Virginia Governor Northam

[Sandy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vi ... 9d46441c4f

There are increasing calls for the governor to step down over his appearance in his medical school yearbook in a clearly racist photo. He has not identified which of the two people in the photo are him, one in black face, one in a KKK outfit. This was medical school, not high school. It was in poor taste. Should he step down?

Now, if you're a Republican or a conservative, and if Northam was also a Republican, you'd be claiming this is no big deal, he was younger and less responsible, long time ago, he's changed, not the same guy, blah, blah, blah. And let's take note of the fact that many of the Virginia Republicans who are lip-flapping over this were participants in the Robert E. Lee commemoration prior to the MLK holiday. Northam's opponent in the election embraced white supremacists so there's no moral high ground for them to be critical. But they really don't need to be. Instead of defending him and making excuses like Republicans do with one of their own, they are calling for his resignation.

He needs to resign.

[Tim Bonney]

Yes, as a Democrat, I also agree he needs to resign. We don't need any racists in governors offices. And we don't need anyone with such poor judgement either. The sooner he resigns the better it is for his state.

[Haruo]

Now I get it.

[Joseph Patrick]

From Gerry Milligan...I have just watched Northam's press conference. The first thing that struck me as false was when, at the first of the conference, he said that he had never seen his yearbook page. I think that everyone who receives a yearbook look for their own page, thus I find it hard to believe anything he said. And he admits to being a member of a Baptist church.

[KeithE]

Some thoughts:

I believe that people deserve a chance to account for things done and said in years gone by. Northam is doing so right now on TV. He deserves to be heard. He claims that as of two days ago he had not seen the Yearbook (his story is that he left to join the Medical Corp right after finishing school and never OK’d that picture on his page; he didn’t even purchase a yearbook he claims). Last night he apologized for the picture being on his page, apparently admitting to be one of the two guys. Today he is saying he is sure he is not one of the two people in the photo, Hmmm. He did admit that he dressed up in “blackface” (he called it a "little shoe polish under his eye”) when doing a Michael Jackson imitation contest and knowingly being nicknamed “Coon” in school, both of which he apologized for. His story should be checked out by the press. More to come, I’m sure.

If he knowingly was photo’ed in a KKK outfit, then he clearly had a bad attitude back in 1984. I believe in forgiveness for the truly contrite. His racial attitude today should be assessed.

The cries from Democrats for his resignation shows that Democrats care about the past conduct of their leaders. Also remember the immediate resignation of Al Franken(D).

The lack of cries from Republicans for bad conduct in the past (and present) of their leaders show they really don’t care - certainly to the point of asking someone to resign. Think about:

- Donald Trump’s housing racial discrimination in the 70’s . Denying rental space on the basis of race is worse in my end that mocking. Yet Republican embraced him in large numbers.

- Donald Trump’s saying “there are good people and bad people on both sides” after the Charlottesville incident with KKK present.

- (I could go on and on about Trump’s approx 19 sexual harassment charges, tax evasions, lies, arrogance, discrimination/mistreatment against latinos, emoluemnets, crookedness in business - with Republicans nary saying a word - let alone calling for his resignation)

- Steven King's white nationalism (certainly more egregious than today’s Northam) which has only been reprimanded; he has not been asked to resign.

- Brett Kavanaugh’s charges of sexual harassment/purported rape in HS/college/early 20’s did not result in Republican calls for his stepping down from a SCOTUS candidacy (nor were all the allegations allowed to be studied by the FBI). Cavanaugh's sexual habits later in life are apparently just fine and that was enough to allow his continued candidacy.

Both Republicans and Democrats politicians have sordid pasts. My point is that Democrats care, Republicans don’t.

If Northam resigns (and presently I think he should), so should Trump, King and Kavanaugh (with cries from Republicans, Democrats, all Americans)

[William Thornton]

Not your best stuff. Da guv isnt credible and presents himself poorly. His wife should be governor.

His infanticide comment is worse.

[Joseph Patrick]

From Gerry Milligan...Watching his press conference I was reminded of my college days when answering a True/False question...if any part of the question was not true then the question must be false. As I said above some of his responses cause me to question which was the truth. And, if he was not in that picture, his self confession of putting on "black face" to act as Michael Jackson also leads to questions. Maybe one of the more tenacious reporters will contact the editor of the yearbook. But with all of the hullabaloo surrounding this, I might wonder if the editor would answer honestly.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

For the Republicans, the sky is falling in. The news out of the Mueller investigation is as bad as it can be. Trump is getting his fanny whipped by a west coast liberal woman and there is significant fear that his border boondoggle is damaging re-election chances for some more Republican senators, congressmen and state legislators. The opposition to the wall among Republicans is now obvious and shrill. And so, in the middle of all of that, suddenly the abortion memes show up on social media and once again, that becomes the only thing Republicans have to try and hang on to a melting core constituency. As I understand it, it was extremist right wingers who found and dragged out the yearbook photo because the Virginia legislature is debating late term abortion legislation. So the words "infanticide" etc. etc. are getting dragged out in desperation. Not much acknowledgement from the right of the fact that abortion is still legal because they keep using it as a political football and haven't done away with it when they've had the chance, and they've had several.

