When it comes to addressing the lingering issue of Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s refusal to resign over a college blackface photo that surfaced last month, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) would rather talk about… herself and Pres. Trump.
In a wide-ranging interview with Chuck Todd on NBC‘s “Meet the Press” Sunday, the 2020 presidential hopeful acknowledged it wasn’t a good look for the Democratic party for Northam to still be in office, but that she had done all she could do in calling for him to resign in the aftermath of the controversy:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, said Sunday that “we have to move on” after being asked about Mr. Northam in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”“Al Franken is not in the Senate and Ralph Northam is still governor of Virginia. What’s wrong with that picture to you?” asked moderator Chuck Todd.Ms. Klobuchar pointed out that she called for the Democrat Northam to step down, which he has refused to do, after he admitted last month to donning blackface while in medical school for a dance contest, but denied wearing blackface or a Ku Klux Klan hood in a 1984 yearbook photo.“If we spend our whole time, Chuck, talking about what men did wrong, we are never going to talk about what women can do right, including running for president and winning,” she said.After Mr. Todd said that the Northam situation wasn’t a “great picture” for Democrats, Ms. Klobuchar replied, “It is not. But again, we have to move on,” before proceeding to criticize President Trump.
Watch video of the exchange between Klobuchar and Todd in the clip below:
As I wrote last month, polling numbers released just a few weeks after the blackface scandal first broke indicated that Northam was likely to successfully weather the storm, as was Democratic Attorney Gen. Mark Herring who also admitted to wearing blackface back in college. In fact, one of the polls showed that black voters more so than white voters did not want either of them to step down.
Klobuchar, to my knowledge, is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has been asked about Northam at this stage in the game and so far removed from when the scandal first broke. What this tells me is that not only have Virginians moved on, but so have Democrats, in general.
We know this would not be the case if Northam and Herring happened to be Republicans. There would be round the clock demonstrations and “sleep-ins” at the governor’s mansion, the cable news networks would still be broadcasting live from the scene, and the national conversation would still be ongoing about What This All Means for the future of America.
But, hey, if we’re going to use Klobuchar’s new rule of thumb when it comes to deciding when to move on (essentially: “I’ve done all I can do, they won’t do what they should, so let’s move on”), then I can think of another story the media and Democrats need to move on from: The Donald Trump/Russian collusion non-story.
Think about it: There’s more evidence that Northam appeared in blackface than there is of any alleged collusion between Trump and Russia. In fact, there’s no evidence in the latter case at all. Let the investigation continue, and let the chips fall where they may – if they even fall at all. But until then it’s time for the left and their media allies to, you know, move on.
Just sayin’.
–Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter.–
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY