I’m not here to pick a fight with BettyC, but I have some questions regarding this breaking news about Governor Northam. This isn’t a defense of him, of the picture in the yearbook, but I have some questions that are concerning me.
1) Is that him in that picture, if not who is it, and/or is it something that was put on his page by the yearbook staff?
2) Why didn’t his own in house oppo team turn this up when doing their own pre candidacy oppo review.
3) Why didn’t Perriello’s or Gardner’s oppo teams turn this up?
4) Is this in any other copies of the yearbook?
5) Who tipped off Big League Politics?
6) If this is him, when is he resigning?
I’m especially interested in questions 2, 3, 4, and 5. Every candidate or, really, potential candidate has their opposition research team (oppo) do as deep a dive as can be done on themselves to ensure there are no gotcha surprises either during the campaign or, should the candidate be successful, once in office. Governor Northam has held elected office for twelve years. So why didn’t his own internal oppo review, let alone the oppo researchers working for Tom Perriello or Corey Gardner, his Democratic primary opponent and Republican general election opponent respectively, find this? Given that Gardner ran on a fusion neo-Confederate/Trumpist platform, you’d think his team would have been looking for anything to help immunize him against the accurate charges being made about his own character. Moreover, why didn’t the oppo researchers of any of Northam’s other opponents ever find this starting with his first run for office in 2007?
I’d also like to know if there are any other copies of this yearbook that have survived until 2019. And, if so, is this picture on his page in these other copies. Or did either the person who tipped off Big League Politics or someone at Big League Politics doctor the copy that The Virginia Pilot and The Washington Post are reporting on? And that leads to the question of who the person was who tipped off Big League Politics?
I’m not in any way suggesting this isn’t bad. Nor that if it turns out that this is, indeed, Northam’s page and that is Northam in the picture, either in black face or in the Klan outfit, he should try to brazen this out. If he’s either of the two men in the picture, he’s got to go. But I find the timing curious, given the past 48 hours where Republican officials, elites and notables within the conservative movement that controls the Republican Party, and conservative news and other conservative media outlets have attempted to paint Northam as a baby killer, proponent and supporter of infanticide. Since that largely hasn’t worked, I find it interesting that this would drop right now. Especially as it isn’t going to bring a Republican into the Virginia governor’s mansion. Rather, Northam would be back filled by Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. Who is more progressive, is African-American, and isn’t having any of the Virginia GOP’s neo-Confederate bullshit.
Updated at 6:30 PM EDT
Here’s Northam’s statement. So that answers question #1 and makes question #4 moot. It’ll be interesting to see if he can survive this or if he eventually resigns.
Update 2 at 11:00 PM EDT
Governor Northam is calling a press conference tomorrow morning.
— Ben Tribbett (@notlarrysabato) February 2, 2019
I expect he’ll be resigning tomorrow morning.
Open thread!
EriktheRed
Wow.
After getting in hot water with forced-birth wingnuts, this happens.
A Ghost To Most
In before the rush to judgement.
Baud
Yeah it’s a strange thing that this didn’t turn up before. I think he’s probably resigning, but we will see soon enough what he has to say.
Elizabelle
Statement from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on offensive photo: per the Richmond Times Dispatch. Less than 10 minutes ago.
joel hanes
4) Is this in any other copies of the yearbook?
This one’s answered: the WaPo has found it in a library.
Elizabelle
Adam: I have two comments late in Betty’s thread in moderation. I am not sure what I did to trip up.
Will you please release them? Thank you.
TomatoQueen
Which means ratfckery
JPL
@joel hanes: What does the rest of the year book look like?
@Elizabelle: I wish he would have stated why he did it.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Maybe rushed out, but I don’t think that’s a strong opening statement.
Kent
If it is a ratfuck (as in the entire thing is fabricated), can someone explain what the gain is here? Far as I understand, he is term-limited out and if he did resign a popular liberal Dem would take his place. It’s not like there is any political gain that I can see that would inspire some sort of old yearbook counterfitting operation. Am I missing something?
If one is going to go through all this trouble you’d think it would be for some sort of political gain. Like to torpedo a nomination or election campaign. Or to gain some sort of advantage in a narrowly divided legislature.
What is the game here?
EDIT: OK, I see he just put out a statement and admitted that it was him in the photo. So ignore this comment.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: They’re released.
Elizabelle
@Baud:
My apologies for duplicating it. Put it up before reading it in full.
Gonna check the Richmond Times Dispatch (aka the Disgrace — for its editorial page, except I like their political reporter; he is a solid dude) and WaPost now for updates.
eemom
We now know he is. And I fervently disagree.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman:
Thank you. Could you see what the issue was? And I do love the cat photo.
Spanky
A picture from 1984? Thirty five years ago? And no one from either party thought this was worth mentioning previously? Because I sure as shit do NOT believe that this wasn’t dug up during his campaigns.
He first ran in 2007. Really? No one found it then? How about when he won again in 2011? Not then either? How about the Lt. Gov. race in 2013? Not the 2017 gubernatorial race? How the fuck not?
WaterGirl
@A Ghost To Most: OT, but I would like to accept your offer of help as a database expert. Could we talk by email or by phone?
Adam L Silverman
@joel hanes: WaPo and the VA Pilot both looked at the same copy that Big League Politics brought to light. The question is mute now given Northam’s statement.
JPL
The white supremacist in chief will tweet about it anytime.
debbie
Has anyone checked for O’Keeffe’s fingerprints?
Sebastian
He just admitted it’s him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/va-gov-northams-medical-school-yearbook-page-shows-men-in-blackface-kkk-robe/2019/02/01/517a43ee-265f-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html
ruemara
I know people are drawing parallels to DeSantis’ whatever the fuck – that was a full on adult dressed not just in blackface but literally mocking the victims of a horrific disaster.
You know why frat boy rich types were the villains in all those 80’s movies? Because they largely were assholes. How about we not beat our chest and demand the guy that doesn’t represent nearly all of us resign, until we find out wtf this is and we let VA Dems make a decision? Although jumping to a conclusion is the democratic party member CrossFit WOTD.
Edited to reflect the disappointed but not surprised.
lamh36
@JPL: because apparently according to the blog master on twitter…it was a different time in 1984…or something
Anyway, He was 25, proof once again their is never an age where white men aren’t able to claim “youthful discretion”…wish the same claim was able to be used by Black and Brown folk…nope…we just get shot, arrested, jailed or killed…
Must be nice to have the complexion for protection…
debbie
@JPL:
Surely it will be to say he’s a fine person. //
debbie
@lamh36:
Doesn’t matter the year; doesn’t matter the age. It is never okay. But I don’t think he should resign.
Tim C.
People who want to cosplay villians should always stick to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. If you are an actual member of a group that was oppressed by the group, you get a pass. Mel Brooks can do Hitler, Black People can do the KKK, nobody else gets to. No exceptions.
Resign now fuckwad.
schrodingers_cat
@eemom: I do too. We are in an existential crisis, look at who is in the WH. We go high and we fucking lose.
What he did in 1984 was wrong. But he should not resign over this.
Baud
@ruemara:
If he wants to stay and be effective, IMHO he needs to come out with something stronger than his initial statement.
TomatoQueen
Kent, it’s still a question. This looks to me like ratfckery which sometimes is unaccountable stuff. Does destabilizing Democrats in Virginia look like a worthwhile thing to do? Considering how much the much-vaunted blue wave in Virginia has resulted thus far in 99 percent failure for progressive legislation (apart from expansion of Medicaid, which gov Ralph fought for and ran on), when Republicans still have a one vote majority, maybe it’s not so urgent–but maybe to the ratfckers it’s worthwhile just to keep the pot boiling.
