Why did the Northam photo come out a day after his abortion comments?

[oberliner]

I do think it is worth taking note of the sequence of events here.

1. Northam makes comments about abortion that enrage conservatives

2. Conservatives find the offensive photo of Northam

3. Prominent Democrats call on Northam to resign

All of this occurred over a period of two days.

[OnDoutside]

1. Funny that.....

Strange that they never found the photo during the campaign. You would have thought an oppo research would have turned that up.

It smells, but as we saw with Franken, once big Dems start piling in, in case they be accused of not taking it seriously, then there is no way back.

What effect will a republican lt governor have on a dem governor ?

[oberliner]

2. The timing is very odd

[empedocles]

3. 'Someone' has been keeping some of the old 'powder dry' for such an 'occasion'.

'Occasion' the word, has some old roots meaning 'fall'.

[OnDoutside]

6. Without a doubt. The hot favourite appears to be an anti abortion activist, but then Northam was

pro choice when he ran for Governor. And if this person was a Republican, surely they would have dropped this during the campaign ?

[MFGsunny]

33. AND photo was published by ...

the totally NOT SO bigleaguepolitics.com ...... Breitbart leftovers!

[oberliner]

34. Exactly

It seems like they dug it up or had it ready to go and put it out in response to the abortion comments.

[malaise]

4. They had the photo waiting for the perfect moment? n/t

[3Hotdogs]

7. 3 days befoe election would have been perfect.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

5. Because Roger Stone is still on the streets...

... ?? eom.

[MBS]

8. really good point, thanks.

It had seemed too me so odd that this photo was surfacing only now, after all these years. Hadn't pieced together the timing with the abortion comments-

[oberliner]

9. Thanks

Seems not coincidental.

[yardwork]

10. Conservatives had the photo for years.

[oberliner]

11. They were waiting for the right moment to go public with it?

[yardwork]

12. Looks that way, doesn't it?

[bearsfootball516]

16. I don't know why they wouldn't have released it right before his 2017 election

All the polling was showing it would be neck-and-neck. Would have been the perfect time.

[yardwork]

19. Would it? More whites might have voted for him because of it.

[dalton99a]

22. +1

[oberliner]

20. Yes it does

[Recursion]

31. Gillespie would have lost white votes to Northam if it came out during the campaign

They would have run it if Stewart had the R nomination

[Vinca]

13. They've probably got dirt on a whole lot of Democrats and they're holding it for a special event.

What happens if we're a week before the next general election and something drops on our candidate? We need to think about how we react to things because in an age where everyone seems to post every tidbit of their lives online, someday we'll have the best candidate ever who posted a naked selfie on the Internet when he or she was 17. There has to be some thought given to the things we do when young and dumb. And no, I don't consider 25 to be young and dumb, but I think what has happened in the 35 years after deserves a bit of consideration. Whether he resigns or stays is his choice, but we need to come to terms with what we can and cannot live with (still annoyed about Franken).

[oberliner]

21. That was what I was thinking

Lord knows what is being sat on at this point to be released at a particular time for maximum impact.

[HipChick]

14. Politics is a dirty business...

[DeminPennswoods]

15. One of the commentators on MSNBC made that

same point. It was something to the effect of doing the right thing by saving the right to choose, but now has to resign because that action triggered the release of the yearbook photo. Sort of like dying for a cause.

[oberliner]

23. Would the photo not had been released if it wasn't for the abortion comments?

[DeminPennswoods]

32. No idea

It was Mark Thompson's comment and/or assessment.

[melm00se]

17. This is not unique

nor limited to just Democratic politicians.

Think back on tweets and photos that pop up in close proximity a public (or soon to be very public) person being named for something.

There are people who have nothing better to do than comb thru the online records of people and publicize old online records as if they were (self-appointed) guardians of society.

[oberliner]

25. And things can be publicized so quickly and easily today

Everything seems to happen lightning fast.

[pintobean]

18. I imagine a lot of yearbooks were gone through

after the Kavanaugh hearings. We'll probably be seeing more of this.

[customerserviceguy]

30. Ancestry.com

even has old yearbooks digitized and indexed, making it easy to search for the ones that have been processed this way. I did a genealogical search for a fellow I met at a bar, and he supplied me with his parents' names. Three hours after we parted company, I sent him a pedigree chart of his ancestors going back for four generations, on all lines. Plus, I found a picture of him from his veterinary school to add to the mix!

[Baltimike]

24. I must admit that I hadn't considered it. nt

[Claritie Pixie]

26. Does it matter? Northram gave them the ammunition.

[oberliner]

28. But would it have come out had it not been for the abortion comments?

It had been available to be found for many years.

[Polybius]

35. Then why didn't the media post this before the primary?

We had the right to know.

[no_hypocrisy]

27. This is larger than Northam.

Consider this:

1. The yearbook published the photo by choice. This gives the imprimatur of support from not only the medical school but also the region, perhaps the state.

2. The faculty advisor saw the photo and approved it for publication. See #1.

3. This is cause-and-effect: Let a democratic governor attempt to bolster and protect reproductive rights and s/he will be smacked down. Republicans have the Roger Stone-Lee Atwater strategy in place to let Democrats destroy other Democrats.

[oberliner]

29. The medical school has said it was a student-produced publication

But you would think they would have had some oversight and not wanted the school to be associated with such photos.

[bigtree]

36. it's irrelevant

...and the question is being used by some to deflect from the photo.

What part of your 'sequence of events' would you change if you could?

[oberliner]

37. It seems like the timing was not coincidental

If he had not made the abortion comments, would the photo have been made public?

The part of the sequence of events I would change would be having the photo released earlier, preferably by Northam himself, prior to the Democratic primary for governor.

That way he could present his explanation and the voters could make their determination accordingly.

[bigtree]

38. then it shouldn't make any difference in calls to resign

...who uncovered it or why the photo was revealed.

Curious pursuit.

[oberliner]

42. I don't think it makes any difference in calls to resign

I think it just shows how the right-wing potentially sits on damaging info and releases it strategically.

In this case, though, the strategy may end up backfiring if Fairfax takes over as governor.

[RhodeIslandOne]

40. You're a piece of work

You couldn't wait to report this story yesterday.

Now you've got other theories.

[oberliner]

41. The story has definitely been gripping to me

The twists and turns - the original statement followed by the denial - the bizarre press conference.

I have been riveted and eager to share information with my DU friends.

There have been so many insightful posts here about it - I am grateful to be a part of this community.

[Kingofalldems]

43. Keeping it alive.

[JI7]

44. LOOK AT ME