Knucklehead Of The Week: Terry McAuliffe Calls In The Big Guns… Eric Swalwell?

Terry McAuliffe being declared the week’s top knucklehead is long overdue. We let him slide when he stated during a debate that parents should have no say in what their children are taught. We looked the other way when he brought in Joe Biden to campaign for him in a state (Virginia) in which Biden’s approval ratings are underwater by double digits. But for McAuliffe to call on the estimable Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to help with a TV ad, we can ignore his knuckleheadedness no longer. 

Winner: Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s campaign calls on Eric Swalwell for help.

The ad was actually produced and run by The Lincoln Project, not the McAuliffe campaign itself. But make no mistake, the former governor and DNC chairman’s campaign must have signed off on it. Organizations like The Lincoln Project and MoveOn.org are in lockstep with the Democratic Party, particularly when it comes to a race as important and high-profile as this one. Terry McAuliffe gave his stamp of approval to this effort; do not doubt me.

For those who may have forgotten about Rep. Swalwell, here’s a reminder of some of his more (in)famous moments. And for those who’ve been trying to forget the former Democratic Presidential candidate, my apologies for dredging up any old traumas:

• Swallwell bowed out of his ill-advised campaign for president after failing to get above 1% of the vote during pre-primary polling. Swalwell’s candidacy was less-serious than that of Ted Nugent. In a head-to-head match-up, Nugent would have clobbered Swalwell.
• To kick off that campaign, Swalwell, for some reason, tweeted, “I see you. I hear you. I’m for you. Because I AM you.” Many of us have a variety of aspirations, but is there anyone, anywhere in the country who wants to be Eric Swalwell? I think not.
• Shortly after ending that disastrous campaign, Swalwell struggled to even control his own bodily functions when he let loose a fart on live television and then denied it. He who smelt it dealt it, eh Eric?
• And perhaps most egregiously, Rep. Swalwell, who had somehow made it onto the House Intelligence Committee – and in an episode evocative of an Austin Powers movie – was discovered to have had an intimate relationship with an attractive Chinese woman who also happened to be a spy for her communist government. Yeah, baby!

So, Terry McAuliffe and his campaign, who have been losing ground in their race to defeat Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin like CNN has been losing viewers, had a decision to make. They wanted to make a hit piece on Youngkin, obviously, so who to choose? Who should be the face of such an ad? Some milquetoast television announcer with a deep, melodious voice? Nah. Some up-and-coming, energetic young celebrity? Nope. They chose Eric Swalwell. What happened Terry, were Andrew Cuomo and Michael Avenatti too busy to make a cameo appearance for you? You can’t make this stuff up.

In a poll announced late Thursday by Fox News, McAuliffe was trailing Youngkin by a whopping eight percentage points. In a blue state like Virginia, if those numbers hold true on Election Day, that’s a monumental accomplishment by Youngkin, and a devastating failure for McAuliffe. And if/when that result happens, and pundits are conducting a root cause analysis on how McAuliffe could have possibly lost, they need not look any further than this decision. Engaging Eric Swalwell for help is just one more example of McAuliffe’s atrocious decision-making and is Exhibit A for concluding that if McAuliffe loses, the reason for that defeat is this: Terry McAuliffe is a knucklehead.

Honorable Mention #1: Rachel Maddow pumps up the power of Huffington Post headlines.

The MSNBC host has been, unsurprisingly, highly critical of Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) for their refusals to simply rubber-stamp President Biden’s radical spending agenda. So, on Wednesday, after the Huffington Post ran a headline critical of the two moderate senators, Maddow decided to re-tweet the publication’s headline with this addition, “Manchin and Sinema getting the HuffPo front page treatment right now.”

The leftwing bias in our media has become so prominent and so obvious, clowns like Maddow can’t even remember to play along with the “fair and balanced” routine. As a reminder, Rachel, the Huffington Post pretends to be a legitimate group of journalists. And real journalists are supposed to inform, not influence. But it’s clear by your tweet that you’ve either forgotten that concept, or you just slipped up and said the quiet part aloud. HuffPo should not be implementing any “treatment” to further an agenda, Rachel. Oops.

Honorable Mention #2: Instagram model Jayne Rivera poses next to a casket… with her dead father in it.   

The 20-year-old so-called ‘influencer’ from Miami apparently took the photos in a funeral home and then posted them to her Instagram account. The incident is much more sad than it is morbid, though there’s a healthy dose of both. Someone who has just lost their dad is so consumed with themselves, they think such actions are a good idea. The pictures, incidentally, look like they could have been taken in any type of setting: provocative poses, pouting lips, etc. If it wasn’t for the black dress and casket, the photos could have been taken at a nightclub.

After being ridiculed for her ridiculous behavior, Ms. Rivera was defiant, of course, and lashed out at her critics, claiming “my father would have approved with it had he still been alive.” Fortunately for Ms. Rivera, her father is conveniently unavailable to confirm or deny her assertion. Narcissism at its very worst.

Featured photos: screengrabs from WSLS-TV and MSNBC.