Mediaboss Marketing

When a stream of Democratic candidates trek to Los Angeles this month in likely their final effort to raise money before the midterms, they will be met by Hollywood supporters who are less deflated than they once were about the partys prospects in November: Call them cautious, if maybe a bit more optimistic.

President Joe Bidens recent legislative wins, coupled with a renewed focus on the chaos of Donald Trump, has given industry Democrats reason to believe that the party wont face quite the drubbing that they did in the past. The backlash to the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade, fueling a new wave of activism within the industry, has raised hopes that it will translate into improved turnout, and perhaps even match what is expected on the GOP side.

The victory last week of Pat Ryan in a purple New York congressional district was seen as a bit of a bellwether, as he emphasized the Supreme Courts abortion ruling and the need to protect a womens right to choose. And even if retaining the House still seems like a long shot, the chances are better in the Senate, particularly given the missteps of Republican candidates in key races, including Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, while their Democratic rivals highlight their extreme positions.

In the coming weeks, candidates including Beto ORourke, challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Mandela Barnes, running to unseat Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), seeking an open seat in Ohio, are planning to headline L.A. fundraisers, while administration figures like Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg are expected to help draw donors and supporters to various events. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), facing a tight race for reelection, raised money last week at an event along with Cheri Beasley, seeking a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina.

Already, figures like Carole King and Bradley Whitford have lent their names to fundraising emails, while Hollywood money has poured into a number of super PACs seeking to protect the Democratic majority.

In terms of peoples excitement level and people getting worked up, it is night and day versus earlier in the year, said Mathew Littman, a strategist who leads the Entertainment Industry Working Group, a set of politically engaged actors, writers and other creatives. It is not a fund-raising entity.

Ken Solomon, president of the Tennis Channel, who has been giving to numerous candidates, said that there is a cautious and measured optimism over the partys prospects, or the idea that the historic pattern of midterm losses for the party in power may not swing quite as hard.

He said that the Supreme Court decision has made real what was unimaginable to many people. Abortion rights and reproductive rights are things that are really ringing the bell for people on the reality of where we stand.

As bleak as prospects seemed at the start of the summer, Democrats actually have been positing solid fundraising numbers, including from the entertainment industry.

Showbiz donors have contributed almost $45 million to federal candidates and committees as of mid-August according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That likely has a shot at matching the more than $58 million raised in the 2018 cycle, when many Democrats ran as a check on then-President Donald Trump. According to the CRP, 88% of the showbiz money this cycle has gone to Democrats and 12% to Republicans. Lopsided as the figures are, the exception is the Motion Picture Association and media corporate PACs which, as they traditionally do, spread the wealth between the parties.

The top recipient, according to the data, is Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who has collected just over $875,000 from industry sources, as he is in a tight race against Herschel Walker for a full U.S. Senate term.

Ted Snowdon Productions, the theatrical producer, accounted for the top contributions, with just over $2.5 million, all to Democrats, followed by employees at Fox Corp. at almost $2.4 million, with 52.5% of that amount going to Republican candidates.

What has helped drive up the numbers, though, have been big outlays to super PACs, which can collect unlimited contributions from donors.

One of the largest donations to the Senate Majority PAC, seeking to retain or expand the Democrats Senate majority, is Netflixs Reed Hastings, who gave $2 million. Other significant contributions came from Seth MacFarlane and Jeff Skoll, who each have given $1 million. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) may be returning for another SMP fundraiser this fall.

Haim and Cheryl Saban each have given $500,000 to the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, set up to raise money for the Democratic National Committee and state parties, while MacFarlane has given $365,000. Other six-figure contributions have come from Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath, Byron Allen and Jake Kasdan.

Nancy Pelosi has been among the most prolific and effective fundraisers for Democrats as they defend a very thin majority in the House. Shes returning for a Sept. 10 event at the home of Alan and Cindy Horn, according to a source.

The Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund has drawn significant contributions from figures including Joan Ganz Cooney, one of the founders of Sesame Workshop, who has given $266,300, with Saban and MacFarlane each giving nearly equal amounts. Katzenberg contributed $263,400 this year and $263,400 in contributions last year, according to Federal Election Commission data, while Spielberg gave $133,150 in June and $150,000 last year. Others who have written six-figure checks include Allen and Marcy Carsey.

Andy Spahn, political consultant with Gonring Lin Spahn, said he was very optimistic about the Democrats chances to hold the Senate or expand their majority, while the House will be tougher but the political climate has improved dramatically for Democrats in the past few weeks.

