Virginia’s gubernatorial race is rapidly approaching. Poll numbers show that the contest between Republican Glenn Youngkin (Democrat) and Terry McAuliffe (Democrat) are not far apart. This should make liberal media very nervous. McAuliffe has faced major blowback after saying during a debate that he doesn’t think “Schools should have parents telling them what to teach.” On Tuesday, politics editor-at-large Chris Cillizza appeared on CNN NewsroomHe joined Jim Sciutto, Erica Hill and others to do damage control on McAuliffe.
Immediately, Sciutto introduced his own spin on McAuliffe’s statement about parents: “I mean, he’s saying, he’s saying, elect the school boards, don’t come shouting at the school board meeting or chase the kids as they’re walking out of school.”
Cillizza agreed with Sciutto, reinterpreting McAuliffe’s words to make them easier to swallow, and then went on to complain about how Glenn Youngkin has used that debate clip in his own campaign ads:
The general point is that he does not want parents making rules on mask debate, or masking. That is the problem: The quote we played just now fits into a thirty-second advertisement.Glenn Youngkin was the Republican candidate and spent almost a million dollars just on this ad. I know you’ve seen it, I’ve seen it. It’s everywhere. And there’s a reason for it. Because it’s a, it’s sort of an umbrella of issues, Jim.
That’s a pretty generous interpretation of what McAuliffe actually said, which was “I won’t allow parents to come in and take out books and make their own choices.” McAuliffe clearly does not want parents having any say in what schools are teaching to their children, and he confirmed this in a later media appearance, claiming that parents’ influence on their children’s education should be limited to voting on members of their local school boards.
Hill intervened and said “…it was all down to sound bites, and some sort of political points. Cillizza went on to blame Republicans for political polarization and continued to express frustration that Youngkin would dare to use McAuliffe’s words against him:
The other is the fact that we are still deeply divided in Virginia, as well as everywhere else. What is Youngkin trying do? He’s trying to do two things. The first is to revitalize his understanding of critical race theory. Again, this is something I do not believe most people can understand. However, they are able to hear the message and respond that they don’t wish it. All reactive partisan issues, such as transgender students or vaccinations.
Clearly, Cillizza believes that parents are too ignorant to have concerns about what is being taught to their children, even while he tries to spin McAuliffe’s words in a more positive light.
This comes after CNN’s host and analyst Monday afternoon claimed that McAuliffe’s statements must have been “edited” or “taken out of context.” CNN should stop trying to pretend it’s a news network as it actively campaigns for Democrats like McAuliffe.
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Click Expand to see the complete transcript.
11/12/21
9:42.23 amERICA HILL – The Virginia governor’s election will be closely monitored next month. This race is also reviving debate about how parents should participate in the selection of schools.
JIM SCIUTTO: Former governor and Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, he’s facing criticism from some for these comments he made in a recent debate:
TERRY McAULIFFE: It’s not my intention to let parents go into schools and take their books and make their decisions. Schools shouldn’t be told what parents think.
DANA BASH – You’re being criticized by Republicans for saying that it proves you think parents shouldn’t have control over their children’s education. So my question is, do you think parents should have a say in their children’s education?
TERRY McAULIFFE: Yes. Yes, they do. They get to choose school boards. If you don’t agree with them you can get rid of them.
SCIUTTO – Chris Cillizza, CNN’s politics editor-at-large is joining us. Chris. I don’t know what he was actually saying. I mean, he’s saying, he’s saying, elect the school boards, don’t come shouting at the school board meeting or chase the kids as they’re walking out of school. I get it, I mean, is that the point he’s trying to make? But does this explanation resolve the problem?
CHRIS CILLIZZA (Yes, that’s right, the breaking news is when politics takes nuance from political rhetoric. The general point that he is trying to convey is that I do not want parents to come in and make rules regarding mask debate, masking, or any other such stuff. Glenn Youngkin (the Republican candidate) spent nearly a million dollars just on that 30-second ad. I know you’ve seen it, I’ve seen it. It’s everywhere. And there’s a reason for it. Because it’s a, it’s sort of an umbrella of issues, Jim. It’s not entirely clear he’s talking about – well, is he talking about masking, is he talking about vaccinations, is he talking about critical race theory, is he talking about transgender and bathroom issues, right? Youngkin has used it to achieve all those goals.
SCIUTTO – Nanny state taking over children’s schools and lives
CILLIZZA – Yes. He’s, it’s, it’s a stand-in for this sort of broader idea of this is what Democratic governance looks like.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Yeah.
HILL: It’s also – I mean, in many ways, right, like these snippets, right, and the, and politics which as you say so well strips all the nuance out, what it does too is it actually takes away an important conversation, right. So should we be having a discussion about really banned books or, you know, what is taught, should there be a more fulsome history of the United States that’s being taught that hasn’t been whitewashed? These are all important issues that could be discussed at a school board meeting, could be discussed in each district, but there’s not any sort of discussion happening because it is all reduced to sound bites and sort of, you know, gotcha political points.
CILLIZZA: Yeah, you know, Erica, I think there’s a couple of things there. First, campaigns are rarely the right place for serious policy discussions. The end result is that it becomes a — you said this small thing that I could clip into an ad, put on flyers or make an ad. The other issue is that we are still deeply divided in Virginia as well as elsewhere. What is Youngkin trying do? He’s trying to do two things. He’s trying two things. One, he wants to increase his knowledge base about critical race theory. Again, this is something I do not believe most people can understand. However, they are able to hear the message and respond that they don’t wish it. Transgender students and vaccinations are all reactive partisan issues. The other thing he is trying to do, which will determine whether or not it actually works, is to try to use the opportunity in the Northern Virginia suburbs to tell parents, “Don’t you want to be involved in your child’s education?” Now, that’s not what ultimately Terry McAuliffe is saying, but he knows, Terry McAuliffe knows politics. He should know well enough that when you say something like that, it’s going to get used against you.
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