Virginia megathread

[Del Tachi]

Pulling a Shaggy I see.

Shawty caught me in the blackface (it wasn’t me)
Said I must’ve been the klansman (it wasn’t me)
They even saw it in my yearbook (it wasn’t me)
Why’d I put in on camera (it wasn’t me)

[RI]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

It's the ex post facto aspect that I object to the most, especially given the totality of Northam's record.

[Del Tachi]

Per Jonathan Martin’s Twitter, Northam has been phoning his old classmates to see if they remember if he was in the photos or not and he might use facial recognition software in an attempt to exonerate himself. 

We’re living in the future we always wanted, folks. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

Can Justin Fairfax run for reelection if he becomes governor? There is a one term limit in Virginia, but he hasn't be elected governor in the first place.

Yes. Article V, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution only stipulates that "He shall be ineligible to the same office for the term next succeeding that for which he was elected, and to any other office during his term of service," so he'll be able to run for a full first term since he wouldn't have been elected to this term, though it's an unusual circumstance (to say the least) considering Northam is the first Gov. of VA since the Civil War not to complete his term, w/ VA being the only state never to have had a succession in all those years.

He shouldn't worry about that.  He's going to have Fairfax 2024 and VP Fairfax 2020 threads on Atlas before the day is out.

Hmmmmm . . .

[DavidB.]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

Some things are more important than abortion.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

https://twitter.com/Kathleenhamil15/status/1091739081673830402

[JA]

How stupid does this guy think the people are in his state? The latest excuse (denying it) after already admitting it was him betrays the contempt he (and most establishment Democrats in general) holds for the average Joe.

I bet the MSNBC Moms in NOVA are popping an extra xan and buying another bottle of rosé tonight.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Quite possibly, yes.

[henster]

The burning question for me is how could he have not known this was out there and not be prepared for it? Do people really forget something like this, don't we all go through old photos at some point in life? And what about his classmates who said nothing all these years what were they thinking?

[Devout Centrist]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Quite possibly, yes.

Wow! Very happy that God has finally decided to intervene now, instead of during the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide

[Fuzzy Bear]

The burning question for me is how could he have not known this was out there and not be prepared for it? Do people really forget something like this, don't we all go through old photos at some point in life? And what about his classmates who said nothing all these years what were they thinking?

Northam's been in public life for a while now.  He does appear to have been caught napping as to the unforgiving nature of social media.

It's a "When did you stop beating your wife?" question.  There's no good answer.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

How stupid does this guy think the people are in his state? The latest excuse (denying it) after already admitting it was him betrays the contempt he (and most establishment Democrats in general) holds for the average Joe.

I bet the MSNBC Moms in NOVA are popping an extra xan and buying another bottle of rosé tonight.

Your signature is 100% stupid and ridiculous.

[DavidB.]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Quite possibly, yes.

Amen!

[Thatkat04]

Northam royally botched this. He should have either immediately came out and denied his involvement in the photo or apologized profusely and asked for forgiveness. But his current mealy mouthed response has just made everything worse. 

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/vademocrats/status/1091720393528885248

Who is advising him right now?  

[SteveRogers]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

It's the ex post facto aspect that I object to the most, especially given the totality of Northam's record.

What is ex post facto about it? Do you not think blackface and KKK jokes were known to be morally reprehensible in 1984?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Good for Northam. He's scum, but someone has to stand up to this rampant ex post facto social norm imposition.

On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, isn't this God's swift punishment for his infanticide comments?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Quite possibly, yes.

Wow! Very happy that God has finally decided to intervene now, instead of during the Holocaust or the Armenian Genocide

These nations suffered horribly from WWII.  Germany's defeat, the intense military damage inflicted on the USSR, represent powerful judgements.  The utter destruction of the Confederacy was a judgement of the South on slavery. 

[7,052,770]

It would be good to have some kind of system in place, kinda like a recall from the other direction, where Northam could call a vote for next week or something asking "Should he resign?"

The rules could be that if 50%+ of Virginians say yes, he must go, but if that doesn't happen, he gets the legitimacy to stay on. Maybe the legislature could call for a vote like this too.

[TJ in Oregon]

Wait, what? He admitted to it yesterday and is denying it this morning!?

This just keeps getting stranger.

[Del Tachi]

The burning question for me is how could he have not known this was out there and not be prepared for it? Do people really forget something like this, don't we all go through old photos at some point in life? And what about his classmates who said nothing all these years what were they thinking?

Because he's lying.  It's quite obvious what's happened here.  He admitted he was in the photo last night (which would be an incredibly strange thing to do if he had any doubt it was him), noticed that his statement hadn't blunted the increasing calls to for him to resign, and concluded overnight that the only way he could survive was by trying to inject some plausible deniability. 

I do feel somewhat bad for Northam; I don't think he's a racist and his term in office has included some major achievements for Black folks.  However, once you horrendously botch your response to this, attempt to lie to cover it up, and all of your statewide supporters abandon you, it's time to go buddy.  Sayonara.     

[Alabama_Indy10]

So he’s now saying that it’s not him in the photo and the photo was placed on his page by mistake.

He also dressed as Michael Jackson and put shoe polish under his eyes at one time.

[Torrain]

This is excruciating.

He keeps going back to the Michael Jackson blackface incident he disclosed at this meeting, and just digging himself in deeper.

[henster]

Guy's I think he's lost it as sad as it is.