Another Tiresome Liberal Call for Someone to Resign
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, livened up a slow news day when he was found to have not merely posed for racist photos as a medical student, but to have actually put them in his med school yearbook. This has, naturally, set off a race among the the Awoken among us to call for — nay, demand — his resignation.
The yearbook came out in 1984, 35 years ago, when Northam was 25. Because he was a racist dipshit at age 25 — a graduate of Virginia Military Institute, so basically trained to be a dipshit — the past 35 years don’t count. To America’s left-wing moral guardians, there can be no such thing as redemption, except for the cases when there is. I don’t recall too many calls for the retirement of Sen. Robert Byrd, another Democrat, over his past as an actual Klansman.
To pick an example, Mark Joseph Stern at Slate writes, “A man who could take a picture like that and conceal it for decades, then insist it’s not too late to atone when it’s discovered, is not a man who should hold public office.” This rather pointedly ignores the fact that many Republicans, governors included, are still racists today and are working put that philosophy into practice. It also skims over what should embarrass journalists — a photograph that’s been publicly available for 35 years was missed not only by journalists but opposition researchers during Northam’s run for the governorship. Stern’s moralizing aside, Northam had no obligation to tell voters, “Oh, by the way, I was once a dipshit racist, but unlike my opponent, I got over it.”
“No one benefits from his continued service,” Stern writes. Really? What about the people who voted him into office? If you want Northam out, go through the proper procedures for removing him. He has broken no law, and this has no relation to his job performance. Racism, vile as it is, is not only common currency in the U.S., particularly in the states of the Confederacy, it’s the obvious philosophy of the president of the United States. If the citizens of Virginia want Northam out, they’ll let him know. He will have to deal with this in coming days and weeks, and might well decide he can no longer be effective, but nobody’s really in position to judge that yet. The verdict doesn’t go before the trial.
Stern gives away the game when he writes that this was a “national embarrassment.” No it wasn’t. It was an embarrassment for people like Stern, who mistake politics for religion and want to pretend that their party’s shit doesn’t stink. You want him to resign not because you’re offended, but because you’re embarrassed — how can you ever lord your morality over Republicans again?
What folks like this can’t understand is that Republicans think they’re moral and we’re immoral, which ought to demonstrate that in politics, moral suasion only goes so far, because we don’t all share the same morality. Once that saturation point is reached, moralizing does more harm than good. It makes people think you’re a pompous, self-righteous ass.
You want to stand for something? Try standing for fully assessing situations before going off half-cocked. I’d be happier with the Democratic Party if that were how we differed from Republicans.
I agree. Fuck this self-defeating bullshit.
Higher standard. You can’t be the party of inclusivity when your leaders have things like this in their past. A big tent provides a deep bench. Governor Fairfax will be great.
I get the impulse to dig in our heels and fight, but it’s not worth it here. Northam is clearly not a racist, but like Franken, he has to resign on optics alone. And the VA legislative black caucus is calling for his resignation, so he’s cooked. I agree, Governor Fairfax will be great. Word is he is to the left of Northam. Let’s fight for his re-election.
WaPo has an explainer on LG succession in VA:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/02/gov-ralph-northams-political-career-is-suddenly-shaky-heres-what-could-happen-next/
Dare say you’ve seen the yearbook picture, how it made it into a college yearbook is beyond me but there it is, and your not going to get around it. Is it a fight worth having to keep him in office? No, it is not, especially when his replacement will do just as well. The Dems cannot be the party that let’s racism slide, intentional or not the image is too powerful.
Unlike Trump’s withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, Gov. Northam is strictly a Commonwealth of Virginia concern.
No, we’re all subjected to it, and people aren’t treating it as such.
If you’re so worried about the treaty, why didn’t you notice when Putin started violating it?
Here’s a summary of a piece by Joseph Cirincione, an expert in nuclear weapons policy, in Washington Post, which has a paywall. It’s got Bolton’s fingerprints on it:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/plays-putins-hands-nuclear-weapons-expert-explains-trump-just-gave-huge-gift-russia/
BTW, not that I agree with it as a metric, but your metric of the public not caring about the Russians applies just as well to this story. So is that now out the window?
I agree with you Alby. The truth of the matter is that people can and do change. To deny that is to deny an empirical fact. Then to say that what a person did before they changed has more relevance than what they’ve done after they changed is simply to diminish the significance of the change and to discourage it. The point should be to encourage change and praise it. Not punish it and make it irrelevant.
Agreed. Democrats are good at beating each other up over stupid stuff. He was 25, he was a jerk to take the photo but he has lived a good life and been solid on civil rights. Wait till the Instagram generAtion starts running for office….oh dear….
