OK, let me see whether I have this straight. The Commonwealth of Virginia has moved from
deep red to purple to light blue, and we are all giddy with delight that
Democrats are making deep inroads into the New South.
The Democratic Governor appears in his medical school
yearbook on a page that includes a picture of a man in deep all-over black face
and someone in a KKK outfit, and his defense is that the picture is not of him,
although he did wear black face in a Michael Jackson competition which he won
because he could moonwalk.
The Lieutenant Governor, a rising Democratic star and a
Black man, is accused by a Claremont Scripps senior professor, who got her BA
at Princeton and her MA and PhD at Chicago, of physically forcing her to
perform oral sex on him when they met doing political work.
The Attorney General, also a Democrat and third in line for
the Governorship, allows as how, yes, he appeared in black face back in the day.
And the fourth in line for the Governorship is the
Republican leader of the Virginia Senate.
Nobody expects anything better of Republicans, so who knows what will
surface about him?
Do I have that right?
What to do? Go with
the moonwalker, the sexual assaulter, the black faced Attorney General, or give
up on the entire state and try to make up the electoral votes by registering
the 1.4 million men and women who just got their voting rights back in Florida.
Lordy, no one said politics was easy.
Definitely do not give up or give back Virginia to the Repubs. It's only recently become a 'purple' swing-ish state in national elections. Giving it up would be nuts.
ReplyDeleteJust reading some comments elsewhere about this. The AG was apparently 19 at the time and was trying to impersonate a rap musician he liked. Bad, but not as bad as what the others are accused of.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican speaker was elected by a coin toss.
ReplyDeleteOne way out for the Democrats--1st the Lt. Gov. resigns. 2nd, the Gov. appoints another (well-vetted!) Democrat as Lt. Gov. The Gov. then resigns and the Dem. Lt. Gov. succeeds him.
David Palmeter, brilliant!
ReplyDeleteBack in the days of the Kavanaugh hearings I got everyone pissed off at me for insisting that people should not be judged for what they did many years ago when they were young. People grow, people change.
ReplyDeleteWhat people do when they are young is more or less the result of their upbringing. I never wore blackface, probably because I was raised in a family where black-face was considered a sin. That's not to my credit, but to that of my parents.
I did a lot of stupid, cruel and offensive things when I was young. A while ago I discovered that my high school yearbook was online. I was so "out of it" that no one even thought of celebrating my stupidities and in fact, the yearbook called me to find out who I was since no one knew me and I made up some stuff about myself for my profile. However, the "in" people in my high school are there in the yearbook doing and saying things that they are probably ashamed of now.
Forcing someone to perform oral sex is more serious, but if it was a long time ago and if the person is genuinely contrite and has changed his ways (and if the accusation is true), it's better to learn from experience and move on.
As I said previously, one of my best friends was a heavy drug user when young and spent 6 months in jail for armed robbery. That was 50 years ago and he has written several books since then, been a literature teacher and an activist for countless good causes. As I said, people change and grow.
I'm even a bit suspicious of people who were too goody-goody and Mr. or Ms. Perfect when they were young.