Ralph having fully admitted that it’s him in the picture is still a one-term governor, but in VA the governorship leads to the Senate–but not this time.
Colleeniem
Why are people so incredulous that state politician wouldn’t have great oppo research against him? This level of work would cost time and money that statewide legislators don’t have compared to the national scale. Maybe the forced-birth flying monkeys decided to descend and that was all she wrote.
lamh36
Anyway, he’s not resigning.
What a great way to start Black History month. Can’t wait to see what the next 27 days will bring?
randy khan
I contributed (a lot, at least by my standards) to his campaign and met and liked the guy during the campaign, and I’m appalled. I don’t really know how he can stay (although there’s nobody who can make him leave).
But to be clear, while Fairfax is progressive, there’s not nearly as much difference between him and Northam on the issues as some people have suggested. I’ve seen the suggestion that Northam is a conservadem, and it’s simply wrong.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
You were right. He should probably resign now. Sorry if I was insensitive earlier by essentially saying, “maybe he changed”. I always try to see past my blind spots and this time I didn’t.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: It’s WP, so who knows.
I found it on the Internets. I have no idea who actually did it. But I snagged it and I’m sure it’s going to get a lot of usage.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
We don’t lose anything if he resigns though. I don’t think it makes sense to condition outrage on political consequences, but if you’re going to take them into account, there’s a good Dem who would take over if he resigns. And VA governor is a one-term office anyway.
Adam L Silverman
I’ve updated the post with Northam’s statement.
ByRookorbyCrook
A whole lot of fail in the Oppo research world. He needs to go. Hello Governor Fairfax.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Why you gotta make more work for me?
gwangung
https://twitter.com/originalspin/status/1091479919811383296
Apology is necessary, but not sufficient.
SiubhanDuinne
Adam: you are sure getting some great mileage out of the “fuckery afoot” photo recently!
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m going to use that picture until the Internet explodes!
ruemara
@TomatoQueen: Well, putting on my villain planning cap… if i wanted to break up the coalition of voters that put Northam in office, I would release it to undermine any sense of racially sensitive harmony. It plays to the very much earned sense that the Dems are only mildly better than Republicans, that white liberals are just play nice and it disheartens younger voters immensely. The fact that it hasn’t even been whispered before now says bad things of both parties. Why suppress when you can depress?
I expect that this will be methods used, since I’m already seeing this happen in the presidential race.
JPL
@debbie: lol You jest because only republicans are fine men.
sukabi
@lamh36: Here’s a little bit of a bright spot…the first week of Feb AMC will be having FREE showings of Black Panther
Martin
@ruemara:
I’ll repeat what I said in the previous thread:
Northam profited off of this information not being out. He needs to pay for that. White privilege is the ability to fuck up, to cheat, to lie, to steal, to hurt others, and to still come out ahead. The only way that changes is for them to not come out ahead. I’m only a bit younger than Northam and Kavanaugh, and I’m every bit as white as them, but there were a lot of people like me that never did that shit, and also never got the shot to be Governor or on USSC. I don’t care if or why oppo research missed this, Northam knew it was out there. He could have owned up to this at any point, but he didn’t because it would hurt his career. Boo hoo.
He goes. There are plenty of qualified people out there that didn’t dress up in a Klan hood. Hell, pick literally any black woman and you’re safe. He deserves no sympathy.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I do not like this rush to judgment and the addiction to outrage.
ETA: I am with ruemara on this one. Sometimes I think that the American electorate (both right and left) is so drunk on their own moral rectitude that they lost their survival instincts. It could be because America has loomed so large in the post WWII era on the world stage.
JPL
@Baud: He doesn’t say what character he is. Only that he was in the picture.
rikyrah
It was Blackface AND the Klan.
Are you phucking kidding me?????
Gotta go
Gotta go.
eemom
@Adam L Silverman:
Also moot. So its muteness is too.
FlipYrWhig
@lamh36: My sense of the guy (I don’t know him, I haven’t met him, I like him as a public figure) is that he probably thinks resigning immediately is too easy and he wants to humble himself in public… after which he’ll step down. He doesn’t strike me as ambitious or a big ego type. He can’t seriously think he’s coming back from this.
But I really don’t think hanging around for his personal spiritual quest is a great decision politically, so pressure will build, and should.
lamh36
Per CNN…He’s telling Black Dem lawmakers, that he doesn’t remember the circumstances of the photo. He’s doesn’t recall which on he is…
Va Black Dem lawmakers are a meeting now about this
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: :-)
rikyrah
Tom Pierello should get his money back from whatever consultants he had during the primary.?
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: I think this fuckery kitty and the “Jump! You Fuckers!” are my favorites on the internet.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@ruemara:
To be fair, as others pointed out, the resources to dig up this may not have been available to state-level and lower campaigns. They also may have just sucked also too.
Baud
@lamh36: They’re the most important people at this point.
B.B.A.
God-fucking-dammit. Virginia is going red again, because given the choice between a racist and a racist people will vote for the racists every time.
Fuck fuck fuck.
Baud
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: There was a lot of money thrown into the last governor’s race.
debbie
Northam should resign right after Gym Jordan, Brett Kavanaugh et al. resign.
FlipYrWhig
@lamh36:
That seems… implausible.
guachi
@lamh36: Such a bizarre comment from someone who frequents a blog where the blog owner used to be a die hard Republican and frequently admits to doing stupid stuff when he was younger.
I have no use for purity ponies.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@B.B.A.:
Evidence?
FlipYrWhig
@B.B.A.: What the fuck are you talking about?
Adam L Silverman
@ruemara: @lamh36: Not to excuse what he did, but I think it goes beyond that. While I’m very surprised this has never been part of an oppo dump before this, that this happened in Virginia in 1985 doesn’t surprise me at all. I did my undergrad in Atlanta between 1988 and 1992, and while Atlanta and other parts of the south, especially the metro areas, where finally beginning to change, this type of stupidity was still more of the norm than the exceptions. One of the frats on campus at Emory still fired a canon (can’t recall if it was an original or a replica) every day as part of their “tradition”. And Northam went to Virginia Military Institute, which has its own long history of trying to come to grips with the legacy of The Old Dominion and the Confederacy.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
He can start by individually apologizing to every pastor who supported him and getting a consensus about what he should do.
I’m also not totally clear on which of the people in the photo is Northam— is he in blackface, or is he in the hood? And if he’s in the white hood, is that better, worse, or same-bad?
Baud
@B.B.A.: Northam was never going to be on the ballot again anyway.
lamh36
@debbie: which is fine, but I want folks to be honest and admit it’s cause he’s a Dem pol. Cause to be clear, if this was a Republican pol…some of the same folk would be saying different.
I happen to not care Dem or Repub…my reaction and suggestion would be the same
Kent
@TomatoQueen:
I guess it depends on your definition of ratfucking. Digging up unsavory but true (and public) elements from one’s past doesn’t really count in my book. And savvy GOP operatives would have banked this sort of thing away to pull out at the exact right time if he were running for Senate in 2022 or something. Right when it is too late to pull out and get replaced with another candidate.
Rumors of McCain’s black baby sent out by robocalls in the SC primary in 2000? That was ratfucking.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: It’s all going to come down to how Lt. Governor Fairfax responds.
Mnemosyne
@guachi:
Are you a Black woman? No?
Then STFU and listen to what Black women are telling you.
Signed, a white woman who has more common sense than you do.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Hence why I hedged that they might have sucked and could have been grifters.
