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I keep saying I wont do any new content and then there’s more important news that I feel needs to be addressed-I can’t stop myself. Because the firestorm over Northam is relevant to the entire story of Wikileaks in 2016 weaponizing the hacked emails as well as to how the Democratic party comports itself-they will need to find a way to get back on offense as the GOP plans to use this picture to depress turnout in 2020 wether Northam resigns or not.

Regarding Wikileaks’ email dumps, at the time the media hand waved away concerns from the Clinton campaign that the emails had been hacked by the Russians-the media simply reported on them widely and focused on the content.

In retrospect some reporters are willing to admit this was wrong-most notably -as noted in Chapter A-Amy Chozick. That the media could have made a different choice is clear by the way the French press handled Wikileaks’ #MacronLeaks the Friday before the Sunday election in May, 2017-they refused to report on them. To be sure this was due not just on the specific case but that in general they have a blackout rule 48 hours before an election-which may well have a good deal of wisdom in it on its own right.

As for the American press, they too, proved they are capable of discretion and good judgment in 2017 when they refused to widely disseminate Wikileak’s trove of stolen CIA emails.

So presumably we learned something from the way Wikileaks was able to weaponize the emails hacked by the Russians. But the entire firestorm  with Northam makes me wonder, Indeed, it’s not the only such case-what happened to Al Franken also makes you wonder. The tendency still remains to just focus on the content and not scruple about the origin of the information.

This is particularly fraught as the content in this case is so offensive and outrageous. It’s very hard if not impossible to ignore the content of Ralph Northam in a picture wearing blackface. And let’s be clear-I agree he should resign. That doesn’t elide the fact that the way this has gone down is disconcerting on a number of levels.

At the present Northam still hasn’t resigned despite the entire party calling for him to do so: everyone from the Virginian Democratic party, to both state U.S. Senators-Tim Kaine and Mark Warner-as well as his predecessor, Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, as well as Hillary Clinton have called on him to resign.

For me that’s authoritative as she’s the titular head of the party as far as I-and many in the base-are concerned; indeed, she’s the legitimate President.

I don’t know how long he thinks he can hold on-it would seem he will have to at some point, his ability to govern effectively is totally hobbled and this can’t be good for the party.

I’m sure he finds this very unfair-that he gets no right of appeal, no right to explain or add context, that he simply has to resign,  Yes, the picture-and more alleged such racist photos have come out, though at the moment unverified-is terribly racist and offensive:

During a free-wheeling press conference to address a racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he wouldn’t be surprised if other photos like that were found in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook.

On Sunday, CNN found more racist and objectionable images in the book. None of them appear to show Northam.

Democrats from across the nation demanded Northam resign after a yearbook photo surfaced showing one person wearing blackface and another dressed in the Ku Klux Klan’s signature white hood and robes. The photo appears on Northam’s personal yearbook page among other photos of him from school.

After first apologizing for appearing in the racist photo, Northam now says he wasn’t in it and won’t resign.”

This denial isn’t very plausible-after all, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if there are more-though none of the others that have surfaced are apparently of him.

No doubt to the extent that he’s not being candid that strengthens the case for him to resign. All of this is leading GOP operatives to merrily pile on. The GOP’s play yesterday seemed to be to send Black party operatives to the Sunday shows. On one program-I forget which, was it Joy Reid?-an AA GOP operative conceded the point about Steve King but then said the Iowa GOP party ‘deserves credit for not supporting him.’

Not supporting him is different than calling him to resign. This is the rub-while the clear narrative that the GOP and many in the media are trying to make is that the Democrats are hypocrites, they talk a good game on racism but they have a different standard for their own party than the GOP. This is simply, ludicrously false. Again, the condemnation of Northam and calls for him to resign have been nearly universal. It’s also pretty interesting that while the GOP has setup a choir calling for Northam to resign-recall that regarding calls for Steve King to resign, their answer was that it’s up to the voters.

