The whole you-can’t-wear-blackface = absolutely unrealistic standard of purity talking point is mindless, weird, and profoundly disappointing.
10 Likes
Once more, with feeling:
I am not talking about Northam.
I am talking about the future of the party and the law of unintended consequences.
Stop being so literal, and look at the broader picture and what lies ahead.
3 Likes
The so called “liberal/progressive” movement becoming more on more rigid, narrow and exclusionary in its approach. The rules are being set that no human being is worthy or acceptable for this wing. There is no place for any one who may of changed views, or matured in their political or social outlook. There is no credit given for years of service or exemplary work. Once, even the simplest flaw is uncovered, there is no redemption. Republicans know exatly how to pull the strings. Show picture at the start of Black History Month, sit back and enjoy, media, Democratic politicians and of course social media mob do the job for them.
3 Likes
The asymmetry in holding people accountable whose replacement will be a Democrat while being quiet about someone like Bob Menendez whose replacement would have been a Republican is a sign of hypocrisy, not virtue. If the Lt Gov was a Republican it is easy to imagine this story would have played out far differently.
That’s exactly what I was getting at when I posted that image of text. I like you and I’m honestly lost at this point so I’m going to let you keep at it, don’t mind me 
1 Like
I’m on my way to work, but right now, the answer is ‘yes/maybe’.
However, 2019 is an election year and if his status becomes entwined with either the primaries or the general, then ‘look out below’.
3 Likes
Not at all. We’re talking about posing in blackface and groping women. We’re not talking about people who dropped a napkin and didn’t bother to go pick it up. Come on.
4 Likes
Show my “work”? I don’t have work to show work to express an opinion, but I’m sure I could come up with some. I’ll match your two and raise if necessary.
Just be glad are comments aren’t audible in real time. It would be worse than a CNN panel on meth.
6 Likes
At present, the bogeyman slippery-slope scenario, which envisions the complete collapse of the Democratic Party bench, will have held steady at… one old white guy who should have known better per year?
I guess I’m not clear on why this should be putting my underpants in a knot. That seems a worthwhile price to ensure we have people of outstanding character in our leadership. I don’t really like the proposed “Trump is terrible, so as long as we’re only half as terrible, it’s okay” moral calculus.
9 Likes
[quote=“thunderclapnewman, post:34, topic:83922”]
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?[/quote]
This isn’t a case of zero tolerance for past behavior. There is plenty of room for redemption in the party, for acknowledging past behavior and then spending considerable time to demonstrate that you’re no longer that person. And I don’t mean a weekend of mea culpas after you’ve been outed.
He never addressed this part of his past before he was elected. The voters of Virginia never had a chance to evaluate it. He’s also dodging the question of what that nickname meant. This is far from a purity requirement. It’s about honesty and transparency.
It isn’t an either/or choice.
3 Likes
Something tells me when he finally resigns, he’s not going to go out with the kind of dignity Franken showed.
7 Likes
That’s completely ridiculous. No one is saying anything of the sort. Some of us would just like racism to be given the same treatment as we would if we found out he had a penchant for chasing nurses around the office.
10 Likes
@planb your argument, intentionally or not, has the effect of diminishing the experiences of POC and women to maintain the privilege of white men. That’s never a good basis for an argument.
4 Likes
3 Likes
For some of us a firm opposition to lynching is precisely a recognition of the experiences of People of Color.
1 Like
Common sense has to kick in at some point. Is Northam a racist now? Look at his policies NOW. Does he work with the minorities in a positive way now? You could be tarring and feathering a friend of the Black community because of foolish and stupid behavior 30 years ago.
I don’t know much about Northam now, but there seems to be a lot of jumping on the band wagon over something that happened a long time ago.
2 Likes
That’s exactly what Republicans said about Brett Kavanaugh.
10 Likes
Please explain why such costuming is considered to be a mortal sin? How is it that black face immediately is interpreted as a racist? And these days exaggerated point of view that Halloween dressing even in sombrero or kimono represents racial offense?
After watching Fairfax give an impressively delivered statement on the allegations against him (with a few shots at the media for printing uncorroborated stuff), I think the Dems know who their star is. They’ll rally to Fairfax. Northam is done. It’s not personal. It’s business.
5 Likes