Donor enthusiasm remains strong. Donors understand the stakes could not be greater, he said via email. The next couple of years are truly about saving our democracy.

Adam McKay, who has shunned the fundraising circuit and has been outspoken about the influence of money in politics, said that he is now more optimistic after Biden issued an executive order to cancel a portion of student debt, something he sees as exactly what people have been begging for for years. (See sidebar here).

The Entertainment Industry Working Group plans to travel to Michigan for get-out-the-vote efforts, with actors, writers and directors aiming to help candidates such as Jocelyn Benson, seeking another term as secretary of state, and Gretchen Whitmer, seeking reelection as governor.

People were really burnt out and despondent earlier in the year, and it seemed to peak with the abortion decision, Littman said.

The caution comes from the fact that there still are two months until the election. Polls in 2020 predicted Democratic gains in Congress, but the party lost seats in the House. And many Democrats candidates have yet to face the avalanche of ads from GOP Senate committees and PACs in states like Ohio and Wisconsin.

Biden, meanwhile, spoke on Thursday evening about the continued battle for the soul of the nation, tying in his campaign theme that Republicans have embraced an extreme ultra MAGA agenda. With Trump again tearing up social media with barrages of messages, there is a sense that the coming election may be less of a referendum on the current occupant of the White House.

If the message is that the GOP has embraced extremist candidates and positions, Solomon noted, that makes common sense and sanity seem like a better respite for voters.

Read more:
Hollywood Democrats Pour Money Into Midterms With A Tinge Of Hope And A Lot Of Caution - Deadline

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Nearly two months out from the 2022 midterm elections, President Biden has endorsed only three Democrats running for House seats and one candidate for governor, well behind former President Donald Trump's support for dozens of Republicans in 2018.

Biden's early midterm message has been that voters must reject "MAGA Republicans" in the November election, or risk losing equality and democracy in the nation. During his speech in Philadelphia Thursday, Biden suggested that voters should fear the GOP would remove rights if they win in November, since "MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards."

The president did not mention legislative accomplishments or the recent student loan handout in his Thursday speech, and mostly avoided policies he would push for if Democrats maintain control of the House after November.

Biden has voiced support or campaigned with many Democrats, but his official endorsements could show a hesitance among Democrats to avoid being tied to the president's low approval rating.

BIDEN SAYS 'MAGA REPUBLICANS' THREATEN DEMOCRACY AS HE AND DEMS CRANK UP ANTI-TRUMP RHETORIC AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

Former President Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)

Though previous presidents have stayed out of primary fights, Trump was far more politically active in seeking to shape the face of the Republican Party. Still, Biden has endorsed three Democrats who were running in House primaries in 2022, and also endorsed Wes Moore, the Maryland Democrat running against Trump-backed Dan Cox in Maryland's gubernatorial primary.

Biden's low number of endorsements is in line with previous presidents who avoided stepping into primary politics, Kevin Walling, Democratic strategist and surrogate for Biden's 2020 presidential run, previously told Fox News Digital.

While Trump has been focused on endorsements and "putting his image in the Republican Party," Biden "is more similar to past presidents in that he has not engaged in primary elections," Walling told Fox News Digital.

Though Trump as president was far more active politically in handing out endorsements, even in primary contests in 2018, as well as 2020 and the current midterm cycle, Biden has dipped his toe in early endorsements as president. By early July, Biden had endorsed three Democrats in congressional primaries, two of which won. In addition to the House and gubernatorial endorsements, Biden has endorsed Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif. once considered a short lister for Biden's vice presidential pick in her campaign to be mayor of Los Angeles.

WILL BIDEN'S NEW 'MAGA REPUBLICAN' RHETORIC HELP OR HURT DEMOCRATS' CHANCES IN NOVEMBER'S ELECTIONS?

In comparison, by the end of August 2018, Trump's only midterm cycle as president, he had endorsed 14 Republican House candidates and would go on to endorse a total of 49 by the general election. He also had endorsed 18 Senate contenders and 14 candidates for governor across the nation by Sept. 1, 2018.

This year, Trump has been even more active, endorsing 22 Senate candidates and over 100 House contenders.

Biden has started speaking more about the November midterm elections, framing it as a choice between "semi-fascism" of the GOP, as he called it in a speech in Maryland this week, versus freedom and democracy.

