Saturday, February 2, 2019

Resign (UPDATED)


Yesterday's bombshell report of a racist photograph in Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook is prompting calls for his resignation across the political spectrum.

By all accounts, Northam has lived his life in a manner that is completely at odds with the despicable characterizations in the photograph.  He served as a medical officer in the Army, as a State Senator, and as Virginia's Lieutenant Governor prior to becoming Governor, without any suggestion of this behavior in his past.  But this was 1984, not 1884 (not that it would've been less racist then), and he was an adult when he chose to participate in the ignorant, racist photograph.

He's already lost the support of his party in the House of Delegates: 


And from his Democratic predecessor:

And from the NAACP:


His position is completely untenable.  We believe he'll do the right thing and resign.

UPDATE No resignation for now.  In a news conference that just concluded this afternoon, Northam said it was not him in the picture in question and he won't resign. At the same time, he volunteered that he "darkened" his face for a Michael Jackson dance contest during roughly the same time period, digging the hole deeper. He also answered a question as to why the nickname "Coonman" was under his picture in the Virginia Military Institute yearbook from a few years earlier. Curious.

4 comments:

donnah said...

If you do a search on Google for “Mitch McConnell, Confederate flag” you'll find a lovely photo of him sharing an honor with a fellow racist in front of the flag. Shouldn't he also be forced to resign?

W. Hackwhacker said...

donnah -- we'd endorse that (and also ride him out of DC on an unsanded rail).

Anonymous said...

With regret, I agree, he needs to go. And he has no future in Democratic politics. Our Democratic candidates for any public office cannot be wasting time explaining or apologizing for this. And if this weren't enough, his explanations for the third trimester abortion issues were not well crafted. Maybe he should just go back to practicing medicine rather than talking about it. What a shame - a waste of talent, completely self-inflicted. P.E.C.

W. Hackwhacker said...

Ms. Cake -- it's a total waste of his talent and abilities; there those far more deserving of an exit from public life, starting with Individual 1. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I wonder had he owned up to this at the beginning of his career and forcefully denounced it, if he might still have had a career in politics. A damn good Lt. Gov. is in the wings waiting to take over, which eases the pain for us somewhat.