In other words, the claim that if Northam were a Republican he’d be treated differently is completely backwards. He’d be treated differently all right-his entire party would be giving him a pass rather than demanding his resignation in close to unison. In other words, he’d be treated a lot better. The GOP would close ranks and at worst simply refuse to respond to call for his resignation-they’d all just change the subject and wait for the firestorm to go away.

While I agree with calls for Northam to resign-it’s hard to see how he can function going forward and not be a total liability for his party-it’s rich coming from the GOP which should keep quiet and clean its own house. The best equivalent to Northam more than even Steve King is Steve Scalise who despite having attended a white supremacist conference in 2002 with David Duke, has been elevated by his party to the 2nd ranking GOPer in the House.

So don’t tell me that if Northam were a Republican he’d be treated so much worse-in fact the GOP version of Northam is it’s 2nd ranking member in the House. Then there’s the former AG of the GOP ‘President’, Jeff Sessions, who’s essentially an unreconstructed segregationist. Then there’s ‘President Trump’ himself who pretended not to know who David Duke is-rather than criticize him-during the 2016 campaign; of course the media doesn’t call Trump on the hypocrisy.

Meanwhile Todd’s attitude is typical of the MSM-his is the most conventional mind in a city of conventional minds:

Why does Todd and his MSM friends find the idea that Trump is a racist such a leap?

And this is where I criticize the Democrats. As usual the irony is that while the GOP is selling-with much of the MSM eager to amplify-the narrative that the Democrats are total hypocrites who go easier on offending members of their own party, the exact opposite is the case-if anything they go far too easy on offending GOPers-though there are so many.  The MSM modus operandi is that  20 Republicans behaving badly will get less coverage than one Democrat.

The Democrats are right to demand Northam resign but they should also point out the total hypocrisy of the GOP and they should, more than that, demand Steve Scalise resign now. The Dems-who are always so sensitive to any suggestion of partisan hypocrisy-occupy an entirely morally unimpeachable-I love any excuse to put the word impeach in a sentence…-they can justly say they are demanding Northam resign and the GOP must demand the same of Scalise.

But that’s not what the Democrats are doing-they are doing what they do best-serving as pinatas and punching bags. Indeed, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus was on a Sunday show-Stephanopoulous?-and was asked if-in the event Northam digs in and refuses to resign-they should hold impeachment hearings. 

So with the Democrats so timid about discussing impeaching ‘President Trump’ are they going to embrace impeaching Northam? Will that be the impeachment discussion of the next two years? If the GOP had anything to say about it…

Again, I can understand why Northam may well feel this is unfair. What you can say about Northam is that while he apparently engaged in racist and white supremacist jokes back in his medical school days in the early 1980s, he has not governed as a racist, white supremacist-unlike Trump-Sessions-Scalise, et al. The GOP can tsk tsk all it wants-it’s party ideology is racist.

Indeed, the only reason this story leaked is because a classmate of Northam’s was outraged about his-IMO defensible-stand on abortion.

Footnote: opine on the debate on abortion bill. 

A far-right conservative website was reportedly tipped off about the racist photo on Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page by one of his former classmates.

A source from Big League Politics told the Washington Post the individual reached out because of “anger” over Northam’s recent comments about a bill that would loosen restrictions on abortions.

“The revelations about Ralph Northam’s racist past were absolutely driven by his medical school classmate’s anger over his recent very public support for infanticide,” the unnamed source said.

Note this classmate wasn’t offended by the blackface routine bur rather Northam’s ‘liberal position’ on abortion. For all we know this classmate himself engaged in such white supremacist jokes and-unlike Northam-is a white supremacist in his politics. Heck, for all we know this classmate is in the photo-the guy wearing the hood?

This is entirely plausible when you keep in mind that you had Roy Moore staffers behind the scoop. Again, as in Wikileaks, you can’t simply ignore the source.