B.B.A.
@debbie: Northam betrayed his party’s values. Kav, Jordan, King, etc. upheld theirs.
gwangung
@guachi: Shrug. I have no use for the Klan or blackface.
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: Well, there’s this…if we are speaking of VA politicians…only one (African-American) statewide official sitting out the Robert E. Lee tribute.
I’m not trying to trivialize what Northam did. I am looking at Virginia and saying, “they’ve got a long way to go, baby”. It’s not just Northam. It’s everyone.
ETA: Personally, I’m willing to abide by whatever black VA Dems decide is the right course of action.
Frankensteinbeck
@lamh36:
Whatever they decide, I will take to be correct. Beyond ‘that was inexcusable’, I am the last person who has the right to decide what is an appropriate punishment. Let the victims, African-Americans, decide, and I will trust them.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: In fact someone just created a Governor Justin Fairfax troll account.
Martin
@schrodingers_cat:
No we don’t. Mind you, it does feel that way for a while, but you will never convince me that the number of women elected to the House, the openly gay members, the native americans and muslims and other victories in 2018 would have happened had Trump not been elected.
I agree that we are in existential crisis. But the way out of this is not to excuse this kind of behavior. The way out is to say we won’t tolerate it and prove that we won’t tolerate it, and then an entirely new class of people will show up to do that work – people that better represent this country. The more tightly the GOP wrap themselves around Trump out of electoral pragmatism, the harder their fall is going to be. We just have to endure long enough for it to play out.
On a more specific note, the Democratic party has long assumed that black voters would stand with them, solely because the GOP was so shitty, not because the Dems were proactively doing much to help them. The same was true for the latino community and the LGBT community. We’re finally seeing that change. We’re finally seeing Democrats take politically difficult positions because they are morally right. I really don’t want to backslide on that now.
TomatoQueen
It’s not that difficult to go to a public library to find public records, and I have no doubt that there are plenty of folk below the Northern Virginia blue bubble who would be happy to oblige the Rs in this way, or other ways.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Given how much work it is to apply that much of any sort of makeup, I find that very hard to believe.
Jay
For those “outraged”, I would say, “wait for context”,
If it’s a party, a skit,…….. not cool dude,
If it’s a play, and those are the characters as written,……..
Radiumgirl
I am truly mystified why anyone would dress up like that for any reason.
Elizabelle
@B.B.A.: Oh it is not. Get over yourself. Virginia is going to go even more blue.
Saw some commentary earlier today, before this photo came out, that one of the reasons the anti-abortion crowd was going DefCon 5 on Infanticide! is they have to keep their base riled up.
Cuz Virginia is going to be changing its gerrymandered districts before the next election.
Gerrymandering is the only thing that keeps the legislature Republican, and it’s by one vote, if memory serves.
Baud
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
As someone with a very poor memory, I actually find that plausible, especially if there was alcohol involved.
lamh36
@guachi: I could care less what you find bizzare…
how’s about that.
Adam L Silverman
@eemom: I’m sorry, did you say something? I’m having trouble hearing you.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: I agree. Now that he’s confirmed he’s in the picture it really doesn’t matter which person is him. He needs to resign.
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: I said earlier that I’m not surprised. I’m more surprised that more of this isn’t in people’s backgrounds. Because it still happens now even with our young people so woke generation.
@Martin: Oookay. I will let VA Democratic party make a decision. Look, black women are the reliable voting base and the reliable workers. IDK why, but I get calls from black women all the damned time for all the damned races. Some might be like me, so inured to the disappointment from people around us that this is only a momentary pain. Some might be like Rikyrah & Iamh36, far more aware of how destructive this is to the community to know that this happened in his past, as an adult, than I am capable of. I’m thinking of the political strategy. I am not thinking of the human costs. It will be a balancing act. I don’t think Northam can do it. We will see. And I think local office holders need to review their pasts very closely. Someone is spending the money to do so. Better get out in front of it.
Adam L Silverman
@eemom: I did get it right in the update to the post.
Baud
@Jay: If he doesn’t even remember which person is him, I don’t think we’ll ever learn context.
TomatoQueen
It’s a first rule of ratfckery not to get caught. When such a photograph prevents somebody from, say, getting admitted to Harvard, I will believe we have progressed a little as a society. (There is no hope for Yale, as the Law School is home to the Federalist Society.)
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: Well if I’m being honest Adam…I don’t care for folks who knowingly go to a known racist instituion…to my mind…the bigotry of the place is likely what drew them to it.
Again…he was 25 and soon to be a doctor.
I just have one question? At what age aren’t white men (no matter the party) allowed to claim youthful discretion, or not having known better?
Quinerly
Amazed that a med school yearbook would include such a thing in 1984. VA has done a lot to overcome the vestiges of the Old South. Doug Wilder became governor not too long after this pic.
Amazed that it didn’t come out sooner with someone’s research.
He’s toast. As well he should be. Our party does not need this shit. Throw him overboard and move on. End of story.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: I find it almost incredible to suppose that there *wasn’t* alcohol involved.
Mostly because I can’t imagine an otherwise sane person thinking that this was a hilarious thing to do without some severe chemical impairment involved.
sharl
WaPo:
??
Martin
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Maybe he drank beer with his friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes he had too many beers. Sometimes others did. He liked beer. He still likes beer.
Not seeing the difference here.
different-church-lady
Unfortunately it turns out the only fuckery going on here is on the part of the people in the picture.
lamh36
Oh and BTW, he called it a “costume” even in 1984…were costume shops selling Blackface or KKK robe costume?
I admittedly was a Black child in 1984…so as you can guess, I wouldn’t know.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
You’d think he’d remember a detail like that.
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I’m actually very interested to hear his explanation now that he’s admitted that he’s in the photo. If he’s as much of an upstanding guy as people claim, I expect him to make a full public statement explaining the circumstances and then resign in an orderly way.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: I’m also a fan of the little girl in the swing “At Dawn We Ride!” one too:
https://wsr129.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/atdawnweride.jpg
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Gardner’s campaign had the resources.
Quinerly
@different-church-lady: Good comment. Applause.
ruemara
@Radiumgirl: You got me. I don’t understand it at all. I mean, I stopped using “gypsy” once I learned the history of the Roma. I can’t stand a lot of the misogyny in the culture (sorry, that’s how I see it), but I’ll be damned if I’ll use this term casually when it’s offensive to them
Jay
@Baud:
He’s not alone in the picture,
Baud
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I don’t know. He might not remember the night at all. Which actually doesn’t help him if he plans to survive this because it means he can’t explain anything.
Baud
@Jay: Fair point.
different-church-lady
@Baud: I know. I mean, it’s not like he’s on the Supreme Court or something, where you don’t need to remember anything you did.
Martin
@lamh36:
Oh, no age. Though sometimes we rebrand it as a midlife crisis or being an old man who grew up at a different time, or locker room talk. Regardless, don’t let us get in your way.
Adam L Silverman
@B.B.A.: Calm the fuck down! Virginia isn’t going red. The Virginia state elections aren’t for months. The problem with using this now, just as with spending the past 48 hours screaming about infanticide, is that it is too far away from the election. If Northam goes, then Fairfax takes over. That’s a good trade, so to speak.
Baud
@ruemara:
Same here. I only learned its origin only recently.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
As far as the (very suspicious) timing of this photo release, one of the first things that occurred to me was that it would be a great shiny-object distraction from the walls closing in on Trump.
debbie
@Quinerly:
Agreed. Where were the faculty advisors?
lamh36
@Jay: ok…I’ll bite…what med school play involves someone in what appears to be “comical” Blackface and a KKK robe?
