Excellent job by NY Times reporter Trip Gabriel live tweeting last night’s VA GOP freak show…er, gubernatorial debate at the Springfield Golf and Country Club. Note, by the way, since they were at a country club, that in no way/shape/form are these extremists akin to the old “Country Club Republicans” back in the 1960s, 1970s, etc. Instead, this party has gone far, far right, more like European-style parties like the National Front in France of Hungary’s Fidesz. Anyway, with that, see below for the live tweets by Gabriel, as well as some video courtesy of 2020 VA-10 Republican nominee Aliscia Andrews. A few “highlights” include:
- Asked about Dominion voting machines, Glenn Youngkin responds, “Ladies & gentlemen, this is the most important issue we’re going to talk about.” In fact, this “issue” is complete horses***; as Trip Gabriel explains, “Dominion has sued Fox, others for defamation for spreading conspiracies about its machines.”
- For her part, Amanda Chase says “Dominion voting machines should be put in ‘a bonfire.'”
- “A moderator warns candidates not to livestream this debate from their own websites. Which would seem to greatly diminish the audience two weeks ahead of the nominating convention. That’s bc the sponsor charged 25 bucks for viewers to watch. Which is the VA GOP in a nutshell.”
- Glenn Youngkin “attacks the GOP central committee for selecting a nominee via convention rather than a primary, which he — and many others — say is better way to win in a general. “Shouldn’t we have 300,000 people participating, not 50,000? That’s the way we’re going to win.'”
- Youngkin said if there’s another Democratic governor, “right to work is going to go away and we can kiss our biz enviro goodbye.”
- “In final statements, only a little-known candidate, Olivia Johnson, has made the pitch to be “your second or third choice” candidate. It’s an oversight by the others, since this is a ranked choice ballot, and it’s unlikely anyone will get 50% out of the gate.”
- No masks or social distancing at this indoor event. Totally irresponsible.
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