Pat McCrory’s response to the backlash to HB2, the sweeping law that strips away protections for LGBT citizens and overrides local government control, is that everybody’s been duped by a biased media and liberal spin machine. The world is out to get the him and the Republicans. It couldn’t possibly be that people read the bill.
McCrory uses this defense often. When he signed anti-abortion legislation that he had promised not to sign, he blamed the media. When he lied about going to Moral Monday protests, he blamed the media. When he got caught helping a friend get a government contract, he blamed the media. To hear him tell it, he’s just a governor minding his own business, doing nothing offensive and the mean old news people want to take him down.
The problem with that story is that McCrory came into office with the endorsement of most newspapers in the state. His problem with the media began when he started lying to reporters and when he rolled over for the legislature. Had he shown a little backbone and been more honest, he might have more goodwill. Now, he’s paying the price.
McCrory ran for office as a moderate mayor of a New South city who would come to Raleigh to help run state government more like a business. He arrived in the capitol with a cheery demeanor and backslapping mentality. It went downhill fast.
He quickly found himself playing second fiddle to a state legislature with more seasoned politicians, particularly in the Senate, who had an agenda before he even knew the way to the bathroom. Instead of establishing himself as a power in Raleigh, he signed whatever came across his desk, regardless of what he might have said while campaigning. He got caught making up stories and making excuses. The media called him out.
Within months, he was no longer that moderate mayor but a hapless governor who signed into law legislation that shifted North Carolina far to the right, both economically and socially. In a state that prided itself for its progressive nature, McCrory got swift rebukes from the newspapers and media. He’s never taken responsibility for his actions; he’s only pointed fingers.
McCrory now shares the victim mentality that has infused social conservatives. Globalization has taken their jobs and urbanization has shifted social attitudes. They’re under attack by the outside world. Now, McCrory is, too. The guy who arrived in Raleigh as a former head of Metro Mayors, now has the same bunker mentality as the people who are seeing their world quickly disappear. In November, his world might be gone altogether.
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 >
My real question is will this country survive the touchy, feely, everything offends me crowd? Get a life, stop whining, use common sense, and realize what has worked in the past, cause it ain’t working now. This country has degenerated in prestige, might, economics and more race problems than 50 years ago. Look no further than this divider in chief. Never, ever, overestimate the intelligence of the average American voter.
The Great of NC will survive the NCGOP.
NC was once a decent state.
One term, Pat. Remember in November!
I still have my Jesse Helms t-shirt from the early 80s. It was just after Ghost Busters had come out and Nancy Reagan had started her Just Say No drug prevention program. The shirt has the red circle with the diagonal slash superimposed on a picture of Helms’ chipmunk-esque face with the admonition “Just Say NO” underneath. Next to the one that says Texas Homegrown Dope with a picture of George Bush’s (the little one) head coming out of a pot plant and instructions to “Plant in a shallow hole with a silver spoon and feed with loads of family money until firmly rooted in the public treasury” it is my favorite.
I’d like to know what is wrong with a “biased media, and liberal spin machine”!
Apparently the the “governer” is overwhelmed by biased politicians and the conservative spin machine that somehow managed to get him elected, and he ran with it.
There is nothing wrong with liberalism, and REAL conservatism (not reactionism) is okay on its face.
But this ‘governor’ and ‘representatives’ in the PEOPLES’ General Assembly’ want to put our state on its ass with their illegally passing religion-based law in what is supposed to be a religion-neutral form of government.
Shame on the Gubernator and the Extremists in the PEOPLES’ General Assembly for forcing through this abominable
Actually, NC is not a conservative state, just because that party is in power they don’t define the state. There are 2.6 million registered Dems, 1.9 million registered Rep, 27,000 registered Libertarians and 1.8 million unaffiliated. Just because our voting districts were gerrymandered to affect the outcomes doesn’t mean a thing, yes, both parties have done it.
http://enr.ncsbe.gov/voter_stats/results.aspx?date=03-26-2016
IMHO, if more voters had understood the role of the Mayor of Charlotte, this (McCrory in all his un-statesmanlike non-glory) would never have happened. In Charlotte, the Mayor is largely a figurehead: it’s the city council and the county commission, plus city/county staff, who make things work. Pat McCrory was the glad-hander, the poster boy, for a modern, growing, increasingly diverse city: and he did that job reasonably well. The cracks began to appear early on, though, when he refused to tell us who his primary employer (Duke Energy) was, and it’s been largely downhill from there.
I urged McCrory’s opponent in the gubernatorial race to use the slogan “more than just a pretty face”, because I believe that largely sums up McCrory’s appeal, which is now following the example of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”: he’s showing us the ugliness, the petulance and the lack of principle behind the mask.
The Old Reeve,
I frown on doing something for somebody when they can actually do (google it) for themselves. But here you go ……
1) Helms was credited by even his most critical opponents with providing excellent constituent services through his Senate office.
2) In domestic affairs, Helms promoted industrial development in the South, seeking low taxes and few labor unions so as to attract northern and international corporations to relocate to North Carolina. Wiki
3) Helms-Burton Act (signed by Bill Clinton)
4) Helms Biden Act
I mentioned (3) and (4) to show that he also was in step with those on the other side of the aisle.
Was he an overt bigot? Yes. But ….. if you were a North Carolinian who was tired of a one party system and liberal policies (real or perceived) that were transforming the nation towards dependence in many forms, he was a savior.
Helms was not only a bigot but a highly powerful bigot that squashed Harvey Gant and got Ronald Reagan elected. Personally, I don’t believe Reagan found much in common with Helms other than both helping and keeping him in power. I doubt if roles were reversed, Reagan would have heaped as much praise on Helms.