Quinerly
@lamh36: I’m with you with your comments in this thread. And I’m appalled that the yearbook of any reputable schoolwould include such a picture. I think that bears some looking into also.
A Ghost To Most
@WaterGirl: Email to start. I believe you mentioned a NoSQL DB?
Martin
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Depends. I’ve baked a fuckton of pies, but if you showed me a photo of one there’s no way I could recall which it was.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
That little girl is my very favorite!
Mike in NC
Well, I was on active duty and lived in Norfolk in 1983-84. Met a sweet girl at a party and we started dating. She was a social worker (WIC program) and used the N-word without any malice. It sort of shocked me because I was a Yankee. At any rate, she stopped being my girlfriend about 15 minutes after my ship left on deployment to the Persian Gulf.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Assuming they found it, I wonder why they didn’t use it? Republicans don’t care about hypocrisy, typically, and aren’t very self-aware.
Colleeniem
@debbie: That’s what I said in the thread downstairs.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: It is and that one seat was the result of that botched election where they had to draw lots to see who actually one.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It’s really not that difficult to go to the university libraries where your opponent attended school at look at their yearbooks, especially when they attended school in the same state. Of course it would be more difficult if the opposing candidate is virtual.
B.B.A.
@Adam L Silverman: sorry, I’m a bit, ahhh… tired and emotional, as they say.
JPL
Well I think VA is about to get it’s second black governor
debbie
@Colleeniem:
I quit working on my high school yearbook because the advisors were so annoying and stifling.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@debbie:
Probably just as racist as their frat students. “Boys will be boys” and all that.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: If you want to be in the Army as an officer and you either don’t want to go to West Point or you don’t get in, VMI is the first best alternative. The Citadel just produces new Mecklenberg County commissioners.
Baud
@JPL: Wow. When it rains it pours. It’ll take a few days, but I think he’s done.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I don’t know the history. sigh.
guachi
@Mnemosyne: No. I won’t shut up. Telling people to sit down and shut up because of who they are is awful. Yowl all you want but you can shove off for all I care.
Martin
@lamh36: Birth of a Nation: The Musical!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@JPL:
Yeah, he’s fucking toast now.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36:
I would argue no older than 18. Possibly 16.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t see how the republicans allow Steve King to finish his term after this. If the democratic party does the right thing how can the republicans allow a representative who still has links to white supremacist pages on his government accounts.
Jay
@lamh36:
I have no idea. You might have heard of some guys called Monty Python. Bunch of them went to Med School. They blew off steam writing, directing and performing plays and sketches, only some of which were comedy.
For all I know there could be a play out there called The Making of the Making a Nation, which would require a rather large number of Klansmen, Blackface and other racist tropes.
WaterGirl
@A Ghost To Most: Pretty sure it’s mySQL, but I will look.
Adam, can you please connect us by email?
Ghost To Most – is your registered email a real one? Is that the one Adam should give me?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@guachi:
She’s just trying to tell you to listen to what black people are saying, based on their lived experience. That’s all.
Adam L Silverman
@sharl:
I’m not sure I trust a physician to work on me, in an emergency or a non-emergency, if they’re not regularly showing up at practice.
Sebastian
I really think us white folks should just shut the fuck up for a while and listen to our black brothers and sisters. This is a teaching moment.
eemom
While my personal opinion is that he should not resign, I think it’s up to Black Americans to make the call. We’ve heard from rikyrah and lamh so far and if I’m reading them correctly they have opposing views. Maybe we white folks should just STFU and listen more to them and others.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
There’s another one, “Onward Buttercup, there’s fuckery to spread.” A squirrel on a tiny pony. If you need it and can’t find it, let me know and I’ll email it to you.
WaterGirl
@Baud: @JPL: I think Coonman is just a drinking game.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Makes a fine trio if you add “Get a brain, morans.”
ruemara
@JPL: Coffin, meet nail. That is a tipping point.
@Jay: That, sir, is a mighty stretch.
Adam L Silverman
@sharl: More seriously, since this just provides more evidence, it really makes you wonder why no one hadn’t mentioned this sooner. You’d think someone with this yearbook was a Republican who would have tipped off a reporter at some point.
Martin
@Jay: Sounds likely. Gotta credit him with the forethought to take the nickname ‘coonman’ as an undergrad. I sure as hell wouldn’t have engaged in that level of planning.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: @Adam L Silverman: I was going to answer as if the question was about the reality of the situation, rather than what it should be.
For rich, white Republican men, I’d say it’s about 99.
Colleeniem
@debbie: I bet your high school wasn’t a medical institution, with genteel airs ;).
I will also repeat, welcome Governor Fairfax!
Quinerly
@Baud: Me too. Once someone explained the expression “you gyped me” (or similar using “gyped”) I was mortified. We have these expressions that have been around and in defense sometimes a person just doesn’t think. But what part of Black face and KKK garb would be confusing. It takes a lot of thought to put together a costume. You don’t just have the stuff laying around (or do you?) . And I ask again… What kind of med school yearbook would print such shit? If this is what the school includes in a yearbook, what else was going on behind the scenes? No faculty advisors? No fucking editors?
eemom
@Sebastian:
I totally did NOT see your comment before posting mine. #twilightzonetheme
trollhattan
@JPL:
David Vitter ring a bell?
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The didn’t find it. If they’d had it, they would have used it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
What are you talking about? I was going to go on a surgery rotation today until classes were canceled. They were going to let me operate on a guy and I’m certainly non-practicing! //
JPL
@eemom: One of his nicknames at VMI was coonman so maybe we can decide also.
You’re correct that VA decides but I think Fairfax will be governor soon. He could end up being the longest governor in VA history according to twitter. Of course, twitter is always right.
WaterGirl
@JPL: Are you serious, or is that snark? Because the Republicans will never do that. There are two completely different sets of rules for Democrats and Republicans.
JR
Question 8
How will Schultz live without a news cycle?
Baud
@Martin:
Springtime for Davis is an awesome song.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ll be surprised if his resignation isn’t leaked by tomorrow night and official by noon, Monday
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I haven’t seen that one.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: Just substitute bad guys for Republicans and you have your answer:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the various rewrites of trump yelling at lawn mower kid almost always gets me
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: I have never thought about the origin of “you gyped me” . I’m not sure I would have thought twice about using that expression if it had come into my head. I take it that it’s gyped as in gypsy? Until tonight I had never seen the word written, but I would have spelled it with a “j” and would have never made the connection.
lamh36
@debbie: from folks I know frrom VA…and Adam above, that particular instituion was known to have issues shall we say.
Sebastian
@eemom:
Great minds and all. With that said I am going to shut up and not add more noise.
It’s the first day of Black History Month and this event is a good opportunity to hear their voices, especially considering the times we live in.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: I used it last week. In conjunction with the At Dawn We Ride!
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/01/23/better-call-your-senators/
Mike in NC
If Northam resigns, wouldn’t Lt Gov Fairfax be eligible to run on his own in the next election?
jacy
@Baud:
Shit, the amount of alcohol that was involved when I was in college, sometimes I wonder how I even remember BEING in college. (And I was pre-med at the time. Hardest drinkers were the sciences when I went to school.)
Mnemosyne
As far as the timing goes, this is probably a combination of revenge for the FL Secretary of State having to resign and Northam supporting the bill regarding medical care for terminally ill newborns. Someone had this in their back pocket, waiting for the right moment.
