We recently asked in this space if Democrats listen to themselves talk. The impetus for that was Florida Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist kicking off his bid to defeat incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in November.
Crist said last week his campaign was built on “love,” and that he wanted to again unite Florida. Yet just a few weeks ago he called DeSantis “evil” personally and said the election was between “good and evil.”
DeSantis’ campaign spokeswoman Christina Pushaw on Friday noted on Twitter that New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has been taking potshots at DeSantis lately, but then she admitted the Florida leader was right on getting kids back in school.
As noted by the website Twitchy.com, Hochul spoke on Friday at a Women’s Equality Day event. She announced at the time that her administration would study COVID-19’s impact on women.
“We’re going to peel back every dynamic and let’s look at not just in the workplace, but what happened to women when the decisions were made to have all the kids go home and learn remotely. Wow. Wow. What a mistake that was. What a mistake that was,” Hochul said.
“Women couldn’t do their jobs. They lost their jobs, or they thought they were back at their jobs and one child in a classroom tests positive, the whole class goes home for a week and a half. It was chaos, nothing short of chaos, and it just seems to have not ended.”
Well, it ended in Florida two years ago, when DeSantis directed that schools be opened because children were at the least risk of contracting the virus.
As it turned out, Florida and states that did similarly – such as Arizona and Georgia – suffered the least amount of learning loss by reopening schools.
The states that were heaviest hit by educational setbacks were blue, like New York and California.
New York’s public radio network reported on Friday that sniping at DeSantis is increasingly a favorite pastime for Hochul, as it is for another left-winger, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
Both states have seen thousands of their former residents head for the Sunshine State.
In fact, the New York Post reported recently that New York’s population shrank by 1.5 million residents over the past decade.
WXXI in New York noted that Hochul spoke about the relocation to Florida trend on Aug. 10, telling a crowd, “Florida is overrated. Look at the governor.”
Last week, she then urged Republicans to leave the state.
“Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. Get outta town!” Hochul said at a campaign rally for a special election.
“You don’t represent our values. You are not New Yorkers.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Free Press.
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