Scandalous Virginian Government .

The Virginia Scandal could hurt
the Democrats .

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam was heading for infamy . Things just started to unravel in a suspicious kind of way that could set the stage for the Virginia state collapse.  You can say it is bad karma , after he waded into the fight over a (1.1)>>controversial abortion bill that one sponsor said could allow women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth -- with critics saying Northam indicated a child could be killed after birth.   While he endorsed Democratic Del. Kathy Tran’s ultra-permissive abortion bill, which allows for children to be terminated even when the mother is dilating. You’ll have to look even harder to see that the governor also maybe-kinda-sorta endorsed post-birth abortion.The Virginia bill ― which is not likely to pass the state’s Republican-controlled House and has been tabled ― would loosen abortions restrictions there. Currently, late-term abortions are legal in Virginia only under strict circumstances.A United States governor comes out in full support of abortions up to and perhaps beyond the moment of birth, which a majority of Americans have strongly opposed since abortion became legal, and this is the best coverage our press can muster? With a press like this, the most powerful in this country have nothing to fear. The most defenseless, on the other hand, have every reason to be afraid. Now Bad Karma kicked in for Gov. Ralph Northam that jumped way beyond the abortion issue . Race seem to be a problem with Gov. Northam ,  (1.2)>>facing backlash yet again after he referred to slaves as “indentured servants” in a recent interview. Responding to the new wave of backlash, the politician said in a statement to CBS

News that he recently spoke on the matter at an event, and in that instance, referred to the Africans as “enslaved.” He claimed that he changed his terminology upon receiving advice from a historian.    Northam — who is already facing mounting pressure to step down after becoming embroiled in a racist photo scandal — was on CBS This Morning earlier this week when he told host Gayle King that the slaves who came to Virginia from Africa in the 17th century were “indentured servants.” “We are now at the 400-year anniversary – just 90 miles from here in 1619, the first indentured servants from Africa landed on our shores in Old Point Comfort, what we now call Fort Monroe,” he said.  as he deals with the fallout from a racist yearbook photo. The scandal has prompted schools across the country to page through their histories — and re-examine campus culture. Pouring through the University of Virginia's old yearbooks, history professor Kirt von Daacke is uncovering countless examples of blackface and other mockery of minorities. From fraternity parties to demeaning caricatures, it takes various forms. One image he cannot get out of his mind is a mock lynching (1.3)>>from a yearbook published in 1971. The black caucus quickly condemned Northam and called on him to resign after his initial comments about the yearbook photo, but the group has been silent so far on the allegations involving Fairfax and Herring.  They should all resign. I hope they do, and I expect they will. We should expect nothing but the best in characters from leadership positions.
Trouble for the Democrats 2020?
(2)>>The political crisis in Virginia threatens to turn a state that has trended Democratic back into a battleground, a development that could complicate the party's effort to defeat President Donald Trump next year.  (3)>>Three of the state's top Democrats are engulfed in a scandal that has shaken the state government. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have admitted wearing blackface as young men in the 1980s. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, meanwhile, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2004, an allegation he denies.The men are resisting calls for their resignation.  The president himself gleefully agreed, predicting in a tweet Thursday that he will reclaim a state he lost by 5 percentage points to Hillary Clinton in 2016. “Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia,” he tweeted Thursday. “If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken. Virginia will come back HOME Republican) in 2020!”  (4)>>Trump’s taunt ignores his own history of sexual assault allegations and his contorted relationship with race, including when he insisted after a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that there were “very fine people on both sides” .Virginia’s booming population — particularly around Washington — has given Democrats sweeping gains in recent cycles.  But there are questions about how committed and enthusiastic that growing Democratic electorate would be if Northam, Fairfax and Herring remained in office.AP VoteCast data, analyzing the 2018 midterm electorate, shows that black voters cast about 17 percent of Virginia ballots in November, with about 9 out of 10 of those backing Democratic congressional candidates. (5)>>Women, meanwhile, made up 52 percent of the Virginia electorate and sided with Democrats by a margin of 20 percentage points. If those advantages shrank, while Trump was able to stoke GOP turnout, the state could suddenly return to tossup status. Democrats have expressed fear that the uproar over the governor could jeopardize their chances of taking control of the GOP-dominated Virginia legislature this year. The party made big gains in 2017, in part because of a backlash against President Donald Trump, and has moved to within striking distance of a majority in both houses. At the same time, the Democrats nationally have taken a hard line against misconduct in their ranks because women and minorities are a vital part of their base and they want to be able to criticize Trump's behavior without looking hypocritical. Trump accused Democrats Thursday of political bias, tweeting that "If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken". The extent of the damage Virginia Democrats suffered from rape and racism scandals will be put to the test next week in a special election for the House of Delegates.But Republicans now think they’ve got a shot, with the Democratic governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general tangled in a bizarre web of controversies.

