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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / The Not Racist Party

The Not Racist Party

by $8 blue check mistermix|  February 2, 20199:16 am| 136 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America

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This is pretty typical of how a lot of conservatives on Twitter reacted to the Northam yearbook pictures yesterday.  First, they assumed that Democrats would defend Northam, and when Democrats pretty much unanimously criticized Northam (and most called for his resignation), these thoughtful conservatives ended up defending Northam themselves.  That’s because, in the Republican party, a picture of one of their elected officials in blackface and/or a Klan robe is more or less just another Friday.  See, also, pussy grabbing.

And, yes, maybe a red cap doesn’t make you a racist, but there sure are a lot of racists in MAGA caps.

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136Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Scott

    February 2, 2019 at 9:24 am

    Republicans don’t have principles, they have tactics and Cleek’s Law.

    Northam needs to go quickly.

    Cheers,
    Scott

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2019 at 9:28 am

    Not all Republicans are racists…but almost all racists are Republicans

  3. 3.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    February 2, 2019 at 9:32 am

    I’ve thought about this a lot, since he’s my governor, and my grandparents knew his father quite well. They went to the same church on the Eastern Shore for years.

    So this is a painful thing for me. I was thrilled that we had another governor from the Eastern Shore (he’s only the second). Besides that, he’s been a great governor. And besides that, he’s spent his whole political career working to help Black Americans. And besides that, he’s-clearly-not-the-same-guy-any-longer-and-don’t-we-all-do-dumb-shit-when-we’re-young?

    But acknowledging all that, I think it’s obvious that he has to step aside. We can’t have this, not in 2019. Yes, it’s too bad something stupid he did when he was 25 ends up ending a promising political career. It’s too bad. And I think it’s the right thing to do to forgive him and recognize that, yes, people change, and yes, we all do dumb shit when we’re young that we feel awful about years later.

    But we can forgive him and acknowledge all that and still understand that that can all be true even though he has to give up his seat today, in 2019.

    I think it’s to our credit as Democrats and as liberals that we can hold both these beliefs in our heads at the same time, and to Republicans’ and conservatives’ shame that they can’t.

  4. 4.

    Princess

    February 2, 2019 at 9:33 am

    I’m not saying the guy shouldn’t resign, but the whole issue feels like a whypipo game to me. Northam did the thing that all whypipo agree is racist so the whypipo want him to resign and pat themselves on the back for being so good. It’s like the whypipo who think it would and should make a difference to our view of Trump if we learn he said the N-word on tape.

    Never mind that there are thousands of children whom the government has lost track of because they are brown children and who cares, and somehow that’s not seen as racist at all.

    No wonder there is a race problem in this country.

  5. 5.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:35 am

    @Jeffro:

    Not all Republicans are racists…but almost all racists are Republicans

    But-but-but Lincoln! Robert Byrd! Dems are the TRUE racists!!!!!!!!!

    Etc.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 2, 2019 at 9:35 am

    And, yes, maybe a red cap doesn’t make you a racist,

    but it does mean you support the racist in the White House.

  7. 7.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:37 am

    @Princess:

    Thanks for sharing.

    “Whypipo”? Great, another commenter who thinks he/she is Damon Runyon.

  8. 8.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    but it does mean you support the racist in the White House.

    And it makes YOU the real racist for pointing that out.

  9. 9.

    geg6

    February 2, 2019 at 9:39 am

    If it’s a red MAGA cap, it’s a racist. If it’s a sport team red hat or just a red hat, probably not but I will test you to be sure. Sorry but, that’s just how it is now. I’m done being nice about it.

    Oh, and fuck Eric Son of Eric. Fuck him sideways.

  10. 10.

    dnfree

    February 2, 2019 at 9:40 am

    A person in a MAGA cap now is judged on their behavior and attitude now. Let’s say that someone age 15 is wearing a MAGA cap now. What if in thirty years when he is 50 he is a liberal? Would liberals argue that because he wore a MAGA cap as a young person, he’s disqualified from holding office as a liberal because it proves he’s a racist? That’s an example of a young person. Northam was nowhere near that young when he appeared in this picture. But apparently he did live in a pretty racist or oblivious environment at that point in his life (the state of Virginia, VMI). What has he done since?

    I don’t like the appearance on any side, politically, of people clamoring for someone’s head over behavior from 30 years or so ago if that behavior is not consistent with their life and beliefs in more recent times. People can change, grow, evolve. The reaction shouldn’t just be knee-jerk and instantaneous. There’s a self-righteous air about it. In the age of the Internet, we’re going to be able to find more and more people who aren’t sufficiently “pure”, or weren’t at an earlier time in their life.

  11. 11.

    dr. bloor

    February 2, 2019 at 9:41 am

    @Princess: NAACP called on him to resign within a few hours after the story broke, as have many other prominent PoC. Doesn’t seem like this is an exercise in white virtue signaling.

  12. 12.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 9:41 am

    @SFAW: Whypipo has been around for a while now. It’s not a new thing.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2019 at 9:42 am

    Good THREAD about bots:

    https://twitter.com/mikefarb1/status/1091170328921935872

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:42 am

    @dnfree:

    (Non-criminal) shit done by a 15-year-old vs as a med school student? How does that work?

  15. 15.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    February 2, 2019 at 9:43 am

    @SFAW:
    Funny enough, even ignoring the nazi-esque white supremacy the GOP tolerates today, Lincoln still wouldn’t be a Republican today because of all the ultraconservative reactionary values and corporate corruption, the latter of which didn’t happen until after Lincoln had died and the party’s uniting cause of abolitionism had been fulfilled.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2019 at 9:43 am

    I am tired of folks glomming into the Blackface, and not talking about the totality:

    It was Blackface AND the KLAN!???
    Muthaphucka had Blackface AND the KLAN on his yearbook page…WTF?????
    Cause you can’t purse your phucking lips to say that some one in KLAN ROBES was just a ” youthful indiscretion ” even though you were but a mere couple of tests away from PRACTICING MEDICINE??

  17. 17.

    Rat Farts

    February 2, 2019 at 9:46 am

    @dnfree: in 30 years he’ll be 45 (ducks)

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:46 am

    @opiejeanne:

    Although I am certainly not aware of all Internet traditions, I do not recall ever seeing it on any political blog. And, frankly, it’s (to my tiny mind) an affectation that adds nothing. Someone’s afraid of offending someone else by using “white people”? Well alright then …

  19. 19.

    different-church-lady

    February 2, 2019 at 9:48 am

    Cleek’s law in real time.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    February 2, 2019 at 9:48 am

    On a somewhat related note, the headline in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer: ”CovCath teen’s attorney: lawsuits might be coming.”