During his speech to the Democratic National Committee in Maryland, Biden announced his endorsement of Moore. "I respect conservative Republicans," Biden said in his speech. "I do not respect MAGA Republcans."

One of the Democrats Biden endorsed in the primary season Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio did welcome the president during his visit to Cleveland in June. Biden complimented Brown, asking her to "remember me when you're president."

CAMPAIGN ADS SHOW DEMOCRATS RUNNING REPUBLICAN MESSAGES AS THEY SEEK TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM BIDEN, PARTY

But some Democrats running in tight congressional races, however, have been cool about tying themselves to Biden.

Over a dozen political ads from across the country reviewed by Fox News Digital show Democratic candidates campaigning as being independent of their own party leaders, with some even highlighting how they opposed President Biden's agenda.

President Biden is greeted, from left to right, by U.S. representatives Shontel Brown and Marcy Kaptur and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown upon his arrival at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland July 6, 2022. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

One of the strongest ads from a candidate seeking to not be tied to Bidencame from Rep. Nancy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Friday, where a narrator states: "Joe Biden is letting Ohio solar manufacturers be undercut by China, but Marcy Kaptur is fighting back." The narrator declares that Kaptur is not working for Biden, but is "working with Republican Rob Portman, protecting our jobs."

DEMOCRATIC REP. MARCY KAPTUR TOUTS 'FIGHTING BACK' AGAINST BIDEN WEEKS AFTER EMBRACING HIM ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The strategy of running against the national party, while still aiming to keep that party in power, is not new and could help to bring over voters in the middle, who are not solid Democrat or Republican voters.

"Him endorsing a Democrat is like throwing them a concrete life preserver," Mike Shields, a Republican strategist and former chief of staff for the Republican National Committee, previously told Fox. "It's just not going to help them. It's actually going to harm them. I think most Democrats in competitive races are going to say, I would rather not have a president whose approval rating is in the 30s anywhere near my campaign."

President Biden (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Biden's low approval ratings have risen slightly over recent weeks, though it is still underwater, and the recent legislative victories appear to have boosted his popularity.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The president is expected to give a speech Thursday in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he is expected to continue to urge voters to reject "MAGA Republicans" as a threat to democracy.

Thomas Phippen is an Editor at Fox News.

Read the original post:
Weeks from midterm elections, Biden has endorsed just three Democrats while calling GOP 'threat' to democracy - Fox News

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Theres abipartisanconsensus that the Democrats' "stunning turnaround" in recent polls has a lot to do with abortion. Pewfoundthat from March to August the percentage who said abortion was "very important" for the 2022 elections went from 43% to 56%. And during that time 538recordedRepublicans going from the 2.1% lead in the genetic ballot over Democrats to a 0.9% deficit.

Abortion rights activists were ready to pounce as soon asDobbswas decided. Much aswhat happened in Ireland when abortion activists there defeated their pro-life constitution, U.S. abortion activists have cynically seized on very rare (though admittedly difficult) cases involving the life and health of pregnant women trying to paint a picture of massive numbers of women dying of laws protecting prenatal justice.

But Irish law defended prenatal children as legal persons for decades, and they still hadbetter health outcomes for women than their abortion-permissive neighbor, England.Polandhas the lowest rate of maternal mortality in all of Europe despite having some of the strictest laws against abortion.Chileactually saw their maternal health numbersimproveafter they banned most abortions.

RUBIO RESPONDS TO DEMINGS' COMMENTS, ACCUSES DEM OPPONENT OF SUPPORTING ABORTION 'AT ANY POINT'

If U.S. pro-lifers had been ready for the activist onslaught, we could have been creating a (true) counter-narrative about the fact that pro-life hospitals andOB/GYNs are 100% committed to saving the lives of women.

Graffiti and red paint found at Washington, DCs Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center. (Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center) (Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center)

But not all the blame lies with activists. It is difficult to create a national counter-narrative, frankly, when the supposedly pro-life national party is running scared.

Much attention was focused on the House special election for New Yorks 19thDistrict. Asreported by Axios, the Democrat centered his campaign on abortion while the Republican ran away from the issue, focusing on the economy and crime. The Democrat won by the same margin Biden carried the district (two points) in 2020 just the latest evidence that the expected red wave may be turning into a trickle.

But what if Republicans in New York focused on the fact that the Empire State, after the passage of the Reproductive Health Act, is a haven for some of the worst abortion extremism in the entire world? What if Republicans all over the United States had a coherent campaign focusing on the fact that the Democratic Party itself stands for this same kind of extremism?