Indeed, regarding Northam, I kind of think of Harry Truman-who himself engaged in private conversations that would be considered absolutely appalling today-which marked him as a white man of the South in the first half of the 20th century-but at the same time governed as an anti racist and integrated the armed services. The GOP is quick to hold someone like Truman up as a hypocrite-but is it better to have someone with private racist views but anti racist public policies or someone ‘consistent’ who is a racist in private and public life? What Truman did benefitted African Americans in many ways even if he privately held many racist views.

In other words-who would you rather have President-Harry Truman or Strom ‘Thurmond? I think the question answers itself.

Don’t get me wrong, this is 2018 not 1948 and I agree Northam should resign-as his ability to be effective as Governor is hobbled and he isn’t going to help his party. But again, Northam no doubt feels aggrieved as he hasn’t governed as a racist and this was a long time ago-35 years. Is it impossible that he had a change of heart? It might seem so by his own policies. And some Black classmates of him at the time never found him to be a racist.

Back to CNN:\

CNN’s Sara Sidner spoke to one of two black classmates, Walter Broadnax, shown in the 1984 yearbook. He said he had a good experience at the medical school in Norfolk.\

“There was no issue. The faculty was great. I have never seen any of that at all at any party or anything like that,” he said. “We all got along. I don’t know what the deal is behind all of this.”

When asked how he reacted upon seeing the photo of people dressed in blackface and wearing a Klan uniform, Broadnax said, “It shocked the hell out of me. The whole thing is just frustrating. Hell, it was 1984, nobody did any of that stuff as far as I knew at the time.”

Speaking about Northam specifically, Broadnax said, “I never found Ralph to be a racist. He was just like everybody else.”

UPDATE: Apparently black face and other aspects of minstrel show society was very much a part of the culture of this medical school-in 2013 the school had to ban yearbooks altogether to avoid all the racist pictures

So where do we go from here? My guess is it will be hard for him not to resign for the next two years without any party support. If he doesn’t it will be a constant distraction. Even if he does leave, however, the GOP will weaponize this picture again and again-in 2017 Trump thanked African Americans for not voting. Roger Stone-as noted in Chapter A-boasted of using the allegation that Bill Clinton fathered and then ignored an African American son to depress the Black vote. Trump-who denied knowing who David Duke is-even claimed at the third debate to be offended that Hillary used the term ‘super predator’ in 1994. A claim, of course, that can’t be seen as anything but totally disingenuous.

What all this still amounts to is Willie Horton politics. In 1972, Pat Buchanan was advising Nixon on ways to divide the Black vote from the Democratic party-they talked about financing Shirley Chisholm .

(Do footnote Mike, find Italkyoubored quote about Buchanan.)

As noted in Chapter A, in 2004 Roger Stone and Trump did a version of this in bankrolling Al Sharpton-Sharpton’s main function in the race was to call Howard Dean a racist.

This is why the Democrats need to stiffen their spine. They need to be able to do more than simply defend themselves and point out that they resolutely made Northam walk the plank-what the GOP instinctively gets-from necessity going back to Nixon-but the Democrats still too often fail to understand is that the best defense is a good offense.

The Dems need to pivot from the crouching position of defending their party as committed to racial equality and diversity and pointing out that the party resolutely demanded his resignation, to going on the attack and pointing out the GOP’s hypocrisy on this issue and declaring ‘We’ve cleaned our house now clean yours!’

UPDATE:

UPDATE 2.0:  In a just finished press conference by Justin Fairfax we saw the strange resurfacing of accusations of sexual assault against  the Lieutenant Governor -he says they had a consensual affair-at the moment he potentially stands to replace Northam.  Certainly the timing couldn’t be more stark and he seemed to all but say that it was friends of Northam fomenting these allegations again-that’s a pretty logical inference-though who knows? The story was brought back to life on the same Far Right website, Big League Politics, that released the blackface picture along with others so if you believe it was the Governor’s friends you have to believe that there are rival sects at the Far Right website-some who wanted to destroy Northam by releasing the photo-indeed, motivated by his stance on abortion-but others who are close friends of his and are desperately trying to save his job.

