Another phony Republican campaign about a fake 'issue'
In theory, campaigns are supposed to be about what happens after they’re over: Candidates debate issues and present agendas, voters decide which person and program they prefer, and then the one who wins has to follow through and deliver what they promised.
In Washington, we’re seeing Democrats wrestle with the complications of governing as they try to pass something resembling the agenda President Biden ran on. Meanwhile, across the Potomac in Virginia, we’re seeing why Republicans don’t have to worry about that kind of struggle. They’ve run so many campaigns built on pandering, outrage, and phony “issues” that are forgotten the moment the campaign is over that the very idea that the way they govern should have something to do with the way they ran is a joke.
The Virginia governor’s race has been swallowed up by angry school board meetings and critical race theory. That’s the main dish in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, along with side orders of Trumpist voter fraud pandering and mask mandate hysteria.
Youngkin has followed a familiar pattern for Republican candidates. A wealthy businessman from the corporate wing of the party gets its nomination, in what could signal a campaign aimed at swing voters. He then decides the race will turn on enthusiasm from the base, so he transforms himself into an imitation culture warrior. A new issue emerges, one that promises to produce rage and fear among GOP voters. Burying any semblance of integrity he might have had, he embraces its potential for demagoguery and fearmongering.
Then if he wins, the issue on which he built his campaign is immediately forgotten.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/18/youngkin-critical-race-theory-phony/
= new reply since forum marked as read
