Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Should Northam Resign… or Just Submit?

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

William J. Barber II

It is fascinating to see how the demand that “Governor Ralph Northam must resign” mantra is morphing into “Northam must pay penance by adopting Leftist causes.” Specifically, he needs to shut down the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s proposed compressor station in Buckingham County.

Civil rights activist Rev. William J. Barber II, who is accompanying former Vice President Al Gore to the Union Hill community in Buckingham today, said Monday that Northam’s challenge is more about overcoming the blackface/Ku Klux Klan photo he displayed on his medical school yearbook page 35 years ago and more about changing public policy, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

“The governor has turned his back on this community,” said Barber, former president of the North Carolina NAACP. “If he wants to do a reconciliation tour, he should first go to Union Hill.”

Al Gore

Added Gore: “It’s such a great opportunity for the governor to really show what he means what he says and is re-examining the racial impacts of Virginia’s policies.”

The predominantly white environmentalists who oppose the ACP, along with the Mountain Valley Pipeline (which has no connection to Union Hill whatsoever), and any other natural gas infrastructure anywhere in the country, have framed the Union Hill compressor station as a racial justice issue. They have succeeded, thanks to media events like the one taking place today, in generating massive media attention. Meanwhile, African-American leaders who support the pipeline have no visibility at all.

When the blackface controversy broke, I wrote Feb. 1: ” Let’s sit back and watch how long the PC statute of limitation is for Democrats compared to that for Republicans. … We’ll have to wait and see how sustained the outrage is.”

Clearly, the environmental lobby thinks it can leverage Northam’s desperation into concrete action on their behalf. Expect others to exploit Northam’s craving for forgiveness — er, reconciliation — to extract political concessions they could not get any other way. As Northam bends to their will, we can expect the outrage to fade away.

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19 responses to “Should Northam Resign… or Just Submit?”

  1. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    The last time I agreed with the Rolling Stone it had Dr Hook and the Medicine Show on its cover. It’s time to impeach Justin Fairfax.

    Northam and Herring are racists and liars. Neither failing is impeachable. Fairfax faces credible accusations from multiple sources of committing forcible rape. That is very impeachable.

    Fairfax says he wants due process. So do his accusers. An impeachment trial is due process.

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/impeach-justin-fairfax-793740/

  2. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Now his accusers are doing op-ed columns in the Washington Post? Uh….I thought the next step would be to actually file criminal complaints in Boston and in North Carolina. I’m actually getting the itch this might just be a political attack after all. So let’s see what happens, let’s see if complaints are filed, law enforcement interviews conducted. We don’t need to rush to impeach a public official who has no actual job, other than to check the Governor’s pulse from time to time. Granted, that has taken on more relevance…..

    No matter what, his political future is dead. The Democrats won’t risk nominating him again. Likewise Northam, dead man, so I will be interested to see just how successful they are in turning him into fellow traveler for their racial guilt agenda. They could make resignation very attractive.

    The last time I agreed with Rolling Stone was when it had Hunter S. Thompson writing about politics, which I always devoured with delight….

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      I can’t agree. The police will investigate wondering if the allegations can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the bar a jury would use to decide if somebody should lose their personal liberty. But we should hold our leaders to a higher standard than citizens at large. And impeachment won’t put anybody in jail.

      Two separate standards, two separate processes.

      In a bizarre twist Fairfax has called for an FBI investigation. Hard to imagine how the FBI would be involved. However, I can certainly understand why Justin Fairfax would want them to investigate. More than 15 months after unarmed Bijan Ghaisar was killed by Park Police the FBI (investigating that crime) has come back with nothing.

      Impeachment is the proper process to determine Justin Fairfax’s political future as Lieutenant Governor. Nobody insisted on a completed criminal investigation of Brett Kavenaugh or Bill Clinton to determine their political futures and nobody should insist on the same to determine Fairfax’s political future.

      The criminal investigation should proceed separately.

  3. V N Avatar
    V N

    He has needed to go and this tells us a TON about Democrats.

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      Actually, from about 1 hour ago …

      “Ms. Watson and Dr. Tyson are courageous in coming forward to tell their stories. We respect all survivors and believe they should be fully heard. The allegations they have made against Lt. Governor Fairfax are criminal in nature and we are treating them with the seriousness they deserve.

      Given the allegations, it is appropriate that the Suffolk County District Attorney in Massachusetts has offered to investigate. We would hope any other jurisdictions involved would follow Massachusetts’ lead. We believe that the law enforcement investigation should proceed unencumbered and outside of the political arena.

      As such, the House Democratic Caucus has called on Lt. Governor Fairfax to resign. We are willing to work in a bipartisan manner with members of the General Assembly on a path forward.”

      If he won’t resign then impeachment proceedings must begin.

      1. Steve Haner Avatar
        Steve Haner

        Well, it was his fellow Dems who talked Delegate Hope out of filing a motion for impeachment ten days ago. Perhaps this signals a change of heart. I agree that the question on impeachment is different than the standard for a criminal conviction, but with impeachment you must add the timing issue. It’s a fair question whether it can only apply to acts while in office. No statute of limitations on most felonies.

