Virginia Legislative Black Caucus urges Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax to step down
Panel reaction to scandals surrounding Virginia Democratic officials on 'Hannity.'
No matter what comes of the racial scandals involving Virginia’s Democratic governor and attorney general – and of allegations of sexual assault against the Democratic lieutenant governor – we know this: Democratic claims to be the champions of women and minorities have been exposed as a blatant lie.
We also know that the Democrats’ rush to abandon the right of due process and the concept of innocent until proven guilty has now come back to bite them.
The Democratic attack on these basic concepts of our justice system was on full display when Senate Democrats decided to use violence against women as a political tool to try unsuccessfully last year to derail Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
EMBATTLED RALPH NORTHAM, IN FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE BLACKFACE FUROR, SAYS HE WANTS TO FOCUS ON RACIAL EQUITY
And we know one more thing: the Democratic frenzy to condemn men accused of sexual crimes as soon as allegations are made has reduced women to transactional weapons in political warfare.
It has now become clear that while falsely claiming they are the singular champions for women and protectors against all things conservative and evil, the Democrats have managed to complete the ultimate and final objectification of women.
During Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearing, Democrats decided to weaponize violence against women in an effort to destroy that innocent man and his family.
Throughout the obscene charade, I warned this would damage decades-long efforts to establish the seriousness of sexual assault and the importance of women to be taken seriously on the issue.
Americans believe in due process for the accused. Women have never demanded to be automatically believed; we have worked to be taken seriously. The Democrats have decided those values were too inconvenient.
The Kavanaugh hearing was so significant because Americans saw the end result of what happens when serious social issues are deliberately politicized for raw political gain, as both race and sex are by the Democratic Party.
Consider what it means for the Democrats to claim control of an issue that is at the core of the quality of life for a group they say they represent – and simultaneously malign and demonize their political opponents not as wrong on the issues, but as evil and dangerous enemies of the people.
When the social problems faced by your constituencies become your political weapon and bread and butter, solving those issues becomes impossible.
Fairfax is experiencing the end result of the Democratic agenda that weaponizes women’s issues against Republicans. While the concept of guilty until proven innocent was supposed to only affect Republicans, that monster has escaped its cage and is now attacking its creators.
For years, the Democrats have claimed to be the champion for women and people of color. This claim – though not accurate – has paid political dividends, resulting in most women, African-American and Hispanic voters casting ballots for Democrats.
But now in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam – a white Democrat – has been sharply criticized after a photo of one person wearing blackface and another dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe was discovered on his page in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
At first Northam said he was in the picture, then he denied it. Then he admitted he had worn blackface in a dance contest. Now Democratic elected officials in Virginia and across the nation have demanded he resign, but he is refusing.
The blackface disclosures came to light after a medical school colleague was appalled hearing Northam speak casually about the appropriateness of “third trimester abortion” – a convenient euphemism for infanticide.
In the meantime, Mark Herring, Virginia’s white Democratic attorney general, has also admitted to wearing blackface as a college student, when he and some friends darkened their faces and put on wigs to dress up as rappers for a costume party when he was 19. This didn’t cause as much of a firestorm as the Northam incident, but some Democrats called for Herring to resign as well.
And in the newest scandal, Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, an African-American man serving his first term in elected office, has been accused by two women of sexual assault. One woman says Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex on him, while the other woman alleges that Fairfax raped her.
Fairfax strongly denies both accusations and issued statements saying he has never assaulted anyone.
During the Kavanagh hearing, conservative voices decried the abandonment of due process for Judge Kavanaugh as leading Democrats actually argued that women accusers should be automatically believed – a rejection of the presumption of innocence and due process, keystones in civilized societies.
When it came to Kavanaugh – an outstanding judge with a sterling record of public service and extraordinary judicial qualifications – one Senate Democrat stated he “bears the burden to disprove the allegations,” while another senator publicly stated Kavanaugh did not deserve the presumption of innocence.
This rejection of the presumption of innocence and due process – safeguards designed to ensure that innocent people are not unjustly convicted of crimes – was both breathtaking and frightening.
In Virginia, Fairfax is now facing calls for his resignation by most Democratic leaders in his state and nationally – despite the fact that he denies the allegations. One state lawmaker has promised to start impeachment proceedings against Fairfax if he does not resign by Monday.
Fairfax is experiencing the end result of the Democratic agenda that weaponizes women’s issues against Republicans. While the concept of guilty until proven innocent was supposed to only affect Republicans, that monster has escaped its cage and is now attacking its creators.
For a party that falsely projects its racism and sexism onto its conservative political opponents, it is worth noting that Virginia and national Democratic leaders are scrambling to sacrifice a black lieutenant governor who is besieged by unproven accusations. There have been calls for Northam and Herring to resign, but the intensity of the focus is now on Fairfax.
The reason Herring hasn’t been targeted is obvious: If Northam resigns, Fairfax would become governor. If a Gov. Fairfax resigns, Herring would become governor. But if a Gov. Herring resigns, Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox – a Republican – would become governor. That’s something Democrats would hate to see.
Republicans should also have some questions: How did GOP opposition research not uncover the remarkable history of both Northam and Herring wearing blackface?
The Washington Post had been given information about the one of the allegations against Fairfax over a year ago. How is it that this story died in the darkness at that newspaper?
If the voters had this information about the candidates, it likely would have impacted the votes of some. But the information never came out.
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The Democrats are now faced with giving Northam and possibly Herring a pass for arguably racist behavior because they don’t want a Republican as governor. But if the GOP had done a better job supporting the Trump-endorsed candidate, Northam never would have been governor in the first place.
It is time for women and people of color to reject a Democratic Party that has been using them and their issues for exclusively political reasons, reducing us to convenient transactional weapons. Oh sure, they talk a good game – but that’s just a distraction as they stuff us into the cannon.
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