Virginia Politics

Should Bryce Harper resign?


I'm sure glad I don't live in Virginia  anymore although I enjoyed my stay there from 1990-1998. Thanks largely to Fairfax County, the state has turned from red to purple. Thankfully, I got out before that hack Terry McCauliffe became governor, but what a doosie they have now in Ralph Northam.

There is no need to repeat Northam's problems ( I can just hyperlink them). It seems that he has really dug himself a hole. Yet, while some might compare him to Hitler in the bunker waiting for General Steiner and his mythical army to come to his rescue, Northam might just pull it off. Now he is claiming that as a physician, it is he who is most qualified to "heal the wounds" Old Virginny has suffered. He will make racial justice the centerpiece of his administration, blah blah blah, woof woof woof, quack quack quack. He has even gone into excruciating detail on how he once dabbed shoe polish on his cheeks to portray Michael Jackson at some gathering in San Antonio way back when. (It would have been more realistic if he had applied Crisco to his cheeks.) He told his interviewer that he used a special cloth soldiers used to spit shine their boots or shoes and how easily it got onto your fingers and how hard it was to get it off, etc etc etc. As an old army MP, it sure brought back memories when I strove to be the sharpest looking MP in Germany. Yes, those were the good old days.

But back to the present. It seems that the pressure on Northam from Democrats to resign has lessoned because the Lt Governor is a guy named Justin Fairfax (no relation to the county), a Democrat, who now has two women accusing him of rape and/or sexual assault several years back. He denies it, but a lot of people think he should resign rather than step up and replace Northam. That would leave the Virginny attorney general, Mark Herring, also a  Democrat, next in line. Problem is he has acknowledged dressing up in blackface in his past.

What is with all these people in blackface?

OK, who's next? That brings us to the speaker of the House of Delegates, Kirk Cox, a Republican.  After him, who knows? Maybe the head of the Virginia DMV is next in succession. (I don't know if he/she is a Democrat or Republican.)

And therein lies the problem for the Democrats. They would be all too happy to kick Northam under the bus as along as a Democrat lt.governor would replace him. Similarly, they would be happy to kick Fairfax under the bus as long as Herring would replace him. Now all three have problems in their past. Eventually, the line of succession comes to a Republican. No wonder Northam says he's not going anywhere. The fact is, he may not have to resign.

Has General Steiner arrived in Berlin?

I say let them all stay and deal with their scandals in public. Then let the voters of Virginia deal with it in the coming election(s).