'Crap,' 'stupid,' 'garbage': Democrat lawmakers caught on hot mic ridiculing parental rights

A pair of Democrat lawmakers in Virginia were caught on a hot mic last week ridiculing parental rights as "crap," "stupid," and "garbage," Fox News reported.

What are the details?

The cable network said the Republican State Leadership Committee posted on social media recordings of state Sen. Monty Mason and state Del. Shelly Simonds blasting their GOP counterparts over S.B. 1515 — a bill requiring pornography websites to verify a user's age as at least 18 before granting content access.

The pair also mocked Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's proposed amendment to the bill that would have required children to get permission from parents to set up social media accounts and use websites that collect user data, such as online shopping sites, Fox News said. The bill passed the state legislature, but Youngkin's amendment was rejected, the cable network added.

The recordings were taken at a Friday meet-and-greet at Christopher Newport University, Fox News reported.

What did they say?

"Well, there are three real bills that were of consequence: the hemp bill, offshore wind adjustment that we ended up [inaudible] not even discussing, and the one he slapped — that online parental garbage on pornography bill," Mason said on one recordings, the cable network noted.

Mason also said it's "stupid" to require an extra step in the online shopping process to verify a buyer's age: "What are you sending? A letter?" he asked jokingly, Fox News said.

In a second recording, Mason said there was "no practical application" to Youngkin's proposed amendment and accused Republicans of playing politics with digital advertisements against Democrats after the amendment's rejection, the cable network said.

"I mean, it's just all a part of this parental crap that they're selling," Mason added, according to Fox News.

That's when Simonds tied the issue to her desire to keep the state Senate's Democratic majority: "This is why we have to keep the Senate … because the House is in the hands of the Republicans, and they can push through all kinds of stupid things. We rely on the Senate to kill it all," the cable network added.

More from Fox News:

The dismissive approach from the two Democrats toward parental rights comes less than a year and a half after Youngkin's shock victory over former Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in the state's 2021 gubernatorial election. Parental rights in education took a central role in the race amid rising concern over the teaching of critical race theory and other "woke" subjects in schools.

That concern led to a revolt against Democrats by suburban parents in Northern Virginia and around Richmond, despite trending towards the party in recent elections. It's unclear why Democrats would continue down the same course on such issues despite that election's outcome.

Fox News said it reached out to Simonds and Mason for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

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