I guess this one falls into the category of “I listen so you don’t have to” (see audio below if you can stand it). But in all seriousness, WTF??? So, here we have the Virginia GOP’s far-right nominee for Lt. Governor, Jill “Transvaginal Ultrasound” Vogel, trailing in all the polls and clearly flailing on her way to defeat, going on far-right-wing talk radio to claim that her Democratic opponent, Justin Fairfax, is the “socialist anchor…the far-left anchor” of the Democratic statewide ticket.
And why, you might ask, does Vogel make that bizarro-world claim? Because, she explains, Justin Fairfax “believes in single-payer health care for Virginia,” in “do[ing] away with all private health insurance in our state.” Which would be perfectly fine if it were the case – and also in sync with the views of 52% of Americans. Except that what Fairfax actually supports is continuing/strengthening the Affordable Care Act and expanding Medicaid here in Virginia. Meanwhile, what Jill Vogel wants – just like her fellow Teapublicans Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, etc. – is to irresponsibly and disastrously tear up the ACA, while also NOT expanding Medicaid in Virginia, hurting all of us. And to hide her horrible policy positions, what does Vogel do? What right wingers have been doing for decades: rant and rave about the “socialism” straw man. Pathetic.
Oh, but wait, there’s more! According to Vogel, Justin Fairfax’s views on “history” (translation: the Confederacy) are “just sad,” specifically his assertion that “our monuments [are] psychologically damaging and offensive.” First of all, I checked the video of the LG debate and, not surprisingly, Vogel is taking out of context/twisting Fairfax’s words. In fact, what Fairfax ACTUALLY said was that history is complicated (correct!), that Confederate monuments “were put there for a specific reason” (correct!), that the Confederate monuments “affect different people in different ways” (correct!) and that you shouldn’t be “dismissive and say because it doesn’t psychologically harm you or a particular community, it doesn’t affect anyone” (correct!). Anything there that’s not both correct and also common sense?
Oh, and (gasp!) Justin Fairfax isn’t a gun rights absolutist like Vogel, might even want universal background checks, something supported by 80%-90% of Virginians. And last but not least, Fairfax doesn’t only care about corporations and the super-rich, like Vogel, but also wants to help working people (e.g., he’s not a big fan of so-called “right-to-work” anti-union/anti-worker laws). The horror, eh? Socialism, even – lol!
Bottom line: on November 7, make sure you vote for Justin Fairfax for Lt. Governor of Virginia, along with the every other Democrat on your ballot, and send Vogel back to the State Senate for another two years (at which point, we can hopefully boot her out of there as well).
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