In any case, at this point, it would seem the smart money remains on Northam eventually having to step down elevating Fairfax to replace him as Governor-Fairfax can plausibly dismiss the story as a hit job as he already did as noted above. Indeed, part of the added strength to the calls for Northam to resign is no doubt that Fairfax as his replacement would be the second African American Governor in its history.

Again, as noted above, whatever the case ends up being-more likely that it will be Governor Fairfax, or the less likely case where Northam tries to hold on for the next two years-the Dems are going to need to be on offense. They have called for him to resign so it’s not like they can legitimately be accused of being hypocrites. I don’t see how Northam can continue as it will be a continual distraction and can’t possibly see how it’s good for the party. The GOP is licking its chops at the chance to yet again depress the AA vote under the premise that the Democrats are no better and no less racist than the GOP.

And let’s face it-even in the more likely case that Northam steps down, you know what they say-a picture’s worth a thousand years and the GOP operatives will never stop farming out the picture all over social media of what appears to be the Democratic Governor wearing blackface. They will insinuate-without having to say-that the Democrats are just as bad if not worse as they’re hypocrites.  

Even though in truth Harry Truman is preferable to Strom Thurmond any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

The Dems will need to be ready to get back on offense ASAP-Asha Rangappa shows how its done:

https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1092427734293377026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1092427734293377026&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fevilsax.pressbooks.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D5437%26action%3Dedit

UPDATE 3.0 While I presume Northam will at some point resign, here’s the counterargument that in his own selfish individual interest, he should stay the course:

Let’s stipulate that Governor Ralph Northam is a bad person—or at least a person who, as an adult, did something really stupid and hurtful by dressing in blackface and/or Klan garb.

Certainly agree he did a bad thing and wholeheartedly agree with the second part but don’t know that it’s fair to stipulate he’s a bad person-I guess we can easily end up in an quagmire of an ethical discussion over this. Is doing one bad or even awful thing enough to outweigh everything else someone has done in their life?

Let’s also stipulate that plenty of Democrats want him to step down for totally valid reasons. The real question is, according to his own interests, should Northam stay on as governor?

And the answer is: Yes. 100 percent. Yes.”

 

Keep in mind that when we say “should” we’re not talking about morality or cosmic justice. By any normal standards of behavior, of course Northam “should” resign. But America’s politics no longer hew to any real standards of behavior. And politicians have learned that, when facing an existential crisis, brazening it out gives them at least a 50-50 chance of survival.”

Well we do have the example of ‘President Trump’ who  was literally endorsed by the KKK and whose response to criticism of this was that ‘I don’t know about any white supremacists. Who is David Duke? I just don’t know who he is.”

Is it such a leap for Northam to say if Trump hasn’t had to resign why should he?

UPDATE 4.0: Upon more thought regarding Fairfax it seems to me the Occam’s Razor explanation is that it was the same GOP dirty tricksters-with Roy Moore campaign aides-going after Fairfax as who put out the picture with Northam-this way they win no matter who the Dem Governor is-both Northam and Fairfax are dirtied up. Northam can be used to depress the Black vote, Fairfax to depress the female vote.

Going Occam’s Razor gets us to Roger Stone’s dirty trickster GOP politics-the subject of this entire book. The Dems are playing the hand that if they take such a clear and unambiguous moral stand then they can call out the GOP of Steve Scalise, Steve King, Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump-and Roy Moore whose aides are behind much of this latest dirty trick.

And I give the Dems credit for their moral stand but they should ignore the dirty tricks dimension of this of how once again the fight against racism and sexism are going to be used against the party that sincerely at least believes in these ideals to the benefit of a party who desires nothing but to turn the clock back.

I will maintain that defeating GOP devils is going to take more than just proving that the Democrats are perfect angels. True the Dems should be true to their principles but they should be aware that the GOP is always dreaming up new ways to use these principles against them. The Democrats must find a way to resist that. 

