Bigots in the Virginia Executive Branch Are Going Down Too Slowly

Republican Ed Gillespie, knowing the state of Virginia as he did, ran a calculatedly racist campaign for governor against the winner, Democrat Ralph Northam. I remember being thrilled when Northam won. The chief concern of Virginia voters was health care. I thought the best candidate had won. Little did I know, the winner was also a racist! Not only that, but his possible successors, should he resign, may be fatally flawed as well.

The lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, is suddenly facing an allegation of sexual assault. The alleged victim has hired an attorney. Fairfax has pointed out that the timing of the allegation is suspicious. It is, but then again, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford didn't come forward to report her allegation that Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when he was 17 and she was 15 until he was nominated to ascend to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now Virginia's attorney general has admitted to putting on blackface in 1980. Who will be next?

Obviously, the Republicans who supported Ed Gillespie didn't do their opposition research very well. But in their defense, who would have expected Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page in 1984 to have his photo paired on the same page with a photo of a medical student wearing blackface standing next to another in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe? Still, leaving no stone unturned is the name of the game in opposition research. The East Virginia Medical School should have censored the yearbook but didn't. Their racism is so gross it boggles the mind.

Northam's apology one day for the photo followed by a denial that the photo was him the next didn't help. No one likes a racist who is also a liar and a coward. He still hasn't resigned, but if he did, who would take his place? The possibilities are increasingly limited.