but not white?

Were the Asian students who were excelling in public school - so much that the VDOE under Northam urged local school systems to reduce their representation in the state's Governor's Schools - unable to achieve due to the under-representation of Asian teachers in Virginia? Would it pass muster under the Constitution to confer a benefit on one group of college students based on their race, but not another (that alone makes me think you may be mischaracterizing his proposal).

Was this already part of Terry's education platform (and, if so, why wasn't he giving it more emphasis), or is this a last-minute policy proposal to respond to poll numbers suggesting McAuliffe's favorable ratings on education issues were declining (in which case it comes across as desperate)?

In any event, I don't begrudge the moderator for using the forum as a platform to audition his editorial-writing skills, even if he's a DC resident and his ability to speak authoritatively on issues of concern to those who live in Virginia carries about as much weight as someone from Vienna or Springfield weighing in on whether Janeese Lewis George is doing a good job representing Ward 4 on the DC Council. I do suspect that most Virginians have already made up their minds at this point, and that last-minute appeals on election eve are largely exercises in vain.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

In other words, if Youngkin wins (he won’t), it would be because of what Obama said about phony culture wars?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McAuliffe’s closing statement today calling for a more diverse group of public school teachers is the icing on his victory cake.

He makes the point that 80% of public school teachers are white but 50% of students are not. He is offering a full ride to college for any POC who will commit to teaching for five years in a Virginia public school.

This is a brilliant idea, and I hope it is the first executive order he will sign once in the governor’s seat. He will have widespread support from the teacher’s groups, school boards, and parents who want their children taught by a more diverse group of teachers fully committed — for five years— to public education.

Thank you Governor McAuliffe.

I have an idea! Hire and promote teachers based on excellent teaching skills regardless of identity politics. Good grief. No wonder Youngkin is polling so well.

Yep. It's refreshing to see just how many people are done with these pandering tactics and simply want common sense solutions - forget the identity politics. Teach our kids to read and write WELL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In other words, if Youngkin wins (he won’t), it would be because of what Obama said about phony culture wars?

"Phony culture wars" is the left's squirrel. It's the left astroturfing campaign. Democrats are desperately trying to convince other Democrats that Republicans are actually making up things to be concerned about. I believe that's also called gaslighting.