Northam is still in office.

[BlueStater]

He appears to have survived the storm and the media no longer cares about this scandal. It looks like he'll remain as governor for the rest of his term. That's unbelievable.

I don't know to feel about this. I guess if Jim fucking Jordan can stay in power despite ignoring his own students getting molested, there's no reason Northam should have to step down for some stupid and disgusting thing he did 35 years ago as a young man. It's not like there's any proof that he's still a racist today. From what I can tell, he seems to have genuinely changed his ways.

Every time a politician gets involved in some sort of scandal, it seems like its only ever the Democratic ones who have to pay the price. Republicans can sexually assault women and get elected president, try to rape a girl and end up on the Supreme Court, and be creepy pedophiles and nearly win a Senate seat. They answer to nothing.

Northam's actions were deplorable, but they happened a very long time ago and were nowhere in the same ballpark as what I mentioned. I understand if you disagree, but I'm not going to deny that part of me feels that it is refreshing that he didn't cave in to the calls for him to go.

[marylandblue]

1. Yeah, Northam figured out the Republican secret.

You can do whatever you want because enough members of your own party will back you no matter what.

[JI7]

3. except the party did not back him . most called for him to resign

[marylandblue]

5. Yeah, they said that and did nothing. Big deal.

[JI7]

6. what were they supposed to do ?

[marylandblue]

7. Impeach him maybe? But that's too drastic.

Block all his legislation? But that's counterproductive. Keep talking about it? But that gets boring and the media moves on. I'm running out of options here. Which is the point. They weren't going to do anything, and he knew it. So it's like never happened.

[dsc]

8. actually the GOP is in charge (albeit by small margins) of the

general assembly of VA.

[marylandblue]

11. They didn't do anything either.

[JI7]

14. they were ready to impeach Fairfax who was accused of a crime

Northam wasn't accused of a crime or anything else that would be impeachable. but they were hoping he would resign.

[marylandblue]

15. The whole point is they didn't resign, they didn't get impeached and everyone moved on.

Just like with Trump. Just like with Mark Sanford. He survived eloping to Argentina, but didn't survive the "scandal" of not backing Trump.

In today's politics, shamelessness is rewarded, or at least not punished.

[JI7]

16. Northam didn't do anything impeachable

[marylandblue]

17. Why is this so difficult to get? He didn't resign nobody cares, life goes on.

Even if he did something impeachable, he might not get impeached, like happened with Mark Sanford. Like is happening with Trump. Even if we see the Mueller's report and it flat out says he committed crimes directly contradicting Barr's letter, he might not get impeached.

I'm sure you don't like it this way. I know I don't. But politicians who brazen it out are more likely to survive than those who don't.

[Demsrule86]

23. I don't believe GOP SHIT. And I am glad Virginia is still in Democratic hands.

[Demsrule86]

22. It would be dumb to play into GOP hands to attack our own. The GOP

was trying to overturn the election. We have to stand up and stop this shit. You have a racist scum sucking party GOP trying to get rid of Northam who is not a racist using a 40 year old picture. Don't fall for GOP shit.

[marylandblue]

24. That's pretty much my point. I don't care what a Democrat does wrong anymore.

I only care about what they do right. And that includes not quitting over real or invented scandals.

[Demsrule86]

32. Me either. A Republican scum would do far worse.

[kennetha]

2. Mere Moral Outrage does not effective politics make

Otherwise Trump wouldn’t be President!

[JI7]

4. while i think he stayed in for selfish reasons it was for better for the people that he stayed in

Last edited Tue Mar 26, 2019, 07:48 AM - Edit history (1)

if he had resigned they were going to impeach and remove fairfax right away unless he resigned also. and the next in line democrat also had the same issue as northam . and we would have ended up with a republican who actually passed laws that affected people's lives. and they would have made it tougher for minorities to vote to try to win the state for themselves as happened in Georgia .

Northam and his wife have a lot to learn. but in terms of policies, laws being passed etc it is much better with him in office than what would have happened if he resigned.

also the allegations against Fairfax which i believed at first seemed to become questionable when the women accusing him were against an investigation but wanted to testify in front of some hearing against him .

[uponit7771]

9. Same here, Northam's heart is repentant and he should've said something long ago to his campaign

[Tipperary]

10. They have all taken a page from rump's book.

Just ignore it, and it will go away. Apparently it works. Smh.

