Had I never visited Richmond and Petersburg, I might be other than depressingly disappointed about what’s going on...
Had I never visited Richmond and Petersburg, I might be other than depressingly disappointed about what’s going on in Virginia. But definitely not surprised. What a bloody mess.
Oh, I don't think it's just Virginia. Our culture is very sick, especially among the privileged classes that make up our leadership, and I'm pretty sure Breitbart is going to be able to keep digging up enough to take out Democratic leaders all over the country on a similar basis. We have forgiven too much for too long, such that probably most of our male leadership (and not a small number of our women) will fail to meet the standards we are finally belatedly enforcing.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that only Democrats hold their leaders accountable for the kinds of breaches of conduct that will drive Northam, Fairfax, and Herring from power. It is unfortunate that Republicans are consistently comfortable choosing power over principle - all the way up to the "Grab 'em by the pussy" Presidency. It is unfortunate that the price of that difference in philosophy, is that we'll lose power all over the country to the right wing (like in Virginia, where the Governor's Mansion, and 2020 redistricting, will now be in Republican Kirk Cox's hands.) The price of that lost power - in losses in women's rights, civil rights, health care, education, the enviroment, the judiciary - isn't small, nor the suffering we will have to continue to endure. Or in the gerrymandering and voter suppression they will use their power to secure, to further secure their power.
But such is the price to be paid for principle. For choosing this standard of accountability, no matter what it costs us. Let us be strong enough to pay it to the last full measure of devotion.
To be clear, I am well aware of the history of the Republican Party as anti-slavery and yet now the party of white supremacy, and the Democratic Party split into Copperheads and War during the Civil War and later split with the Dixiecrats and especially white, southern Democrats never fully dealing with their history and, in fact, in as much denial as the Republicans trying to claim that being anti-slavery made them then and now egalitarian non-bigots. Because duh.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a complete mess but we probably agree that nobody needs this leveraged to give the current crop of extremists a back door coup.
F-L Silver I don't think we have a choice but to accept the back door coup. We can't compromise on holding our leaders to an appropriate standard. And we can't make their base care, which makes their politicians immune to these attacks. After all, if we had enough people who cared about these standards in Republican held districts, they wouldn't have been Republican held in the first place.
ReplyDeleteEven if we did find issues against Kirk Cox similar to that behind Northam, Fairfax, and now Herring; Cox's Republican constituents are likely to give as much a shit, as Republicans did about Trump's or Kavanaugh's. Which is to say, somewhere between jack and shit.
All we on our side can do now, is try to raise a new generation of political leaders that do better and are better, and then try to run them through the thickets of gerrymandering and voter suppression their side will put up with the power they will seize. And endure everything that they will do with their power in the meantime.
It may be a bitter irony and brilliant tactics on the part of the right-wing, that when we finally manage to reach a tipping point on accountability, that it is used ruthlessly against us. But such is the price.
I don’t think we’re out of options yet to hold high standards and still find skilled people with strategies. I just think it’s difficult and we need to find people up to thankless difficult work. Compromise isn’t an evil, it’s how compromise is done.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey Huo you're still assuming any of the three is willing to resign over this. As I stated in Mike's post, these people went to segregated schools (we still had those here until the early 70s). Casual racism is still a spectator sort in the hinterlands (and maybe not so hinter in some cases) of most of the Old South. They may never win another election, but I don't see any of them willing to step down and hand the Commonwealth over to the Republicans willingly.
ReplyDeleteJamie Bowden And if Northam and Herring don't resign over the blackface, and Fairfax doesn't resign with his accuser coming forward, the right wing propaganda machine gets handy fuel for a sustained barrage of commentary about "hypocrisy", a handy propaganda angle to dismiss future complaints from us about their behavior. It will provide convenient fuel for the "both sides do it" distortionists. All of that will be targeted at depressing both African American, female, and swing voter turnout. Starting right up with the crucial Virginia House of Delegates elections this year.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Northam and Herring - and for different reasons, Fairfax - they remain in office, they'll be used as convenient "examples" and the basis of distortions they'll flog for years. The basis for distortions to discredit both our attempts to call out their racism (using Northam and Herring as examples) and defang the #believeher / #MeToo movement (using Fairfax as an example).
The right-wing is basically committed to a permanent "depress the swing vote" strategy. They can't expand out of their dupe-able base, so they are forced to concentrate on tactics to depress/supress Democratic core constituencies and get swing voters to stay home in "disgust with both sides". And as long as Northam / Herring and Fairfax remain in office, it plays right into that strategy, providing handy tools to which to launch distorted campaigns to sapp Democratic and swing voter enthusiasm. Any time, every time, we'll try to call out someone on their side for racism or sexual misconduct, Fox News and Marc Theissen in the NY Times and John Solomon in The Hill will throw it Northam/Herring and Fairfax back in our faces, and a million Facebook shares will bloom. A festering political liability, that will only get worse as either more Democratic leaders are outed in similar ways but also refuse to resign, or that they do resign and provide even starker contrast with the leaders that remain.
Tactically, the right wing comes out ahead in pretty much every scenario here. I personally think we should choose the scenario that doesn't fester, and sets a clear standard for whatever future we may have left.
Remember, the right wing does not have the moral authority they would like to claim, here. They went to segregated schools, they voted for policies that criminalized poverty and being ‘of color’, they went to the same frat and college parties, and they wore blackface, too.
ReplyDeleteF-L Silver What moral authority did GOP Pres. Trump need to win by 74 electoral votes? What moral authority did Sen. McConnell need to ram Justice Kavanaugh through to a lifetime appointment? The right wing doesn't need moral authority to successfully execute a winning political strategy. They certainly don't need any moral authority to wage a propaganda campaign that depresses turnout among African Americans, women, and swing voters, any more than they needed it to do so in 2016, together with their useful dupes in the "both sides do it" "moderate" camp. That's not how the game works, and we all know it.
ReplyDeleteThere are only two choices here, both of which play into right-wing hands, both outlined above. Either give the right-wing a gift-wrapped propaganda campaign to use the "hypocrisy" card in many useful political ways, or remove the problematic Democrats and allow their replacement in many cases by Republicans. That's it. Pick your poison.