If I were Northam’s advisors, his speech would be something like, Here’s the circumstances of that photo (insert “blah blah” here) but nevertheless, I understand why the Black citizens of Virginia who honored me with their vote are now concerned that I cannot be trusted to stand up for them, so I will be resigning as governor effective next Friday to allow for a orderly transition. (more “blah blah”)
JPL
@WaterGirl: I jest but Tim Ryan is going to have the ethics committee look into it Tim Ryan is surprising me and Seth Moulton must be so jealous.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That is a fun one! It never gets old.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I’m not even sure I want you bagging my groceries until you’ve finished your rookie season.
A Ghost To Most
@WaterGirl: Of course my email works. Do you think I’d give up an email address with a domain that ancient?
/dinosaur
MazeDancer
“Coonman” was his nickname in Navy yearbook now all over Twitter.
It’s over
SiubhanDuinne
@guachi:
As I said in the previous thread, our blog owner is not an elected official, and AFAIK is not/has not been a candidate for elective office. Let alone Governor.
If JGC did ever decide to run for office, I have not the slightest doubt that he’d be entirely open about his political antecedents, as indeed he has been on Twitter, FB, and this blog from Day Jump.
“Purity ponies” = Red Herrings. Quit muddying the waters.
lamh36
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: uh…I suspect it wasn’t used, because the opponent was OVERTLY a racist and the GOP was happy to wash their hands of him.
And they’d save it for later, say a Senate run by Northham…when this photo…would pissed off Black voters statewide that he needed to win
B.B.A.
Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson: never nominate a white man for anything ever again.
(This is what someone I used to respect called kidding on the square.)
JPL
Northam could be the guy in the hood for all we know.
trollhattan
One thing I admire most about Nancy SMASH is her knowledge of the mechanics of government and parliamentary procedure. Such as
The president* is still learning[heh] that there are rules and that some even apply to him.
sharl
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, that’s why I put those two emoticons at the end, as I process this. But basically it’s another case of that observation that goes something like “injustice happens when good people stand by and do nothing.” I put the “good people” in italics because – while I think that phrase was in the quote I can’t quite remember (and obviously haven’t bothered to look up) – the concept of “good people” needs a more thorough examination, especially given that the woman quoted in the WaPo piece clearly knew that a very wrong thing happened here, and chose to stay quiet about it.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: One of the retired Special Forces bubbas who trained and mentored me, who is from Maine, went to VMI, settled in Virginia when he retired from the Army and went to work in the civilian intelligence community, and now, as he approaches 80s, he’s a neo-Confederate.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC: Yes.
WaterGirl
@A Ghost To Most: Ha! I wrote to Adam, so hopefully he will write to both of us soon.
trollhattan
@jacy:
You had to be very careful with the punch at the School of Pharmacy frat parties.
Mnemosyne
@guachi:
Well, glad to have yet another white dude lecturing Black people about what they are and are not allowed to find racist and offensive. I’m sure you’ll have a brand new take in that genre that none of us have seen in the last 50+ years. ?
lamh36
Thank you Soledad…guys, I’m just saying…Northam’s apology has no contrition statement in it or did I miss it? Like ok, you want folks to think about context…then give some reason why, other than “I don’t recall”.
BTW, there’s NO WAY he doesn’t recall, and as someone said…there are two people in that photo. Unless that 2nd person is dead and gone…they gotta sweating bullets…
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: We could use this happy news today.
VeniceRiley
His VMI yearbook has “coonsman” under his picture, and I want to know what that is about. Wasn’t I just saying this morning I do not trust men, white ones in particular?
Adam L Silverman
@MazeDancer: That’s interesting because he was in the Army.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: As someone tweeted about three weeks ago: Speaker Pelosi is as good as Senator McConnell thinks he is.
lamh36
Hits keep coming…
Sigh.
chopper
@B.B.A.:
VA is not going red again. i mean, unless the VA dems fuck this up six different ways. which may be possible, but let’s not assume the worst.
Quinerly
@lamh36: agree 100%.
I’m appalled that commenters here are making excuses or calling for him to make all these explanations.
He should go hide under rock. I have no patience with this.
FlipYrWhig
@MazeDancer:
Wait, what? That “joke” is bizarre. Is it supposed to be that his buddies thought he was so country he was an honorary black man?
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: Depending on injuries during the season Brady or Warner could have bagged your groceries
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: In all fairness, you did tell him to STFU. I wouldn’t appreciate that if you said it to me, and I suspect I would push back because you’re not the boss of me. :-)
There’s also a big difference between coming to your own realization re: “it makes sense to listen to the black women; I want to follow their lead” and having someone tell you to STFU and listen.
I do not even recall what else gauchi has written on this thread, so I’m not endorsing anything anyone is or is not saying. I’m just suggesting that maybe this needn’t be a duels at dawn situation.
Or as my dad always used to say: why can’t you kids just get along?
debbie
@lamh36:
I’d never heard of the school, but based on the geography, I am not surprised. I agree with you about the unseemliness of the lack of contrition. First, who doesn’t stop to think about any skeletons in their closet before they decide to run? Second, who doesn’t stop to think that sincerity and apology should come well before shamefacedness?
Jay
@ruemara:
The only way I’ll give a pass on this,
– is if it’s a play, ( not a sketch or a skit)
– the charactors are written as white people in blackface and klansman,
You could do the Jackie Robinson story. You’ld need Klansmen and White People in Blackface screaming racist garbage to set the stage for every one of The Royals away games.
Like I said, I’ll wait and see the context, if it’s found.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m at the greatly-overused ¿Porqué no los dos? stage.
It’s quite possible (likely, in my opinion) that (a) Northam was a racially insensitive and uncouth college student, who has since realised the folly of his youthful ways; and (2) the release of this photo now is Republican ratfuckery of the highest order.
Doesn’t excuse a thing.
lamh36
@WaterGirl: oh…what drinking game is that?
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
Northam’s political career is toast now. He has an opportunity to make a speech about how toxic and damaging the lie of white supremacy is to the souls of white people when he resigns, but I honestly don’t know enough about him to know if he has that kind of speech in him.
Adam L Silverman
@sharl: You don’t have to tell me. I’ve had to resign, and by had to the little voice that keeps me up at night (and not the one that says: get up and have some ice cream…) made sure I knew I had to, two six figure jobs for professional ethical reasons and then quietly and professionally notify the appropriate people to take action. The first one included issues of racism by my boss.
Right now I’m in a serious situation, though it has nothing to do with any paying work, we’re I’m trying to navigate if I need to get some information to appropriate folks and if so, how best to do it.
jacy
@trollhattan:
My roommate was getting her masters in pharmacy! (She was straightlaced though. How she ended up roommates with me — who could out-drink Marian Ravenwood in college — is a mystery for the ages.)
debbie
@trollhattan:
I wish I had been listening more closely, but I heard Trump say he doesn’t like Nancy anymore. Wah, wah, wah.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Helpful note, the 5 second rule does not apply to surgical instruments. The things you learn when you have surgical nurse in the family.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Done.
MazeDancer
@Adam L Silverman:
Ah, my bad. He was in all white uniform. So thought Navy. Clearly I know nothing. Apologies to all.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
You’re ratting out Goku again? //
PaulWartenberg
If everything going on with Northam is legit – and yeah, I do wonder about how it’s been around this long and yet NOW the photos get dropped – this is yet reminders that:
1) Racism and stupidity go hand in hand
2) The Southern culture of White prejudice (this was a Virginia medical school, right?) is widespread and affects intellectual and trailer trash alike
3) A lot of white folk – even among liberal Democrats who should have known and done better – have at least one embarrassing thing involving race (and/or sex) in their backgrounds.