To beat GOP devils doesn’t require the Dems be angels-if anything it requires that they not be. You can defeat the devil without being an angel-or simply becoming a devil yourself which seems to be the thing many liberals fear more than anything, including losing yet again-but we will see if the Dems ever figure this out. At this point the GOP gets it both ways and every way. After all, whatever Northam does now, the picture is already out there so the GOP can simply put the pictures out all over social media to spots particularly populated by Black millennials who will throw up their hands and say ‘the Democrats are no better-they’re just better hypocrites./’

Meanwhile the allegations by Fairfax’s accuser-who happens to be a Black woman-will be used to depress the female and Black female vote-the Black female vote being the Dem’s most loyal constituency.

At present all the Democrats are making a show of calling out Northam and demanding he resign but they are not looking at the big picture, the 10,000 foot view. Even after Wikileaks everyone from the MSM to the Democratic party is acting like the source doesn’t matter just the content.

They seem blithely unaware of this larger Roger Stone dimension or that they need a strategy to fight back against these sorts of dirty tricks-beyond doing exactly what the GOP dirty tricksters know they will do-demand the Dem behaving badly resign and that’s all.

And please don’t tell me anyone thinks it plausible that the Northam picture and the Justin Fairfax allegation weren’t coordinated. It will tell me that the many times I’ve argued that coincidences take a lot of planning throughout this book have been wasted!

The Democrats need to figure out a way to fight back against the Roger Stone Nixonian-Trumpian dirty tricks-maybe they need a kind of rapid response team that specifically fights back against and where possible anticipates the latest GOP dirty tricks? After Wikileaks I thought we had maybe learned something. 

But after Northam-Fairfax I’m not so sure. The same old instinct to react to the content without asking where it came from is very much intact. To be sure, in this case-and the brilliance of it on the part of the GOP dirty tricksters, with their Roy Moore ties and their friendship with Roger Stone-the content is really shocking. It’s very hard to unsee Governor Northam in blackface-should you even want to? But in legal terms, it’s not just that you have evidence but where and how you got it-the process-matters. It matters here as well.

But the big picture is that this was done by GOPers who are no friends of African-Americans-or women in the case of Fairfax. The idea that the Virginia Democrats are now working with the GOP legislature for a way to take down Northam is rather obscene when you consider how much the VA GOP legislature has done to obstruct democracy. Last night there was an activist from VA on Chris Hayes who clearly wants to see Fairfax the next Governor. He urged folks to just ignore the charges against Fairfax for now ‘right now we’re discussing racism, these other issues while important aren’t the current topic.’

I think that’s wishful thinking and rather hard to sustain. It’s like saying your car is quite possibly a lemon so let’s just trade it in right now for another car that is also quite possibly a lemon but don’t worry about that as the current car is quite possibly a lemon-the other one is also, but, we’ll get to that next.

The big picture is this is yet another case where the GOP is primed to benefit politically yet again without in any way winning at the policy level. They will no doubt use both the Northam and Fairfax fiascos to tell a-quite disingenuous-story about the Virginia-and ultimately national Democratic party. At least at the margin they will use both stories to depress the Black vote, the female vote, and the millennial vote. At the Virginia level the Democratic party is essentially now in chaos-even though the electorate’s preferences are still for Center Left progressive Democratic policies.

The Democrats are going to have to get back on offense. They need some sort of  rapid response. But currently they seem blithely unaware of this problem-they are busy preening about how Northam must go. But wether he goes or not this is a huge problem that calls for some unorthodox solutions.

They’ve managed through entirely undemocratic means to clip the wings of the Dem Governor-with the enthusiastic support of the Virginia Democratic party that actually wants to work with them on taking down Northam even though the motivation of the two parties in seeking this couldn’t be more different.

