Nancy Pelosi's face is everything.

That is all.

If an elected official is accused, without corroboration, of committing sexual assault 15 years ago,

and he denies it uncategorically, would you insist that he shouldn't step down from his office and remove the possibility he'll become the next governor because: 1) the accusation was first made public by right-wing ratf*ckers; 2) there's no proof that an assault ever occurred; 3) even if an assault took place, there's no evidence he ever assaulted any women before or since; 4) he has consistently supported women's rights throughout his political career; and 5) if he steps down, a Republican could become governor?

"We better run a white male if we want to win but that will be best for you, black people"

"so please be quiet and cooperate. But we promise, once we get through this this time, we'll make sure you have a chance, too."

"We can't hold this white governor accountable for racist conduct because that might help Republicans and that will be bad for you, black people. So please be quiet and cooperate. But we promise, once we get through this mess, we we'll let you have a say the next time."

Same song, different pictures on the album cover ...

That's getting really old, so forgive us if we say hell to the no this time.

Actually I don't care if I'm forgiven. I'm just saying hell to the no.

I can't help but think the only reason there's any "controversy" about whether Northam should resign

is that his wrongdoing involved racism. I have no doubt that if it were any other kind of wrongdoing of comparable degree, many of the people who are fervently circling the wagons around him to protect him from supposedly be mistreated, would be calling for his ouster along with the majority of the party.

W.E.B. DuBois presciently predicted that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the color line. But even the brilliant Dr. DuBois might be surprised to see how stark that color line remains nearly 1/5 of the way through the 21st century.

Now that the goalposts have moved again, can anyone tell us what one has to do to actually be

held accountable for racist behavior?

It's always been difficult to justify it based on anything they say - because they were misinterpreted, we overreacted, and we don't know what's really in their hearts, etc.

And now it seems we can't base it on them parading around in blackface and posing for pictures in said blackface while grinning next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan outfit even if their nickname at the time was "Coonman." Because he hadn't done it lately so why destroy his life by trying to hold him accountable for it?

Could someone please tell us where the line is now?

Do they actually have to be caught on tape calling a black person the n-word? (Although I think that being photographed in blackface with a guy in KKK regalia is at least equal to if not worse worse than calling someone a racist epithet and the same excuses being given for absolving Northam of his behavior would certainly be applied to an n-word tape).

If someone gets caught and admits to inflicting physical violence against a black person while wearing black face under their KKK robes and yelling the n-word, can we say that was racist?

Where exactly is that line?

Thank you.

It's nice to see that the Northam's racism isn't really racist apologists are

getting act together and taking it on the road.

The defenses are flying fast and furious today:

Somebody else put that picture on his page

He didn't know about the picture until Friday

He thought it was a picture of him wearing blackface or a Klan robe but now knows it wasn't really him

What's a little blackface between friends?

He may be a racist but he's OUR racist, so we must stand with him

THEY have way more racists than we do and they get to keep them. Why can't we keep ours?

I know I never gave Ralph Northam 20 seconds of thought before Friday, but now that I know a little about him (even if the only thing I know is that he's a Democrat and he did some really racist things), he's my new hero and it's my sacred mission to protect him. And I hereby demand that ALL Democrats, especially the black ones, make it THEIR sacred mission to protect him too!

And that's just off the top of my head. There's a lot more where that came from.

Poor Ralph Northam. He must be THE unluckiest guy on earth

First, his friends give him a nickname which he is powerless to separate himself from. Then someone either forced him to include that nickname on his VMI yearbook page or they put it on themselves completely unbeknownst to him.

And THEN someone dressed him up in a straw hat, eyeglasses, a bowtie, sportcoat and plaid pants and smeared black shoes polish on his face and hands, told him he looked just like Michael Jackson and then tricked him into going to a "Black Entertainers and Friendly Ghosts We Respect and Admire" party and, without his knowledge, took a picture next to a guy he thought was umpersonating Casper the Friendly Ghost.

And to make it worse, they put that picture on his yearbook page and then his all copies of his yearbook so he would never know.

And then, after he spent the next 35 years not doing racist things (at least not that we know of yet), somebody released that picture! And then, instead of praising him and giving him extra credit for not being racist in the last 35 years (at least as far as we know), people are trying to destroy his life by making him not be governor any more.

Poor Ralph. He just can't catch a break.

This is Kafkaesque.

The Root: "On Well-Intended White Folks: Thoughts on Gov. Northam & the Making of a Public Image"