Last week, in a bombshell video, Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin freely admitted his plans to ban abortion and defund planned parenthood if elected governor — something he has purposefully hid from voters on the campaign trail. Youngkin wants to “go on offense” against women’s reproductive rights, but only discusses his out-of-touch beliefs behind closed doors because they’re so unpopular with the general electorate.
Now the Washington post is calling out his strategy of duplicity. As the Editorial Board wrote:
Mr. Youngkin made a fortune in private equity; his positions on a range of policy questions are unknown — his website is silent on the issues — and ambiguity is central to his campaign. But Virginians deserve to know his plans if he’s elected.
Further, they note Youngkin’s been “reluctant to be honest with voters” due to his rightwing beliefs that are “obviously out of step” with Virginians. As they note, “Silence is strategy for Mr. Youngkin” who has built a campaign “based on old-time political tricks.”
The Washington Post: Virginians deserve to know where Glenn Youngkin stands on abortion
Opinion by the Editorial Board
July 12, 2021
Key Points:
- To be “really honest” — as Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, likes to say — Mr. Youngkin seems reluctant to be really honest with voters, particularly about his views on abortion. In a video recorded at a campaign event last month, Mr. Youngkin, whose television advertising plays up his background as a businessman, not a politician, makes clear that where it concerns his antiabortion policy views, he has mastered the art of political dissembling.
- On abortion, Mr. Youngkin is determined to keep them in the dark. In the video, he responds to a questioner who asks whether he will “take it to the abortionists” as follows: “I’m going to be really honest with you. The short answer is in this campaign, I can’t. When I’m governor and I have a majority in the House, we can start going on offense. But as a campaign topic, sadly, that in fact won’t win my independent votes that I have to get.”
- Would he impose regulations designed to shutter abortion clinics, as former Republican Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli did nearly a decade ago? Would he seek legislation that would effectively ban abortions if the Supreme Court grants states leeway to do so, as it may in a case scheduled to be argued later this year? Does he favor outlawing abortion from the moment a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy?
- Mr. Youngkin’s views are obviously out of step with that majority; he wants to go “on offense” to make abortion access harder. Hence his cagey dodge on the campaign trail, for fear of alienating suburban and swing voters, especially women. Silence is strategy for Mr. Youngkin.
- In his ads, Mr. Youngkin calls himself a “new kind of leader.” But so far his campaign is based on old-time political tricks.
Read the full story here.
Published: Jul 12, 2021