Back in 2016 I wrote ajoint op-edin theLos Angeles Timesshowing that the partys position was unequivocal support for abortion, with a pledge to repeal all state and federal laws restricting it. They even insisted that abortion was "core to womens, mens, and young peoples health and wellbeing." They removed protections for religious freedom and insisted pro-lifers should have to pay for abortions with our tax dollars.

This position is about the most unpopular position one could take on almost any issue.

Gallupconsistently finds, for instance, that about 8-13% of Americans want no legal restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. To put this into perspective, theworst approval rating for a presidentbelonged to Harry Truman: 22%.

The Democratic position on abortion isalmost twiceas unpopular as the most unpopular president in our history. If you cant run against the Democrats on abortion, then you cant run against them on anything.

Here are just a handful of suggestions for the GOP to make the easy case against their opponents:

The Democratic position on abortion isalmost twiceas unpopular as the most unpopular president in our history.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER

The GOP has been feckless on abortion for decades. Who could forget, for instance,Republican Timothy Murphy trying to coerce his mistress into having an abortion despite his being a member of the congressional pro-life caucus! Pro-lifers, therefore, have good reason to be skeptical about selling out to a party for short-term political gain especially when we have clear incentives to play the long game in order to win the political culture.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This fact comes a warning for a cowardly GOP: if you keep this up, pro-lifers will either stay home or turn elsewhere in November. You must prove that you will publicly and confidentially defend a pro-life positionnot just on social media or in fundraising mailers but in a post-Dobbs moment when your position actually matters in the real world.

Read more:
If Republicans can't run against Democrats on abortion, they can't run against them on anything - Fox News

Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter is one of 31 House Democrats retiring or seeking another office this year.

Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Democrats are feeling pretty buoyant these days. Last week, they won a highly competitive special election in New Yorks 19th Congressional District, which came on the heels of other stronger-than-expected special election performances since the Supreme Courts June 24 decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion. And earlier this month, pro-abortion rights forces turned back a state constitutional amendment in Kansas that would have allowed for an abortion ban there. Finally, the two parties are also running neck and neck in generic ballot polling, which asks voters whether they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate this fall, after Republicans led by about 2 percentage points prior to the Dobbs ruling.

Yet if we zero in on the House, the overall terrain is still quite favorable to the GOP. After all, FiveThirtyEights 2022 midterm election forecast still gives Republicans about a better than 3 in 4 shot of capturing the lower chamber.

The GOP has lost ground in the forecast since June, but its continued edge comes down to factors such as geography (Democrats are concentrated in metropolitan areas), redistricting (Republicans once again have more favorable seats) and history (the presidents party almost always loses House seats in midterms).

But theres one more factor that could really help Republicans this fall: More Democrats than Republicans are leaving the House, either via retirement or to run for another office. Overall, 31 Democrats are departing, compared with just 18 Republicans. To be sure, this is a common midterm trend House members from the presidents party tend to leave Congress in greater numbers because the midterms usually go poorly for their side. But Republicans need to flip just four seats to gain a majority in the House, and its possible GOP victories in seats left behind by outgoing Democrats will account for at least that many. The table below lays out the most competitive districts that these Democrats and Republicans wont be contesting.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are retiring or seeking another office ahead of the 2022 midterm elections who would likely have run in competitive congressional districts, by the seat they would have been most likely to run in and the partisan lean of that district

*In February, Deutch announced he wouldnt seek another term and would resign from his seat this fall.

The partisan lean is based on the district maps that will be used in the 2022 election, with outgoing representatives assigned to the seat that they most likely would have run in had they sought reelection. Partisan lean is the average margin difference between how a state or district votes and how the country votes overall. This version of partisan lean, meant to be used for congressional and gubernatorial elections, is calculated as 50 percent the state or districts lean relative to the nation in the most recent presidential election, 25 percent its relative lean in the second-most-recent presidential election and 25 percent a custom state-legislative lean based on the statewide popular vote in the last four state House elections.

Source: House of Representatives

Not every House departure gives Republicans a leg up, as most districts are relatively safe for one party, which you can see at the end of this article where we present the data for all 49 outgoing members. However, if we look at the most competitive districts that are up for election defined as having partisan leans between D+15 and R+15 we can clearly see that Democrats were more likely to have abandoned these seats than Republicans. In total, 13 Democrats left these kinds of seats versus just five Republicans, which means more Democratic-held seats are now in danger. Incumbency isnt nearly as strong of an electoral boon as it was in the past, but its still likely that Democratic incumbents would have outperformed a replacement-level nominee from their party.

