SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

VIRGINIA – OVERNIGHT:  The polls remain tight in the most important gubernatorial race this year.  Former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe has been taking a beating recently on a number of issues, but still retains a small lead.  The election is November 2nd, less than a month away.  From Fox:    Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is facing criticism for not completely rejecting an endorsement from a group that advocates defunding the police.  "Terry McAuliffe refuses to reject the endorsement he received from a radical ‘defund the police’ group, New Virginia Majority,"  McAuliffe’s Republican challenger, Glenn Youngkin, posted on Twitter along with a clip of McAuliffe from a recent television interview. "He said he's proud of it! Unbelievable."  In the clip, McAuliffe vehemently denies support for defunding the police and says that his record as Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018 is evidence of that.  McAuliffe was specifically pressed about a clip posted online showing the former governor saying he was "proud" to receive the endorsement from the New Virginia Majority. In the clip, McAuliffe also says that he opposes defunding the police but doesn't have to agree with everything groups that endorse him believe.  "Have I ever supported defund the police?" McAuliffe said in the clip played during the interview. "Are you out of your mind? I’ve invested in law enforcement – I just went through 25 minutes of telling you what I do for the police. Not defunded, I funded them!"  "Listen, the issue is when I was governor I had the lowest crime rate of any state in the United States of America," McAuliffe said in response to the clip. "I think that’s what your viewers are concerned about."  McAuliffe added that during his time as governor he made several moves to improve the lives of sheriffs in the commonwealth and received an award from them. The problem is that the McAuliffe of 2021 backs such leftist programs as Critical Race Theory, and is closely linked with President Biden.  So to accept the endorsement of a defund-the-cops group, and then deny he wants to defund them makes himself look two-faced, maybe three.  He may just pull out a victory, to our dismay, but only by a whisker, and with none of the momentum he had during his earlier terms as governor.

October 9, 2021