Ok-just in case it’s not clear enough let’s provide even more clarity:

1. Big League Politics-a Breitbart outfit with Roy Moore staffers; ie, no friend of Black folks-leaks the shocking Northam pictures last Friday night.  The motivation is not outrage over the KKK-after all Trump was endorsed by the KKK and his defense was to pretend he doesn’t know who they are-but rather Northam’s position on abortion. Appreciate the totally undemocratic nature of this-the Virginia voters as a whole didn’t think this an impeachable offense but BLP finds something that many of Northam’s constituents will consider to be such an offense.

But BLP is hardly offended by blackface-if it were a Republican they’d defend him to the Heavens, his poll numbers would go up, and Breitbart folks would turn blackface into a positive meme on Twitter.

2. Then Big League Politics resuscitates 15 year old sexual assault charges against Northam’s prospective replacement, Lieutenant Governor, Justin Fairfax. While Fairfax is an African American male, the accuser is an AA woman.

3. On Saturday Roger Stone-of all people-is interviewed by Big League Politics. Please don’t say what a coincidence. 

Because:

4. There are no coincidences-as Malcom Nance says coincidences take a lot of planning. 

If after Russian interference, Wikileaks, the rogue anti Clinton FBI agents, and the way Al Franken was taken down-that also had Roger Stone’s fingerprints on it-the Democrats still don’t understand that they need a rapid response team for GOP dirty tricks they never will.

The reality though is that while Northam engaged in the same racist culture of most white males at this medical school-what the Northam fiasco really seems to point to is just how deeply enmeshed racism and white supremacy are in the history of Virginia-forget 1984, the school itself had to end yearbooks to get rid of the racist pics in 2013-he governed as a Center Left progressive Democrat as will Fairfax if he does succeed him.

But if the GOP succeeds in dirtying both of them, then it’s power is increased in VA politics-and its power to frustrate the clearly stated desires of the Virginia electorate. Again, with the GOP it’s always projection-Mitch McConnell talked about a power grab but this is the most blatant power grab you can imagine.

UPDATE 5.0 Ok so 5 updates-do I hear 10? Now the AG admitted wearing blackface in college. 

Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) said Wednesday that he dressed in blackface during college, adding yet another scandal to the tumult that now engulfs the entire executive branch of state government.”

If nothing else Herring showed the kind of regret and introspection that was lacking in Northam’s conflicting statements.

Fairfax, after presiding over the state Senate session, slipped out of the building shortly after 1 p.m. and spent the rest of the day behind closed doors. He canceled earlier plans to play in an evening basketball game at Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday.

The statement from Fairfax’s accuser, Vanessa Tyson, about an alleged sexual assault in Boston in 2004, ricocheted around Capitol Square. Some lawmakers who couldn’t read the small type on a phone had an aide print it out and enlarge it for them.

And that was only hours after they had seen the statement from Herring, in which he admitted to darkening his skin to dress as rapper Kurtis Blow for a 1980 college party when he was 19.

“It sounds ridiculous even now writing it,” Herring said in his statement. “But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.”

Herring called it a “one-time occurrence” for which he accepted responsibility.

“That conduct clearly shows that, as a young man, I had a callous and inexcusable lack of awareness and insensitivity to the pain my behavior could inflict on others,” Herring said. “It was really a minimization of both people of color, and a minimization of a horrific history I knew well even then.”

Meanwhile, Fairfax put out two more statements Wednesday denying charges by Tyson, a professor at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., that Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex in a Boston hotel room during the Democratic National Convention.

But let’s face it-we know the end game:

The overlapping crises have hit during the busiest time of the year for Virginia’s part-time legislature, which is struggling through a stalemate over the state budget and tax code. There was a general sense of scandal fatigue in Richmond on Wednesday, as lawmakers tried to focus on hundreds of bills.”

Democrats were conscious that if all three executives had to step down at once, next in the line of succession is a Republican: Cox, as speaker of the House.”

This is one of Roger Stone’s greatest hits-even as he goes down he’s still doing his dirty tricks-again he was interviewed by Big League Politics on Saturday-coincidence? Yes but even is so they take a lot of planning.