Except, there's a flaw in their logic. The Democrats are not hypocrites on this issue like the GOP is on sanctity of human life. They had the same options that Trumper Republicans use whenever evidence surfaces that they've done something wrong. They could have just said "Fake news" or claimed the picture was photoshopped and made up by the extremist right wing media and then ignored it. After all. desperate times call for desperate measures. The Republicans have nothing to say about this. Their record on this sort of thing is abominable. And while I believe that Northam should be heard, and fairly treated given the circumstances, he needs to consider more than just his own interest here. If he steps aside, Justin Fairfax becomes the governor for the next three years. Elected to his post by almost as wide a margin as Northam, Fairfax would unify the party in the state, and put things in order. Such a move would also put the Democrats miles ahead of the GOP in terms of integrity.

Be kind to William. Republicans are having a bad time. Cut him a little slack.

[Rvaughn]

[William Thornton]

[KeithE]

The not so subtle point in this story is that Republicans do not care if their politicians have sordid pasts or presents. And rank and file Republicans point out smaller logs in Democrat's lives (however old) while seemingly oblivious to the many more and much larger logs in their own eyes many of which still persists. That is not dispassionate judgment. It is looking only at Democratic faults and pouncing.

I’ll repeat, if Northam is forced to resign (as I think he should), then Trump, King should be forced to resign (from what we know is worse and more current misbehaviors than Northam’s) and Kavanaugh should go through a more complete vetting.

[William Thornton]

Yawn. I didn't start a topic on the gov but a blackface, moonwalking, klan friendly, shoe polish loving, coonman who sez he never looked at his med school yearbook is bound to be interesting. Don't think this can be salvaged by the usual anti trump repub hating throwaway rhetoric.

Virginians deserve better.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

I'm somewhat politically ambivalent. Certainly have little interest in northam save for entertainment value...but that's been quite a show.

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

As the only active Virginian in this forum, I am repeating a post I earlier made to Facebook:

I am grieved over Virginia's Governor being exposed in a racist picture from 1984. The sad reality, however, is that what is exposed is the continuing life of racism in his photo almost 35 years ago but also in our lives and our culture. We in Virginia were taught for so many years about the inferiority of Blacks and even told in our history books that they were happier as slaves. I know Governor Northen was wrong, and it may well cost him his office, but if it does not call all of us to repentance for our past and the continuing presence of racism in our lives, we are missing the broader opportunity to confess our sins and entrust them to the one "who is faithful and just and will forgive our sins..." Whenever I am looking down on any of my fellow members of the human race, I am soon reduced by my attitude to the place the only thing I can look down on is their shoetops.

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

We all have the skeleton of sin in our lives (past and present and future- Nazarene theology aside). Th good news is that we can all receive forgiveness.

But some sins are not tolerable from a person in politics.

Racial attitudes is one of those in these days (remembering that were slave owners). Minorities represent and some of those minorities (Native Americans, Blacks, Japanese, recently Hispanic/Latinos of any race) have experienced egregious treatment by the white majority. Present day politicians must be free of racial bias all of their lives even if they are free of that bias today - since a considerable constituency will have latent doubts.

I’d say we are fast approaching the days (given the meToo movement, religious taboos) when proper treatment of the opposite gender is a necessary requirement of a political candidate. Women () have taken the blunt of that ill treatment. That revolution will take time. Too bad it was not in play in 2016.

I'd say the sin LGBTQ discrimination will take even more time.

(An aside: Resisting all of these social advancements was succesfully demagogued by Trump in 2016. Not the total reason he won, but certainly enough to alter the outcome).

I’d say the sin of lying has never been excusable. And what we have today is a habitual liar that must be removed for any number things. Got to run.

[Dave Roberts]

I am not sure that Northam can survive as the state's chief executive. The GOP silence on this is that should Northam resign, the next governor will be Justin Fairfax, the African-American Lieutenant Governor, who by the state constitution would be eligible to run for a second term in 2021 and might thereby be governor for over six years in a state that has one-term governors. I want what is best for Virginia, but this is a painful time. The only things that Northam's opponent in the last election promised were support for Trump and support for the NRA.

[Haruo]

Looks like the same outfit that publicized the dirt on Northam has now . My link is to a Fox News story about a Washington Post story (haven't seen the actual WAPO piece yet), and I think it's interesting that Fox News calls the source of both of these old dirt pieces "right wing".

Proposed proof text of the day: Luke 18:19. Be interesting to see if the culture as a whole can learn anything about forgiveness, and if liberals can learn not to pass over "repent" in silence.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

Puhleeze...do any of you think there's a dem in the galaxy that would not have pushed the yearbook pics if they were of a rep?

The messenger isn't northams problem, it's the admitted blacface and the admitted then denied blackface and klan robe.