Youngkin Sides with Anti-Vaxers and Anti-Mask Nuts

With the unfolding Covid disaters in Florida, Arizona, Texas and other red states thatnks to gubernatorial/GOP bans on mask and vaccine mandates, what does Virgiia GOP candidate Glen Younkin do?  He sides with anti-mask and anti-vaccine extremists who are driving the nation's worsen situation.  Apparently, Youngkin would bring the Texas and Florida disasters to Virginia and endanger school children, the imunocompromised and potentially drive Virginia back into lockdown.  All so he can pander to lunatics in the GOP base who blather about "individual liberty" and "parental rights" and demonstrate that they are selfish, self-centered and care nothing about others and their rights or even their personal safety.  That Youngkin is the darling of the Christofacscist at The Family Foundation speaks volumes about the moral bankruptcy of evangelicals in Virginia.  The Washington Post looks at Youngkin's dangerous position in contrast to that of Democrat, Terry McAuliffe.  The takeaway?  Vote Democrat in November as if your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on it, because Youngkin would put them at risk.  Here are article excerpts:

The dreaded comeback of the coronavirus has convinced both major candidates for Virginia governor that victory this fall hinges on one simple but vexing question about masks and vaccinations:

To mandate, or not to mandate?

Democrat Terry McAuliffe favors requiring masks and shots in certain cases as a science-based path out of a public health and economic crisis. Republican Glenn Youngkin opposes any mandates as a matter of individual liberty and parental rights.

As the delta variant has recently powered Virginia’s seven-day average number of new cases to levels not seen since February, according to The Washington Post’s tracker, both candidates have moved those issues to the front of their campaigns — and with good reason, University of Mary Washington political scientist Stephen Farnsworth said.  “I think this election is likely to turn a great deal on what happens with covid,” Farnsworth said.

McAuliffe announced this past week that he’s requiring his campaign staff to be vaccinated. He also called on private health-care providers to require vaccination for their employees and supports outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam’s vaccine-or-testing mandate on state workers.

McAuliffe agrees with Northam (D) that state law requires schools to follow guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calls for students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status. On Thursday, Northam officially made it a mandate.

Youngkin, meanwhile, has pushed back against any effort to require students to wear masks at schools, saying that decision should be left up to parents. When asked in a radio interview this month if he would follow the lead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and prohibit local school boards officials from requiring masks, he said he would, proclaiming that “there should be no mask mandates in Virginia.”

The campaign in a statement also said Northam’s new mandate for masks in schools shows “Richmond liberals . . . will stop at nothing to impose their will and take away parents’ ability to decide what’s best for our kids.”

The statement further warned that the governor’s action was a precursor to “returning to a full shutdown of our economy” — though Northam cast the mandate as a step that would help prevent the need to shut things down by keeping cases low.

Both sides seem confident the issue will play well not only with their respective political bases, but with the suburban swing voters who will be crucial to winning increasingly blue Virginia.

“It strikes me that Youngkin is doing all he can to try to activate the Trump-loyal base of the Republican Party as though that’s going to win a statewide election for him, and I find that puzzling,” said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

In the August Quinnipiac poll, 45 percent of independents support a vaccine mandate for university students and 51 percent oppose it — a net eight-point swing from April, when 42 percent supported such a mandate and 56 percent opposed.

She also noted that independents this month were considerably more worried about the delta variant than Republicans.

But finding the “sweet spot” that appeals to independents will be trickier than stoking up the base, Walter said, given that they see a danger in the delta variant and support mask mandates but are not as supportive as Democrats on vaccine mandates.

“I think it’s disgraceful Glenn Youngkin would be taking advice and guidance from Ron DeSantis,” McAuliffe said in an interview with The Post. He cited Florida’s current plight as one of the top states for infections and noted its nation-leading spike in children hospitalized with covid-19.

McAuliffe said the unvaccinated have “taken over all our intensive care units. It causes such a strain on our health-care system.” He accused Youngkin of being in a category with DeSantis, former president Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in playing down the severity of the crisis and the steps needed to address it.

Youngkin’s campaign declined to make him available for an interview.