So Many Rabbit Holes... #2

The insanity in Virginia is changing faster than I can write about it.  This blog post would have been very different had I written it just yesterday.  And the path through the weeds and down this rabbit hole are even more convoluted than what I blogged about a few days ago.

As briefly as I can possibly put it:

Governor Ralph Northam attempted to answer a question about Virginia's new abortion bill, which would roll back restrictions on a woman's right to an abortion where there are risks to the woman or likely severe fetal abnormalities.  Northam, apparently not a really smooth talker, stumbled in his response, giving right wing media and politicians the opening to portray the bill as in support of infanticide.

Never willing to stop at mere distortion of facts, the right wing media dug up -- excuse me, investigated -- a tip by an anti-abortion activist, found and published the now infamous yearbook photo of someone in blackface standing with someone in KKK garb.  The esteemed publication was Big League Politics, and I urge you to check out the article as well as the ads.  I, myself, will be clicking to see what that object is that I should stick in my ear to cure my tinnitis.  In other words, not the Washington Post.

But apparently, the yearbook page and photo exist.  The predictable result was that Northam was immediately pressured by Dems across the country, and especially presidential candidates, to resign.  And then... one day, Northam was apologizing for the photo, the next day he was saying it wasn't him.  This is what I think happened:

Northam, a good guy who is a good governor, was a med student in the 80's.  Strange times.  Michael Jackson was a phenomenon, that we all remember by now.  But there was also Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer, which is a lame remake of Al Jolson's 1927 performance in the original.  In neither were blackface an insult, although by the 80's I have to say, "What on earth were we thinking???"  By now we understand so much more about the times when blackface was intended as an insult and how any blackface can bring back the bad old days.  We white folk mostly cringe when we hear about blackface, as we should.

So when Northam was asked about the photo, which he hadn't yet seen, he recalled the time he performed as Michael Jackson in a talent show in med school, and he cringed.  Then he apologized, profusely.

Then he saw the photo, and he was confused.  I believe he knew that it wasn't him, not the guy in blackface or in the KKK robe.  He had nothing to do with the photo being placed on his page (come on, people, we know it's not the students who put their own photos on their yearbook pages).  But in his denial, he was trying to be honest.  And it comes out just as clumsily as his statement about the abortion bill.  Guilty of tripping over his tongue?  Absolutely.  Guilty of being a racist?  I say no.

Then, amid the pitchforks and torches, came word that his proposed successor, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax had been accused of sexual assault in 2004.  And then another woman came forward.  Now we had a Brett Kavanaugh deal, with three important differences.  Fairfax is a Democrat, and he is African American.  And there was no beer involved.

As Rick Perry might say, "Oops."

The interviews on CNN and MSNBC were fun to watch, as Dems began to rethink everything from their demand to have Northam step down to whether they had been premature in demanding Al Franken's resignation without benefit of a hearing.  Sadly, I heard a well-respected black man give the Kavanaugh defense, saying there was no way to prove the allegations, and so we would have to take Fairfax's word that he was innocent.

You know what?  Way back before a lot of you were born, when a woman was raped, the rapist more often than not got away with it, because rapes just don't happen in public (unless it is with a group of like-minded buddies, as with Kavanaugh).  And if it did happen, we were told, it was with the consent of the woman -- whether she knew it or not -- because she was asking for it with her body language, her clothes, or her very presence.  And you know what else?  That remains true today.

We were all patting ourselves on the back with the success of the #MeToo movement when Kavanaugh came along to remind us all in a very eerie way that Clarence Thomas could indeed happen again.

SNL had some fun with the blackface thing.

And I would like to say, mockery is just about where we should be when we talk about Michael Jackson impressions in the 80's.  Let me repeat:  the KKK pic was horrific, and any blackface at all should not be happening today.

So, as far as Northam goes, let us keep in mind that what he did (and I am assuming he did not star in the KKK pic, which was abhorrent) was not illegal, just dumb.

But what Fairfax is being accused of is illegal.  He is asking for an investigation, and I welcome that... except that if he is guilty, and it happened privately, how many others will have to come forward before he is required to step down?  And let us not forget that we are not talking about criminal charges, but what we demand of our government leaders.

There is a lot of grey area to mine when the talk is of sexual assault.  Who of us women have not felt coerced but gone along with the pressure to engage in a sexual act?  Who of us women have felt shame and anger in retrospect and done nothing about it, because we know we will be seen as complicit and shamed even further?

When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford stepped forward, her greatest fears came to pass.  She was viciously attacked by those in authority, she and her family threatened, and Kavanaugh heralded as the victim, finally being confirmed to the highest court in the land.

We really have to ask ourselves why one women, much less two, would want to walk into that same scenario with another popular political leader.  All they can expect is denial and attacks on their integrity, while having to revisit the experience that has been haunting them in private, but now in public.

We Democrats need to get our priorities straight, and fast.  We can't be led by oppo research or the media's obsession with the shiny object.  We have all done something in our past that embarrasses us to this day.  We all have skeletons in our closets.  Now we need to put them in perspective.

