On Bill Mahar’s “Real Time,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel showed why if Democrats didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has been pressured to resign for appearing in blackface on an old college yearbook page. Emanuel acknowledged that Northam was in the photo, but the interview took a truly bizarre turn when Emanuel compared Northam’s “evolution” on race to President Lincoln and President Obama.
When Maher asked Emanuel what Northam should do to resolve the situation, Emanuel struggled to articulate a response.
“You seem nervous,” Maher reacted.
The term-limited mayor began by telling Maher that he thought Northam was one of two people appearing in racist attire in the photo. But then Emanuel defended Northam’s efforts to remain in office despite calls for his resignation.
He then compared Northam’s potential for redemption to President Barack Obama’s evolution on gay marriage and to President Abraham Lincoln’s emergence as “the Great Emancipator” despite not having set out to end slavery.
Would any Republican in America be eligible for “redemption” in Emanuel’s eyes?
Surely, you jest. And don’t call him Shirley.
“Part of civil rights, part of any change, is maturity and evolution. He is now going to be the greatest fighter for civil rights because he has something to prove,” Emanuel said. “The notion that you disagree with somebody, the answer is ‘You’re fired.’ The fact is he has evolved. … If you want somebody, there’s nothing like a convert. He is gonna have a zealotry to prove something because he has the campaign of his reputation.”
“This notion, ‘Virginia, escape history.’ No, you learn from history. You don’t escape history, and then it teaches you what to do right in the future,” the Chicago mayor added.
That’s a very nuanced position to take, Rahm. The next time a Republican is accused of being a racist, I’m sure you’ll step right up with another “evolution” defense. After all, Republicans are people too — well, sort of.
Imagine how zealous a Republican would be to prove he’s not a racist if given the chance at redemption. It would be a revolution in race relations if whites would be allowed the opportunity to be forgiven for their sins.
It won’t happen, of course. Liberal Democrats have far too much invested in the “conservatives are racist” narrative to allow for “redemption” or evolution. But to keep a Democrat in office in a state that will be contested in 2020, love means never having to say you’re sorry.
Or that you’re a nauseating racist.
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