4) Fratboys are the worst
5) The only honest way we will EVER get rid of racism in this country is to start telling ourselves and our kids THIS SHIT AIN’T FUNNY.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
It’s not the first time that guachi and I have disagreed about who gets to decide that something is racist, but I’ll drop it so I don’t ruin Thanksgiving. ?
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: Honestly, I don’t know that I have seen it written. I wrote it that way so the origins would be clear as explained to me.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: He’s done. Stick a fork in him.
JGabriel
@debbie:
I think Northam will have to resign. If Northam stays, it leaves the Democratic Party open to accusations of hypocrisy on one of our defining issues – racism. The time where a Democratic politician could pull a Robert Byrd and apologize for their earlier racism is long past – no matter whatever good Byrd did later in his career.
I haven’t read the whole thread, but it seems overwhelmingly likely that I’m not the first to point this out – so apologies in advance for any inadvertent repetition of points already made by other commenters.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: I don’t feel a lot of angst in the apology. I don’t see anything like “ashamed at who I was then” or “appalled at my behavior” or “I was stupid drunk at a party and it’s humiliating to say admit that doing that ever seemed like a good idea”.
I still think there was ratfucking involved. I think the Rs had this in their pocket, let the weaker candidate win, so they could then take him down at the moment that best suited them. They deliberately cooked up this scandal about his comment, which laid the groundwork for the second punch. This is exactly the recipe they followed with Al Franken.
They have a recipe book, the recipe works, and they are following it.
But back to the immediate picture: This ship of his governorship has already sailed, whether he knows it or not.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
It’s related to Devil’s Triangle. Brett Kavanaugh knows the rules to both.
?
MazeDancer
@Adam L Silverman:
It was VMI yearbook. Thus confusing white uniforms.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
They might have completely missed it because they were ReThug Oppo researchers and we know from recent events that blackface Katrina survivors was just “normal” for ReThug Party goers in 2005.
They may have seen “nothing wring” with the photo.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: I was likening it to Kavanaugh, with his “Devil’s triangle is a drinking game” lie. Sorry that wasn’t clear. I wasn’t making an excuse, I was putting him in the same category as Kavanaugh, which is about as low as you can go.
FlipYrWhig
@WaterGirl: If Republican ratfuckers had already had the ability to take Northam down, why wouldn’t they have used it to get Gillespie elected? The late polls were close; as I recall the recent Virginia races have swung from surges in black voter turnout. That would have been the time to use it, no?
Brachiator
@JGabriel:
I’m still waiting for a Republican to resign.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: Should I know who those people are?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
So you chose to respond to that comment and not my apology to you?
As for the comment you replied to, you’re right. That’s probably the reason why.
lamh36
I think folks forgot about this…but you can bet Black folks in VA did not…and now this blackface, KKK thing…what the line that some Dems expect from Black voters?
debbie
@JGabriel:
Yeah, after reading about that second yearbook entry, I’m thinking he needs to go. Perhaps he’ll invite Gym Jordan, Kavanaugh et al. to accompany him on the walk away from the political stage.
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: Google tells me I should have typed as “gypped.”
“Gyp in the meanings “to swindle” or “a person who swindles” is sometimes perceived as insulting to or by Gypsies, since it stereotypes them as swindlers. However, gyp has apparently never been used as a deliberate ethnic slur,and many people are unaware that it is derived from Gypsy.” Apologies for the copy and paste job. I was made aware of the gypsy background by a friend’s husband from Romania. I never have used it since. He was offended. That was enough for me. Don’t care what Google thinks. ?
sharl
@Adam L Silverman: Damn that sucks. I hope you find a way through it that doesn’t impact your prospects and career.
It was long ago when I last encountered such a situation. I was a contractor when my colleague – a young woman – was an employee of the organization where we worked. Her (line management) second supervisor regularly harassed her, and the only thing my dumb young brain could come up with was to say “I’ll talk to Dave, but you know he’ll just walk up behind you at your desk and start playing with your hair (again), saying ‘ says you don’t like this. Is that true?’” So of course she had to deal with it herself and go to HRO, but before that she gave that creep the benefit of the doubt for a long time. During that time I watched her morale nosedive. She would have likely left that org anyway, but that shit motivated her to leave sooner rather than later. She was a damn good worker too, at least before all that.
Mnemosyne
@FlipYrWhig:
That’s what’s making me think it’s in revenge for the Florida Secretary of State. Someone didn’t remember the photo was out there until that happened and their memory of the Northam photo was jogged.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@debbie:
Can you explain the joke? Because I went back to Adam’s comment and don’t get it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jay:
Years ago, I was cast as Pitti-Sing in a college production of The Mikado. Along with everyone else in the cast and chorus, I was made up to look vaguely Asian.
I promise you, if someone had taken a picture of me in “yellow-face,” and later I became a high-ranking politician, and the photo of me in kimono, obi, fan, parasol, and tilted eyeliner were subsequently published, I guaranfuckinggoddamntee you I would be quick to point out that I was in costume for a theatrical production.
Northam … didn’t do that.
Adam L Silverman
@MazeDancer: That was his VMI cadet uniform.
Fun fact: all the faculty at VMI are commissioned as colonels in the Virginian state militia. I think, however, you have to pronounce it culuhnehl.
BobS
@Jay: Graham Chapman was the only Python who studied medicine.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Trust me, no one wants part of this ethical conundrum I’ve managed to find myself in.
JGabriel
@Brachiator:
Why would a Republican resign? Republicans are pro-racism. They’re more likely to demand impeachment of a GOP official for voting in favor of civil rights.
Quinerly
@lamh36: I remembered it. All this aside, I don’t have a high opinion of doctors who run for office. Help me out here… Any decent Dem doctor with the exception of Howard Dean? For the most part they are RWNJs.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh come on it’ll be fine! It’s not like I’d use your intestines as jump rope or something //
Jeffro
@Elizabelle:
Agree with all of this. Virginia’s blue and getting bluer, especially with new districts next election. This is why the GOP is going nuts – Northam spanked their boy badly, and Northam is currently presiding over a nice big surplus, most of which he had slated to go to raises and long-overdue spending as opposed to precious tax cuts. They want him wounded any way they can (including taking a self-inflicted wound and making it a fatal one)
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Cosign this entire comment and the reasoning that underlies it.
WaterGirl
@FlipYrWhig: Forgot about that… you make a good point.
Adam L Silverman
@Brachiator: How much time do you have?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You mean it doesn’t?! Whoops! //
Jay
@WaterGirl:
There was roughly 2 hours between the story “breaking” and his apology, after working hours.
And he doesn’t remember the photo, or the context.
It’s hard to give a heartfelt apology for an event you don’t remember.
debbie
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
It was just a joke. Forget it.
@Adam L Silverman:
Sorry for my poor taste. Those are very difficult things to deal with.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Did he have a choice of running mate? Because if not, it sure looks like he’s still a racist.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: Thank you for all that information.
Adam L Silverman
@sharl: I’m still partially in professional limbo from the second one back in 2015.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne: Northam’s already risen as high as he was ever gonna rise, and VA term-limits its governors to one term anyway. After this he was just going to go back to his private practice.
I have no idea if he’ll resign or not, but I suspect Adam’s earlier comment is correct: it’s up to whatever Justin Fairfax comes out and says at this point. And frankly, Fairfax taking office is either a big gain for VA Dems or a huge one.
Mandalay
@Martin:
I find this an unassailable argument. The reasons Northam is in this predicament now are that he didn’t own up to this a long time ago, and he didn’t get caught earlier. Someone else lost out on becoming governor because Northam hid his dirty secret.
