Why Won’t Rubio Just Say ‘Get Vaccinated’ Asks Chris Hayes, As He Shares Video of Rubio Saying ‘Get Vaccinated’
Republican senator Marco Rubio put out a video Wednesday morning voicing vaccinated America’s objection to mask mandates. A few hours later MSNBC host Chris Hayes attacked the video for not being about vaccination.
“He can’t just say ‘Hey get vacccinated(sic)!'” complained Hayes in his retweet of Rubio’s video, which begins on the topic of vaccination and ends with the exact words “get vaccinated” being “the answer.”
Stop with the mask fetish
If you want to wear a mask as a courtesy to those around you or because you are in no mood to get even a little sick go ahead
If you want your kids to mask in school that’s your right
But we aren’t going to mask our way out of this pic.twitter.com/vrRIt4hZ0p
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 4, 2021
This is a really perfect example of the constant triangulating cowardice and whataboutism that’s infected the entire party and movement. He can’t just say “Hey get vacccinated!”. Have to find some way to own the libs. https://t.co/EicK2cQspQ
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 4, 2021
If we generously assume that Hayes watched the video and then commented, rather than that he just dashed off a knee-jerk reaction to the mask aspect, then the reasoning would rest on the word “just.”
Why can’t Rubio JUST say that, instead of also offering criticism.
The very heart of the current political debate over new mask guidance and mandates is the growing number of vaccinated Americans who do not want to be forced back into restrictions by the inaction of others. Polling shows that vaccinated Americans blame the unvaccinated for rising new cases. From both the right and the left, there has been criticism of the new guidance, the mixed messages, and the necessity of masks in the face of resistance against vaccination.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards specifically cited low vaccination rates as the reason for the return of mask mandates. Jen Psaki was asked about it at length by multiple reporters who had no partisan agenda, or might lean toward a liberal agenda. Even the director of the CDC Dr. Rochelle Walensky, in announcing the new guidance at a presser, expressed regret and seemed to blame the unvaccinated, without saying it outright, for what she said is “not a welcome piece of news.” Even the Texas House Democrats didn’t want to wear masks when they fled to D.C.
People across the country do not welcome the mask mandates. Pundits, members of the press, and health officials all say getting vaccinated is better than doing masks. This may not be a prevailing opinion, but the rejection of masks by vaccinated individuals is widespread.
Hayes says in his tweet that it is Rubio who is being partisan and is taking cheap shots “at libs.” But Hayes tweet, which implies if not outright claims that Rubio didn’t promote vaccination, and makes the case that mask mandates are a liberal issue, is the one who, between the two of them, is seeing through a political lens.