To put this into context, I looked back at the terrain in 2018, when Democrats won 40 seats to take back the House amid a strongly pro-Democratic environment. That year, far more Republicans (39) than Democrats (18) retired or sought another office; however, there wasnt quite the same pattern in Republicans vacating competitive turf Republicans left 14 seats open with a partisan lean between D+15 and R+15, while Democrats left 10. But thanks to the especially strong environment for Democrats, who won the House popular vote by almost 9 percentage points, Democrats captured 11 of those 14 formerly Republican seats while losing just two of the other 10.

Compared with 2018, though, the 2022 generic ballot polling points to a far more competitive environment, which means Republicans cant count on sweeping these competitive seats. (Although, we should note that the generic ballot tends to underestimate Republicans.) That said, this cycles Democratic departures have still presented Republicans with a number of flippable seats.

To name a few: Arizonas independent redistricting commission shifted the states southeastern district to the right, and while Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick retired well before the map was finalized, Democrats might wish shed stuck around to defend an R+7 seat that now looks like a good bet to go Republican. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Ron Kinds GOP-leaning 3rd District in western Wisconsin didnt change much in redistricting, but Kinds close 2020 victory over Republican Derrick Van Orden suggested itd be tough to hold, and with the 13-term incumbent now retiring, Van Orden looks favored to win the seat this November. Finally, in western Illinois, Democratic mapmakers actually made Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustoss 17th District bluer it shifted from R+5 to D+4 but Bustos had already announced her retirement, and now the seat is rated as a toss-up in our forecast with Bustoss 2020 opponent, Republican Esther Joy King, facing Democrat Eric Sorensen.

Its true that Democrats are also slight favorites in some competitive seats their incumbents left behind, but those districts are far from safe especially if the environment gets better for the GOP as we get into the fall, which often happens for the out party in midterm elections.

Failed runs for higher office by Reps. Conor Lamb (U.S. Senate) and Tom Suozzi (governor) have still left marginally Democratic-leaning seats open in Pennsylvanias 17th District and New Yorks 3rd District. Meanwhile, Colorado Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter announced his retirement from the suburban-Denver-based 7th District after the states independent redistricting commission made it a D+6 seat. As such, its favored to remain Democratic, although it is still far more competitive than it would have been under the old D+15 lines. Finally, in eastern North Carolina, Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield left behind the states 1st District when the GOP-controlled legislature erased its Democratic-leaning advantage, but the court-drawn map that replaced the legislatures lines gave Democrats a bit of a reprieve, giving the formerly D+7 seat a partisan lean of D+5.

There are limits to incumbency, though, as its unlikely incumbency would have saved Democrats chances in four seats in Florida, Ohio and Tennessee, where Republican-drawn maps have probably ensured GOP wins. For instance, Reps. Charlie Crist and Stephanie Murphys seats sharply shifted to the right in Florida, while Rep. Tim Ryans seat was obliterated in Ohio and Rep. Jim Coopers Nashville-area seat swung all the way from D+17 to R+15. (As some of these districts fell outside the competitive range, you can see some of these members in the table below.)

Republicans, meanwhile, just dont have as many departures that threaten GOP control. Just two seats in New York might cost Republicans: Rep. John Katkos seat in the 22nd, which has a slight Democratic lean, though Katko had prevailed under these conditions before, and Rep. Lee Zeldins seat in the 1st District, which ultimately retained a partisan lean of R+5 and is somewhat favored to remain in GOP hands.

All told, were not talking about a huge number of seats affected by departures this year, but every seat counts in a political universe with fewer swing seats and more dark-blue and dark-red turf. Moreover, the disproportionate number of Democratic departures and the fact that many have come in potentially competitive seats could give the GOP a boost in November. Republicans only need to flip four seats to gain the barest of majorities, so anything that bolsters their chances is meaningful.

Here is the full list of all 49 outgoing members:

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who are retiring or seeking another office ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, by the district they likely would have sought reelection in and the partisan lean of that seat

*In February, Deutch announced he wouldnt seek another term and would resign from his seat this fall.

