There was a load of mixed messages flying around the set of ABC’s This Week on Sunday, as the mostly-liberal panel was having a hard time digesting the Republican sweep in Virginia and the rejection of Democratic policies across the country last Tuesday. And aside from admitting that Democrats had some work to do on messaging, the panel took to pummeling Republicans with charges of democratic arson, voter suppression, and suggestions they couldn’t repeat their success.
After a quick look at the issue of education in Virginia and voters rejecting radical progressive policies, Washington Post correspondent and anti-Trump book co-author Robert Costa rallied the panel to stop looking and the left and rail against Republicans instead. “Donna [Brazile] called this a wake-up call. My question is as a reporter, to what end? Is this an alarm clock or siren,” he prefaced.
Hawking his book, Costa argued that the right was committing arson against the country, and he seemed to suggest, without evidence, the GOP victory in Virginia appeared to be the result of election manipulation:
Because, Bob Woodward and I reported that House Majority Whip James Clyburn, he said beyond all the demographic changes and the voter changes, democracy is on fire, Clyburn said. Republicans are on the march in all of these states changing voter laws. And now you have an election in Virginia, and New Jersey and elsewhere that's putting Democrats on the ropes.
“Are Democrats going to do what they did in 2020? Which is to activate their core voters? Voters of color, older voters and get them out to the polls,” He demanded to know of Democrats.
A short time later, former Democratic Party Chairwoman and debate cheater, Donna Brazile admitted that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, Terry McAuliffe didn’t speak the language of voters; but suggested that neither did Republicans because they were supposedly obsessed with “trying to figure out what happened on January 6” while her party was speaking “normal politics in abnormal times.”
In reality, that was a lie. It was the Democrats that were obsessed with January 6. They convened a committee to investigate it and it was a major talking point of the McAuliffe campaign. That’s not to mention that Minneapolis residents handily rejected their party’s plan to eliminate the police department.
Costa chimed back in to scoff at the idea that Republicans could duplicate the Youngkin model of victory and apply it to other states. Host Martha Raddatz approved of his skepticism:
COSTA: Martha, I'm skeptical though that the Republicans can copy this Glenn Youngkin playbook.
RADDATZ: Did she answer your question there?
COSTA: I mean, she did, but I think Republicans keep saying they're going to follow the Glenn Youngkin blueprint. But how can they all be Glenn Youngkin, they spent five years in the thrall of Donald Trump?
RADDATZ: Exactly.
Raddatz then looked to Dispatch Republican Sarah Isgur who parroted ridiculous Democratic talking points accusing the GOP of voter suppression. “So one, something Republicans should learn from this race, all of them, high turnout doesn't hurt Republicans,” she chided. “Stop trying to limit voting in these states. It is not bad for Republicans and it's not necessarily good for Democrats, clearly.”
Of course, this got her praise from Brazile.
And although she called out the left for invented nonsensical designations like “pregnant people” and “LatinX,” Isgur was also skeptical with the idea that the GOP could replicate the Youngkin model. “And you also are not going to get candidates like Glenn Youngkin who were chosen through a convention with rank-choice voting from a party that wanted the most electable,” she said.
The conversation then shifted the recently passed infrastructure bill and Biden’s tax and spend social agenda.
The heavily lopsided panel discussion was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Ameriprise and Amazon. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
November 7, 2021
9:12:49 a.m. Eastern(…)
MARTHA RADDATZ: And evident when I talked to voters in the south again and again and again, and Glenn Youngkin did manage to pull this off without alienating Trump voters.
ROBERT COSTA: Glenn Youngkin did -- Republicans right now appear to have a containment strategy for Trump, an uneasy containment strategy. They don't want to purge him from the party and that should be noted. They're keeping him inside because they want his movement to come along.
Donna called this a wakeup call. My question is as a reporter, to what end? Is this an alarm clock or siren? Because, Bob Woodward and I reported that House Majority Whip James Clyburn, he said beyond all the demographic changes and the voter changes, democracy is on fire, Clyburn said. Republicans are on the march in all of these states changing voter laws. And now you have an election in Virginia, and New Jersey and elsewhere that's putting Democrats on the ropes.
Are Democrats going to do what they did in 2020? Which is to activate their core voters? Voters of color, older voters and get them out to the polls? Not just on the Build Back Better agenda, but on core issues of democracy. That is a lingering question for this party.
(…)
9:15:14 a.m. Eastern
DONNA BRAZILE: Nowadays, we just like to feast on our own jambalaya, and not really talk to people outside our so-called comfort zone.
SARAH ISGUR: And in a language, by the way, they don't even recognize.
BRAZILE: Well, let me just say this: Glenn Youngkin had more signs and 15 languages than Terry McAuliffe. I mean, I understand the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin, but you don't see that in Virginia. And he should have had that.
But Democrats, once again, have to expand their message. Look, we have a lot to say we're doing in America. We’re the party of normal politics, for example. We're fighting over spending and how much it will cost and who it will help. The Republicans are still trying to figure out what happened on January 6 and how much they have to move away from it. So, we have normal politics in abnormal times and the Republicans are against it.
[Crosstalk]
COSTA: Martha, I'm skeptical though that the Republicans can copy this Glenn Youngkin playbook.
RADDATZ: Did she answer your question there?
COSTA: I mean, she did, but I think Republicans keep saying they're going to follow the Glenn Youngkin blueprint. But how can they all be Glenn Youngkin, they spent five years in the thrall of Donald Trump?
RADDATZ: Exactly. Sarah, I was going to take that to you. You talk about education. Not every candidate and probably no Democratic candidate will ever again say what Terry McAuliffe did which parents shouldn't have a say in schools. So, how big an issue is that, and how do they keep this going?
SARAH ISGUR: Yeah. So one, something Republicans should learn from this race, all of them, high turnout doesn't hurt Republicans. Stop trying to limit voting in these states. It is not bad for Republicans and it's not necessarily good for Democrats, clearly.
BRAZILE: Thank you.
ISGUR: Second, Republicans have the benefit right now that they speak a language that voters understand. You’re talking about “pregnant people” and “LatinX,” and that is unrecognizable to so many of these voters.
If Republicans can do what they're doing in these rural places running up the vote not at 70 percent, but at 80 and 90 percent, those are numbers Democrats cannot come back from in a lot of states, most states.
And last. Yes, the Trump model in Virginia and in New Jersey, won't work in 2022. Donald Trump is not going to sit on the sidelines. The Senate races are not going to work that way. He's going to want to be in or out. You got to make the call. And you also are not going to get candidates like Glenn Youngkin who were chosen through a convention with rank-choice voting from a party that wanted the most electable. That's not how the senate primaries are going.
(…)