With luck, once everyone has something to be ashamed of it will cease to matter. Oh, wait…
I guess my main complaint is you can’t swing a dead cat meme on the internet today without hitting yet another commentator demanding his resignation. It’s turned into a cottage industry.
Yep, it’s a full blown media shitstorm. But! At this point he now admits having dressed in black face and has offered no real denial of the picture other than that it “might not be him”. This is not just another meme, he needs to go and Fairfax needs to take his place.
He’s gotta go. To think otherwise, well I question how much you all actually stand by what you believe.
I stand by what I believe. I believe y’all should go after people who are, y’know, current racists, and stop bleeding all over the place.
I know why you don’t. It’s much harder to do anything about them, so y’all go after the easy targets.
You disgust me.
Right, because no Democrat, liberal, or progressive has called for Steve King or Trmp to go over their racism….
Just another Dem racist exposed. LOL
Steve King is as racist today as my grandfather was in 1980.
That new senator from Mississippi posed for photos in a Confederate cap and rifle last year
Steve Scalise campaigned on being David Duke without the baggage.
Mitch McConnell accepted an award from some sons of the Confederacy group. There’s a photo of him in middle age smiling in front if a massive CSA battle flag.
Kavanaugh was just confirmed to the Supreme Court …
….
I was 10 years old in 1984. And I knew black face & Klan hoods were fucking repugnant.
Northam should resign, but there is an argument to made. Democratic party people decry purity tests™ I thought. If these purity rules only apply to one side we’re at an incredible disadvantage.
“Le meglio è l’inimico del bene”. Voltaire
We are all the sum of our experiences, whether moral or immoral, good and bad. To judge an entire life only by the standards of today is dismissive of evolution in thought, philosophy, and morality. By those standards, any one who has lived more than a decade will be found wanting.
Democrats/liberals can apply whatever litmus tests they choose, but it really should be noted, that very few, if any, of those being judged will be found to be immaculate.
Italian proverb. 🙂
Which errors disqualify? We seem to always mutually to decide to choose the wrong ones.
I was only suggesting we let the man speak before judging. Now that he’s spoken, I too think he’s done.
There was a right way to handle this — not easily, but he might have survived if he had shown actual contrition. He failed.
Please be aware that my gripe here isn’t judgment, it’s the rush to do so, as if there were some kind of prize for being the first one to show up with the tar and feathers.
Dear Alby,
Shut the fuck up!
Love,
Bane
Dear Bane,
Go fuck yourself!
Love,
Alby
PS: If you have something intelligent to say, go right ahead. Then again, I guess if you had something intelligent to say you would have said it by now.
Alby,
Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind. I just can’t believe that you actually wanted people to move slowly in condemning and requesting the resignation of this man. What were you expecting him to do? Turn into Bobby Kennedy? What reasoning were you expecting from him? He is who we thought he was. The photo is so far off the spectrum and is not even from high school, but as a man in his 20s after med school. I feel like if this were any other issue you wouldn’t be urging restraint.
It’s people like you that these assholes have been hiding behind for 35yrs. People like you who try to make the victims of bigots feel childish for being offended. People like you who try to make this about his lack of skill in responding effectively to these claims rather than the lack of moral character that’s placed him in the position in the first place. Your, “…the first to show up with the tar and feathers…” comment is the epitome indifference cloaked in faux pragmatism.
Dr. King said, “We will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, Wait”
Love,
Bane
The work week’s off to a productive start. Very cool.
“Shut up” is not a convincing argument.
I get it. I have no emotional reaction to that photo, because I’ve seen literally thousands of photos like that one over the years. Some people apparently believe this lack of visceral disgust, and a corresponding interest in hearing Northam explain himself, means I’m racist. If so, then I am.
What I actually am is unemotional about this, and everyone would prefer to be emotional. Hence this manufactured crisis has gotten more ink in three days than the Black Lives Matter movement has in the past year. The media pays attention to BLM only when another unarmed African American is killed by police — IOW, when emotions come into play.
Yeah, I get it, people act 90% on emotion, if not more. That doesn’t mean we should succumb to the temptation.
As I wrote before, if Northam had shown true regret or contrition he might have navigated through this. Anyone who wants to dispute that is free to argue otherwise.
“Shut up” is not an argument.
Alby,
Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind. I just can’t believe that you actually wanted people to move slowly in condemning and requesting the resignation of this man. What were you expecting him to do? Turn into Bobby Kennedy? What reasoning were you expecting from him? He is who we thought he was. The photo is so far off the spectrum and is not even from high school, but as a man in his 20s after med school. I feel like if this were any other issue you wouldn’t be urging restraint.