There is a difference between donning blackface to impersonate Michael Jackson and forcing a woman to have oral sex.  That means, in this case in Virginia, that we have to take a look at our biases about race and sex.  Acknowledge that sigh of relief in urging Northam to resign because we had what appeared to be a good black Democrat waiting in the wings.  How about next time some nastiness is leaked about one of our own, we start off by demanding an investigation rather than immediate resignation?  And how about if we work on gaining some perspective into the severity of the "crime"?

We can't honestly talk about giving criminals a second chance when we rush to toss someone out of office (or out of the race) as soon as some dirt surfaces.  And we need to have a solid footing about right and wrong, stupidity versus crime.

Right now we have a sexual predator in the White House.  We have had a racist, the KKK variety, as attorney general, and one who has let it be known that he plans on taking his Senate seat back in 2020.  Those are the lines that need to be drawn.

And we need to continue to remind journalists and commentators of the difference.  We cannot allow them to draw false equivalence and focus on inanities while crimes are being committed by those in office.

We learned a painful lesson in 2016, and we have been paying for it for too long.  We need to insist that our political leaders and candidates be judged on moral character and actions and not youtube videos and yearbook photos.  We need to focus the media instead of following it down the rabbit hole.  To mix my metaphors, when the right wing tosses a bone to the media, and we chase after it, it become a grenade with which we will only end up blowing ourselves to smithereens.

Don't let it happen again.

So Many Rabbit Holes... #1

Apparently, I blinked and when I opened my eyes I saw that Elizabeth Warren had apologized for her insensitivity to Native Americans.  Let me just summarize this situation the way I see it:

When Elizabeth was a child, her mother told her she had some Native American blood.  I imagine it was a point of pride.  So when it came to indicating her heritage, Warren later included Native American.

Scott Brown, who is an idiot, had nothing else to run on against Warren in 2012, so his oppo researchers learned that she had included this detail when applying for a job at Harvard.  It was such a moronic attack, and given that Warren was running on intelligent and important issues, that she easily won.

Of course, idiot-in-chief Donald Trump, who can't resist the opportunity to mock a woman, began the highly insulting (to Native Americans) taunt of "Pocahontas" when referring to her.  Popular with his really ignorant base, who thought it was really clever and hilarious, the taunt became a standard line.

Circus showman Trump promised $1 million to charity if a DNA test "shows you're an Indian."  Sick of the taunts and knowing how hard it is for Trump to part with a penny, she took him up on it.  Which SHE WOULD NOT HAVE DONE IF SHE DID NOT BELIEVE SHE WAS PART NATIVE AMERICAN.

Now, the test found "strong evidence" that Warren has a Native American ancestor, which should have been solid enough proof that her claim was valid.  But not only did Trump turn it around to his ugly needs, but the Native American community joined in.

Elizabeth Warren has been a hero for working class Americans and minorities throughout her life and her political career.  Instead of recognizing this for the manipulative attack that it is, the argument became over whether she had the right to claim Indian heritage without the proper "blood quantum" amount.  Which term was brought into use by the federal government in the first place, and not by Native American tribes.  Into the weeds, and through to the rabbit hole.

Meanwhile, the media has taken this on, as though Hillary's emails had never led to the election of Donald Trump and mea culpas all around.  No more talking about raising the working poor by taxing the wealthy, or about regulating Wall Street.  Now she can count on at least one question by some imbicile about her heritage.

Shortly after the test results hit, I tuned in to a talk show on NPR.  The guests were Native American and they were all having a go at Warren, postulating about the meaning of "blood quantum" and whining about how Warren had insulted their heritage.  Then a caller -- a Native American woman -- said that Elizabeth Warren had been a strong and uncompromising voice for women and minorities, and this silly misstep wasn't going to make her less of a Warren supporter.  Before I could let out a cheer, the moderator asked the geniuses in the studio another question about tribes and blood quantum identity TOTALLY IGNORING THE CALLER'S COMMENTS.

Are we so gullible that we will continue to turn on our own, so desperate to be politically correct that we don't recognize the virus in the messaging?  Once again, republicans have been able to toss in the grenade and watch as Democrats jump in after it.

When I first heard the comment that Warren should not run for president because she had too much baggage, I thought my head would explode.  Baggage???  Warren is the most straightforward and honest person in politics.  Period.  The only baggage she has been carrying has been that thrust on her by the media, who once again is passing it on for the Fox News crowd.

We have got to stop this.  Tweet MSNBC and CNN whenever they start to wander toward those rabbit holes.  Remind them that their job is to talk about real issues, not rumors and questionable or false attacks.  Write letters to the editor and make phone calls.

We lost an amazing if imperfect candidate in 2016.  She would have been as good a president as Barack Obama, an amazing if imperfect president.  We have lost members of Congress and solid candidates because republicans know how to avoid the issues with really ugly oppo research and we continue to chase after it.

Meanwhile, there is a pussy grabber in the White House, one who openly mocks Native American dignity as he attacks a U.S. Senator, locks up children and lies about immigrants.  And waiting backstage is our former attorney general, also a former member of the KKK, who is contemplating a run to retake his Alabama Senate seat in 2020.

Let us not get distracted.  Not again.