Along with, “What the hell is the deal with blackface and Virginia?” the question of, “What is forgivable behavior?” is getting a serious workout at the moment.

I’m generally in agreement with Mother Jones’ writer Kevin Drum’s “20-20 Rule”. That is to say, stupid things you said and did before you were 20, or that happened more than 20 years ago grant you some kind of leniency. (I’ll get to Brett Kavanaugh in a minute.) I mean, if the stupidity of callow youth was a capital crime, I’d be on Death Row.

The key is — how do you handle it as an adult?

In the matter of Ralph Northam, Virginia’s remarkably clueless governor, you couldn’t handle it much worse. Admitting, then denying, then admitting again over the course of 48 hours pretty much convinces everyone you have no talent for the public stage and should seek work in tele-marketing. Then, based on the fact that Northam is in the job because of a heavy majority of black voters who now see him as a hopeless doofus at best, he’s got to go.

Next we have Virginia’s attorney general who has also admitted he painted his face for a costume party — he went as rapper Curtis Blow — 35 years ago. That guy at least had the smarts to compose a thoughtful letter of shame and apology. One of his problems, in terms of keeping his job though, is that he’s already called for Northam to resign … for doing the same blackface thing.

(Better psychologists than me will have suss out the appeal of black face with privileged white southern boys. But my guess is it has something to do with poking at taboos in ways you can only do if you live in a bubble culture where no one will ever think to call you out.)

Next we have the “rising star” Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, a black guy FWIW, accused of forcing oral sex on a date 15 years before he was in office. As with Kavanaugh, the accuser is now a woman in high professional standing who makes a detailed case against him. Moreover, like Dr. Blasey-Ford, she had to be convinced to throw herself into the social media hellscape that comes with accusing powerful men.

The Democratic party’s “zero tolerance” policy on sexually aggressors, which is to say, “guilty if accused”, makes it impossible for Lieutenant Governor Rising Star to survive this thing.

Despite what we hear from the likes of Kirsten Gillibrand, I’m not a big fan of “zero tolerance.” Eventually it undermines women’s demands for equality and justice. But I’ve come to believe that “zero tolerance” is an overreach that we’ll all have to live with for a while, or at least until, maybe 15-20 years down the line, there’s actual gender equilibrium in politics and corporate America. In other words, Mr. Rising Star Lieutenant Governor, demanding a “full investigation” is futile. It did nothing for Al Franken and it won’t do anything for you.

Here then is where I remind everyone that the “investigation” into Brett Kavanaugh’s teenage stupidity was cut off by his Republican protectors simultaneous with him behaving — today, as an adult, interviewing for a lifetime job of incalculable influence on 330 million people — like a privileged white brat indignant that anyone would ever have the temerity to question his bubble-cossetted honor.

The short response to anyone defending Northam, Virginia’s attorney general and The Rising Star is the same as it should have been to Kavanaugh. Namely, “We can do better than you. You’re replaceable. Next!”

Now, into this churn we drop our own Amy Klobuchar’s burbling problem of mistreating her staff, for many years, and not being exactly who/what she purports to be.

Klobuchar will almost certainly announce she’s running for president. She has a very deep well of support from every group she needs here in her home state. But this picture of her as some kind of raging harridan should not be dismissed lightly as just a pre-announcement shot across her bow. Why not?  Because of how it may play nationally, among the millions who don’t yet know anything about her.

Yeah, it’s true women in authority carry a greater burden to be “likable” than men. That shouldn’t be the case, but it is. We haven’t evolved past that mattering.

That said, the issue with Klobuchar could — could, I say — become whether her smiling, measured, ever-temperate public demeanor is a kind of fraud. “Phoniness” is a hobbling accusation against any public figure.

And to repeat what I said a couple of days ago. I’m OK with voting for her for president if she gets the nomination, or again as Senator if she doesn’t. I don’t really give a [bleep] how miserable a boss someone is as long as they vote my interests. Sorry if that horrifies anyone.

All I’m saying here is that Klobuchar may soon find herself in somewhat the same position as the cast of goofballs in Virginia, in that she may have to both concede fault and ask forgiveness — for behavior happening today, well within The 20-20 Rule.