Now that the goalposts have moved again, can anyone tell us what one has to do to actually be

[TCJ70]

4. I think there are a lot of factors that people use to examine this stuff

1. Time - 35 years is a long time and leaves a lot of room for someone to change and do other things with their life that aren't reflective of an incident being focused on.
2. Repetition - Self explanatory. We have two things with Northam: A picture and a nickname. Both of which were 35+ years ago. Not necessarily a pattern.
3. Willingness to own it - Is your past shady? Own it. Don't apologize and walk it back. If it was you, it was you. Show how you've changed over time and cite your record to defend yourself.

For me, the fact that he tried to walk it back is what moved me from "don't resign" to "resign". He doesn't necessarily have a bad record on things from what I've read. That makes sense given that people tend to change over 4 decades...some for the better, some for the worse. But that unwillingness to just be straight forward is a real problem. Calls other things into question. Just own it, man.