No, Gavin Newsom is not the love-spawn of Matthew McConaughey and Count Dracula.
However, Newsom has, of course, drained the life-blood from California and its residents, mutating the California Dream into a Nightmare of the Undead. Having sucked his home state dry, he is now turning his fangs toward the rest of the country.
Gruesome Newsom now thinks he may be one more Biden bike ride away from the 2024 Democratic nomination. He also notices Ron DeSantis, a very-possible general election opponent, is getting more press than he is. In spite of not being as pretty!
Newsom is facing a CA governor election in the fall, but (sadly) it would be hard for even him to screw it up. So, with campaign funds burning a hole in his pocket, he took on DeSantis by running what may be the nation's first ever intra-state, trans-continental attack ad. For any thinking person, the weird video just reminded them Florida is well-run and California is a dumpster fire.
But, from Newsom's perspective, it squared him off with the man who may currently be the best politician in the country. It was like some rando in a bar abruptly kicking Mike Tyson in the shin and challenging him to a fight. It puts him on equal status. At least in his mind. At least until the first real punch is thrown.
So, Gruesom ran an ad alleging "Freedom" in America was somehow under attack by ... Florida. By contrast, California was supposedly a bastion of "Freedom."
(yeah, I guess, if having all your disposable income confiscated by gas and other taxes and tripping over homeless people while you are running from unpunished, repeat felons is "Freedom.")
Specifically, Gavin-the-Scary, said Florida was guilty of:
banning books.
restricting speech,
making it harder to vote, and
criminalizing women and doctors.
Let's quickly peek at each of these:
Banning Books
Newsom borrowed this lie from the Leftists in education. We should discuss this BS more, but, basically this is conflating censorship with textbook selection. They are not the same thing. As you will remember, when you go to elementary school, there is typically one textbook per subject. You have to pick one. That is not "book banning." You can still obtain and read the other books; they are simply not the one selected for the curriculum.
Over 130 textbooks were submitted to Florida's Department of Education to be considered as math texts. In their process to decide the few that would ultimately be used, they effectively, said, "hey, how 'bout we don't pick the ones that try to infuse divisive political and cultural topics into math class?"
You'd think that wouldn't provide much of a filter, but you'd be wrong. As an example, one textbook figured out how to make a module on "adding and subtracting polynomials" about racism. That's not a Ron DeSantis problem. That's an educational establishment problem.
BTW, one of the reasons publishers put stupid crap in textbooks is because California loves that stuff, and they are a huge customer.
Restricting Speech
McConaughey Jr is referencing the "Don't Say Gay" bill that doesn't exist. We won't go over this tripe again - please read "Relabeling - The Fourth R in Education" or "Don't Say J - Will."
Here, we will just say again that deciding what curriculum is taught to young children in a classroom is an unavoidable and serious responsibility - it is not censorship.
Making it Harder to Vote
All of these topics are gaslighting, but this one may be the worst.
It is not hard to vote.
Let me say that one more time. It is not hard to vote. Nor will it be under Florida Senator Rick Scott's proposal.
What Scott is trying to do is make it harder ... to commit voter fraud. Our system of government cannot withstand significant voter fraud, or even serious concern about it. We need to look at anyone who is against election fraud safeguards with serious suspicion.
Criminalizing Women and Doctors
A lot of ads are not really about making coherent points; they are about planting associations in the viewer's mind. In this case, the attempt is to associate DeSantis with being mean to people we respect and admire - women and doctors.
Of course, this is (incorrectly) based on Florida's abortion law. At 15-weeks, it permits abortion longer than the vast majority of European countries, for example. And women (and even people you and I would consider "doctors") are not targeted by the law, anyway. The penalties are directed at the abortion mills that decide to violate the law by dismembering and killing developed pre-born children.
(by the way, shouldn't smiley-boy get in trouble for his transphobic reference to "women"?)
Scoring Round I
Each of Newsom's four disingenuous "freedoms" deserves a long discussion, but for right now suffice it to say, neither his shirt nor his reasoning were adequately buttoned up in that ad.