This is not something you’re going to see every day, so pause and take note: Mitch McConnell finally went on record last week saying that it was crucial to get vaccinated, all the while allowing members of his caucus to weave conspiracy theories about how the vaccine is untested, unnecessary, will render one infertile, so on and so forth. That was intriguing enough, but McConnell’s latest efforts, paying for radio advertising all over Kentucky, and with money from his reelection campaign, no less, is one for the books. Reuters:
Fifty-seven percent of Americans have had at least one dose, according to the Reuters COVID-19 Vaccination Tracker. McConnell’s home state of Kentucky lags the national average at 51%, and Ivey’s Alabama is farther behind at 42%. Four of the five states with the lowest vaccination rates have Republican governors.
About 40% of Republicans are uncertain about the vaccine or are unwilling to be vaccinated, polling data published by the Morning Consult showed. That is more than double the 16% of Democrats who voiced those concerns.
Frank Luntz is a veteran Republican pollster advising the administration of President Joe Biden about reaching people reluctant to get the vaccine. He has been warning for months about the impediment to COVID-19 vaccination rates posed by politicization.
“The key here is to ensure that no one feels like they have to do it. They have to want to do it. So, insulting them or mandating them won’t work,” Luntz told Reuters. “Political messages won’t work, unless you’re Donald Trump. If Trump were to say to them: ‘Hey, get the vaccine.’ That would make a difference. But he doesn’t do that. All he does is complain about the election.”
Luntz has unfortunately hit it on the head. Trump doesn’t care if people die. His only interest in Americans is whether they can give him something he wants and if they can’t or don’t or won’t, then they can drop dead from the pandemic. It literally is that simple. That’s who Trump is. He’d rather harp on the election than save lives.
In a statement last week, former President Trump said, “People are refusing to take the vaccine because they don’t trust (Biden’s) administration, they don’t trust the election results.”
MIXED MESSAGES
While McConnell has maintained a consistent message on vaccinations since he and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were vaccinated in December, other members of his party have sent mixed messages.
When congressional Republicans have spoken up about the dangers of the COVID-19 Delta variant, they have often mixed health messages with political attacks or advocated positions that could reinforce reluctance to get vaccinated.
“I don’t take a position of either encouraging or discouraging (vaccination),” said Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who has called attention to statistics on vaccine safety that many experts dismiss as misleading.
Members of the House Republican Doctors Caucus also claimed at a news conference last week that natural immunity is an acceptable defense against the Delta variant, a message at odds with guidance from public health officials.
Three days later, Republican U.S. Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana said he had contracted COVID-19 for a second time, after an initial infection in January 2020.
It’s a dangerous political game that a lot of the GOP is playing. Refusing to say whether they’ve been vaccinated or not and claiming that the question violates HIPAA rights is absurd. All it does is confuse and create a smokescreen around the topic.
It’s good that McConnell is sponsoring these 60-second spots, but it would be far, far better if he just took a stance with his conference and said knock it off, we’re going full bore in favor of vaccine and mask wearing. That would be a decisive act of leadership. This effort is ringing more along the lines of too little too late, but then again, maybe any mitigation is a good thing. It’s stunning that the GOP, following Trump’s lead, would rather see people die and use it as a political ploy than do what’s right, but that’s where we are.
John Chancellor introduced me to a saying many years ago that applies here: “After the horse is stolen, the fool locks the barn.”
“It’s a dangerous political game that a lot of the GOP is playing. Refusing to say whether they’ve been vaccinated or not and claiming that the question violates HIPAA rights is absurd.”
That claim about violating HIPAA is absolutely absurd, and anyone who claims such is a complete AttentionSeekingSociopath (if you wish, just leave out the lower-case letters and read the capitals). HIPAA prevents a third party from seeking information from MEDICAL authorities (such as a doctor or medical clinic) without the consent of the individual in question. It does NOT prevent a journalist from asking a politician (someone who’s getting paid, by the way, from the taxpayers) whether he’s been vaccinated or not. HIPAA would prevent a journalist from going to a politician’s doctor and asking “Has so-and-so been vaccinated” and expecting an answer (if said politician has authorized the doctor to discuss his medical issues with others, then that’s also allowed under HIPAA’s rules).
Oh for f……..!
At this point how many MAGA anti gov people will believe the radio ad is really coming from him and not the “Guv’ment” Even if he speaks on the airwaves like some 1930’s senator most of them will probably doubt it’s really him speaking.
Can’t fix stupid. Can’t stop ‘good Christians’ from shoving cyanide down their toddler’s throat for jesus, can’t stop personality cults from stocking weapons to promote the love of christ, or starting a shootout & burn all their kids to death for the love of Christ, can’t stop Nazis & the white supremacists from desecrating the cross and our democracy, can’t stop lemmings headed to the cliff.
NO @ursulafaw ..YOU CAN LEAVE out anything TRUMP SAYS.
AND THE GARBAGE other REPUBLICANS SAY..
WHERE is your evidence if RADIO ADS.?!! In REUTERS PIECE?!
Then quote it!.