The Glenn Youngkin campaign—he’s the Republican running for governor of Virginia–has been circulating this campaign sign for McAuliffe, endorsing the statement that the Democratic candidate made in a televised debate that has his poll numbers in a freefall. (What McAuliffe said was “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”)
Could this possibly be a Democratic party-approved sign? I wondered if it was a “false flag” by the Republicans. The message contradicts what McAuliffe has been saying in recent days about supporting active parental involvement in public school education.
If the sign is genuine, what kind of person would approve of such a message? It’s stunning what goes on in some classrooms, everything from child abuse to mis-instruction to indoctrination. Parents who don’t monitor how and what their children are taught are irresponsible and negligent; it’s as simple as that.
Could the Democrats in Virginia be this stupid? How is that possible?
Ethics Alarms 
My first thought was that there is no way this was put up by a Democrat.
However, on further consideration, I think maybe it actually is a Democratic sign. Certainly they have shown that they are totally out of touch with ordinary folks and the values they hold.
I do think that a large number of Democrats would see nothing objectionable about this sign (of course, there’s a large number of Democrats that think Biden’s doing a great job). However, I cannot imagine how anyone could possibly think it would change the mind of independents.
And………if it is a Republican sign — wow. Kind of an anti-negative campaign ad, almost.
I could be a Democrat party sign or it could be a sign put up by Republicans making McAuliffe’s feelings clear. McAuliffe may be talking about the importance of parental involvement right now, but that’s because he’s got an election to win. His true feelings have already been expressed: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” which pretty much translates into Keep Parents Out of Classrooms.
Is there any doubt that McAuliffe and his party don’t want parents in classrooms or deciding what schools should teach when it comes to making the entire history of the United States about racism? As long as the parental involvement is on their terms, they’ve got no problem with it.
As a genuine Democrat Party sign, it’s shockingly honest; As a Republican parody, it’s brutal.
I would bet this is a one off sign printed by the owner who does believe the parents should not be in the classroom. There does not appear to have any writing on the bottom saying the sign was paid for by the campaign. So to answer the question are Virginia Democrats that dumb the answer is: at least one is.
This sign lacks the formal “sunshine” text required for officially recognized candidates and groups. Therefore, it is likely to be either a sign created by an incredibly stupid Democrat individual, or some kind of false flag.
According to a brief perusal of Virginia’s election laws, any person or committee spending $1,000 or more on such signage for a statewide race has to included the sunshine disclosures. The high probability is that this is a Democrat or Republican individual who placed just a few of these signs around and did not spend enough money to trigger the disclosures.
If I were to be a betting man, I’d bet on a Republican low-level false flag. But given the state of our electorate, it’s likely to be effective way beyond it’s footprint.
I don’t believe for a moment that it was posted by any sincere Democrat, and certainly not the McAuliffe campaign.
When I saw that, I immediately thought it was a parody at best and a false flag operation at worst.
In other words: “Funny . . . but wrong” as out esteemed host sometimes writes.
–Dwayne
Either way, it’s bad for the VA Dems. AND Biden is coming tomorrow (he’s here in NJ today, Murphy must be more nervous than he lets on).
I think it is clearly a parody sign, probably custom made by the resident. Like the Biden OK sign, it clearly references a tellingly ominous Democratic gaff, and deliberately highlights it to embarrass the party and candidate. Only Poe’s Law leaves doubt.
Further, my state would have require the sponsor candidate or committee to include its name on the poster. I am not familiar with VA campaign law, but I’d image a similar law or rule exists. The absence of such an endorsement reasonably supports the conclusion that it is not an official campaign material.
If indeed it is a parody sign, or a false flag, the fact that Youngkin’s minions are tweeting out photos of it suggesting that it is genuine supports Curmie’s assessment that the Republican is either an “unscrupulous panderer or an idiot.” It also suggests a third alternative, that, like McAuliffe (Curmie’s words again) he’s a “mendacious dirtbag.”
But he doesn’t want to indoctrinate Virginia’s kids with critical race theory and God know what else. On such slim reeds are we required to choose among evils….
I believe the WAPO espoused this sentiment this past weekend. Before we start assuming that it is a false flag we need to prove that. I will not rule out the fact that militant activists believe this because they are so filled with vitriol they do not use reason.
This might be relevant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/parents-rights-protests-kids/2021/10/21/5cf4920a-31d4-11ec-9241-aad8e48f01ff_story.html
An odious op-ed. One thing it assumes is that the GOP is leading people to protest at school board meetings. From all I have read, the opposite is true — the protests have arisen spontaneously, for the most part, and the GOP is getting behind them and pushing. It’s delusional to think that all those protesters are right wing or even conservatives. There are a significant fraction from the left and certainly the center who abhor what’s happening in their kids’ schools.
The progressives, I think, are looking on this movement as kind of parents wanting schools to teach this book or that one. But I think the parents are much more strategic — they want the schools to be teaching a pro-American curriculum rather than an anti-American one.
And I noticed another jab at various forms of vouchers in the article. There was a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal recently on vouchers. The early voucher programs in Virginia it seems were a tool and a part of the effort to de-segregate the public schools. They were fought by the white supremacists groups — is that who the Washington Post wants to align themselves with?
The “Keep Virginia Blue” part and donkey logo make me suspect this is not a false flag, but a real McAuliffe supporter. Those elements don’t help with the purpose that a false flag would have, to link McAuliffe to his statement about parents and schools and keep that connection in voters’ minds. The Youngkin campaign wants to make this about McAuliffe’s personal awfulness, not remind Democrat voters to stick with the party in spite of their odious candidate.
I think it’s a legit, personally-funded sign from an actual Democrat who believes that government-run schools should be the final arbiter of what kids are taught. Maybe that’s a public school teacher’s yard…