The partisan lean is based on the district maps that will be used in the 2022 election, with outgoing representatives assigned to the seat that they most likely would have run in had they sought reelection. Partisan lean is the average margin difference between how a state or district votes and how the country votes overall. This version of partisan lean, meant to be used for congressional and gubernatorial elections, is calculated as 50 percent the state or districts lean relative to the nation in the most recent presidential election, 25 percent its relative lean in the second-most-recent presidential election and 25 percent a custom state-legislative lean based on the statewide popular vote in the last four state House elections.

Source: House of Representatives

More:
More Democrats Are Leaving The House And That Could Help Republicans Win - FiveThirtyEight

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre received a question from a reporter asking for the Biden administration's response to newly released reports indicating significant learning loss for the nation's schoolchildren over the course of the pandemic, specifically in the realms of math and reading.

"What is the administration going to do about this severe learning loss, and does the administration shoulder any blame for not pushing schools to reopen sooner?" asked the reporter.

"Let's step back to where we were not too long ago when this president walked into this administration, how mismanaged the response to the pandemic was," replied Jean-Pierre. In under six months, she says, schools in the nation went from being about 46 percent open to nearly all of them being openbut this is due more to the function of time passing since the onset of the pandemic and to the rollout of vaccines than a specific action by a presidential administration.

"That was the work of this president and that was the work of Democrats in spite of Republicans not voting for the American Rescue Planwhich $130 billion went to school to have the ventilation to be able to have the tutoring and the teachers and be able to hire more teachers. And that was because of the work this administration did," added Jean-Pierre, who richly noted that "schools were not open, the economy was shut down, businesses were shut down."

"It shows you how mismanaged the pandemic was," she said, adding herself to the growing list of Democrats who have tried this week to distance their party and themselves from prior support of lockdowns.

Jean-Pierre, of course, neglected to say which party led the charge on shutting schools and the economy down, littering her response with debunkable revisionism. So fact-checkers at major publications hurried to add context to her remarks and correct the record.

Just kidding! Nary a fact-check graced the pages of major publications by Friday morning. Instead, conservative pundits and journalists took to Twitter with screenshots of headlines to remind people which party so fervently opposed school reopening throughout 2020 and much of 2021, even after more information had quickly emerged about COVID risk to kids and other countries' experiments in resuming in-person schooling.

Jean-Pierre's comments attempt to sweep under the rug the anti-reopening lefty consensus that dominated news media for so many months of the pandemic. CNN's Chris Cillizza, for example, wrote about "the very clear dangers of Donald Trump's push to reopen schools" in July 2020. "Trump pushes and threatens in bid to fully reopen schools," wroteThe Washington Post's Laura Meckler that same month. It wasn't just that reporters and public health experts had concerns about Trump's disinterest in well-placed COVID mitigation measures; it was that the industry as a whole carried an awful lot of water for the pro-lockdown side while broadly failing to pay attention to the obvious, predictable consequenceslearning loss, increased deaths of despair, economic hardship for business ownersthat anti-lockdowners had been warning about.

"NPR and other national news outlets were not chock-full of stories about the ways remote learning exacerbated existing inequities," wrote Mary Katharine Ham forReasonlast month. "Public radio didn't send warnings in its sonorous tones commensurate with what [reporter Anya] Kamenetz knew was generational damage, hitting poor and minority students hardest. It didn't extensively profile the politically and ethnically diverse coalition of parents who fought for a year to open urban and suburban schools' doors. It didn't press large districts and teachers union leaders about their insistence on staying closed while the rest of the world opened safely."

"Across the country, teachers unions did everything they could to stop reopening," detailed Peter Suderman in Reason's March 2021 issue. "In July, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten threatened 'protests,' 'grievances or lawsuits,' and even 'safety strikes.' The following month in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot reversed a plan to partially reopen schools two days after the Chicago Teachers Unionwhich went on strike in 2019marched against resuming in-person instruction."

Let's not forget the body bag protests (done by Washington, D.C.'s teachers union) and obituary templates (distributed by Arizona's teachers union) so creatively concocted by teachers who, after all these antics, got to hop to the front of the vaccine line in many statesa concession offered by public health authorities in hopes that schools would be able to reopen faster if teachers were vaccinated. This did not satisfy all the unions pushing to remain closed, and some school districts, like San Francisco's, refused to reopen until August 2021.

It makes sense that Jean-Pierre, the mouthpiece of the administration, would be interested in clearing her party's name in advance of the midterm elections. It makes no sense why the news media, teeming with fact-checkers, hasn't hurried to call this nonsense out.

See the original post:
White House: School Reopening 'Was the Work of Democrats In Spite of Republicans' - Reason