    According to the article, the family’s law firm sent letters to media outlets as the first step in possible libel and defamation lawsuits. There is a team of seven (!) lawyers working full time to review the media accounts of what happened.

    “An example…of false reports were ones that said Nick got into the face of Phillips…”

    Apparently there is a definition of “in your face” that includes exact measurements — who knew?

    My other favorite line in the article is also from the lead attorney, who said that not all the organizations who receive letters will be sued, it is a process that will not be over quickly, and “There are so many deep-pocket defendants who crossed the line, the process will just roll out…it’s international.”

    Well they are going to need a lot of money to pay for all those lawyers.

    The Enquirer loves, loves, loves this story, which they have been following closely. It’s very cheap and easy to cover, being in their backyard, and most of their readership must be lapping it up.

  21. 21.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    February 2, 2019 at 9:48 am

    @Princess:
    I sort of get what you’re saying as I’m sure they’re plenty of people out there like that, but it’s possible to think Northam should resign and think what the Trump administration is doing to migrant children is disgustingly racist.

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 9:49 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    No argument from me re: Lincoln. Similarly, Jesus would be cast out of most modern evangelical cults, because he believed in ministering (so to speak) to the “least” of us.

    Hell, Reagan and Nixon would be cast out of the Rethug Party, most likely.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2019 at 9:50 am

    This?This?This?

    Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
    And I can’t stop thinking about that statement, “youthful indiscretions” for a whole grown ass man in medical school. And the names of Tamir Rice, Jordan Edwards, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Laquan McDonald, Stephon Clark Rekia Boyd, & many others keep running through my head.

    https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1091673778713710597?s=17

  24. 24.

    dr. bloor

    February 2, 2019 at 9:51 am

    @SFAW: Try dropping in on a few articles on The Root. “Wypipo” is decidely not a term designed to avoid offending others.

  25. 25.

    cmorenc

    February 2, 2019 at 9:51 am

    Morally, Northram is obviously a vastly different person than the one who posed for a grossly inappropriate photo 35 years ago, and deserves to be forgiven.

    Tactically, however Northram’s continuation in office would create an unacceptable amount of drag against his fellow Ds, especially within blue-trending Va, but also nationally. Remaining if office would gratuitously give both some cover to the GOP for racists within their rank, as well as ammo to fire back with. He needs to recognize that he is now such a huge political liability for Ds and progressives that his ability to achieve anything constructive by further remaining has been fatally undermined. OTOH, if Northam resigns by early next week, the whole incident will quickly fade from having any continuing adverse impact on Ds political fortunes. Do the right thing Ralph, fall on your political sword.

  26. 26.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    February 2, 2019 at 9:53 am

    @Princess:

    Never mind that there are thousands of children whom the government has lost track of because they are brown children and who cares, and somehow that’s not seen as racist at all.

    What the hell are you going on about? Who — on our side — says (or would even think) that the horrendous southern border policies of this administration (very much including the tearing apart of families) are not at heart racist? It is, in very obvious fact, the opposite of your absurd claim.

    Yeah, sure, racist conservatives (but I repeat myself) push back on the notion that our border actions are racist, but c’mon, whaddya expect, of course they do.

  27. 27.

    different-church-lady

    February 2, 2019 at 9:55 am

    @rikyrah: I read all his tips and then mentally added, “and finally, abandon Twitter altogether because it’s corrosive to good public dialog.”

  28. 28.

    Gravenstone

    February 2, 2019 at 9:56 am

    Not exactly germane to the thread, but wanted to drop this observation out there.

    It seems Trump might have another source of shit that fills his head (aside from Fox and Friends), Sicario, Day of the Soldado. A lot of the more inane natterings he’s issued about the southern border all seem to have originated in this particular movie. Delusional doesn’t begin to describe his broken little brain.

  29. 29.

    Matt McIrvin

    February 2, 2019 at 9:57 am

    To me it’s not really about what the Ralph Northam of today truly deserves. It’s politics, and larger principles as expressed in politics. When you’re an elected official, you’re signing on to some things being more important than whether the world is fair to you. Northam just can’t be a governor from our party with this thing in his record. I felt the same way about Al Franken–many of his supporters complained that he was somehow being treated unfairly, but it didn’t really matter whether he was being treated fairly; he was a Democratic Senator. Bigger things are at stake.

  30. 30.

    joel hanes

    February 2, 2019 at 9:57 am

    @SFAW:

    Similarly, Jesus would be cast out of most modern evangelical cults

    and vice versa, because he casts much shade on ostentatious piety

  31. 31.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 9:57 am

    @SFAW: I don’t think they’re afraid of offending white people by using “whypipo”, quite the opposite. I’ve seen it quite a bit on Twitter, starting before Kavanaugh. It refers to a certain type of white people, ones who behave as Princess described.

  32. 32.

    dr. bloor

    February 2, 2019 at 9:58 am

    @cmorenc:

    Morally, Northram is obviously a vastly different person than the one who posed for a grossly inappropriate photo 35 years ago, and deserves to be forgiven.

    This isn’t obvious at all. Someone who was “vastly different” would have been more likely to recognize the fact that the photo was brutally offensive to a large number of folks whose votes he was trying to win, come clean about it, and make an effort to articulate why that picture no longer represents who he is.

  33. 33.

    Princess

    February 2, 2019 at 9:58 am

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: I am talking about the fact that this story appeared only a couple of weeks ago (I only saw it today) and got barely any attention at the same time we were all very concerned to let the world we know the Covington kids are racist and that Northam is racist. Yes, we all should be able to talk and chew gum at the same time, but a lot of us seem to find it hard or maybe not worth doing.

    Family Separation May Have Hit Thousands More Migrant Children Than Reported

  34. 34.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 9:59 am

    @Ohio Mom: Huh. So if they do follow through and file lawsuits, they may not like the results nor the publicity that stems from the media reporting accurately on that kid’s behavior. .

  35. 35.

    Another Scott

    February 2, 2019 at 9:59 am

    @cmorenc: I’m uncomfortable saying that it’s somehow obvious that Northam is no longer racist or has totally changed from then because he’s supported good policies and nobody has heard him say anything racist.

    My father was a good man, did a lot in his church, was a secret Santa to poor AA families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. Never cursed, rarely drank, was kind to animals.

    And when he got together with old friends, he would (at least once when in my hearing) tell racist jokes.

    :-(

    “Good people” can still be racist, and they need to recognize it.

