Virginia Governor Northam

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

[William Thornton]

I agree with Dave on the 'just plain stupid.' Now it's on to the LT gov.

[William Thornton]

And btw, the dems were in " I believe the accuser" mode last year. He doesn't deny the furtive encounter.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

....which is why there is an "I believe her" mode to begin with. Dems and fems should be consistent. More to come I'd speculate.

[Sandy]

The Washington Post investigated pretty thoroughly, found zilch. The flaw in conservative and Republican logic here is that they've jumped to the conclusion that Democrats and women should be consistent in considering that any woman who makes an accusation is right and therefore the man is wrong period. That's a clear indication that for them, it is political and is to be used that way and that is a huge mistake. It is also one of the reasons why they are taking a catastrophic beating on credibility. Democrats require facts and evidence to back up an accusation. Republicans are just looking for a smear.

The issue with Fairfax surfaced a year ago and in spite of it, he went on to be elected overwhelmingly. There will probably be some muttering and fuming, lip flapping and finger pointing. This is being pushed by Breitbart (a.k.a. the alt-right racist liars). As an African American who is popular, outspoken on the reticent racism exhibited in Robert E. Lee commemorations and leftover confederate memorabilia, and leans to the left politically. Put all of that together with evidence of an investigation that turned up nothing and you have the makings of a big boost to Fairfax in terms of sympathy for him and backlash against those who keep pushing it.

[KeithE]

[Stephen Fox]

Sandy is eloquent, but ill informed if he hasn't read and thought about Jill Lepore chapter Battle lines. The Dem leadership caved way too soon!!! Until facts point otherwise I'm convinced this was a right to life Hit Job and that should be the story. Let's bring in the Opp researchers who ruined this man in a 24 hour news cycle and find some so called "conservative" Christians who know their rectum from a Hole in the Ground to do some truth telling about the right to life movement chocked full of "mendacity"!!!

[William Thornton]

Odd how Trump is the answer for Keith. Doesn't matter what the question is. Find someone who voted for the guy.

Would suit me if Northam stayed in office.

[Sandy]

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

[Rvaughn]

Interesting article from the Washington Post from a couple of hours ago:

[Sandy]

That is an interesting article, since the Post was given the information around the time he was getting elected. I believe that every accusation should be investigated. This one apparently was and nothing came of it. And unlike the high profile Kavanaugh accusations, complete with corroborating evidence, this one doesn't have anything. The Republicans are taking a low profile on it because they can see the potential this one might have for some real backlash.

[Rvaughn]

According to the Post, they had two different versions of what happened, with the only witnesses being the two people giving the two different versions. They said they could find no way of corroborating either version. The Post disputed the claim of the Lt. Governor's staff that the Post found “significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegations” of the Lt. Governor's accuser.

[Rvaughn]

National Public Radio has reported that the woman accusing Lt. Governor Fairfax of sexual assault hasretained Katz, Marshall and Banks, law firm that represented Christine Blasey Ford. Could become interesting.

[Haruo]

[Rvaughn]

[Sandy]

Northam is term limited, so the pressure for him to resign will be whatever he puts on himself. Virginia voters are quite pleased with his governorship so far and with the progressive turn the state has made as he fulfills campaign promises that helped him get elected by a wide majority. Regardless of the persons at the helm, the Democratic agenda is resonating with Virginia voters and that's going to continue.

I really don't get whatever the "thrill" was with whites putting on blackface and imitating African Americans. I grew up in a part of the country where that just wasn't a thing, and I can see how it can be perceived as demeaning, hurtful and mean-spirited and how someone doing it could be seen as prejudiced, or at the very least, inconsiderate. I never really thought much about the KKK, that was just the stuff you saw in movies until I moved to Texas and saw several group gatherings, marches and demonstrations and I could see how intimidating that could be. And I can see how offensive it would be for someone to dress up that way as a joke.

Noting that this and the allegations about Fairfax were put out by a group connected to Breitbart, which is itself a racist, alt-right propaganda outlet. Against that, Northam and Fairfax are far more credible. The Republicans are on the down side of an electoral beating and headed toward an even larger defeat down the road.

[KeithE]

[Rvaughn]

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

[Haruo]

I haven't had a chance to really research either the Northam or the Fairfax stories, but the thing that worries me about Northam much more than the pictures on his yearbook page (regardless of whether he is or is not one of the guys in costume) is why (at least as I have seen it reported) he first admitted it was him and then later denied it was him. I don't know exactly what it was he was trying to admit initially, nor whether or not that is the same thing that he later tried to deny. If it's the same thing (Is this you in this photo here? Yes. Next day: Is this you in this [same] photo here? No.) then I think that says more about his fitness to be governor than anything he may have done in 1984. I don't know if it means he's loony, or that he's dumb enough to think that you can do that sort of retraction, or what. But I'm not at all sure that what he said "Yes" to one day was the exact same question he said "No" to the next day. I don't have enough computer access time to track such things down and still accomplish anything in my life and keep my wife fed, so I'm unlikely to ever know unless a story I happen to see on Google News addresses and answers (clearly) my question. Or if somebody here does.

I can imagine him saying "Yes" meaning "Yes, that's my page, and I had a hand in its composition" but "No, the individuals in costume there are neither of them me." But I don't know, and the world of algorithm-driven sound bites and journalistic biases makes it hard to know if I ever will.