Agree that it would have been "bold", but it's no different than Tampon Timmy having to walk back his tough war service claims. Everyone appreciates for 24 years that he served a weekend a month and two weeks in the summer - amounting to well less than a year of actual service - but that's far different from having served for a full 24 years, carried a weapon of war in a war zone, or even flying over an actual war zone. His false claims of valor had to be addressed and they tarnish the service of everyone who has ever served in the reserves, guard, or active duty. But they addressed it, and with the media's ever willing assistance, he weathered the storm and no one even seems to care at this point. It doesn't make him any less of douche bag for making such claims to advance his political career, but they can at least now claim it's old news.
Robinson is no different in the sense that there is some previous bad, bad stuff in his history. The proverbial skeletons in the closet that HE certainly knew about. To not address it at some point and get in front of it was just stupid. It's the kind of stuff that you don't just hope that it never comes out and angle for the best when it does. Suppose he was elected and it came out later. It's the kind of stuff that causes resignations. I know almost nothing about the guy, but this choice speaks volumes to me in terms of his judgment on how to handle a really critical decision. Speaking of what I do know about him, if this were reversed, he had a D after his name, and the story had been reported by Fox, I feel certain that he'd be getting defended as falsely identified, a setup, or whatever. And, they'd most certainly be screaming an obvious 'ist or 'ism at play. And the thing is, the person who uttered such stuff would still be a dirtbag regardless of the letter behind the name.
Incidentally, I still think this was what Noem was after in her book and revelations about the dog incident. She screwed up big time from a national political standpoint. But, if she plans to run in '28, her speaking about it almost fully takes the wind out of their sails when they try to hammer her with it four years later.