    Racism will only stop being casually acceptable when we demand that it stop. Northam has to go.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    JPL

    February 2, 2019 at 10:00 am

    @Princess: That breaks my heart. I can’t imagine being a parent and suddenly realizing that my child will never be returned to me. They need to be charged with kidnapping, but it will barely be a blip on the news.

  37. 37.

    Van Buren

    February 2, 2019 at 10:00 am

    @SFAW: Speaking of Lincoln, he spoke out against interracial marriage and was against blacks being allowed to serve on juries…in 1858. I guess he should have been asked to resign.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 2, 2019 at 10:01 am

    @opiejeanne: No kidding. If one of those kids was mine, I’d want him out of the limelight.

  39. 39.

    Nicole

    February 2, 2019 at 10:01 am

    @SFAW: Here:

    https://www.theroot.com/the-2018-wypipo-awards-1831267430

  40. 40.

    Tommy Green

    February 2, 2019 at 10:02 am

    I think it’s a liberal value to believe in redemption; true redemption. I think it’s a liberal value to believe that people can grow beyond their upbringing. Northam apparently grew up in a racist environment – I guess, I don’t know much about his upbringing (and agreed with rikyrah – the klan costume is the much bigger problem) – but according to at least one person posting here, he’s lived his adult life in an entirely opposite manner. Again, I don’t know much about the before and the current of Northam’s life’s experiences and actions.

    But I guess if we don’t allow for true personal growth and redemption, if we’ve become so jaded by the false redemptive stories of the right, then we’ll have to ask John Cole to leave his own blog.

  41. 41.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:02 am

    @dr. bloor: Thanks. I follow a number of people on Twitter who are AfAm. It was a pretty common term. I shut up and listened, for once.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    February 2, 2019 at 10:02 am

    @rikyrah: He can’t remember weather he was blackface or klan. Maybe he played both sides so many times, that he can’t remember this particular incident. f.kem

  43. 43.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:04 am

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: If it’s not about you, it’s not about you.

  44. 44.

    Frankensteinbeck

    February 2, 2019 at 10:05 am

    @Princess:

    whypipo game

    Whatever the African-Americans in the Virginia government decide on, I’ll go with them. As a white person, I can see that it was awful, but nuances like deserved punishment and whether he has changed are beyond my experience. If the overwhelming consensus is ‘Hell, yeah, he has to go’ I will remember that for future judgments. Last I heard they wanted to discuss it among themselves.

  45. 45.

    JPL

    February 2, 2019 at 10:05 am

    @cmorenc: I hope your analysis is correct and that he has changed. Now we will see whether or not he can put the party first.

  46. 46.

    Kalimama

    February 2, 2019 at 10:15 am

    @rikyrah: YES!!!!

  47. 47.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:16 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Northam just can’t be a governor from our party with this thing in his record. I felt the same way about Al Franken–many of his supporters complained that he was somehow being treated unfairly, but it didn’t really matter whether he was being treated fairly; he was a Democratic Senator. Bigger things are at stake.

    Thank you.
    This isn’t about due process. There is no due process for a high-profile role in public service, and certainly not in public opinion at any level.

    This is about maximizing the effectiveness of the liberal wing/Democratic Party to make desperately needed change to governance and society. Northam is now ineffective, because many (including me) cannot trust him. That might strike others as overreaction to one incident, but I find his intentional cover-up of the photo for all of the intervening years to be indicative of shifty character, too.

    We will be more effective without him.

  48. 48.

    Raoul

    February 2, 2019 at 10:17 am

    @cmorenc: Yes, this. Also tactically, he has more of a chance to rehabilitate his career if he resigns quickly and with humility. I’m not saying he can be a high level elected again, but he could certainly lead a large institution, nonprofit or political group.
    If he lingers and does the ’embattled’ thing, it leaves a bitter taste. I know lots of Repubs just brazen it out and stay. But that’s part of the reason so many of us despise and disrespect the GOP.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 10:17 am

    @dr. bloor:
    Been to The Root a few times (too few, I guess), but hadn’t spotted it there. I guess I need to go there more frequently. Thanks for setting me straight

    @opiejeanne:
    Thanks
    @Nicole:
    Thanks

    ETA: And belated apologies to Princess for my clueless response.

  50. 50.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 2, 2019 at 10:19 am

    @Suzanne: This also isn’t about R hypocrisy or R anything. This is about us.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2019 at 10:19 am

    ???

    Imma let you finish, but, KAMALA2020 (@Bravewriting) Tweeted:
    Abrams @staceyabrams is the Queen of my life.

    She just wrote the definitive piece on Identity Politics and it is glorious.
    I’m crying because she just said everything I have been trying to tell you.
    But sooo much better than I ever could.

    READ IT NOW!!

    https://t.co/GrsSV8fYfe https://twitter.com/Bravewriting/status/1091436224525393921?s=17

  52. 52.

    laura

    February 2, 2019 at 10:20 am

    “He’s not that guy anymore” is only available to be used to preserve the dominant structure of power and privilege.
    It’s a shortcut or work around to skip the true meaning – the suffering of others, their subjugation is just to damn bad. What’s the use of having power and privilege if you’re not allowed to use it?
    Those who are on the receiving end somehow never are afforded the same space and respect to be heard because it’s terribly disruptive of the paradigm.
    Northam should resign before noon.
    On the other hand, the Detroit police officer who forced a young woman to walk away from her car days ago in this weather, filmed and mocked her and posted his power move – I’d like to see him forced to swim out to the middle of lake Lake Michigan.

  53. 53.

    Wag

    February 2, 2019 at 10:23 am

    @dnfree:
    This. The governor needs to get in front of this and acknowledge his error, and point out specific actions he has taken to refute his past actions. America should be a country of forgiveness and the ability to earn back rights which were previously stripped from you by showing that you have grown.

    The Democratic Party has championed the restoration of felons right to vote after the felon has served their time. I don’t see why the Democrats can’t be the party that looks at where politicians are now, and forgives past transgressions, if their current actions demonstrate sufficient growth as a person.

  54. 54.

    Tim C.

    February 2, 2019 at 10:23 am

    Here’s my more nuanced thinking: A lot of this comes from my own personal experience teaching at a very white, rural high school outside Portland, Oregon.

    1) We got a whole bunch of racist mother-feckers in this country who love to play the “I’m not racist” game.

