I’m white and I acknowledge that this may influence my views and that others may feel differently, but I can’t get too up in arms about this. The racial awareness of 1980 wasn’t anything like it is today. its not too surprising that he and his friends might not know better when they decided to dress up as rappers. There is no indication that the intent was to poke fun as African American’s expense, and its no where near as inflammatory as an obvious minstrel characticture next to a white sheeted KKK member that is bringing down Northam.
Virginia is a weird place.
My people are in the Northern Neck, down in between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Westmoreland County was the birthplace of Washington, Jefferson, Monroe…and Robert E Lee. My grandparents both worked at Stratford Hall, ancestral Lee home and a working plantation. I visited many times in my childhood.
But I was a White kid in the Southwest. What the fuck did I know? I wore a Virginia t-shirt to school in 6th grade. Great shirt, soft, light blue, fit me well. And had a Confederate Battle Flag on it.
I was called out by a classmate for wearing a racist symbol. (This when I was also a huge Dukes of Hazzard fan.) It hurt and I felt ashamed…but mostly I had to reconcile the idea that this shirt, this symbol, so perfectly acceptable in rural Virginia, was a symbol of hate elsewhere.
I never wore that shirt to school again. But if I had grown up in Virginia? Gone to school there? Continued to see it as merely a harmless symbol of “cultural heritage?” Especially given the broader cultural acceptance of racist nonsense in the 1980s as previously mentioned? Yeah, I could have continued wearing or doing stupid racist shit well into my 20s or beyond.
Doesn’t mean it’s not stupid racist shit.
If you didn’t read the quotes the first time, then repeating them probably won’t do you any good.
But, just in case you actually missed it during the Kavanaugh fiasco, Lindsey Graham said "Let me tell my Democratic friends, If this is the new norm, you’d better watch out for your nominees.”
Now, either he was acknowledging that Ford’s allegations were true, and warning his democratic friends to make sure that they do not have credible allegations against them, or he was doubting Ford’s testimony, and saying that the new normal would be false testimony against democrats.
Do you think that he believed Ford’s testimony?
Considering that the smear came from the exact same media site as the one against the gov., I don’t think that is what he is saying. I really think that you are reading too much into that, if you think that he is actually accusing the governor of smearing him. I mean, that would just be stupid, as the photo of the governor only surfaced “moments” before the allegations against him. How could the governor even have set that up so quickly?
OTOH, having them both coming from the same media site, does sound like someone trying to manipulate a process.
There is no means, nor motive for the governor to smear Fairfax, and there is no reason for Fairfax to think so.
It’s a good thing Virginia didn’t elect Ed Gillespie… There were rumors that he was prejudiced.
Virginia… Becoming the new Florida day by day.
Do you have a cite for what you claimed? TIA.
Regards,
Shodan
Sorry, I suppose I should have linked to an article that he said it in. Not that it would be that hard to find.
So, did you miss that the first time, or does repeating it not do you any good?
Not sure why people get so confused as to how investigations work when the person being investigated is a politician (or SCOTUS nominee).
Here’s an answer for you: you investigate it exactly the same way you would investigate any other reported sexual assault. And if, after a ***REAL ***investigation, there’s not sufficient proof of the assault, then the conclusion of your report is that “we were unable to find corroborating evidence of the sexual assault sufficient to bring this case to trial.”
One of the words in my previous paragraph has been bolded, italicized, and underlined, because that’s the key bit that Republicans proved they didn’t get.
538’s Nathaniel Rakich:
Which pretty much looks like how at least some of them are feeling.
And that’s what’s driving all this, what’s making it a big deal.
You bet your ass he was, and he ran a campaign, in 2017, that amply demonstrated that.
The difference, of course, is expectations. We’re pretty much used to the Republicans being the bad guys. We’ve priced it in; it’s long since ceased to surprise us when they do stuff in the here and now that’s much worse than what Northam and Herring did 35-40 years ago.
And they ARE the bad guys, for being the people who either do this shit routinely, or at least condone and tolerate it in their own. And as long as there are enough voters who tolerate them, this dichotomy will continue.
But Virginia’s blacks weren’t expecting this from their friends and allies, which is why they feel betrayed. They’d given up on Gillespie & Co. decades ago; no point in trying to change people who don’t want to change, and have no reason to.
It’s a real mess that this is happening right now. But with the apparent exceptions of Northam, Fairfax, and a few of their allies, nobody’s dismissing any of this.
When the GOP starts tossing its racists, they’ll have standing to comment. Until then, who gives a good goddamn what any Republican has to say about this?
The problem isn’t that you didn’t link, it is that the link doesn’t establish what you claimed.
Your Graham quote doesn’t say that.
Unless this is one of those paraphrases you said you didn’t like. If it is, then you should be more careful in your phrasing.
Regards,
Shodan
The accuser, Vanessa Tyson, has put out a statement through her lawyers: https://twitter.com/sarahmccammon/status/1093223842745647104
It strikes me as credible (and horrifying).
As I thought, showing it to you again doesn’t help.
Unless you think that Graham believed Ford, and was just giving friendly advice to his colleagues, then he absolutely was indicating that he was expecting to see false allegations come out against democrats.
And here there are republicans pushing these sorts of stories. The only way you can say that his prediction was false is with a “no true scotsman” defense, and claim that these media outlets are not “real republicans.” Otherwise, we have his prediction, and we have the results of his prediction.
Nah, paraphrases that I don’t like is when you use quotes around it and imply that it is something that someone other that you yourself said. I did nothing of the sort, as that would be extremely poor writing practices.
Jeez, dude, it’s *literally the first paragraph of the OP’s link. * You have a problem, take it up with the NYT.
I still don’t understand how the quote in that NYT piece indicates Fairfax is blaming Northam. Blaming dirty politics, obviously. But nothing in Fairfax’s words that I could see indicates he thinks Northam’s team is responsible.
Let me reorder the quote and the reported but not quoted question he was answering in the quote box above.
Mr. Fairfax told reporters surrounding him …whether he believes Mr. Northam…was behind the accusation’s coming to light. “Does anybody think it’s any coincidence that on the eve of potentially my being elevated that that’s when this smear comes out?”
The quote in isolation could be pointing to other possible people out to get him. The question he was responding to points it right back at Northam.
But he wasn’t asked “Do you think this is dirty politics?” He was asked “Do you think Northram is behind this?” If he doesn’t think so, wouldn’t he have said “No” before going on to criticize whoever did do it?
Okay, if that was the answer to a question about Northam’s involvement, then I see what you mean – but reading the article, that wasn’t clear to me.
If politicians are graded on how they respond to scandals, then so far Northam and Fairfax get an F. Herring, at least, seems to have responded well.
I do not feel as thought the NYT sums up his answer correctly, but assuming they did, then fairfax needs to step down, because he’s the stupidest fucker to ever hold an office.
He not only thinks that the governor thinks that smearing his lt governor will have any sort of impact on whether or not he stays in, he also thinks that the governor could have found this woman, and gotten her to give this statement to the same media outlet that attacked the governor, and do it in what, about a day?
Yeah, if he believes that the governor is behind this, then he is too stupid to live, much less hold office.
OTOH, there is a possibility that there is a misunderstanding with the question and response, that Fairfax, like all politicians, answered the question he wanted to answer, rather than the one he was asked.
Too stupid to live, or a misunderstanding, I can see how people would choose to think that he’s that stupid, but I, for now at least, can give the benefit of the doubt, and say that I think he just wasn’t answering the question that was asked. You are welcome to think that his IQ is well below room temperature.
Just read Tyson’s statement. Holy shit. With more information, this looks like Fairfax should at the very least leave office, and possibly face prosecution.
I don’t think she gave a statement to the media outlet that broke the Northam story. According to her statement today (which is consistent with what I remember at the time), she posted a social media post about Northam’s (expected) resignation and how it would cause her attacker to get a big promotion. That post generated “numerous inquiries from journalists” and (as she was deciding what to do) the media outlet posted that social media post and identifying information about her (At least that’s how I read her statement today). Within hours (in the middle of night) Fairfax denied it and took some creative license with why the Washington Post didn’t run the story back before the inauguration (i.e., her story has been floating around and Fairfax has been aware of it for some months). And, with that, the story took off.
I don’t know if Fairfax is right to suggest that Northam or Mayor Stoney were behind it. But, it would not have taken much effort to see the social media post and send it to an outlet that (being partisan in nature) was likely to run with it.
Read the link from iiandyiiii’s post above.
Not picking on you, but her statement is important enough that it should totally upend the conversation. It’s very difficult to square her statement with any sort of shenanigans on Northam’s or Stoney’s or anyone else’s part.