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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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screengrab from https://twitter.com/GovernorVA/status/1091510484468146176
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is on an apology tour. He, you may remember, apparently made the mistake of appearing in blackface or something like that while in medical school. In its aftermath, which has since disappeared from the headlines, President Trump tweeted, “African-Americans are very angry at the double standard on display in Virginia.” Actually, President Trump was wrong!
Polling in the aftermath of the controversy showed that more than 60% of blacks in Virginia wanted Northam to remain in office. The only people who want Northam to resign are virtue-signaling whites and a minority of blacks. The black community gets it. Northam is now entirely dependent on the goodwill of the majority of blacks in Virginia and they intend to hold his feet to the fiscal fire. He is already using this as an opportunity to double down on far Left policies.
Two things become obvious about the Northam situation. First, it took an outlet like Big League Politics to break this story. The bias of the mainstream media is a given. Notice how they converted the Jussie Smollet hate crime hoax and made it a “learning experience” that opened an “important conversation.”
Second, and most importantly, it was political malpractice for the Gillespie campaign not to have known about this, or to have decided not to use this against Northam in 2017. His failure jeopardizes future Democratic control in Virginia. If you are not going to fight to win in Virginia, why should there be any illusion of hope you are going to fight to win in Georgia, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Colorado or Nevada? Gillespie’s campaign illustrated how the GOP establishment is good at killing the campaigns of conservatives and how they cannot engineer the basics of electioneering when it comes to defeating vulnerable Democrats.
Further, the conservative mantra that the Democrats are the true racists, although provably correct, is falling on deaf ears. No one seriously believes that the party of AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib are the second coming of the Klan. To wit, the media in Virginia has gone after GOP state senator Tommy Norment for being the editor of a VMI yearbook that contained pictures and comments considered racist. Norment is arguably the most powerful Republican in the state senate. Norment groveled and apologized even though he himself never appeared in nor made a racist comment in the yearbook. Republican Mississippi Lt. Governor Tate Reeves is under attack because some members of his college fraternity appeared in blackface in a yearbook. That fraternity- Kappa Alpha- also used Confederate symbols in the past. It is important to note that neither Reeves nor Norment actually did or said anything that can be considered racist. It is guilt by association.
It has now been established that mere membership in a fraternity or remaining silent in the face of the ever-expanding definition of racism is racism and worthy of political scandal. Eventually, the thought police will ban the alleged racists from the workplace. A GoFundMe page is now paying people of color to scour yearbooks looking for nuggets of alleged racism (as they define it) in order to sink the careers of politicians and cost people their jobs.
This is a battle that cannot be won using the conventional tactics of the past. Invoking and channeling Dinesh D’Souza is not going to cut it any more. The Left controls the terms of the debate and the ever-shifting definition of racism. Further, as Northam is proving, the Left always evades the charges of racism by turning the tables. Notice how Northam’s repentance involve no sacrifice on his part. He is like the white college professor screaming “white privilege” from his privileged perch in academia. Expect him to be the next to endorse reparations for slavery.
The correct tactic is for the GOP to attack these politically correct feeding frenzies. Rest assured, Northam will come out and argue that the name of Jefferson Davis Highway be changed to something more palatable like Sojourner Truth Highway. He will succumb to pressure to remove statues of Robert E. Lee even though 48% of blacks in Virginia don’t agree and 10% have no opinion either way according to a 2018 Quinnipiac poll. The fight is coming whether Republicans want it or not and it will not stop at the names of highways or sculptured pieces of cement.
The demands for “racial sensitivity” need to be denounced for what they are: a power grab by the Left and the Democrats. The Kavanaugh hearings may have been a wake up call to some. Comparing that s*** show against the Justin Fairfax situation has convinced some Republicans (but not enough) that the Left will stoop to any depths. The character assassination Kavanaugh endured based on considerably less evidence than that which exists against Fairfax should prove the point. If the Left can contrive accusations of sexual impropriety so readily, when will Republicans realize contriving accusations of racism is just as easy?
The GOP had better learn these lessons quickly. This new breed of minority-majority Democrat plays the identity politics game mean, hard and bare-knuckled. The GOP has to learn new tactics to deal with race-based attacks. Accusing the Democrats of being the real racists no longer cuts it, especially in minority communities.
Ralph Northam’s apparent survival proves it.
The post Some Republicans and Conservatives Just Don’t Get It appeared first on RedState.