    2) Republican politicians from the late 60s on correctly deduced part of the formula for victory in the South, and now a lot more rural areas, is to get as many outright racists as possible to the polls and give them a plausible cause to express that racism in some disguised manner. (Tough on Crime, myths about wellfare services, now it’s coded as immigration talk)

    3) Part of this whole dance is a culture, where as young men and women, that racism gets expressed in the more traditional manner of symbols of the confederacy, use of offensive racist language, and other kinds of boundary pushing. The worship of firearms is deeply tied into this too. “Owning the libs” has different names in different places, but yeah, the knuckleheads love to do offensive things as a way of proving they are better and more loyal to the “cause” they have.

    4) So, part of what we, as Democrats and Liberals have developed is a kind of sense that if you use that kind of language/imagery, we can pretty much assume you are *AT BEST* a clueless idiot, and at worst an outright racist yourself. Part of our internal rule set, is that while youthful sins can be forgiven, perhaps based on internal culture, adults who use these symbols and images, even as a “joke” are probably not trustworthy and have ill motives.

    So here’s the conclusion.

    Northram needs to go. Not because he is a racist now, or even that he was anything worse than a 24-karat moron then. He needs to go because one of the few objective measures we can use (The person’s intentional use of racist images and words) to determine their views on race. Erick, son of Erik and many others are sure this is a perfect moment to let their racist freak-flags fly; the media is practially salvating at the chance to both-sides us again, he has to go.

  55. 55.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:24 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Agreed. This is about showing the Black people in our coalition, and the rest of the country, that we really mean what we say we mean. That’s worth a lot more than some solitary dude going through a “process” that he isn’t entitled to anyway.

  56. 56.

    Sebastian

    February 2, 2019 at 10:24 am

    @rikyrah:

    Saw this the other day. Very good thread, thanks for posting.

    I am concerned about 2020. With deep fakes becoming really good and us Dems more often than not knee jerking, I can see us running into a trap. On the other hand, maybe Mueller is disabling the GOP ratfucking ops nexus somewhat for this cycle with Stone out of the picture.

    Or maybe the GOP was really mostly relying on Stone all this time.

    But isn’t this crazy? So much ratfucking, so much bullshit, so much suffering on a national and global scale just because we didn’t take out (legally) a handful guys decades ago? Shit is seriously broken and out of whack.

  57. 57.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    February 2, 2019 at 10:25 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Yes. I’ve never seen anybody with as much capacity to forgive as Black Americans. Even so though, I don’t know if it applies in this case. I think we can forgive people, and forgive him specifically, while still acknowledging that he can’t do his job effectively now.

  58. 58.

    palaver me

    February 2, 2019 at 10:25 am

    @SFAW: maybe just try speaking less about shit you don’t know anything about. :)

  59. 59.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:26 am

    @Wag:

    The Democratic Party has championed the restoration of felons right to vote after the felon has served their time. I don’t see why the Democrats can’t be the party that looks at where politicians are now, and forgives past transgressions, if their current actions demonstrate sufficient growth as a person.

    I would see evidence of sufficient growth if he had admitted to this years ago without getting caught, and apologized at the time.

    Waiting until you get caught and then groveling does not strike me as evidence of sufficient growth.

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    February 2, 2019 at 10:33 am

    Just to be clear, Northam, while I suspect it’s fake by the way wingnuts are acting, if it’s true he has to go. The 80s weren’t the 50s – I am the same age as Northman and at the time would have thought blackface, KKK hoods and Nazi uniforms were all the same back in the 80s.

  61. 61.

    Wag

    February 2, 2019 at 10:34 am

    @Suzanne:
    Fair point. I would have hoped that his oppo researchers would have found this and given him the opportunity to address this much earlier.

  62. 62.

    laura

    February 2, 2019 at 10:36 am

    @rikyrah: like a refreshing drink of cold water on a hot day!
    Truth, laid out simply and clearly, for all to see.

  63. 63.

    leeleeFL

    February 2, 2019 at 10:39 am

    @geg6: Couldn’t find my Trusty Rusty Pitchfork, or I would get right on this.

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:39 am

    @rikyrah: Thanks for sharing that. Abrams’ response to Fukuyama was great, and I also thought the other two responses were excellent.

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:40 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Northam admitted that it’s real.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    February 2, 2019 at 10:41 am

    @JPL: He has absolutely changed. That is what makes this so painful for a lot of Virginians.

    First: Ralph Northam’s position is untenable. It was (a) wrong to be in those photographs, and (b) never have addressed the issue. He has been abandoned by those who were his allies. The latenight roundup in the WaPost was brutal. So: resignation it is.

    But: I want all of you to know how supportive he is of women’s healthcare — recall that he was in hot water this very week over a proposed bill in the Virginia house to allow 3rd trimester abortions, which are very rare and usually the result of gross fetal abnormality. The Richmond Times Dispatch researched it — there were two, count it, two in recent years (as in, the last recorded was in 2004). First reported as “three.” But he wanted to respect the woman’s decision in those very rare and exceedingly painful situations.

    Also on expanding Medicaid. Which he accomplished, after Terry McAuliffe and the Democrats worked for that goal in the years previous and in winning the 2009 elections, brilliantly.

    I was shocked and horrified to see the blackface and KKK costumes. I wonder if Northam took that ugliness so lightly at the time. Was it going along to get along? I doubt it reflected his later life: he served in the US Army as a pediatric neurologist, and the Army and military are way ahead of many other fields in employment of minorities and people from impoverished and undereducated backgrounds. You can make a real difference with military service, and get all kinds of education, both formal and practical.

    And I am sure he saw a lot of need and tragedies and things we could be doing better.

    Now to those photos, and who knows what else is out there. Northam failed in appearing in them, for sure, and in a duty to disclose. He needed to address those photos years ago, on his own, and tell folks why he did it at the time and why he would not now. To apologize for the hurt he caused and his complacency. That did not happen. The photos were waiting in the background, like unexploded ordinance.

    Perhaps the voters would have forgiven him. Perhaps not. But they deserved that information, and Northam’s party deserved the information. Nobody deserved being blindsided. It’s only amazing this never came out before.

    It’s my hope that Northam will have some illuminating things to say on this, once he has time out of the maelstrom to reflect on it. Because he does not seem to be a jerk now, although those photos clearly depicted two jerks and another one behind the camera.

    Also, one thing that struck me from the WaPost shortly after the story broke: Northam was head of the honor committee at VMI, which is a pretty conservative institution. That gave me a twinge: his classmates trusted him. Because he had assured them he was like them? In prejudices too, or the apparent sharing of them? This is not to slam all VMI alumni. That would be unfair. But that school has a reputation of being years behind the times.

