I’m writing this on Friday night, as Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is vowing that he will not resign. But were I a betting man, my money would be on him being gone by the time you read this.
Americans haven’t seen anyone pull such a spectacular crash-and-burn in public since the days when Evel Knievel was jumping motorcycles over large objects.
Northam first came to national attention last week when he attempted to defend a proposed pro-abortion law so extreme that even its own backers are now fleeing from it like cats that touched a hot stove. His appalling description of the act of letting a baby born during an abortion just lie there and struggle for its life without offering medical aid sparked outrage even among some liberals (the infant would be kept comfortable while the parents and doctors have a discussion about what to do – if there even are any doctors: some of these new pro-abortion bills don’t even require that there be a real doctor present.) Let me settle that discussion: when a baby is struggling for its life, you CALL A DOCTOR or get it to a hospital!!! That doesn’t require a debate.
But then came the shocking surprise twist: a conservative blogger unearthed a photo from Northam’s 1984 yearbook at Eastern Virginia Medical School that showed two male students in costumes: one in blackface and the other in a KKK hood and robe. One was identified as Northam. National Review verified that the photo was real, and Northam admitted it (although he didn’t specify whether he was the one in blackface or Klan robe, if that really matters.)
Some Republicans pointed out that this was especially shocking, considering Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie by tarring him as a racist (he also tweeted about President Trump, “We deserve better than a President who won’t condemn white supremacists.”) It also raised questions of why Gillespie’s campaign didn’t find this photo. Remember when I wrote yesterday about the Trump Tower meeting and said that all campaigns do opposition research? Apparently, Gillespie’s didn’t. If he had found this, he’d likely be Governor of Virginia today.
Well, this was too much of a burning cross to bear even for Democrats who had no problem defending Northam on the whole “murdering babies” issue. Soon, the calls for his resignation were coming from all sides, including the left: Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, the Congressional Black Caucus, Terry McAuliffe, Ted Lieu, MoveOn.org, and even – brace yourself – Planned Parenthood!
But then, Planned Parenthood has nothing to lose. As Sean Davis of the Federalist tweeted, Lt. Gov. “Justin Fairfax, who would replace Northam, is a former Planned Parenthood official who is even more radically pro-infanticide than Northam. There’s no downside for abortionists in calling for Northam’s head. They get all the baby-killing (without) the baggage.”
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1091528148628500480
One wag also declared that Planned Parenthood just can’t stand to see anything survive through its full term.
One very telling sidelight: CNN, either from bias or force of habit, falsely identified Northam on screen as a Republican.
They probably didn’t mean to be misleading, since that was too obvious not to be noticed. I imagine they just heard the letters “KKK” and assumed it was a story about a Republican. To help them in case this comes up again in the future: The KKK was created by Democrats. They were angry that a Republican President, whom they called an “ape” and other nasty names, wanted to stop them from importing an underclass of workers from poor nations to exploit by making them do their field and house work rather than paying a free American citizen a living wage to do it. Some people claim the parties somehow switched positions since the 1860s, but I really don’t see how.
Another sidelight of this media circus was an attempt by some Democrats to claim that their calls for Northam to step aside rather than excuse it as a dumb youthful indiscretion prove they don’t practice situational ethics because they also called on Brett Kavanaugh to step aside over something from many years ago in school. But that overlooks two important points: (1.) the accusation against Kavanaugh was from when he was a high school kid, not a 26-year-old medical school student, and (2.) Kavanaugh vociferously denied the charge, and nobody ever produced a scrap of evidence or a single corroborating witness. Northam posed for a photo and admitted it was him. If someone had accused Northam of wearing blackface or a KKK robe over 30 years ago with no evidence or witnesses, I would've defended his right to a presumption of innocence, too. But that’s not what we have here.
Well, as we wait for Northam to read the writing on the wall and start packing his sheets, it’s worth noting that we now know what Democrats find unacceptable in a high public official (evidence of past racist behavior) and acceptable (condoning and enabling of infanticide.) It would be nice if they were outraged by both of these abominations.
I’ll give the final word to conservative comedian Stephen Kruiser, who had the best line of all to sum up Northam’s self-destruction:
“(Northam’s) career will be kept comfortable while the voters who gave birth to it discuss whether or not it should be terminated.”
https://twitter.com/stephenkruiser/status/1091461148942118912
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