first off: I understand many of the reasons why people have posted defensive comments about the governor.
One: this is an obvious "rat" operation, just as Al Franken was also a successful operation.
Two: despite doing something that was very very stupid, the governor has apparently enjoyed the success of black voters.
Three: if the GOP gets back Virginia, it will send a message to the folks in Dixie that even when Democrats gain, they lose.
Four: what he did was really not all that bad, and was very common back then.
Five: if we do not maintain our composure whenever we go for social justice, we will do nothing but eat our own, and scare off those coveted "white working-class voters."
And this is where I will take apart all of these points.
One: yes it is a rat operation, and I am sure that the Republicans, as well as Putin himself, are ready to go ahead and find any sort of dirt, real or otherwise, because after all it's not like the truth really matters to people. However, if we're going to drop our standards just because we are afraid of what the other people will do, then we are in effect allowing ourselves to be controlled by the enemy. Voters, especially those that we claim to be coveting will see that as submission. The fence striding "moderate" will tell themselves "see I told you all the social justice was nonsense!"
Two: yes, the governor of Virginia has done some things that were good for the black voters who after all, put him in office. Now, considering the fact that the Democrats depend heavily on African American voters, should anyone, regardless of whether they have something unsavory in the past, or whether they are saints straight from seventh heaven somehow not trying to improve the lot of African-American voters? Let me be blunt: if I go to a Burger King and the person does not make a taco instead of a whopper I wanted, is that something to praise? Let me be real blunt: it was not for African-American voters who are dealing with threats as well as red tape, Nancy Pelosi would not be speaker of the house. And it is not for the fact that African-American voters will indeed have to deal with all those old threats and whatever new ones that Trump and his buddy Vladimir can come up with, we will not win, any more than we would not win without women. Talk realpolitik all you want, you know this is a fact, and the statistics will prove it.
Three: I myself am a Democrat in Florida. I know very well that damn hard to be a Democrat deep red Dixie where there is not even the pretense anymore of fairness, or outright cheating is celebrated on talk radio and in the newspapers. It is no accident that the same state that we're focusing on now is the same state that brought us to Charlottesville riots. As much as we would like to think we have made progress, there are still some people who they got their way would go straight back to antebellum days. Yes I do mean antebellum days, because you hear stuff like "we treated our slaves well." What I'm saying here is this: if you try to coddle, beg, plead the white sheet faction, and those who were good friends with people of the white sheet faction, will not hear you. All you are doing is confirming weakness. Yes, we do need the 50 state strategy back in gear, and yes we do need to leave the door open wide enough for the people who are finally mad at Trump, if no other reason than they finally got screwed. But if we show fear, that will do absolutely nothing but sure that this gets repeated again, and again., And again
Four: okay, the idea that some people come on here and say "we had this when we were growing up and it wasn't that bad, and it wasn't that uncommon." Are the good old days when Blacks can be hung from trees supposedly some acceptable standard? Many of the Germans in World War II were indeed the European equivalent of good old boys, good, simple folk who simply allowed themselves to follow the current for bunch of reasons that I'm sure they thought were good, even though their conscience was screaming at the top of her lungs "you know this is wrong!" I am not saying that people who say what he did was not all that bad are bigots, but I am saying that many are willing to give the bigots some slack, which is dangerous because, as Charlottesville showed, if you give those bigots some slack, they will take a mile of rope. If you are looking at things and thinking they weren't so bad back then, first off, most older African-Americans can wipe that allusion from your eye, second we are the ones were supposed to know better.
Five: this point was previously covered, but it bears repeating: the frustrated white working-class, that was raised to take comfort from the fact that no matter how low they were, they could always say the N-word is not going to listen to your pleas. It is one thing to sacrifice a person, a person that frankly had time and resources to clean up their mess before summer rat found it. But if we sacrifice our ideals, our morals, we have something much more to fear than any "purity police", what we are doing is telling the enemy that we will bend to their well, and that they will set the agenda, and before you know it, this Faustian deal that was made of will come due, and we will wonder where the hell our integrity went as we're dragged off to hell!
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