[marylandblue]

18. And that's the painful truth.

[Demsrule86]

27. Not to me. I prefer to see our folks not brought down by bullshit GOP tricks.

[Vinca]

12. While I'm pretty put off by the guy, maybe Dems should take this as a lesson.

When accusations of any kind are made, don't fold like cheap tents while muttering apologies and sobbing. Guess I'm back to thinking about Franken again and how a certain female Senator gave him the bum's rush in the first hour of the scandal. And Franken himself should have stayed and demanded an investigation. But that's history, so let's move on and try not to be such weenies in the future.

[Demsrule86]

25. 10000+ we have to be smart or they will take down all our

effective people with lies or old sins.

[mr_lebowski]

30. Which is what I literally suggested from DAY 1, and why I'm happy to see Northam still in office

I caught a lotta shit for it, too, at the time.

Dems have to be 100% perfect and Icon's of PC-ness there entire lives, otherwise, time to step down! But Rethugs can look the other way when they know rape of college kids is going on around them for years.

I say F*** THAT!

If it's a primary and we have multiple viable candidates, that's one thing. And I'm not saying there's no LIMIT to what a Democrat might've done before I'd call for their ouster, don't get me wrong.

But if Trump getting away with what it appears he's going to doesn't convince everyone that we're in a freaking War right now, I dunno what will.

What do they say about 'fairness' during War?

[Demsrule86]

33. I caught shit for it too and for fairfax which I didn't believe.

BUT we can't dance to the Rethug tune. When they exhibit faux moral outrage, we should laugh in their faces.

[marylandblue]

34. I think more people are with you today than a few months ago.

[mr_lebowski]

35. I hope so. You see, this is one of the few real advantage Trump's ridiculous clown show

and the media's freaking obsession with him ... actually confers to our side.

Relatively minor Democratic transgressions, esp. ones that IQ45 is also clearly guilty of ... are GOING to fall out of the news cycle extremely quickly in this environment.

Dems need to 'vote their conscience' of course, and of course there's a limit (were Fairfax guilty, I'm sure as shit not overlooking THAT!), but frittering and fretting over 'ZOMG we're gonna lose votes 2 years from now if we don't take this guy down with a circular firing squad' over something that's actually relatively minor ... is a DUMB strategy for our side right now. Just as taking out Franken was at the time.

We need to take advantage of the few advantages Trump gives us inherently, and this was a glaring one to me from the start. I absolutely knew if Northam just refused to quit, this would last no more than a week or two in the news. And it didn't.

[Owl]

13. Good

[OnDoutside]

19. Trump is still in office.

[inwiththenew]

20. If you are going to be wrong it's better to be strong and wrong

Trump has proven this time after time. Ride the outrage storm out and the ADD nation will move on to something else.

[brooklynite]

21. That's not the immediate problem in Virginia.

Northam was supposed to be raising money for the State Leg races we have to win in November. He's been.....distracted.

[Demsrule86]

26. He is raising money though.

And Virginia would be in GOP hands had Northam resigned. How would that help in the coming elections to have Democrats dragged through a totally manufactured scandal?

[brooklynite]

28. My sources at the DNC tell me he's way behind; Mark Warner may be stepping in....

[Demsrule86]

31. I have heard through cousin that works with this that they are raising money. But

It is still better than if the GOP took VA.. which was their plan.

[Hortensis]

29. It's nice that you posted on this long-out-of-news-cycle subject.

I never thought the entire nation should have more to say about the disposition of this problem than the citizens of Virginia and was comfortable leaving it to them.

But if I were them, I would want punishment proportionate to the crime and need for deterrence and not have the event inflated out of proportion to its harm in frustrated attempt to try to make people pay attention and care before it's past.

[BlueStater]

36. For what it's worth, most of Northam's black constituents wanted him to remain in office.

I don't deny that his decision not to resign was most likely completely self-serving, but it fell in line with what the people who had the most reason to be angry about the scandal wanted.

https://www.newsweek.com/majority-virginia-african-americans-think-governor-should-stay-1325688

[Hortensis]

37. I'm not surprised that people who voted for him before

were perhaps disappointed but not terribly surprised to find his youth was not pristine.

As for self-serving, maybe not so completely. Being an honest politician is very hard, stressful, insecure work and pays much less than other work he could be doing. He almost certainly believes in himself, and we know he was elected by millions to be the governor he promised to be. It wouldn't be strange if he felt his duty was to remain in office and do his job.