Northam isn’t a victim of dirty tricks or anything else. He’s someone who had a good run before his luck ran out by getting caught. He needs to be gone within 24 hours, and preferably tonight.
lamh36
It should matter, but I see it doesn’t for some folk
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: I was fine with it, but this one is what it is. Since I’ve got a little time to see if the issue resolves in other ways, especially as all the information is in the public domain – the dots just need to be connected, it isn’t too bad. But I’ve prepared myself that I may have to draw a map for someone.
lamh36
schrodingers_cat
How has Northam’s career as an elected official been? Can Virginians answer that question.
Thanks.
Jeffro
@B.B.A.:
I remember Al coining that term…it was in the Rush Limbaugh book, methinks…
Kent
Folks. He is a few years older than me. That means he entered VMI in the late 70s. That place was a right-wing nest of racists back then and EVERYONE knew it. This was pre- Ronald Reagan. We were living in the post-Vietnam era. Only hard-core militarists went to a place like VMI in the late 70s. It was also super sexist. They didn’t admit women until 1996 (20 years after West Point) and then only under Supreme Court order. In fact there was a movement at the time by VMI alums to take the school private so they could continue to ban women.
You don’t just “accidently” wind up at VMI.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
I don’t know either, but I have little doubt they’ll brazen it out.
Sometime in the past few days, after McTurtle “tut-tutted” at Steve King, a picture emerged of the Senatortoise in front of a huge Confederate flag, after addressing some white supremacist organisation.
But her emails!!!
@lamh36:
He may not actually recall. That’s one of the aspects of white privilege. The white person has the privilege of not remembering acting like a racist asshole.
PaulWartenberg
For the eventual #MyHighSchoolYearbook hashtag on twitter, my senior class of 1988 did not allow bios or quotes, just photos.
PHOTOS OF MULLETS AND PERMS.
This was 1988.
MULLETS! Mullets and guys trying desperately to grow mustaches.
I just had our high school reunion so I had broken out the yearbook to look at. Nothing at all racist (I HOPE) – but likely a couple of sexist things with beach photos (Tarpon Springs FL. SPONGERS REPRESENT).
It may have been a different culture – Greek-American immigrants some going back six generations or so, a sizable Black student population, mixed in with suburban White Protestants from Palm Harbor and East Lake – but nothing going on in public. Definitely nothing stupid enough to document on film.
Except the Mullets. MY GENERATION WILL NEVER LIVE THAT LOOK DOWN. NEVER.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne: I’m not going to get in a lot of back and forth on this. To most people “revenge” really shouldn’t have anything to do with it unless the picture is somehow manipulated or fake and somehow there is something else involved. He has admitted it. There’s no excuse. I’m a Dem. If I somehow stumbled on it, I would tip someone off out of principle. No revenge. No grand plan. I don’t need this shit in my party. End of story for me. This should not be hard. The only analysis needed is you would think yearbooks would be the first things highly paid advisors would check on both sides in campaigns. I have no patience for any kind of excuse for him…. or the school for putting this crap in a yearbook. Pics don’t just appear by miracle in a yearbook. There’s a process.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: the only way out is to march right through…at least, that’s what I’ve found when those situations arise.
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat: He’s been a relatively pro-business progressive, but progressive nonetheless. He’s been governor for a year and has been proposing that VA use its surpluses to give state workers a raise (and teachers an even bigger one) while bringing broadband to rural communities. He was all in on VA joining the Obamacare Medicaid exchanges (I hope I’m phrasing that right)
Having said all that, he can fully explain, apologize, and try to make things right; or he can fully explain, apologize, try to make things right, and point out the double standards there are for D and R politicians; or he can resign and turn things over to Lt Gov Fairfax, then point out the double standards that apply to D and R politicians. Not really seeing a long-term down side here for VA and for VA Dems.
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg:
How far back to you have to go in Tarpon Springs before you’re no longer considered an immigrant?
Quinerly
@lamh36: nailed it.
WaterGirl
Can I just say that today hasn’t been nearly as much fun as last Friday. Not even 1/100th as much fun. I am trying to remember if anything good happened today, politically. Oh yes, Nancy Smash and her rule related to the state of emergency. Yay for that!
Adam L Silverman
@Ksmiami: That is my experience as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Ah, so you did. I saw that post, too. One of my faves, but then I’m partial to any meme image that uses the word “fuckery” accurately and grammatically.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I was in plays from Grade 1 to High School. I remember being a Snowman, cause I got to sing one song, I remember being a Roman Soldier, because the costume was a pita, and that’s about it. Most of my “acting” consisted of being movable living scenery and back drop.
Has anybody identified which one he is?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
someone mentioned upthread that the Rs tried to flip Norton a few years ago. I seem to recall from the campaign that he was a Republican at the start of his political career, at the very least publicly supported G Dumbya?
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: you’re welcome. I learned the hard way. Was a word I didn’t use that often but did throw around once in awhile. So shitty of me to say it in front of her husband. But I just never made a connection. It was all in the middle of a bigger back and forth with several people. I was mortified when he quietly explained it to me. I felt like a heel. He hugged me after seeing the look on my face.
Another Scott
I haven’t read the comments yet. But I wanted to point out lowkell’s thread at Blue Virginia.
“Goose, Coonman” – from his 1981 VMI yearbook picture.
:-/
His med-school picture (the one discussed here) was from 1984. When he was roughly 25.
Yeah, yeah, it was 35+ years ago. But that’s no excuse.
Kamala has called on him to resign. It’s hard to see him surviving this, and I’m not sure he should. Sensible people who can explain how he has changed since then might be enough to save him, but I doubt it.
Lots of Virginia Democrats love him, but I’ve never understood the intensity of the affection. He voted for W at least once. He was rumored to change parties and never really disavowed it. He’s always seemed more like an old-school Republican to me except he strongly supports abortion rights (and that’s important).
Justin Fairfax (the Lt. Governor) will be a good replacement.
Let’s hope that Northam doesn’t drag this out any longer than the minimum time necessary.
Grrr…
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Fair Economist
@Jay: I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt, but even I wonder how he could know the photo is him without remembering the circumstances.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: My guess is he’ll resign no later than Monday AM.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: It’s not shitty of you if you have no idea that it was offensive. It might be embarrassing if you’ve done it in front of a bunch of people. Intentions matter, I think. Especially if it’s something you grew up with.
We always referred to sleeveless undershirts for men as “dego tees”. Where I came from (Chicago) dego wasn’t a slur and dego tees — that’s just what they were called. Same thing as “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”. That’s a sweet memory for me of my dad helping me get dressed when I was little. We seldom think of the origin of colloquial phrases. Don’t beat yourself up unless you keep saying something once you learn.
Quinerly
@Kent: TRUTH
MAC1
@Quinerly: I figured that was the connection, but I confess I don’t follow the path some people are (unless I’m misreading) suggesting be taken here. Wouldn’t the right response be to stop complaining about some “gypping” you, rather than stopping the use of the term “Gypsy” as a name for a group, interchangeable with “Romani” or whatever? Maybe there’s a movement afoot among that group to ask that people stop calling them gypsies, in which case of course I’m happy to go along. But don’t Romani groups use the term interchangeably still?
I recall hearing jagoffs in my youth using the word “jew” as a verb, as a bigoted stereotyped synonym for “steal.” But I don’t think taking rightful offense at that usage means we need to refer to Jews as Hebrews or something. It’s the usage of the group name as a verbal/adjectival slur that’s the problem, isn’t it? That seems analogous here, unless (not unlikely) I’m missing something.
