Terry McAuliffe thinks he’s found a response to parents concerned for the well-being of their children in the face of abusive, harmful school boards: trashing them as “right-wing” culture warriors.

Last night, McAuliffe was on with Joy Reid, a wild conspiracy theorist who often appears mentally ill, to discuss his bumbling campaign. While doing so, he dismissed the swath of Virginia parents who are pushing back, claiming the entire ordeal is just about wanting to “ban books” instead of protecting children.

I have a plan to take our education system to the next level. Glenn Youngkin, on the other hand, will do nothing more than cut budgets, ban books, & put our kids in the middle of his right-wing culture war. pic.twitter.com/Uf6PQgNqKL

— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) October 28, 2021

Usually, when you are in a tight race, you don’t highlight your own negatives and purposely isolate a demographic you need, but McAuliffe seems to be operating from a place of unwarranted confidence following Barack Obama’s visit. You’ll recall that the former president started the “this is just a culture war” line at a recent rally. That was after it was revealed that Virginia school boards had covered up multiple sexual assaults. McAuliffe has since leaned heavily into the idea that all parental concerns are trumped-up and a product of racism.

Parents aren’t buying it.

This dad in Loudoun County, Virginia responds to Obama dismissing the legitimate concerns of parents as "fake":

"Parents…are defending their kids." pic.twitter.com/jsEhvHMWYV

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 27, 2021

Maybe McAuliffe has some strategy here, but I’m not seeing it. This all looks much more like desperation from a rudder-less campaign without a real message. He can only say the name “Trump” so many times, and past that, what issues is he even running on? Protecting books that promote pedophilia? Shutting down parents who are upset their schools covered up the sexual assaults of children?

Even going on with Joy Reid is a blunder. Of all the left-wing hosts he could have appeared with, he chose the most insane one, a person who spends most of her time pronouncing the end of democracy, spinning January 6th conspiracy theories, and asserting that Ron DeSantis is a murderer. That’s who he obliged to give his final pitch? That’s a bold move, I suppose.

McAuliffe also saw his dreams dashed when a report came out that Donald Trump was not going to actually visit Virginia before the election. I speculated that he wouldn’t in my initial write-up on Trump’s statement last night, and that seems to be confirmed now. That leaves McAuliffe where exactly? He no longer has the distraction he so desperately wanted. Is he going to spend the final days of the campaign going after parents for caring about their kids?

I don’t know how this race turns out, but man would it be some serious poetic justice if McAuliffe ended up losing in what is a D+10 state. I haven’t seen a worse candidate since probably Hillary Clinton.