[ad_1]
Republican Glenn Youngkin is joining the pantheon of Virginia governors who put their foot in their mouth, reducing themselves to punchlines.
Youngkin, campaigning last Friday for a congressional candidate in Northern Virginia, seemingly made light of the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the couple’s San Francisco home by a radicalized, hammer-wielding assailant whose intended target was the congresswoman.
Though Youngkin decried the violence — and might have stopped there — he continued: “We’re going to send her back to be with him in California.”
Schapiro: The Great Commonwealth Crack-up
Democrats were apoplectic, demanding Youngkin apologize for confounding horror as humor. Republicans went to ground, leaving it to Youngkin to defend himself, which he attempted in a hospitable setting: right-wing television.
People are also reading…
Questioned by Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax, Youngkin twice refused to apologize. Instead, he said that he doesn’t condone violence, adding that he and first lady Suzanne Youngkin are praying for Paul Pelosi’s recovery.
Queries about the faux pas to at least three operatives in Youngkin’s vast imaging operation went unanswered, affirming an important rule of crisis communications: Minimize further embarrassment through the strictest control of messaging.
That’s why Youngkin engaged a conservative media friendly whose national audience — Youngkin’s preferred audience, given his presidential ambitions — is less likely to think the worst of him and almost certain to believe mainstream news outlets are blowing his misstep out of proportion.
Though Youngkin — aided in his narrow 2021 victory by a titanic verbal goof by his Democratic opponent — said on Tuesday he “didn’t do a great job” expressing anguish over the attack, according to online Punchbowl News.
Schapiro: Youngkin’s by-the-numbers rant over student performance
In Donald Trump’s Republican Party — because his aberrant behavior is the standard for anyone with ambition — apologies are for wimps. An apology is a sign of weakness. It’s the cruelty that’s important, satiating voter resentments rooted in race, culture and class. Besides, an apology can extend the life of a story a politician would prefer die.
“Toddlers and politicians have something in common: their rewarded behavior is repeated behavior,” said Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington, author of “Presidential Communication and Character: White House News Management from Clinton and Cable to Twitter and Trump.”
“A lot of Republicans have gained ground politically by being very combative. Youngkin is following suit…. This matter demonstrates that Youngkin is no longer portraying himself as a Virginia centrist. He’s now trying combativeness with 2024 in mind.”
Schapiro: Running for another office by running the one he has
Youngkin joins a rogue’s gallery of gaffe-gushing governors — Republicans and Democrats:
- Ex-segregationist Mills Godwin, in 1981, attacks Democrats on racially charged issues, including statehood for heavily Black Washington, D.C., and, in 1985, criticizes Doug Wilder, a Black Democrat then running for lieutenant governor, for proposing the state song be junked because of its racially offensive lyrics. Democrats swept that year.
- In 1991, Wilder, as the nation’s first elective Black governor and a presidential prospect, suggests Clarence Thomas, who had just been nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court, be pressed by senators for his stance on abortion because, as a Catholic, he has an “allegiance to the pope.” Denounced by Catholics, Wilder apologizes.
- In 1994, George Allen, a Republican, rallies his party against Democrats in that year’s U.S. Senate race, declaring, “Let’s enjoy knocking their soft teeth down their whining throats.” Running for re-election to the Senate in 2006, Allen commits an epic boner, using a racial epithet — “macaca” — to describe an Indian American Democrat. It costs Allen a second term.
- Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican, appropriates a phrase made famous by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., declaring in 1999 Virginia “free at last, free at last” with the GOP taking total control of state government for the first time in more than century after the party installs a majority in the House of Delegates. Black Virginians brand Gilmore’s remark a sacrilege.
- In 2016, U.S. Sen. Tom Kaine, a former governor and the Democratic nominee for vice president, out-Trumps Trump by frequently and rudely interrupting Republican Mike Pence during their televised debate at Longwood University. The performance augurs the only defeat, so far, of Kaine’s career.
- Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, bungles his response to the blackface calamity that nearly drove him from office in 2019. He compounds the humiliation by offering to perform a Michael Jackson-like moonwalk after disclosing he participated in a dance contest in the 1980s dressed as the performer — even smearing black shoe polish on his face.
- Democrat Terry McAuliffe, running against Youngkin in 2021 for a second non-consecutive term as governor, blurts during a broadcast debate that parents have no place in the classroom. The blunder overnight becomes fodder for Youngkin, contributing to McAuliffe’s defeat to a political newcomer running on a parents’ rights plank.