It’s people like you that these assholes have been hiding behind for 35yrs. People like you who try to make the victims of bigots feel childish for being offended. People like you who try to make this about his lack of skill in responding effectively to these claims rather than the lack of moral character that’s placed him in the position in the first place. Your, “…the first to show up with the tar and feathers…” comment is the epitome indifference cloaked in faux pragmatism.
Dr. King said, “We will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, Wait”
Love,
Bane
Thanks for the reasoned reply.
Did I expect him to turn into Bobby Kennedy? No. But I thought he deserved the opportunity.
You chose a good example, because Bobby Kennedy turned himself into Bobby Kennedy. The guy who got shot in 1968 was not the same guy who served as Roy Cohn’s bulldog on the McCarthy Commission, or even the same guy whose appointment as AG drew charges of nepotism.
“People like you who try to make the victims of bigots feel childish for being offended.”
The victims of bigots? As an American with four Italian grandparents, I’m offended by the world’s indifference the slur on Italians introduced worldwide by the Japanese with “Its-a me, Mario!” which continues unremarked upon to the present day. Try to image not just one video game, but an entire series of them, with a hero who says, “Oy! It’s me, Hymie!” or…well, you can fill in the blanks as easily as I can.
Feeling offended by such things isn’t childish. It’s a natural first reaction. What’s “childish,” in the sense that it’s intellectually undeveloped, is rationalizing rather than analyzing this gut reaction. Which leads to…
“I feel like if this were any other issue you wouldn’t be urging restraint.”
No. I always urge restraint, unless immediate action is called for, and I have a hard time seeing why immediate reaction is necessary when the photos are 35 years old.
I have for years ridiculed the empty exercise of demanding people’s resignations, even people I would like to see leave office, because it’s a cheap, easy thing to do.
When people say, as so many are doing over this, that we have to take an action to send this or that message, they are only revealing their own motivations. You can’t guarantee what message people will take from an action, you can only state your intention by it. And it’s pretty clear the motivations of many Democrats here: They want to accuse Republicans of racism, so they must purge every hint of it from their party or they’ll be exposed as hypocrites. The truth, of course, is that lots of Democrats were, and some still are, hypocrites, and some are even racists. This is the mud pit you enter when you make politics primarily about moral values rather than policy. And this is why I don’t make moral-values-based arguments — I don’t expect people to share my values.
“Dr. King said, “We will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, Wait”
I’m not saying “wait” for justice. I said “wait” until he explains himself. It took 24 hours for him to show me he hasn’t learned anything. That’s less time than it took Dr. King to write that speech, so I don’t think the quote proves your point.
Here’s a good example of why I prefer cases be decided by due process rather than the court of public opinion:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/4/1832100/-Superintendent-that-used-her-son-s-insurance-to-get-medical-care-for-student-resigns
Yes, she could have toughed it out, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Northam will eventually do the same.
Personally, I’d prefer to give these issues the airing they deserve to dismissing the people who brought them up, and the issues along with them. That teacher deserves the chance to publicly air the situation that made her choose helping her student over obeying the law.
Northam got that chance with his press conference, but blew it. He could have talked about how he ignorantly saw nothing wrong with it, people he grew up with did it, but he learned since then that such displays, even as jokes, are hurtful and wrong. Had he done so more people might give him the benefit of the doubt — and that’s what I had, doubts.
Whereas, IMO, saying “Blackface is hereafter forbidden, even retroactively,” does nothing to work on or work out the problem. Because “shut up” is not an argument.
I get it, but its impossible to separate morality from policy. What guides your policy if not your morals? I think there actually needs to be more morality involved in our policy making. That level of indifference about the morality of our leadership has negative policy implications for historically disenfranchised communities. (See the last 400yrs in America as a reference)
Can’t argue with you there, but my morality differs from yours. It says give him a chance to explain.
And Republicans’ differs from both of us. It says we shouldn’t help people because it makes them dependent upon the help. Fucked up, IMO, but there it is. So if we’re going to rest public policy on personal morality, it simply becomes a matter of the winners imposing their will on all.
Congratulations, we have just recommitted ourselves to the same battleground on which we fight forced-birthers. I imagine we’ll have just as much success.
Bane: A lot of conservatives also want morality in politics, which leads to things like wanting to ban abortion because they think it’s morally wrong. And they leave no room for discussion. Intransigence is not helpful in politics. You think your morality is the right one, but the other side does too. Yes, morality can guide political choices, but beware of rule by fiat.
Ehhhh, I get it. Somewhat of a false equivalency though, but I get it.