Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
McAuliffe Abruptly Ends Interview, Says Reporter Should Have Asked Better Questions
Clearly annoyed that WJLA-TV 7News reporter Nick Minock had the temerity to question him about real issues, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe abruptly ended the interview.
Rising from his chair, he said, “Alright, we’re over! That’s it. That’s it. Hey, I gave you extra time. C’mon man.”
“You should have asked better questions early on. You should have asked questions your viewers care about,” the former governor said.
Here’s the awkward video of @TerryMcAuliffe walking out half way through what was supposed to be 20 minute interview with local ABC affiliate pic.twitter.com/EjQ6OL22Fo
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) October 19, 2021
On Tuesday evening, WJLA anchor Jonathan Elias made clear to viewers why they had spent only 11 minutes speaking with McAuliffe.
“So if you watch those entire interviews on our website, we do want to point out that the Terry McAuliffe interview is shorter than our interview with [Republican candidate] Glenn Youngkin. That was not by our doing,” he explained.
Elias continued, “Nick offered both candidates 20 minutes exactly to be fair for the interviews. McAuliffe abruptly ended 7News’ interview after just 10 minutes and told Nick that he should have asked better questions and that Nick should have asked questions 7News viewers care about. That’s what he said.”
WATCH: Terry McAuliffe cut off an interview and berated a reporter for asking tough questions. #VAgov pic.twitter.com/wAaleFdF9f
— Team Youngkin (@TeamYoungkin) October 19, 2021
This race was once McAuliffe’s to lose. Until recently, he had maintained a comfortable lead over his Republican challenger. The dynamics of the race changed, however, following a serious gaffe during a September debate. McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
Terry McAuliffe: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." pic.twitter.com/7S15pTv1gY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 28, 2021
He has also denied that critical race theory is being taught in Virginia public schools, which is clearly false. This hot-button issue has the potential to change the outcome of the election.
Democrats never dreamed they’d have a fight on their hands in this race. But President Joe Biden’s plummeting approval numbers and the emergence of critical race theory as a flashpoint have altered the playing field. Additionally, McAuliffe is not a great candidate.
Politicos are watching this off-year race closely, and Youngkin now stands a decent chance of winning. Throughout the summer, McAuliffe led his rival by 5-6.7 points. The gap has narrowed significantly in the home stretch. As of Oct. 19, the RealClearPolitics average of polls stands at 2.2%.
Leave it to Fox News to be the outlier. The network’s most recent poll of 1,004 registered voters released on Oct. 14 shows McAuliffe ahead by 5 points. (Most of the polls included in the RCP average survey likely voters.)
The Trafalgar Group released survey results on Oct. 15 that showed Youngkin with a 1-point lead. Although Trafalgar is a right-leaning pollster, it was among the most accurate in forecasting the November 2020 election. (As of Wednesday morning, this poll is not yet reflected in the RCP average, which still displays Trafalgar’s Oct. 14 results — showing the candidates tied.)
Shortly before the November election, Robert Trafalgar, the group’s founder, was discussing Trump’s chances of winning Pennsylvania in an interview with conservative commentator Dan Bongino. He said that Trump would have to prevail by at least 2 to 3 points to win the state. This cushion was necessary, he explained, to make up for the cheating he knew Democrats were planning.
Unfortunately, Republicans would be wise to scrutinize the vote-counting and the integrity of the ballots themselves in this contest.
Finally, Republican strategist Karl Rove appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday to discuss the state of this race. He pointed out that Democrats have an “enthusiasm gap.”
According to Rove:
As of Sunday night, 408,770 people had voted. That is only 30 percent of how many people had voted at this point in the November 2020 election. The Democrats need to have the turnout be in the early voting roughly 52, 53, 54 percent of what it was in November 2020 and instead, it’s running at about 30 percent.
Think about this. They brought in the big guns. They sent Stacey Abrams to Norfolk. This was the first Sunday in Norfolk in which you were allowed to vote early on Sundays, so you’re gonna have the souls to the polls effort led by Stacey Abrams, rock star at the top of the Democratic ticket. And in the four early vote locations in Norfolk, 396 showed up that day. So, the Democratic enthusiasm here is really, really problematic.
Although one wouldn’t expect turnout in an off year to mirror turnout for a presidential election, that’s a pretty wide gap for such a closely watched race. Let’s hope Rove is right.
With less than two weeks to go, we’ll find out soon.
Subscribe to AFNN on this Telegram Channel: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh.
Please follow me on Twitter.
Published in Elections
If I have any concerns about Youngkin, it’s generally that he’s taken the high ground in the race. His criticisms of McAwful—to the extent they exist— have been pretty much substantive (e.g., parents/schools), in contrast to his opponent’s attacks on Youngkin.
I’ve heard next to nothing from the Youngkin camp about the amount of money from outside Virginia that is funding McAuliffe or the arrogance shown by McAuliffe in running for a second term with a four year hiatus, something that is technically permissible but clearly outside the spirit of Virginia’s “you can’t succeed yourself” rule.
The O/P makes it clear that McAuliffe is a jerk and he should be portrayed as such.
The DNC machine was able to get Biden into office, I think it can get McAuliffe back into office.
It’s things like this that make me highly suspicious of Fox News. It occurred to me years ago that Fox was in a unique position to craft the Republican side of the race with impunity having the eyes and and ears of so many Republican voters. And they had their trust, which is even more valuable. So they could promote certain Republicans in primaries and ignore or attack others. So we’re they doing that? In hindsight, I think yes, they definitely were.
Ace of Spades has a piece on their misuse of polls. No reason to rely and promote outlying polls unless there is an agenda.
They can dampen enthusiasm and discourage Republicans from voting. That’s a lot of power.
They will continue to put forth the illusion they lean toward the GOP and are “fair” to keep many on the right in their thrall, but I have many reasons to think there’s another game being played. I do not trust corporate media!
I wish I disagreed with that.
McA wasn’t a disaster as a governor in the past, but 3 things stand out about his resume:
If Youngkin has effectively made points 1 & 2, I’ve missed it. See above at #1 about “going negative.”
Also the Dems did not control the Senate and House of Delegates during McAuliffe’s last tenure, which put a break on him. That’s not the case now.
Given the political climate in northern Virginia the fact of endorsing Trump is a world-class scandal whereas being an influence-peddling thieving Friend-of-Bill sleazeball does not move the needle.
I’ve seen this story posted all over the media on the ‘Right’. I didn’t find it damning in that he ‘stormed!’ off or something.
The fact that the local ABC News noted that he ended session early and that McAuliff didn’t use 10 minutes of free media time is indicative of something though.
That the local ABC News called him out – that seems to me to be the biggest story here, like even they won’t cover for him, or drag him across the finish line. I’m thinking that school board debacle is a good issue for candidates bold enough to make it one. This is happening everywhere and the FBI hamhanded response has irritated more than scared people off.
Most of VA will vote red, but the population centers – the independent cities And DC area will vote blue and thus we’ll get McAuliff and a cultural mess. But… they’ll govern tolerably well and the state will stay pretty rich. Of course, I want the pretty rich part without the cultural mess, so let’s go Glenn Y!