NORTHAM NOW IN THE DENIAL PHASE OF THE KUBLER-ROSS MODEL. Report: Northam now not sure it’s him in the photo, wants to use facial recognition software:

This will be a lingering headache for Democrats if he doesn’t quit, as the media will now track down the med school’s old yearbook editors and try to find out how photos were chosen. There’s nothing in the state’s impeachment statute either that would justify removing him from office to stop the bleeding. The story will drag on, with Northam destined to resign anyway as pressure from the party keeps up. WaPo has already reached out to some of his old med-school classmates to ask about the yearbook, in fact. An interesting detail:

Joan Naidorf, whose husband’s yearbook page is opposite Northam’s in the yearbook, said she was surprised the photos are only now coming out, given Northam’s stature in Virginia politics.

“We’ve often wondered over the last 10 years or so why someone didn’t dig this up sooner,” said Naidorf, a nonpracticing emergency room physician who lives in Alexandria…

Eastern Virginia Medical School allowed students to pick their own photos for their yearbook page, Naidorf said. Her husband chose their engagement photo and other personal pictures. Another student chose a picture of men in blackface and dressed as women in what appears to be a variety-show routine.

Gonna be tough for Northam to claim he had nothing to do with the photo selection. He’d be better off pointing to that “variety show” as the culprit. “Okay, yes, I’m probably in the photo, but it’s not what it seems. It was part of a performance, a skit making fun of racists that was in bad taste in hindsight. I’m sorry.” It won’t save his job but it might save his social circle for him.

As Allahpundit deadpans, “Killing babies on the table is one thing, but an old blackface photo is where America draws the line.”