The Costly Mark Robinson Lesson

The North Carolina gubernatorial race is lost, a month and half before it is even formally set to take place in November. In a news dump on Thursday by two separate media outlets, Republican lieutenant governor Mark Robinson — running to succeed term-limited incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper — was revealed to the world to have engaged in multiple unseemly behaviors online, particularly during his days as an enthusiastic participant in the comments section of a pornography website.

The most salacious of Robinson’s postings reveal the sorts of private sexual peccadilloes that cannot be discussed with dignity yet are politically fatal. Far more relevant to voter concerns were comments in which Robinson proudly labeled himself a “Black Nazi,” or averred that he would happily own slaves himself if he could, such was his contempt for many of his fellow African Americans.