Maybe I’ve got the etymology background backwards or something, and “to gyp” was in place first and then got applied to the Romani unjustly.
Jeffro
@Another Scott:
3x true. (Except Northam has been pretty pro-labor, etc etc)
For folks outside the Commonwealth, a note about Northam’s appeal inside the Commonwealth: he is extremely ‘folksy’ and relatable; he was a breath of fresh air after Terry McAuliffe’s high-strung NoVA ways (and I say that as a born-and-bred Northern Virginian); and he had a pretty atypical background as a) a physician, who b) then went on to build decent relationships across the aisle in the legislature in what has been a pretty partisan state.
I hope I’ve captured all of that without rambling too much.
Having said all that, Fairfax will be a great replacement in many ways, and VA is and will continue to be a blue state for the foreseeable future. So, I hope he wraps up and then we can all move on/move VA forward.
PaulWartenberg
@Adam L Silverman:
For what I know there’s been a steady stream of immigrants still coming to Tarpon Springs – mostly cousins or relations to families already here – to where you can’t really tell between the sixth-gen Greeks and the newcomers. I mentioned in an earlier argument about Tom Brokaw’s horrid “Latinos should immerse into American culture and speak English” crap that in Tarpon Springs you’re likely to get a natural Greek speaker without a trace of knowing English and you get used to asking a younger relative to translate for you. it all just becomes a blur to me, sorry.
PaulWartenberg
@Another Scott:
waitaminute his VMI nickname was “Goose”?
was this before or after Top Gun came out?
lurker#3000
It’s not about outrage. It’s about principles. Don’t get this new thing where Dems think it’s ok to behave as badly as the GOP in their hypocrisy. If he changed, he should have brought this up himself. He had so many opportunities. How could this not have crossed his mind during the Corey Stewart primary run? During the whole Trump campaign? He’s an experienced politician. Yes, the entire South is classic in this regard and many Southern white people have done this shit. Why do they deserve a pass unless they proactively take responsibilty and apologize BEFORE they run for office. Now he’s put the Dem party in another awful position between standing up for their principles or giving him a pass with all the dumb Kavanaugh defenses of youth and amends and blah blah blah. He must have known it was bad a long long time ago. Discouraged by the number of Dems who think it’s ok to give people a pass because they are Dems and after all the GOP are worse and always get away with this stuff. We are NOT the GOP is kind of the point.
Not a bot. Just a lurker.
Ksmiami
@Adam L Silverman: best of luck and as a smart boss once said, tomorrow is another day to start again…
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
Just to be clear, I am 100 percent saying that Northam has to resign because of this.
The only question in my mind is why this picture surfaced now and not earlier in his political career. As FlipYrWhig said, the Republicans might have been able to swing the governor’s election to their side if they had released this during the election, so why didn’t they?
Plus it’s common for Republicans to react tit-for-tat with the same attack that was used against one of their guys so they can maintain their “both sides” narrative.
Shorter me: I’m mostly surprised no one used this against him years ago.
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: Well, now that you’re adding it all up, there does appear to be a pattern. It’s a shame – it seems to me that he was doing a half-way decent job as governor, and I will reflexively defend anyone who’s for sane abortion policy against right-wing crazies, but it does seem as if these are own goals, not simple rat-fuckery.
At this point, I just hope he decides to jump before he’s pushed. And make an apology that acknowledges that this type of shit is inexcusable, no matter what your excuse might have been.
Quinerly
@WaterGirl: ?
Mnemosyne
@lurker#3000:
I think we’re all well past the point of thinking he should do anything other than resign. I’m thinking of ways he could do that that would help repair some of the harm he did rather than letting him call himself a martyr.
Quinerly
@Miss Bianca: It seems that it has been verified that he’s the one in Black face. The gov is tall, apparently. Does this really matter?
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne: He should resign in disgrace and be done. Nothing to repair. He should just show himself out. No fanfare. He would only be a martyr if he was a Repug. (actually I think he originally was a Repug)
Miss Bianca
@Quinerly: May I politely inquire as to WTF you are talking about and WTF it has to do with anything I said? Which was that it was a shame that all of this appeared to a). real, and b). own goals on Northam’s part, and not just GOP ratfuckery because of his stand on the abortion bill.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Pretty interesting, did not know that. Also interesting, R E Lee (traitor, CSA General) was president of one of the schools in Lexington, VA. But NOT VMI~!!~
Interestingly, VMI fought the admission of women until the courts forced them to admit women. Then they hazed the admitted young women until they couldn’t stand the harassment. Not sure if they still are male only, but fuck that shit, they’re haters from top to bottom, from their leadership, faculty, down to the freshmen just showing up on campus for the first year.
Virginia is far more racist/sexist than one would think from the recent elections. So glad West Virginia seceded from Virginia in the middle of the Civil War!
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg: I’m aware. I grew up in Tampa, went to Jesuit with a number of those guys, and I have family in East Lake.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Washington and Lee University. It was originally Washington University, but they renamed it, as part of the rehab push by his daughters, after Lee’s death. Stonewall Jackson was a faculty member, he taught artillery, at VMI prior to the Great Rebellion. Apparently he was terrible at it. Both as a teacher and as an artillerist.
CaseyL
It’s up to VA Dems, but my take is: what has Northam done since then? If he has been a strong and able advocate for POC, then I’d hesitate to burn him based on something from 35 years ago. Particularly if he’s spent his life since then being ashamed of what he did, and using the power of public service to atone for it.
People do dumb, hateful things. Sometimes they realize as much, and try to make up for it. I’m not comfortable saying an entire life is defined by an incident more than half a lifetime ago.
People like Kavanaugh, Jordan, etc., are damned because they have a hell of a lot more than one incident to answer for. They are what they have always been. I don’t want to group them with people who decided to be better than they once were.
Obviously, my opinion depends on no similar incidents like this coming to light.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay:
In what world would it matter?
J R in WV
@Quinerly:
In Virginia, in the Tidewater, not only in 1984 but way since then, the faculty was pissed they had to be polite to black students that somehow were admitted. The editors were also racists.
So, yes, faculty advisors and editors didn’t make any difference. They approved. Sad, but there it is. Racist from top to bottom. Many still are.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: If you want a competent Confederate gunner, you need to look to Braxton Bragg (who was an asshole and not just because he was a Confederate general).
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: Popehat (and Cary).
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
JoyceH
I agree that Northam has to resign. Sadly, because this seems so out of character for him. And can I mention how relieved I am that the lt. gov is a Democrat? That’s not guaranteed in Virginia – the gov and lt. gov are on separate lines on the ballot, and several times we’ve wound up with a Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor.
PaulWartenberg
@Adam L Silverman:
I miss Plakas. Those were some thick gyros.
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg: Yep. The Little Greek at Boot Ranch isn’t bad though. They don’t skimp, they don’t overcharge you. And they also have falafel!
Another Scott
Sens. Warner and Kaine statements on Northam, just short of calling for his resignation.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
BlueVirginia:
The condemnation is building by the minute. He needs to go.
Cheers,
Scott.
eemom
@Another Scott:
Fun fact, since everything else sucks: Ryan McElveen is the son of my daughter’s 7th grade English teacher, Mr. McElveen, who even then (2007) was a very elderly gentleman with a cane who still gamely taught the young ‘uns. Don’t know if he’s still with us. But son Ryan is very impressive, being the youngest person ever elected to the Fairfax County School Board.
Another Scott
@eemom: It’s a small world.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.