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NOTES AND COMMENTS: (1.1)>>controversial abortion bill  . Virginia House Bill 2491 would roll back a number of requirements, including a 24-hour waiting period and a mandate that second-trimester abortions take place in a hospital. Always something of a long shot in the Republican-controlled state legislature, the bill may now be doomed by the national firestorm surrounding it.The controversy has centered on a provision concerning third-trimester abortions. Under current Virginia law, in order for a patient to terminate a pregnancy in the third trimester, three doctors must certify that continuing the pregnancy would likely cause the patient’s death or “substantially and irremediably impair” her mental or physical health. The new bill would reduce the number of doctors to one, and remove the “substantially and irremediably” qualifier — abortions would be allowed in cases where a mother’s mental or physical health is threatened, even if the damage might not be irreversible.The bill began inspiring outcry among abortion opponents nationwide after its sponsor, Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran, said in a committee hearing on Monday that it would technically allow abortion until the point of birth, if a doctor agreed it was necessary.(1.2)>>facing backlash. The racist photo from a 1984 yearbook threatens to end Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s political career. The photo shows two people: one in blackface and one wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. The image generated intense pressure for Northam to resign. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring also has admitted that he, too, once wore blackface in the 1980s, offering the latest example of a prominent white person facing harsh criticism for wearing blackface . The "dumb" Democratic governor attempted to apologize in written and video statements , and then, bizarrely, attempted  to retract his admission and his assumption of responsibility. At an afternoon news conference, he implausibly claimed he wasn’t in the offending photo (which contained what he called “blackfacing”) because “I so vividly don’t remember this” and didn’t know where it came from, even though other students chose the photos for their pages.Yet he proceeded to acknowledge that he wore dark shoe polish on his face another time that same year while impersonating Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk in a dance contest — which he won! He allowed, in a rare moment of sense, that others “will find this difficult to believe.” Gov.Northam is refusing to step down despite overwhelming calls for his resignation following the discovery of a racist photo in his medical school yearbook and an admission he appeared in blackface years ago.(1.3)>>from a yearbook published in 1971.  Given social media nowadays, it is amazing that these actions were not known when these guys ran for office. These are such "non-issues" to begin with from so long ago that they never surfaced on social media. They weren't issues during the election and they shouldn't be issues now.      (2)>>The political crisis in Virginia threatens.   What is at stake in the state is more than the future of the three state-level, statewide elected Democrats. Before this cascade of revelations and party chaos, Virginia Democrats were looking at the very real possibility of total state government control and — given that many Southern states were ruled by conservative Democrats before Republican dominance in the region — perhaps the most liberal (or progressive, if you prefer) state government in the post-Reconstruction history of not just Virginia, but the South in general.(3)>>Three of the state's top Democrats are engulfed in a scandal that has shaken the state government.Virginia's increasingly diverse and urban population has fueled Democratic victories for a decade. But Democrats are anxious that the dizzying developments could suddenly halt their progress. The prospect of losing Virginia's 13 electoral votes would spread Democrats thin as they try to win back upper Midwest states that voted for Trump while making a push in GOP -leaning states like Georgia and Arizona.     (4)>>Trump’s taunt ignores his own history . Practically the entire Democratic Party has called on the Governor to resign, and you call that “crickets?” In the meantime you have placed a known sexual predator in the White House. You have no credibility. Donald Trump may not be womanizing right now but he certainly has spent a good portion of his life doing so and makes no excuses about is behavior. It is well documented. His behavior is very well known in celebrity circles. Never mind the fact he let the cat the of the bag, with some of his own openly torrid comments to “certain reporters,” (5)>>Women, meanwhile.2018 midterm campaign has represented the collision of two giant forces in American politics: President Trump and a newly energized cadre of Democratic women. I will be writing on this on my NEXT POST , but More women have become politically active in the wake of the Me Too Movement against sexual assault and harassment. In what many have dubbed a “year of the women,” more than half of the candidates in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program for strong recruits are female. Clearly the majority of the female Democrats are radicalized . Its going to be interesting see how these women will challenge Trump .