The far-left reporters at The Washington Post are worried about Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), smearing him as a pyromaniac “lighting a match” when it comes to Critical Race Theory. The Post, which has NEVER endorsed a Virginia Republican for governor, lectured Youngkin on Monday, repeatedly deeming him” polarizing” for actually governing as a conservative.
The Post even stealth edited the story by writers Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella. Here’s the print version that appeared on the front page on Monday: “The new governor has also stoked racial tensions with his focus on banning critical race theory, an intellectual framework for examining the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism.”
Here’s the online version, which went up two days earlier on Saturday: “The new governor has also lighted a match under racial tensions with his focus on banning critical race theory, an intellectual framework for examining the way policies and laws perpetuate systemic racism.”
So, online Youngkin is “lighting a match.” In print, he’s “stoking racial tensions.”
Whichever version you read, The Post wants to make it clear: It’s Youngkin who is the problem. The print subhead: “VA. Governor moves fast on polarizing issues and attracts a national spotlight.”
Schneider and Vozzella later repeated that the Republican “has poked a stick directly into a host of polarizing issues, such as expanding the duties of the state’s diversity chief to include being an ‘ambassador for unborn children.’”
Virginia’s previous governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, was not mentioned. The Democrat before him, Terry McAuliffe, was noted. But, of course, not as a “polarizing” governor. Only Republicans get those identifiers.
In a Virginia elections study last November, I wrote about the Post’s hack-y history when it comes to gubernatorial endorsements.
The Post started regularly endorsing gubernatorial candidates in Virginia in 1977. Here’s the years that The Washington Post has endorsed the Democratic candidate in the state: 1977, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021. In that time, what years have they endorsed a Republican in Virginia? Trick question. They haven’t. In case you are keeping score, that’s 12-0 in favor of Democrats.
Two days after Youngkin’s victory, a front page story in the print edition warned, “A sharp turn looms in Virginia.” The online version fretted, “Republican Glenn Youngkin became Virginia governor by wooing both moderates and Trump supporters. So how Trumpy is he?”
Given The Post’s long history of working to defeat Virginia Republicans, maybe the news outlet isn’t in the best position to lecture the new governor.
