Ralph Northam dying of self-inflicted wounds. Physician, heal thyself.
He could not keep his story straight. First he acknowledged being in the picture and apologized, then he said it wasn’t him. C’mon Ralphie, anyone who was ever in blackface or a KKK hood would remember that. Anyone who was never in such a picture would have immediately jumped out and said that he was not in the picture.
For goddess’ sake, it is a yearbook page. If it was not about him, if it was put there in error, he would have known that 34 years ago.
As soon as he got into politics, he should have come right out in front of any possible story any oppo researcher would be sure to find, and framed it his own way.
If there was something that was wrongly associated with him, he should have gotten out in front of it and squelched it before anyone ever brought it up.
And if it he HAD done something back when he was young and stupid, he should have been the one to bring it out. For goddess’ sake, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia had been an actual (not cos-play) member of the KKK, but he told a heartfelt story of how he had wrestled with his conscience, recognized his error, reformed, learned from the evils of his past and had become a better man for it, and became a top supporter of Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Jr, and was highly regarded for it.
If Northam had just come out and either refuted (in advance) or acknowledged a past from which he had reformed and learned, his public policy record of support for equal rights for all would have carried him through this crisis.
As it was, on Friday Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner from his state took a “wait and see” approach. After Northam’s self-destructive presser the next day, both of them called on him to step down.
Ralph Northam dying of self-inflicted wounds. Physician, heal thyself.
He could not keep his story straight. First he acknowledged being in the picture and apologized, then he said it wasn’t him. C’mon Ralphie, anyone who was ever in blackface or a KKK hood would remember that. Anyone who was never in such a picture would have immediately jumped out and said that he was not in the picture.
For goddess’ sake, it is a yearbook page. If it was not about him, if it was put there in error, he would have known that 34 years ago.
As soon as he got into politics, he should have come right out in front of any possible story any oppo researcher would be sure to find, and framed it his own way.
If there was something that was wrongly associated with him, he should have gotten out in front of it and squelched it before anyone ever brought it up.
And if it he HAD done something back when he was young and stupid, he should have been the one to bring it out. For goddess’ sake, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia had been an actual (not cos-play) member of the KKK, but he told a heartfelt story of how he had wrestled with his conscience, recognized his error, reformed, learned from the evils of his past and had become a better man for it, and became a top supporter of Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Jr, and was highly regarded for it.
If Northam had just come out and either refuted (in advance) or acknowledged a past from which he had reformed and learned, his public policy record of support for equal rights for all would have carried him through this crisis.
As it was, on Friday Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner from his state took a “wait and see” approach. After Northam’s self-destructive presser the next day, both of them called on him to step down.