Has it occurred to anyone that the GOP found the photo and thought it meant Northam might not be so

[EffieBlack]

bad, after all.

"Hey. Check out THIS picture! He may be more like us than we thought. We can probably work with this guy. And if he gets to be a problem for us, we'll just throw the picture in his face and use it to distract from our own problems. Hell, even Steven King was never stupid enough to parade around in blackface with a guy dressed up in a Klan outfit. Sure, it's possible the Dems will force him out, but there's a good chance he can hang on because we ARE talking about Virginia and a whole lot of white Democrats will defend him to the death. Win Win for us."

[peacefrogman]

1. That sounds right.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Doubt it. More likely they found it and hope to draw more white suburban voters back away from the

Dems by saying "See? Put Blacks in power and they will attempt to punish you for the crimes of the past." This is a strategy that the GOP uses a lot in the South. They keep out unions by telling workers "Once there are a few Blacks in your job, they will force out all whites, because they hate you. You would hate yourself if you did the kind of things to yourself that your ancestors did to Blacks."

I don't know how it appears to northern voters, but in the South when the GOP can show that a Black has replaced a white in any position of power, they use it to stir up fear. Sadly, it appears that this latest effort to stir the pot will work. So, Democrats will just have to try harder to win back the suburban whites that we lose over this. Politics is ugly. But that does not mean we can give up the fight.

[EffieBlack]

4. I doubt white Virginians will run to the GOP if Justin Fairfax becomes governor

Especially considering they elected him Lt. Governor and voted for Obama for president?

And have you considered that for every white suburban voter the Dems might lose because black governor, they'd likely gain several black and younger voters because black governor?

But that said, we don't not do the right thing and allow a governor with Northam's problems stay in office because we're worried that some white voters might walk away. If that's enough to drive them off, we don't need them and shouldn't want them. They'll be much happier with the Republicans where they belong.

[njhoneybadger]

3. Hell yes it did, and they might have told him as much. He stepped out of line on abortion

And they dropped the hammer