Even if the Virginia Executive branch stays in the hands of Democrats it will be hobbled vs. the GOP legislature-a GOP legislature that, of course, got: the minority of the vote. They still took the legislature thanks to gerrymandering.

Again, the Dems need a rapid response and they need it yesterday. A rapid response that attacks the problem-GOP dirty tricks-rather than defensively demanding members of their own party resign. Again, remember the lesson of Wikileaks-the source matters. At this point it’s not clear why Herring volunteered this-was BLP about to leak his photo dressed up as Kurtis Blow? If nothing else this shows how prevalent black face really is a cultural phenomenon in Virginia where even anti racist white politicians like Herring and Northam have this history.

If the GOP were to take back the Executive branch-which is no doubt the perfect endgame of BLP, one they don’t necessarily think likely but it’s if they truly hit a royal flush-then minority rule would be enshrined even further. But if House Speaker Kirk Cox, an unelected GOPer from the party that voters rejected ended up as Virginia Governor he ought to be asked to prove he never wore black face.

And again, even if the Executive branch remains in Democratic hands it will be hobbled.

See this is where a rapid response team would be extremely helpful. 

Find out what’s really going on, what Big League Politics is up to-find out if they also had Herring’s picture, and find out what skeletons are in Cox’s closet-a mean he’s the GOP Virginia Speaker-whose party runs the legislature despite a minority of the vote-it’s not going out on much of a limb to presume he’s got skeletons. Start with what he did in college-did he ever wear black face? Also are there any allegations of sexual assault in his past?

How much is BLP working with/encouraging the accuser? It’s a legitimate question.

This is what rapid response means-you fight fire with fire. Hopefully with the prospect of the unelected GOP running not just the VA Legislature but the Executive branch the reason you need to fight fire with fire isn’t still unclear.

As noted above assuming the Executive branch remains in Democratic hands it will be hobbled which is why a rapid response team would have to investigate the GOP leaders in the legislature starting with Cox. Again, it’s pretty clear that blackface is a sort of rite of passage for prominent Virginia white boys-again the only way Northam’s medical school was able to stop all the yearbook pictures of blackface was to: get rid of yearbooks altogether in 2013. Again what school did Cox and the other VA GOP Legislature leaders go to? It needs to be looked into.

The reality may well be that virtually all white VA leaders of a certain age have this racist convention in their past-a kind of rite of passage, alas. So the choice of VA voters regarding white male politicians is those who wore blackface in college but who govern as progressives on race and economics and those who wore blackface in college and govern as someone who still wears blackface today. Yes, moral clarity may be a little messier but it’s nevertheless quite clear.

Again this will displease those who want to live in a very simple and neat moral universe. But it’s the universe we live in. This is the trouble with demanding someone resign, without having all the facts and context-built into this demand is the naive assumption that his/her replacement will be better or is at least not as bad.

Again-the best defense is a good offense.

Regarding this rapid response concept, Larry Flynt would understand-he did some great work on the GOP anti Clinton crusaders during the impeachment farce–perhaps recruit him on the down low.

UPDATE:

UPDATE: The GOP is now openly celebrating the Virginia mess.

The GOP who won a minority of both the Legislative and Executive vote now stands to lead both-assuming neither Northam, Fairfax or the AG can be Governor in the future. Note that if Cox becomes Governor this enshrines minority rule once again-the GOP will have claimed the Governor’s mansion not through winning the hearts and minds of voters but because of scandals concerning the Democrats they did much to precipitate-Big League Politics.

Keep in mind that BLP has Roy Moore staffers-who didn’t ‘resign’ or rather suspend his campaign after being accused of sex with minors multiple times. Even if you’re outraged over Fairfax and Northam I don’t see how you just abstract the consequences of demanding they all quit.

UPDATE:

 

 

 

https://pilotonline.com/news/government/politics/virginia/article_d4ce7700-2ae3-11e9-ace9-ff7814740140.html

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