I owe Pat McCrory’s communications team an apology. They’re not incompetent. They have an incompetent boss.

John Frank’s profile of Pat McCrory puts to rest any speculation about who is to blame for McCrory’s gaffes and his refusal to acknowledge them. It’s Pat’s fault. And McCrory lacks enough self awareness to understand how he looks to the rest of us.

Throughout his short tenure, McCrory has said things that just aren’t true over and over again. And then he’s rarely corrected himself. He said he was at the Moral Monday protests but he wasn’t. He blamed the budget woes on Perdue when the budget was put forth by fellow Republicans Thom Tillis and Phil Berger. He said under-qualified applicants for high paying jobs at DHHS beat out other, more experienced, applicants when in fact, there were no other applicants. The list is too long to print here but you get the point.

And it explains his stupid analogies. Remember McCrory comparing voters to meth dealers buying sudafed? I couldn’t figure out who in his administration would come up with such a horrible comparison or why nobody has told him how silly he looks. Now, we know.

McCrory is flying solo. As Frank notes, “He casts aside speeches his aides write.” Why? Because McCrory thinks he looks genuine, down-to-earth, a regular guy. He doesn’t. He looks stupid. And not owning up to his misstatements makes him look arrogant.

There are politicians who do well speaking off the cuff. But these politicians have a firm grasp of the issues and understand the cardinal rule of politics: Don’t lie to reporters. McCrory understands neither.

Democrats should be excited. Frank describes a man who ignores the advice of his advisors and governs from the gut. He doesn’t own up to his mistakes because he can’t admit them in the first place. But he still blames those outside interest groups for bad press. With that attitude, we can expect more of the same and arrogant and stupid are fodder for people like me.

Republican Carter Wrenn says he doesn’t think McCrory has a credibility problem with the voters. If that’s true, it’s only because the ads haven’t started yet.

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Thomas Mills

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >