Should Virginia governor Northam resign over racist pix

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The plot thickens. If Northam DOES resign, the governorship goes to the lieutenant governor, a black man who is also, like Northam, a Democrat. Only problem - an allegation of sexual assault has come out against the lieutenant governor, so his days may be numbered. Next in the chain of command, Virginia's secretary of state, also a Democrat - who is admitting that in his younger days he ALSO went blackface in trying to imitate some of the rap artists he listened to. (Only Eminem seems to have figured out a white person can rap without blackface, apparently.)

Fourth in line if all of these three are shamed out of office is a Republican, which the Democrats in Virginia don't want to do. This is a fine kettle of fish!

Well given a current US supreme court judge raped three women in college and has the full support of the republican party I guess a governor wearing a KKK outfit and going blackface hardly warrants a mention does it...

It seems Americans are becoming normalised to the idea of criminals holding public office in the US

Nah, intelligent people just recognize false allegations when they see them.

I have never doubted you are intelligent Ezra
Can't say the same thing for your president though

You, Kraichgauer and AspE seem to have a predilection for going off on tangents.

MAGA hat is propaganda tool for Trump...how am I going off on a tangent?

to those people protesting those youthful stoooopidnesses, is the belated punishment worth the dysfunctional result [takeover of VA gov't by the GOP]? is that what the voters really want? is it worth it? where is the proportionality? why do democrats persist in throwing their own under the bus but the GOP always circles the wagons around their own no matter what they do? how does this make sense?

Last edited by auntblabby on 08 Feb 2019, 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

By giving inconsistent non sequitur replies.

...Blaseu-Ford's accusation of Kavanugh was of something done in high school...Are there three more, college years, accusations ? I recall two, which the U D.medis rather backed away from when one, anyway, accuser was found to have some dubious legal stuff in her past, thus hurting her credibity, IIRC. Have there been some fhings the Aussie press has printed about Kavanaugh that the American press won't? Please tell me.

From what I understand the Democratic Virginia committee isn't going to propose any action (e.g. resignations) in the case of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or the Attorney General.

I was hoping in the interest of fairness that groups who would normally rightly take issue with such behaviors as the racism involved in the two different "blackface" incidences and the alleged sexual assault will also protest these transgressions. I'm thinking of groups like BLM and #MeToo. It will be sad in my opinion if they would perhaps stay silent for political reasons.

Yes. This is a long term view. Democrats are doing very well now, we can't be worried about a couple guys that did the wrong thing. We aren't like the opposition, and we need to present a real choice, between honor and cynicism.

Much of the criticism published about Blasey-Ford's testimony is largely based on opnionated/emotional/irrational support for Kavanaugh (rather that the credibility of her (Ford's) claims). Ford is a highly respected and intelligent research psychologist who knows a considerable amount about the brain and memory reliability, Certainly more than the self-centred republican conservatives attacking her character.

A sexual assault is considered a "flashbulb memory" because high levels of emotional arousal allow the person experiencing the event (in this case rape) to remember high levels of detail. Psychiatric reports show she has a vivid memory of the layout of the room indicating her memory of the event is unlikely to be a distortion. It follows her recollection that it was Kavanaugh who assaulted her is also likely to be reliable rather than a confabulation.

The LA times published psychiatric reports about the credibility of her testimony and they nicely explained why she avoided reporting the incident due to typical avoidant behavioral response due to PTSD which is typcial of many young girls who are sexually assaulted. This invalidates the claim that she didn't report it because it didn't happen.

What is pertinent (and most relevant) is the reliability of Kavanaugh's recollection of that night was the opposite, he was highly intoxicated and his recollection of that night is unlikely to be reliable. If you watch his defense it relies on (what Ezra calls) hyperbole and emotional ranting.

For political reasons he dodged a bullet. Bill Cosby would be envious.

I'm not a Trump supporter by any means and thought Kavanaugh was not all that great a choice. For me, politics has nothing to do with it. I didn't believe her testimony one little bit even though I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Without physical evidence to back up, there was nothing to consider.

Actually her testimony was legally enough to prosecute (there are literally thousands of cases where testimony alone is legally enough to charge rape and the victims were less reliable witnesses than Blasey-Ford). What the major issue that helped the defence was time that elapsed since the event and the element of doubt planted in the minds of the judges over why she took so long to come forward (which there is a valid reason).

Let's not forget that there is corroborating evidence from two other women who have come forward alleging sexual misconduct. Had these allegations come forward back when they were in college it would have been an open and shut case.

Now we have a US high court judge who is a rapist.

As well as a lieutenant governor of Virginia twice over?

I don't think that you understand what constitutes corroborating evidence. To be corroborating evidence, it has to be evidence that supports the witness with facts about that particular crime.

The two other women were not corroborating witnesses to the supposed attack. To be corroborating witnesses, they would have to provide evidence regarding an assault by Kavanaugh on Blase-Ford.

I guess that a prosecutor could bring charges based on nothing more than the witness's testimony, but it is hard to imagine getting a conviction without any actual evidence. Most likely, any reputable prosecutor would not prosecute without more evidence.

There is nothing open and shut about it.