It is telling news from a particular region. The Hampton Roads Black Caucus — of Hampton Roads, Virginia — has endorsed Republican Glenn Youngkin in the commonwealth’s gubernatorial race. Hampton Roads is the second most populated area in Virginia, home to 1.8 million people.
GOP candidates Winsome Sears for lieutenant governor and Jason Miyares for attorney general also received the nod from the organization — a grassroots organization which supports candidates and legislation focussed on “enhancing the Black community,” according to its website.
“All three of us received the endorsement, and it just reflects the fact that Virginians are coming together in an extraordinary way and rejecting this left, liberal, progressive agenda that’s not only taking over Virginia but taking over America,” Mr. Youngkin told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News on Saturday.
“I am so honored and humbled, and it just reflects the fact that there is broad-based support for a platform that’s going to bring down our cost of living and cut taxes so people can keep more of their paycheck,” Mr. Youngkin said.
He predicted that Virginians would go to the polls when the time comes and make a “huge statement” by rejecting the progressive agenda in the commonwealth.
Voters, he said, would simply “not let it happen any more,” he predicted.
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
The U.S. Congress has been wrangling over the enactment of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion federal government social spending plan.
Republicans, however, are paying more attention to this complex scenario than Democrats, according to a new Politico-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll which gauged just how much attention the general public has devoted to the issue.
“Even though the congressional debate of these bills has received a great deal of media attention, only 48% of the public reports that they are following the debate,” the poll analysis reported.
“Of note, Republicans have been following news about the debate in Congress more closely than the general public or Democrats,” it said.
And the numbers: 61% of Republicans are closely following the situation, compared to 48% of Democrats and 41% of independents.
The poll also revealed that 51% of the general public, 52% of Democrats, 57% of independents are not following the big debate — along with 38% of Republicans.
The poll of 1,006 U.S. adults was Sept. 14–19 and released Oct. 1.
ONE FOR TONY SNOW
Fox News has just unveiled its newly renovated Washington D.C. Bureau, which includes a brand new newsroom, updated TV studios, a “green room” for guests dedicated to the late Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer — and one more update of interest to readers of The Washington Times.
A state-of-the art radio studio is also part of the pretty fabulous renovation, and it is dedicated to the late “Fox News Sunday” host Tony Snow — who was editorial page editor of The Washington Times from 1987 to 1991.
“In 2003, Tony launched the Tony Snow Radio Show on Fox News Radio, kicking off three years of broadcasting before Tony would return to public service at the White House,” noted Fox News Media president and executive editor Jay Wallace during a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facilities.
Snow served as director of speechwriting and deputy assistant for media affairs to President George H. W. Bush, and later as President George W. Bush’s press secretary. The newsman and on-air star died in 2008 at age 53.
The renovation at Fox News was completed to mark the network’s 25th anniversary, which is Thursday.
FOR THE LEXICON
“Bidenflation.”
This is a handy term now in use by the Republican Party.
“Bidenflation is roaring at a 30-year high. According to new data from the U.S. Commerce Department, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index — a key measure of inflation — spiked by 4.3% in August from a year ago,” reports Tommy Pigott, rapid response director for the Republican National Committee.
“The core rate — which excludes food and energy — rose 3.6% over the past 12 months. That’s six straight months of rapid inflation, the highest 12-month increase since 1991, and the fastest increase in core inflation in 30 years,” he advises.
THE WEIGHT OF A CAMPAIGN
The non-stop publicity whirl of a typical U.S. presidential campaign takes its toll, according to someone who made the run in 2020.
“When I ran for president, it messed with my head. We should worry about what the modern campaign process is doing to all of our leaders,” wrote Andrew Yang, a former Democratic hopeful, in an excerpt from a forthcoming book published by Politico.
After days on the road, appearing on TV and at endless public events in party-like atmospheres, he recalled that even his face was tired from smiling. Candidates can become “progressively out of touch,” Mr. Yang wrote
“On the campaign trail, I could clearly see how politicians become susceptible to growing so out of touch. You spend time with dozens of people whose schedules and actions revolve around you. Everyone asks you what you think. You function on appearance; appearance becomes your role. Empathy becomes optional or even unhelpful. Leadership becomes the appearance of leadership, The process through which we choose leaders neutralizes and reduces the capacities we want most in them. It’s cumulative as well; the longer you are in it, the more extreme the effects are likely to be over time,” he said.
Mr. Yang’s new book is titled “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy,” and it will be published Tuesday by Penguin Random House.
POLL DU JOUR
• 25% of U.S. adults say they have no trust “at all” in the federal government; 45% of Republicans, 28% of independents and 2% of Democrats agree.
• 35% overall say they do not have “very much” trust; 40% of Republicans, 40% of independents and 22% of Democrats agree.
• 31% overall have a “fair amount” of trust; 13% of Republicans, 26% of independents and 57% of Democrats agree.
• 8% overall have a “great deal” of trust; 2% of Republicans, 6% of independents and 18% of Democrats agree.
SOURCE: A Gallup poll of 1,005 U.S. adults conducted Sept. 1-17 and released Sept. 30.
• Follow Jennifer Harper @HarperBulletin on Twitter.