    Virginia has changed a lot, rapidly, with population influx, primarily in NoVA but elsewhere in the state too. 1984 is 35 years ago, true. It’s also less than 20 years after the state embraced Massive Resistance, which was still being dealt with by the US Supreme Court in 1968.

    None of this is to excuse Northam. It is to place him in context. He is not a Rick Scott or a Steve King or a George Allen. Because he really worked on behalf of issues Democrats care about, and was out ahead on a lot of them.

    Which is why this is painful and not knee jerk to me and a lot of folks in Virginia. This is not an Alan Grayson style loudmouth. This is a far better and more serious public servant.

  67. 67.

    japa21

    February 2, 2019 at 10:45 am

    It occurs to me that this whole thing came out not just to discredit Northam but to discredit the whole Dem Party. I have no doubt this is an example of ratfuckery from the right. The question is, “why now?”.

    I think Eric son of Eric’s tweet says it all. They expected Dems to come out and kind of brush it away as being so long ago. And I think they are surprised that the vast majority of the response has been to condemn and ask for Northam to step down.

    They wanted to go after the Dems with the “You were holding something against Kavanaugh from long ago, why not Northam?” tactic and it didn’t work. If anything, this will be more evidence that the Dems do care.

    And as @Enhanced Voting Techniques: says, this was the 80’s, not the 50’s or even 60’s.

    Yes Northam may well have changed a lot, but he needs to back off now.

  68. 68.

    Bess

    February 2, 2019 at 10:46 am

    @Tommy Green:

    But I guess if we don’t allow for true personal growth and redemption, if we’ve become so jaded by the false redemptive stories of the right, then we’ll have to ask John Cole to leave his own blog.

    This is what I wanted to say. If we don’t allow for true personal growth and redemption then what sort of people are we?

    Let’s not send a possibly good person straight to the executioner without checking them out. Again.

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    February 2, 2019 at 10:47 am

    We teach a process of apology for mistakes in our legal clinics for our students to be prepared to deal with their inevitable mistakes as lawyers. Any full apology (or if you prefer, redemption) requires three things:
    1) Acknowledgement that what you did was wrong and why it was wrong;
    2) Empathy and understanding of the hurt it caused others and
    3) Making that wrong right.

    Northam hasn’t even scratched #1. Of course he should resign.
    Then should feel free to run for governor again at a later date.

    And his yearbook page he says he wanted to be a pediatrician?

  70. 70.

    debbie

    February 2, 2019 at 10:48 am

    @Suzanne:

    We will be more effective without him.

    We will be more effective if we loudly point to the unrepentant racism of members of the GOP like Steve King and Mitch McConnell and demand that they, too. resign.

  71. 71.

    Kayla Rudbek

    February 2, 2019 at 10:49 am

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): forgiveness only comes AFTER contrition and doing penance, and I’m not even sure that Northam is at the true contrition state yet, or if he’s only sorry that he got caught. And IMAO the penance should be set by Black Virginians and/or Black Americans , which doesn’t include me so I am going to shut up on this, watch, listen, and go with whatever they recommend.

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    February 2, 2019 at 10:49 am

    Erick Erickson considers himself a moral bellwether for die Gesichterfressendeleopardenpartei. And the party’s first and only moral principle these days is that the Democrat party is always wrong. Even if the GFLP must contradict itself to say it.

  73. 73.

    Tim C.

    February 2, 2019 at 10:50 am

    @japa21: Agree 100%. This was known for a while and one of the GOP’s fundamental weaknesses is imagining that we are just their mirror image.

  74. 74.

    Tazj

    February 2, 2019 at 10:52 am

    Like everyone else here I wanted Northham to resign as quickly as possible. Apparently no one knows what the hell he’s going to do now.What a mess!

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:52 am

    @Bess:

    Let’s not send a possibly good person straight to the executioner without checking them out.

    Losing your job in government is not being “sent to the executioner”. No one is saying that he should never work again. He’s not going to be destitute on the street. He’s going to return to private life. And he admitted that the photo is real. Even if it is a ratfuck, he did it, and he covered it up for years. That sucks.

    He gets to keep his job in public service as long as he has the public trust.

  76. 76.

    Kayla Rudbek

    February 2, 2019 at 10:52 am

    @Immanentize: what you said.

  77. 77.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:54 am

    @debbie: I agree with you. Steve King and McConnell and Gohmert and a whole slew of others should also be out on their asses. You will never hear a peep of argument from me on that.

  78. 78.

    opiejeanne

    February 2, 2019 at 10:55 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: You’re a bit behind the news. Northam acknowledged the photo as real but wouldn’t admit which person was him.

  79. 79.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 11:00 am

    I absolutely believe in personal redemption. I don’t believe that one is entitled to keep one’s highly prominent and well-compensated job in public service while one is supposedly busy redeeming oneself.

    He should go redeem himself for a while and then run again if he wants. At that point, the electorate can judge if that work is sufficient.

  80. 80.

    Mandalay

    February 2, 2019 at 11:02 am

    Jonathan Martin @ NYT from this morning:

    The governor has also been calling his former med school classmates to jog their memories. He does NOT think he is the man in Klan hood or blackface and doesn’t want to resign before trying to determine who is in that photo.

    WTF?

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    February 2, 2019 at 11:03 am

    @Suzanne: Agreed.

    More people should go the “John Profumo” route. But then return to public life, if they still feel called. I’d rather have repentant sinners with an expanded compassion for human foibles than the Christianist prigs we get now.

  82. 82.

    Immanentize

    February 2, 2019 at 11:04 am

    @Suzanne: This is how I feel.

    And, I pretty much agree with Kos (please don’t pie me) at the GOS on this one.

  83. 83.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 11:05 am

    @palaver me:

    maybe just try speaking less about shit you don’t know anything about.

    Gee, thanks. Your response will get all the consideration it merits.

  84. 84.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    February 2, 2019 at 11:06 am

    @Matt McIrvin:
    Yeah. I definitely think he’s a political liability now and couldn’t effectively govern anyway. It’s very possible he’s changed, but that’s too bad. He can always run again if and when the the public deems he’s sufficiently redeemed and repentant.

    When I first started trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, I thought his yearbook photos were from high school, not Medical School when he was 25. That’s way too old to not know any better. The other point that he never mentioned this before in the intervening 30 years also made me think. At some point he should have brought this up and apologized for it. Better yet, he shouldn’t have dressed up like that in the first place.

