That guy who posed in the borrowed sports car is looking good now, except I can’t even remember his name.
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I would bet Northam becomes a Republican in the next week or so. He can claim the Democratic Party is the party of intolerance and unchristian in their inability to forgive. That will play well with the Republican base and give them a governorship to boot.
Ironically, it looks like Fairfax will be the guy who winds up resigning. Democrats really need to come up with a punishment better than resignation or else they will continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
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Exactly, just take a look at Cindy Hide-Smith, Senator from Mississippi, who famously made a comment during campaign, that if invited by certain supporter she would be in the front seat for attending a public hanging. She was also openly talking about making more difficult to vote for certain people in her state. There was a bit of buzz from the media and Republicans closed the ranks defending her. And here media’s goal is to destroy guy for a stupid picture from some 30 years ago.
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The asymmetry in behavior and accountability from D’s and R’s is a long term strength, not a weakness, of the Democratic Party. Building for the future sucks. But it’s necessary.
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Yes! I can’t even recall another time when the black community has even asked this of the party before, and yet folks are acting like this is something we do everyday. We’re asking that Dems treat racism with the same ferocity as they do white women’s claims of sexual harassment and assault.
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That doesn’t in any way disprove what I posted.
It’s not a binary choice in any event.
As I said, Northam’s toast.
That part, I’d imagine you can put down to the aides who were likely the drafters of a rush-job trying to get ahead of the story. Friday evening seems to have been a hectic time around that office, and throwing that stuff together in between taking calls, trying to strategize, I can certainly see that a slip comes out.
Not saying that that makes this whole mess any better, and it’s kinda a moot point because his later statements clarified that he did do the blackface bit on another occasion anyway, so whether this picture includes him or not…
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Yeah, but don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story… or political meme.
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The question is will he hold out long enough for Trump to create a new shiny object. In the old days I would have thought no way, but in today’s world I am not so sure.
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It seems directly applicable to me? Not sure what you mean. You’re saying we have purity tests. I’m saying we have — and need — high standards.
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Then that’s an own goal that’s also on him. He could have said a million different things, but that Friday statement (without waiting 24 hrs) was a fail.
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As I said in another post, I find it difficult to believe that he wasn’t directly involved with a statement that was perhaps the most important one he was going to make in his political career. I highly doubt he farmed that out to aides without at least reviewing it before it was shared with the media. If he did, that’s another example of political malpractice.
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No, I’m not.
I’m saying we have to be very careful about demanding purity and having a zero-tolerance clause for long-ago behaviors.
We have to treat every situation as unique, because we have to see how people have behaved since the error in judgment in question.
Have they grown? Have they changed their behavior and beliefs? Do they recognize the error and work hard to keep from having it happen again?
It cannot be an either/or choice.
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But you’re talking here about what would be proper in a just universe, which we don’t have. We have the possibility of individual morality, and when that’s also politically effective—you see what I’m saying.
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We’re eager to find ways to abdicate his personal responsibility, though! This isn’t aimed at anyone specific here, but it’s a trend I’m noticing men in politics benefiting from a lot today.
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I really wish TPM’s comment software allowed us to go back and search a users post history. I’d LOVE to see the crossover of people who demanded Franken go on day 1 and are now handwringing and calling this a ‘purity test’.
Edit: turns out you can search that way.
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He’s not Trump
He’s an elected Democrat that the media will portray as a ‘both sides’ example.
He’s a politician who is gradually losing parts of a voting base who have no idea how to deal with a ‘cool heel’, but dang nabbit, ‘let’s hear what the gadfly has to say’.
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I think that is being done here? Aren’t we all doing that, judging him in context? Northram isn’t being criticized for current day racist politics. But I mean, what is the storyline here? “Privileged white man benefiting from culture of hate grows less shitty over time?” He could have chosen to write a tale of redemption himself, particularly a long time ago, but that’s not what he did. He’s been flailing. That’s part of the context for judging him.
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I understand the governor of VA doesn’t stand for re-election. The real issues are can he be effective leading the VA government and working with VA legislature. My guess is he can do his job. He probably doesn’t have a political future.
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