- (tncms-asset)b69bb708-4fc3-11ed-b47a-00163ec2aa77[3](/tncms-asset)
Except for McAuliffe and Allen, who tried and failed against Kaine in 2012 to avenge his Senate loss, all of these governors survived politically, though they were trivialized by their bombast and the tone-deafness, arrogance and ignorance that apparently contributed to it.
Former Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Republican who briefly sought his party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2013, said our vitriolic politics demands that candidates and officeholders get it right the first time on whatever point they’re trying to make because “when you’re in the public spotlight 24/7, you don’t get any do-overs.”
Bolling, who teaches politics and policy at George Mason University, said apologies are impracticable because supporters believe they convey vulnerability and opponents consider them disingenuous: “It’s a no-win situation.”
Before his oops moment, Youngkin — having visited a dozen states as part of his continuing presidential audition — wasn’t breaking through with Republican primary voters. GOP polling firm Echelon Insights, in an Oct. 24-26 survey that had Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida at roughly 60% and 30%, respectively, put Youngkin and nine others at 0%.
Youngkin’s gaffe could be just the boost he needs.
Leslie Luck, shown in a drone photo taken Tuesday, is director of operations for the Historic Polegreen Church Foundation. “Historic Polegreen Church is known as the cradle of religious freedom,” Luck said of the Hanover County site. Samuel Davies, who inspired a young Patrick Henry, was Virginia’s first licensed non-Anglican minister there from 1748 to 1759. The original church structure was burned down during the Civil War, and the current white steel beam structure, designed by Carlton Abbott, was erected at the site. Other than the historical importance and symbolism for religious freedom, Historic Polegreen Church is a popular wedding venue and was made even more popular since guitarist Jason Mraz, a Mechanicsville native, was married here in 2015.
Visitors took in the views of the valley, about 1,000 feet below, and the mountains beyond at a scenic spot on Rockfish Gap Turnpike near Afton on July 31.
This drone photo was taken from the scenic overlook on Interstate 64.
Flying the drone is not allowed at nearby Shenandoah National Park; however, there are scenic overlooks, including McCormick Gap, Calf Mountain and Sawmill Run.
Visitors can also find three historical markers at the I-64 overlook: the Greenwood-Afton Rural Historic District, the Flight of Richard C. duPont and the Rockfish Gap Meeting.
There are many beautiful spots in the Hampton Roads area for photographers, such as beaches, rivers and state and national parks. But there are not many places available for drone photography because of the many restricted airspaces due to military bases, airports, and state and national parks.
Gloucester Point in Gloucester County is one of the exceptions, with a popular public fishing pier, a small beach and views of the Coleman Memorial Bridge and Yorktown. With the right timing and cooperation from Mother Nature, visitors are rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the bridge and a view of Yorktown’s waterfront.
The Times-Dispatch covered Alvis Farms a few years ago when the Goochland County farm started the Sunflower Festival.
The imagery stayed with me, and I thought it would be a cool place to fly a drone and capture images of a 50-acre sunflower field. I learned that timing is crucial, as the flowers fully bloom for only a few weeks in the middle of summer.
I coordinated with Rachel Henley of Alvis Farms to find the best time to photograph them. Once I visited the field with a drone, showing perspective of the sunflower farm became the challenge, as again it is 50 acres brimming with sunflowers.
Hannah Molnar of Alvis Farms had a cow, Memphis, at the field as she and others were preparing for the opening of the festival.
I was able to capture Hannah and Memphis with the flowers in full bloom, with the drone showing the scale of the farm.
Last week, I spent some time on a farm with Lynwood Broaddus, his son, Bates, and his brother, John.
The Broaddus family has lived on this farm all their lives.
Bates remembers getting off the school bus when he was younger and immediately setting aside all his school work as he ran toward his father to prepare for the life he has now: as a farmer.
When it came time for Bates to get married, he didn’t have to go very far. He was married on the same land as his grandparents, and for the after-party, they built a barn.
It stands to this day. Bates said his wife jokes that the barn was built just for her.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter, @RTDSchapiro. Listen to his analysis 7:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Friday on Radio IQ, 89.7 FM in Richmond and 89.1 FM in Roanoke, and in Norfolk on WHRV, 89.5 FM.
[ad_2]
Source link