Should Ralph Shearer Northam resign as governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia?

[Frodo]

He should, though I harbor suspicions that the GOP released this info precisely because he has proven to be so productive (at least if you're a Democrat) as our governor.  With both NARAL and the NAACP condemning him and calling for him to step down, he is pretty much done regardless.

Here's to hoping that Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax will be as effective as Governor Northam has been... 

[Frodo]

The mental gymnastics you hopeless libs will do to defend a racist is despicable

----

Trump is a really bad example for you to follow.  I'd suggest you cease and desist immediately.  

[Frodo]

No, I don't find this a reasonable standard for insisting people resign. People can't grow and become more enlightened?  Or they have to make a big display of how much they've changed in order to preempt anything bad coming out about them when they were young?

Honestly this ticks me off.  As strongly as I disagree with him on abortion and some other issues, he's been highly effective at governing and working out bipartisan solutions with the legislature and it would be a shame to lose him to a more doctrinaire lefty with less proven experience.

Governor Northam is being asked to resign precisely because he would no longer be an effective governor as a result of this scandal.  I think people are more outraged at his failure of disclosure when we had the chance to judge him at the ballot box than at his youthful misdeeds/indiscretions themselves.  I personally would have been willing to overlook all of this had he been upfront about his past during the 2017 gubernatorial campaign, and showed through his record how he had changed -and I doubt I would be alone in this sentiment.  Had he played his cards right, he could have turned his past into an asset. But he chose to cover it up instead.  And now he's paying the price.  

[Frodo]

I think we need to remember that Ralph Northam made the decision to include that photo in a published yearbook for posterity as an adult in his mid-20s. He was not in high school; he was not in college.

He was at an age where you really can't get away with claiming "youthful indiscretions" anymore.

If you think it's unfair that someone's bad decision at age 25 should come back to haunt them, tell that to millions of people in the criminal justice system who had that happen.

That works in the other direction though - how can anyone believe someone who committed an actual crime can be rehabilitated and their past not held against them if someone that doesn't apply to an insensitive costume?  The reality demonstrated her is that most liberals are not really willing to forgive that much, and that's why all their criminal justice reform efforts will only ever nibble around the edges of our mass incarceration problem.

No one is suggesting Ralph Northam go to jail or pay any fines or be on probation. He just shouldn't be the governor of Virginia anymore.

Being asked to step down from a job is not a life-altering punishment. No one has the "right" to be a state governor. He'll go back to practicing medicine or he'll go be on the board of Altria or Dominion or some other corporation or whatever ex-governors do.

You all did the same thing with Brett Kavanaugh - you said his "life would be ruined" if he didn't get confirmed. Not getting to be on the Supreme Court and having to settle for a federal appellate judgeship means your life is ruined? I guess 99.999% of Americans' lives are ruined!

If a past action or accusation means someone has an unforgivable stain on their character when it comes to being a governor, why wouldn't that apply to being a pediatrician or an appellate judge or a basketball coach?  If your concept of redemption only goes far enough to say they can maybe get a job at the drive thru window, that doesn't strike me as very meaningful.

Because neither of those jobs involve representing a constituency of millions of people with dignity and efficiency.

Having worn blackface and very clumsily tried to lie and dissemble about it is not an "unforgivable stain" on someone's character. But if you are the public representative of a large entity (like a US state) and your job requires working with a lot of people who are upset with you, it's not unreasonable to say, "Look, this is interfering with your ability to do your job effectively. You need to resign." Being a bad fit for a job doesn't mean you're unfit for any job. If people want to go see ex-governor Dr. Ralph Northam as a patient, that's their decision.

This is something I hate about presidential systems versus parliamentary ones. We basically have this standard where unless someone indisputably committed criminal acts and can be removed from office by a supermajority legislative vote, we have to put up with disliked and embarrassed heads of government stumbling on like zombies until the next election.

Where do we draw the line if it's unacceptable for a Governor to have a lot of people upset about them? That seems par for the course for politicians.

It's not par for the course for the overwhelming majority of your own party to be demanding you resign.

Being a head of government is about coalition building. Northam has no coalition anymore. Thus, he cannot do his job effectively anymore.

That's exactly why Republicans want him to stay.  Better an isolated and politically crippled Democratic governor rather than someone who might actually be able to lead the Virginia Democratic Party to victory in November, and who might push to pass and implement a transformative agenda for Virginia next year.