Chuck Todd Sticks a Fork in Terry McAuliffe in Heated Exchange on Education Comments

As we reported late last week, two new polls released in the closing days of the Virginia gubernatorial race prove Democrat nominee Terry McAuliffe’s support among education voters is utterly collapsing – with one poll showing a dramatic 42 percent shift from him to Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin over the past month.

Even people who have only been giving passing glances at the major developments in this bellwether race will understand that McAuliffe’s epic freefall on this issue stems directly from two things:

1) McAuliffe’s catastrophic declaration during a late September debate where he admitted that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” during a contentious back and forth with Youngkin on the issue of explicit books in public schools. Youngkin immediately capitalized on the blunder and has not let up on the gas since.

2) McAuliffe’s continued baseless (and insulting) insinuations that concerned parents who have shown up to school board meetings in Virginia to protest the implementation of Critical Race Theory and the promotion of sexually explicit books in public school classrooms are “racists” who are falling for a “manufactured” controversy allegedly being stirred up by popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

So with all that in mind, you might be surprised to find out that NBC News “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, who has been on a (failed) mission of sorts to try and counter CRT critics on his program, actually whacked McAuliffe today during a heated back and forth about his September debate comments, correcting the embattled Democrat at one point by reminding him that Youngkin’s position was not to give parents “ban” authority on books but to affirm their right to be informed about them beforehand (from the NBC News/Meet the Press rush transcript):

CHUCK TODD: So Governor, what about that that you feel as if you were taken out of context? Do you feel as if everything you said there should reassure parents that they have some say in their kids’ schooling?
TERRY MCAULIFFE: Listen, that was about a bill I vetoed, which people were very happy that I vetoed the bill that literally parents could take books out of the curriculum. You know, I love Millie and Jack McAuliffe, my parents, but they should not have been picking my math or science book. We have experts who actually do that. And look what happened. He is closing his campaign on banning books.
[…]
CHUCK TODD: They would argue that bill is not saying–
TERRY MCAULIFFE: And as you saw in the crowd, everybody clapped when I said it.
CHUCK TODD: I understand that. But they would say this is not about banning a book, this is about informing parents that a book may have some material that not all parents will be crazy about. We should let you know that your kid is going to be dealing with this material. Is that out of bounds?
TERRY MCAULIFFE: That’s not out of bounds. But if you look at what the bill would be, it ultimately would’ve led to books being removed from our classrooms.

Watch:

Although he let Terry McAuliffe falsely hint his kids were in VA public schools, Chuck Todd confronted him on his opposition to parents having a say in education. He played the infamous debate clip and noted: "..this is not about banning a book, this is about informing parents.." pic.twitter.com/UWjBN6KZvV

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 31, 2021

I can’t stress enough how Terry McAuliffe keeps sticking his foot in his mouth and in the process makes it worse for his campaign. I mean this is the third negative report/interview just this week from a national media outlet that has painted McAuliffe in a very embarrassing light – whether it be by his own hand or with a bit of strategic prodding, the latter of which we saw Todd do in this interview.

It’s undeniable that education is now THE top issue in the state of Virginia going into Tuesday’s election. And the so-called “education governor” hasn’t just lost ground on the issue, his campaign has actually dug the hole in that very ground, a hole the candidate himself stands in as it fills up with the dirt he’s helped shovel.

Interviews like McAuliffe did with Todd today will only further chip away the remaining support McAuliffe has among education voters. It’s sort of like the first nail that gets put in a political coffin. If it’s only hit with a hammer once or twice, it can be pulled or wiggled out, tossed aside, forgotten.

But the more the nail is hit, the harder it becomes to remove. And at a certain point, it’s in there and you can’t get it out and get trapped in the process. That is exactly the position McAuliffe finds himself in right now, with Youngkin and even members of the mainstream press now wielding the hammer with laser-like precision.

Couldn’t be happening to a more deserving guy in my opinion. The dirty campaign tricks have been all on him in this race, with karma striking back frequently in response. Virginia voters don’t deserve this clown, and I pray they let him know it in no uncertain terms on Tuesday.