        1. djrippert Avatar
          djrippert

          Good point on the question of whether the offenses occurred while in office. The Virginia Constitution seems pretty clear that the offenses do have to lie within the period of election. However, The Imperial Clown Show in Richmond didn’t become “America’s Politburo” by allowing for a lot of checks and balances. If they did convict Fairfax he could appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. Unlike the US Supreme Court, Virginia’s justices are elected for 12 year terms. Four of the present justices have terms expiring within the next 4 years. Does the nice little judge want to continue to be on the Virginia Supreme Court? Then maybe you’d better take a liberal view of what attitude the state constitution grants the general assembly on matters of impeachment.

  4. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    The demands keep coming …

    https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5735291/VBP-Press-Release.pdf

    My favorite is the insistence that Northam and Herring ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

  5. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    What is Northam’s deal with the Devil? Is it made? Might it be open ended, ranging up down all functions of government, executed on demand throughout the balance of his term, whatever it may be?

    Indeed, is Northam now living in Venezuela, a captive handing out gifts of public monies paid out on demand to his masters, if only to stay alive? Are we seeing an altogether new style of governance in Virginia? Why in the world is Al Gore in Virginia?

  6. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    Yes, we can now add spineless to dissembler and baby killer as descriptors for Ralph Northam. What a world class weasel.

    If Northam had any guts he’d say …

    What I did 35 years ago was a mistake and I’ve made my apologies. I am done apologizing. I am not going to resign and there’s nothing anyone can do to make me resign. Those of you with verbal flatulence regarding my resignation might want to invest in some GasX. Your continued blathering is simply adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Anybody in the General Assembly who thinks they can impeach me ought to go ahead and try. Finally, any asshats who think they can blackmail me into providing political favors in return for their forgiveness ought to make themselves known. I will make it my mission to ensure you get none of what you want during the remainder of my full term as governor. If you don’t like that … you mental midgets can try to block my reelection in 2021. Lol.

    1. James A. Bacon Avatar
      James A. Bacon

      I can hardly wait to hear Northam use the term “asshats”!

      1. djrippert Avatar
        djrippert

        You’ll never know what forced discipline it requires of me to use the term asshat instead of the term I’d prefer.

  7. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Naw… ya’ll are off chasing your tails here (except for DJ’s last comment).

    The REAL question is – Will the GOP actually benefit from all of this and return Virginia to an UN-purple … trending RED electorate status?

    I mean what good is all this “stuff” if it don’t really do much for the GOP other than making conservative types feel “good” that the Dems are so horrible?

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      If the RPV were run by anybody but a group of extras from Petticoat Junction they could probably make some hay.

      Oddly enough, the key for the Republicans may be to avoid personalizing this. The Dems want this to be a few bad apples. The RPV needs to make this “core rot”.

      Here’s how I think the RPV plays it …

      This isn’t a case of three frauds claiming to be champions of minorities and women. This is a case of hidden, systematic deceit across the entire Democratic Party. That fact that all three leadership officials were exposed as frauds demonstrates that this is not a one person occurrence. It is also not a one time occurrence. You can’t trust any of the Democratic candidates. You can’t believe any of what they say.

      You can’t believe Virginia’s Democrats …

      Northam supported a campaign ad against Ed Gillespie accusing him of racism when it was Northam who was the racist. He then lied about the picture in his yearbook and lied about his nickname. Worse than even all that, he lied about supporting infanticide.

      You can’t believe Virginia’s Democrats …

      Mark Herring called for Northam’s resignation for wearing blackface but then admitted wearing blackface himself. Herring didn’t resign. When Ken Cuccinelli ran for governor Mark Herring said he should resign as Attorney General. Herring said he would resign as Attorney General himself if he ever ran for governor. Then he ran for governor and didn’t resign.

      You can’t believe Virginia’s Democrats …

      Justin Fairfax claimed that the Washington Post investigated the first allegation of forcible rape against him and found the allegation to be full of holes and red flags. The Washington Post immediately responded by saying that they never claimed the allegation was full of holes and red flags.

      You can’t believe Virginia’s Democrats …

      What lies are they telling us now?

      1. Acbar Avatar
        Acbar

        Fake news!

  8. TooManyTaxes Avatar
    TooManyTaxes

    It’s just not fair. How can the Washington Post editorial board keep blindly endorsing Democrats when they get caught wearing blackface or alleged sexual assault?

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      Blind party loyalty – the mainspring of two centuries of success. We think of blue and red these days, but remember yellow, as in yellow dog Democrat, as in I’ll vote for a yellow dog if it’s got a D after its name on the ballot. I first heard that from my Byrd Machine-loyalist grandfather.

      1. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
        Reed Fawell 3rd

        Old party loyalty dies hard. My mother voted Democrat till the day she died in 2008, even though her grandson was by then or shortly before press secretary to her state’s sitting Governor.

        1. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
          Reed Fawell 3rd

          I should have added that the State’s Governor was a Republican so grandma voted against him of course.

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