  85. 85.

    japa21

    February 2, 2019 at 11:06 am

    @Mandalay: @Mandalay: His actions already indicate that if it wasn’t him in the picture that he did do those kind of things back then. So either way he is screwed, and this kind of attempt just makes it look worse.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    February 2, 2019 at 11:08 am

    @Immanentize: Is it something you can summarize?

  87. 87.

    Mandalay

    February 2, 2019 at 11:16 am

    @japa21:

    His actions already indicate that if it wasn’t him in the picture that he did do those kind of things back then.

    Right, but it’s even more basic than that: yesterday Northam admitted he was in the photo (didn’t he?), but now he’s denying it?

    I’m wondering if an aide has whispered in his ear: “Look – nobody can actually prove you were in the photo – change your story!”.

    He’s surely a racist, but he’s still damn good at Calvin ball.

  88. 88.

    Brickley Paiste

    February 2, 2019 at 11:17 am

    I’m not sure what to think about the Northam thing, I am going to wait for Joy Reid to weigh in.

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 11:23 am

    @Immanentize: That’s a good statement of why I feel the way I do. Thx.

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    February 2, 2019 at 11:31 am

    Looks like Northam plans to stick around and be a liability to the party — in a critical state and during the run-up to an election in which democracy is on the line. Great.

  91. 91.

    Immanentize

    February 2, 2019 at 11:31 am

    @Elizabelle: yeah I guess, kinda:
    That picture is really bad.
    The is no political statute of limitations on racism, sexism, rapeyness etc.
    If you’ve changed, tell people before you ask for their vote.
    Northam and his supporters were happy to get the GOS endorsement and $$ but don’t think they have any standing to complain now?
    He hid that picture because he knows the Dem. Voters would not have supported him knowing it existed.

  92. 92.

    Gex

    February 2, 2019 at 11:31 am

    @SFAW: that’s actually a term that’s been invented for FB so FB doesn’t automatically censor black activists or the black people who post racist messages they get with commentary.

  93. 93.

    Immanentize

    February 2, 2019 at 11:33 am

    @Betty Cracker:
    For a day or two. He has a bit of time to prove he wasn’t in that picture. And explain why it’s on his page.

  94. 94.

    Raoul

    February 2, 2019 at 11:35 am

    Well, he’s bungling it horribly. So my earlier comment about resigning ‘quickly and with humility’ is void.

    Mr. Northam, who apologized on Friday night, was increasingly isolated, but in phone calls on Saturday morning he said he had no recollection of the yearbook image of two men, one in blackface and the other in Ku Klux Klan robes. He was planning to make a statement in the afternoon that he did not think he was in either costume, according to a Virginia Democrat familiar with his planning who was not authorized to speak publicly.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    February 2, 2019 at 11:37 am

    @Gex:

    Thanks for the (additional) education. Not a Facebook user, but I can see the reasoning behind the term’s genesis

  96. 96.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    February 2, 2019 at 11:39 am

    @Princess: I’m really not trying to be an asshole here, but your view that the strong (and rightly so) liberal reactions to the CovCath dipshits and now this Northam incident means that concerns and actions regarding the racist, xenophobic immigration policies of the goddamn fascists have somehow taken a backseat (to the point of “not seen as racist at all”) is, sorry to say, flatly ridiculous.

    What, you believe the massive, ongoing resistance to “Wall” – and relatedly, defense of the Dreamers and opposition to the American Gestapo (aka, ICE) – is, I don’t know, maybe about the money or something?

    No, it’s actually and obviously all about the racism – which we’re against – and we are collectively going to the mat big-time with the Republicans over it. Very much including the beyond-despicable actions and policies of our Gestapo tearing families apart and losing track of children thereby – no one on our side is dismissing or forgetting about that, whatever your perception about insufficient liberal/Democratic attention to some FTFNYT article may be.

    The CovCath MAGAt incident and Northam’s dumbassery pale in comparison, as of course they should. Seriously, you couldn’t be more wrong about this.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    February 2, 2019 at 11:41 am

    @Betty Cracker: Fuck. Seriously?

  98. 98.

    Mandalay

    February 2, 2019 at 11:47 am

    It seems unthinkable, but if Northam does not resign, he will be giving the Republicans the moral high ground on blackface, since this happened just last week: Florida Secretary of State Resigns After Blackface Photos Surface

    Right now I hate Northam with the heat of a thousand suns. His refusal to resign is just mind boggling.

  99. 99.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    February 2, 2019 at 11:50 am

    Northam needs to resign. I’m about his contemporary and a native Virginian — growing up near his undergraduate school, VMI (full of Confederate rituals) and went to college near his medical school. It was bad news then, and it is now. Especially since his medical school is near the Ghent District of Norfolk, which became majority black after WWII. His medical college serves a majority black area (Newport News/Hampton/Norfolk). So he was in a privileged bubble when at school if he didn’t recognize how wrong BOTH costumes were. And no explanation other than “I didn’t have a yearbook, have never seen that image before, and never went to that party, so it is news to me” can even begin to heal the breach. I’m not certain it can be healed. This incident also destroys any moral authority he has going forward as governor. His actions this fall in siding with pipelines and plans to build a compressor in a historic black town (Union Hill, founded after the Civil War by freed slaves) weren’t helping him or his party, and this revelation poisons the well even more. Northam needs to put the larger issues ahead of himself — issues like the trust of the backbone of the Democratic Party in VA, like the election this November in which the Democrats could control the General Assembly, the calls by his fellow Democrats to resign. For more info: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2019/02/02/virginia-democrats-overwhelmingly-call-on-northam-to-resign/

  100. 100.

    George

    February 2, 2019 at 11:51 am

    Look, I’m late to the game with my comment. I’m a long-time lurker and an infrequent commenter.

    The idea that liberals are so willing to dump someone who posed in blackface 35 years ago is insane. Tell me, did he actually act on any racist beliefs? Did he engage in any violent racist acts? Did he post racist flyers on bulletin boards? Did he engage in any tiki torch marches?

    Conservatives just got someone who very likely engaged in sexual assault appointed to the Supreme Court. Those conservatives fully supported someone who was completely unrepentant, either by word or deed.

    And liberals now judge a fellow Democrat for being in a photo from 35 years ago, despite any change and growth and development he has had?

    Look, I grew up in a conservative household. I was a conservative until my mid-20s, when I started graduate school and moved away from rightwing family and friends. If Northram had voted Democratic throughout his life, but had posed for questionable photographs in 1985, does that make him better or worse than guys like me who may not have posed for similar photos, but who voted straight Republican?

