governor. effectively there is no one in charge. he has lost the moral capacity to lead, the moral authority to lead, if you will. he is a standing bearer in the democratic party. we are a party of diversity, both democratic diversity and idealogical diversity. i am fine with a new black line rule. no blackface. no blackface at any time in your life. you cannot do something that fundamentally dehumanizes, demoralizes and degrades black people in this country and then have the authority to make policy and we can trust you to make policy that has an effect over real outcomes in people s lives. he has to resign. he deferred a little bit and not really owning the responsibility. the moon walk moment was really the dereliction of duty responsibility claiming here, and he has to go. adrian, your reaction to all of this? what do you think the governor was trying to do? he quickly responded to the
fairfax has not called for northam to resign but says that as the descendants of slaves, this episode strikes particularly close to home. believe that the images were, you know, really vial and abhorrent and really disturbing, and i think it disturbed a lot of people not just in the commonwealth of virginia but around the country. and we re at this very important flection moment in the history of virginia and the nation and we need leaders and leadership that can unite us and help us rise to the better angels of our nature is what i ve always been focused on in my life in public service. joining us, mike viqueira s in richmond, virginia, kelly o donnell covering the president in florida, in washington, ateama o mara, a democratic national committee member from virginia, julia manchester from the hill and john sullivan from the washington post. let s get to it, guys. we start with you, mike viqueira. you ve been in richmond throughout this whole controversy, so we know the gover
him because i had been president of the young democrats of america, the first actually from virginia for the organization. so you know, both him and then governor terry mcauliffe, because ralph northam was lieutenant governor at that time, had called to congratulate me and send me e-mails. so i had some sort of existing relationship with him, as many did. and so, it was just shock initially, you know. how can this person that we know, who s traveled around to black churches, who has attended a black church himself, who has elevated so many young, black leaders in politics in the state, mentored them, supported them, championed so many african-americans who run for office, you know, have this in his past, right? so, we were trying to figure thit thi out. was it something we missed? how did it not come up during the campaign? and so, when we quickly came to realize, for us as people who are working in politics, that this could become a bigger issue, right? and you know, we hoped in the m
conference was that you realize that he was very quiet on friday night because there was an awkward two, three hours where there was no comment from the governor s mansion, where he couldn t answer the question about whether he had been in blackface ever or not because he realized he had. that was the problem, because then you find out that he put on a little shoe polish and was in blackface in another situation in 1984, and atima, is he trying to spin this, if you will, that wait a minute, i had a recollection of being in blackface, it was a different situation, so if i admit to that but say this particular photo isn t the one, what i knew instinctively i had been in blackface in a photo i mean, is this plausible? and do you think that is what the dynamic was by those advising him, saying admit to the one, say this one isn t the one? and if that s the case, can he be effective? yeah, and that s the problem.
to step down over a racist photo. i am not either of the people in that photo. of course he should resign. it s just raw racism. it is disgusting. it is offensive. it is racist. the governor needs to resign. 2020 dreams. the democratic field just got bigger and more progressive. how far is too far left? and from healing old wounds to choosing greatness, expectations for what president trump will say at tuesday s state of the union address. but new details this morning on the controversy over virginia governor ralph northam. he is refusing to step down, despite mounting pressure from nearly the entire democratic establishment. northam insisting yesterday it was not him in this racist photograph from his 1984 yearbook page. that is a stunning about-face. he initially said friday that it was him in the photo featuring a person in blackface next to another dressed as a member of