    To those of you who have always been liberal and who grew up in liberal households, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Not everyone is as fortunate as you. Some of us have had to come to liberalism on our own, though the events in our lives, through our own evolution and development. Some of us may have carried unfortunate beliefs into our 20s or later because of the social pressures of family and friends.

    If you make no allowances for the role of personal growth, you damn a huge segment of the population.

  101. 101.

    Miss Bianca

    February 2, 2019 at 11:54 am

    @Elizabelle: I hear what you are saying, and it pains me to lose someone who is a passionate advocate for women’s health, as someone who worked in that field myself.

    However…I also think this is another instance where we have to draw a line in the sand, for the good of the party, the good of VA, and the good of the country. Just like with the Al Franken affair, if Northam doesn’t fall om his sword and resign, he will become a distraction and a bludgeon that our political enrmies will use against us.

    Besides, looks like the Black Caucus of VA has spoken and *they* want him to resign. I think their wishes should prevail. African-Americans are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and it’s way past time that we Dems acted like that really mattered.
    Gov. Fairfax will do just fine carrying on the good things that Gov. Northam has initiated. And with any hope, the next time that the racist assholes in the VA state houses want to recognize the arch-traitor Robert E. Lee, he won’t be sitting out his protest alone.

  102. 102.

    Darkrose

    February 2, 2019 at 11:57 am

    @rikyrah: Plus his yearbook from VMI that lists his nickname as “Coonman”.

  103. 103.

    Darkrose

    February 2, 2019 at 12:01 pm

    @Tommy Green: Redemption must be earned. Currently Northram is apparently insisting that wasn’t him in those pictures, so fuck him.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    February 2, 2019 at 12:03 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Yeah. Came to that conclusion myself, late last night. This was a shock to process.

    Heard a few moments ago from an African American friend whose opinion I respect. She says she was not surprised. Circumspect about saying much more. And a big fan of Justin Fairfax, so there is that to be happy about.

  105. 105.

    Tony in San Diego

    February 2, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): that’s why Senator Franken had to resign, and
    Re[publicans can get away with it.

  106. 106.

    Ohio Mom

    February 2, 2019 at 12:09 pm

    @George: Thank you. I myself remain very ambivalent, mainly because I can’t figure out how Northram could have addressed this sooner.

    “Vote for me for Governor, I’ll make our great state greater by doing X,Y and Z, and by the way, my med school yearbook contains a really awful picture of me that I now renounce”? How do you work this into a conversation out of the blue?

    That said, his apology attempts so far have been embarrassingly lame and wanting.

    Out of curiosity, I looked at the Rev. Dr. Barber’s twitter. He writes it’s people’s right to call for Northram’s resignation and adds that he doesn’t know what Northram has done “in word, deed and policy to make amends,” implying he can’t know what this all means to Northram. I don’t know what to make of that.

  107. 107.

    Lyrebird

    February 2, 2019 at 12:11 pm

    @rikyrah: Too true.

    re: young Tamir Rice, I see that his mom is creating a youth center in his memory.

    I still have no words.

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    February 2, 2019 at 12:14 pm

    @Elizabelle: I have to admit that I was at first inclined to be skeptical about that photo, because of the timing over the late-term abortion bill. I thought it might have been doctored, so to speak. But it’s real, and it seens to be part of a pattern with real political consequences for A-A citizens of the state, which your friend was probably alluding to. Rikyrah and lamh and Darkrose are right – we can’t ignore the kind of pain that image makes fun of, at all.

  109. 109.

    Lyrebird

    February 2, 2019 at 12:21 pm

    @George:

    Those conservatives fully supported someone who was completely unrepentant, either by word or deed.

    I think I hear what you’re saying. And I thought Kavanagh ruled himself out on his 2018 behavior. I hugely respect the Black Caucus in the VA lege for meeting with the Gov in person before making a public call for resignation. Did you see what Aleta shared last night, re: Northam paving the way for a big natural gas plant (sorry if I miss details) in a historic African American neighborhood, over local objections?

    Iirc it was Ruemara reporting in as disappointed but not surprised by the photo. Same here. Fwiw, I’m going with what those caucus members concluded, since they have way more info than I do. I think that trying to be a big-tent party means more painful moments like this, and I am so glad to have the full range of BJ commenter perspectives to read.

  110. 110.

    TommoRolassi

    February 2, 2019 at 12:24 pm

    @SFAW: I believe the notion is that it’s supposed to be dialect — if I’m not mistaken it is used by at least some African Americans on e.g. TheRoot.com

  111. 111.

    laura

    February 2, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    @George: The problem is personal growth is limited to those with power. For those without power, they are expected to bootstrap without boots.
    FYI, huge segments of the population have been, and continue to be damned. What they have in common is a lack of white male privilege.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    February 2, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    @Immanentize: Exactly.

    The context of the picture is that it happened at a time when there were pipe bombs and increasing threats against black people in the DC area, VA and MD (not only there). The Klan had been recruiting more openly, numbers reported to be increasing. They were giving interviews to reporters.

    In the 80s there was publicity about opposition to them, especially in towns where they applied for permits to march. That picture at that time represents being on the side of anti-affirmative action, anti-busing, and anti-federal intervention by the courts. It doesn’t represent youthful unawareness. Very upsetting that the guys at that school were there to attain positions of power in the Army, medicine and government.

  113. 113.

    Another Scott

    February 2, 2019 at 12:35 pm

    Popehat:

    AccomplishedTheHat @Popehat

    “look I thought I was perfectly clear, I wasn’t IN the blackface/Klansman photo, I just CHOSE it to memorialize who I was to my classmates in a yearbook commemorating my medical school experience.”

    7:45 AM – 2 Feb 2019

    Yeah, Ralph, it’s not a defense.

    I guess his plan last night was to have his “morning” press conference be more contrition and to try to ride out the storm. I take the delay and the push-back on the rumors that he’s trying to say that it wasn’t him – and their failure – to be a good sign that it’s not working and that there’s still a chance that he’ll end it today.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  114. 114.

    LAC

    February 2, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    @rikyrah: Girl, how you do this heavy lifting in this site day in and day out? THIS, 1000 times! Whatever is in the water that makes a black kid of 11 a menace to be shot on sight and also makes a 25 year old white male medical student a mere babe in the woods is some powerful shit.

  115. 115.

    dr. bloor

    February 2, 2019 at 12:40 pm

    @George: His decision not to disclose the photo before he was elected, as well as his actions this morning, suggest that Northam is…lacking…in the personal growth you seem so convinced he’s undergone.

  116. 116.

    Aleta

    February 2, 2019 at 12:41 pm

    Erickson, conservatives:
    1. That’s a racist picture and Dems are hypocrites. Ha!
    2. “But the more I think about it” … I just admitted that blackface and Klan costumes are racist and young people should be held to account for racist actions. Uh oh !!!
    (Reverse engines)

  117. 117.

    Mandalay

    February 2, 2019 at 12:50 pm

    @George:

    The idea that liberals are so willing to dump someone who posed in blackface 35 years ago is insane.

    No. The idea that someone who profited by hiding their dirty secret for 35 years should get away with it with no consequences is insane.

    Northam has had 35 fucking years to address this, and yet he claims he’s “accepting responsibility’ only after he got caught?

    Yesterday I wanted Northam to resign and quietly go away. But his conduct in the last 24 hours makes me want him to be humiliated and shunned for the rest of his life. He disgusts me now. Fuck him.

  118. 118.

    Redshift

    February 2, 2019 at 12:58 pm

    @Another Scott: The Democratic caucuses of the State Senate and the House of Delegates have called on him to resign, along with the Democratic committee chairs for the largest jurisdictions. He cannot possibly ride this out.

    I’ve never loved Northam, but I’ve always liked him, and he’s done a good job, so this whole thing makes me feel ill. But it also reminds me of John Edwards, in that during all his years of running for office and rising to higher offices, this was a time bomb that could have gone off at some point.

    There probably was never a time when he could have disclosed this and apologized and gotten past it (he might have served in public office, but definitely never would have been nominated statewide), but that still doesn’t make it right to have sat on it.

    I agree with my friends in the legislature, who say that it gives them no joy to say so, but he has to step down.

  119. 119.

    Citizen Alan

    February 2, 2019 at 1:04 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I was 37 when I politely but firmly asked my 77-year-old father never to use the N-word in my presence again. And he never did. And unless he and my mom lied to me, he voted for Obama twice.

  120. 120.

    Citizen Alan

    February 2, 2019 at 1:07 pm

    @JPL:

    That is the most bizarre thing to me. I can’t imagine looking at a picture of two people wearing any costumes in a Halloween picture and not knowing which of the two was me.

  121. 121.

    Dmbeaster

    February 2, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    maybe a red cap doesn’t make you a racist

    Yeah, Erick Erickson, and some people became Nazis for the business opportunity like Schindler. It still makes you a sh!t based on your choice of company.

  122. 122.

    Betty Cracker

    February 2, 2019 at 1:12 pm

    @Ohio Mom: It would certainly have been awkward to bring it up, but it’s not impossible. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave a great speech about removing the Confederate monuments in that city some years back. He explained his own cluelessness about the statues as a younger man in a very effective way.

    It’s not perfectly analogous — Landrieu hadn’t personally engaged in overtly racist behavior that was captured on film. But he explained his journey on the issue. Many Democratic politicians, including President Obama, have had to explain how they went from opposing to supporting marriage equality.

    I didn’t follow the Virginia gubernatorial race all that closely, but IIRC, Northam’s opponent was a neo-Confederate shitbird. That was an opening to talk about race and personal growth. Not necessarily to distribute that awful photo to the press, but to say something like, “Look, when I was a young man growing up in the South, I said and did stupid things that I now regret. I’ve grown up since then and invite Mr. GOP Candidate to join me in the 21st century.”

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    February 2, 2019 at 1:12 pm

    @laura:
    How about pushed out of a helicopter 50 ft up, in the middle of Lake Michigan, and he gets to swim back if he can?

  124. 124.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2019 at 1:17 pm

    @Citizen Alan: I have never enjoyed dressing up in costumes for Halloween or parties or plays or anything, and the older I get, the more I realize that that is not bad.

  125. 125.

    Shana

    February 2, 2019 at 1:19 pm

    Don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this, I’m only up to comment #70, but let’s not forget that we have elections in Virginia this year, House of Delegates, State Senate, lots of local governance offices. We, as Virginia Democrats, need to get this behind us so it doesn’t become a real issue in November. Or more of an issue that it already will be.

    I like what Ralph’s been able to do with the exception of his environmental record and the pipeline issues, but we need to clean house.

  126. 126.

    Ruckus

    February 2, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    while still acknowledging that he can’t do his job effectively now.

    The crux of the matter.
    Forgive him his transgressions? Sure, he’s done good as a mature adult, as a human being he seems currently to be a first rate example.
    Be effective in his political job in 2019 as a liberal? No, that’s really not possible.

    His growth as a human seems far better than many, but then his starting point to that was pretty damn low, as @rikyrah: said so well, he can’t remember if he was blackface or robe guy. This picture didn’t stick out to him, this was his normal enough thinking at that time that he can’t remember it. It wasn’t a special event.

  127. 127.

    low-tech cyclist

    February 2, 2019 at 1:28 pm

    The thing that really gets me about Erickson is: look at the time stamp on that tweet! At 5:34pm yesterday, many people hadn’t even heard about the picture yet, and many of those that had were only just finding out that it really WAS Northam’s yearbook pic, and not a wingnut Photoshop hack job.

    Erick was eager to believe the worst of his enemies, on the basis of…no reaction yet to a story that was just breaking.

    He claims to be some sort of Christian. Fuck that noise.

  128. 128.

    #lurker3000

    February 2, 2019 at 1:36 pm

    @dr. bloor: This! Today’s performance makes it even clearer.he should resign now.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    February 2, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    @low-tech cyclist:
    He is some sort of christian. A real shitty one.

  130. 130.

    Ivan X

    February 2, 2019 at 1:55 pm

    @opiejeanne: Tough being an Angels fan in these times, what with their caps and all, innit?

  131. 131.

    EthylEster

    February 2, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    @Van Buren: you are a moron. That is all.

  132. 132.

    laura

    February 2, 2019 at 2:36 pm

    @Ruckus: Sure. We can agree on that. But Lindsay Graham is concerned about the no-knock on that poor Roger Stone feller, because . . . .

  133. 133.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 2, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    @George: I agree with you although I am a life long liberal, with parents who had socialist sympathies when I was growing up.

  134. 134.

    Van Buren

    February 2, 2019 at 3:17 pm

    @EthylEster: Lincoln was capable of growth. Northam may be. You, on the other hand, not so much.

  135. 135.

    Mnemosyne

    February 2, 2019 at 3:21 pm

    @Princess:

    You’re surprised that breaking news got more immediate attention than an ongoing story?

  136. 136.

    thalarctosMaritimus

    February 2, 2019 at 7:21 pm

    @opiejeanne: Oscar Wilde says hi.

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