For white North Carolinians (many who were bigots then, and continue to be so now), Helms was God. It can be debated as nauseum as to whether Helms actually turned NC into a two party state. Surely, he laid the foundation.
Most importantly, his excellent constituent services were at the forefront. Whether white, black, Democrat or Republican, if you had a problem with government services such as the Veterans Administration, Helms was the man to get to the bottom of it.
Helms did his deeds for the most part before the advent of the internet. Unless you were adicted to CSPAN or his controversies made national news (of which they did on numerous occasions), few people probably followed him closely.
If you were sitting in your kitchen and had a problem with the maze of US government, Helms could not have been more attentive.
Lastly, Helms was at the forefront of bringing both ridicule and embarrassment to NC. And today, it continues.
The puzzle to me is how he seemed to succeed in Charlotte. Admittedly the system here does not give the mayor as much power as some, but his lack of political skills is astonishing. Hapless is the word I would use.
As a Charlotte Mayor (I lived there) he was good at ribbon cutting and back slapping. The City Council and corporate executives made the real decisions. He was very upset when he lost to Bev Perdue. I think he decided to do whatever it took to get to the Governor’s Mansion. That meant taking money from Art Pope and making Pope his budget director. It has all been downhill since
Sounds like he fulfilled the old adage of selling one’s soul to the devil and now it is time to pay. Wonder how many old boy favors will come to light when he leaves office? Duke Power should have trained him better!
The boy I a runaway horse.
He’s either incredibly stupid or he thinks his support of HB2 will win him re-election in this very conservative state. I have no idea what to think any more. Everything is upside down. Is McCrory’s world the one that is vanishing? Not so sure about that.
Like a fever, some things just have to run their course.
more like diarrhea
Just to clarify, this is historically generally a moderate state, not a “very conservative state.”
Historically it was. Moderates now, appears few and far between.
Well, it did send Jesse Helms to Washington for 30 years.
In any case McCrory’s response to the backlash has set himself up so that he is either lying or ignorant. Neither speaks well for him and he is an embarrassment to the state.
It also elected two Republican (moderate) governors in my lifetime. Moderate democrats both accepted and sided with Helms because he attempted to look out for the State regardless of his bigoted ways. He was more of a sideshow from afar and only in his latter years in Congress did he show his true colors. Now, we’re consumed with those like him at every turn.
In today’s world of right wing extremists both in the NCGA and Congress, Helms would come across as (somewhat moderate.)
He looked after NC, was a thorn in the side of Manual Noriega and finally gained prominence as head of the foreign relations committee.
All of that being said, he was still a loud mouthpiece who earned his stripes commenting on WRAL and like Donald Trump, was able to convince the right to propel him into politics. In all likelihood, he was as crazy as Trump but kept it in check with Southerm charm.
The Marc Basnights, Luther Hodges and Terry Sandfords of the world moved NC forward ……
I actually long for the days of Jesse Helms (I cannot believe I actually just typed that.)
An Observer, you said Jesse “looked out for NC”. How? What did he bring home for us? Highways? Bridges? Other infrastructure? Federal funds (that WE paid to Washington)? Jesse never did anything but seek to advance his right wing agenda, become the butt of comedians jokes on network TV and an embarrassment to our state.
Well I moved here in 2011, so have only been here for the crazy ride… I see very few moderates in my neck of the woods… and it’s supposed to be a moderate part of this “moderate” state.
Many people are thanking Pat for rescuing women from the predators in the bathroom unleashed by the Charlotte bill. I honestly have never seen anything like this – the gullibility of the voters – particularly on the far right – who swallow pretty much any lie any party leader tells them. Cheney perfected this and everyone seems to be following in his wake.
Keep in mind, Trump won in NC with about 40%…
North Carolina has been considered a progressive southern state since the 1960s. Democratic Governor Terry Sanford was thought to be an enlightened, intelligent governor who believed in education (he doubled the state’s education budget) and helped to establish the Research Triangle Park, which was, at that time, a vast, unpaved forested area near Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. However, North Carolina in the sixties was also ground zero for the Ku Klux Klan which had more members in this state than all other southern states combined. North Carolina is like two states. Like other southern states, North Carolina’s Democratic Party was the only relevant party. The party of Lincoln, the GOP, was an unthinkable alternative to conservatives and segregationists who wished for a different ending to the Civil War. Nixon’s southern strategy invited the racists into the Republican Party after the Johnson Administration pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our public schools and public universities continued to be segregated in the 1960s. Racists did not approve of the role of prominent blacks, like Dr. M. L. King and Jesse Jackson, in Democratic politics. The conservatives decided that joining the ranks of the Yankees was less offensive than associating with black leaders. In the 1970s, ranks of the GOP began to swell and the party began to win important races, winning the governor’s office for the first time in a century. For decades, the Democratic Party continued to hold majorities and to control most state offices but the racist right wing had Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms and growing influence. The state went for Bill Clinton, but also gave Elizabeth Dole a term in the Senate. Evenly divided, the state has continued to trend to the right but North Carolina went for Obama in 2008, then went to Romney in 2012. The election of Obama sent racists into overdrive. Energized with a revived hatred of the liberal politics which brought equal opportunity and black children into public schools, the North Carolina GOP has fought back with a real nasty vengeance. Redistricting after the 2010 census by the newly elected Republican majority in the legislature has produced a windfall in election results. Elections have been distorted by an over-representation of Republicans in office because gerrymandering has allowed the GOP to concentrate the Democratic vote into fewer districts. Intent upon maintaining an unfair advantage, the GOP has enacted some of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country. If the state were not unfairly gerrymandered, the narrow majority of Democratic voters would probably maintain a slight majority in the legislature. That advantage will remain with the Republicans until 2020, the next census.
His support for HB2 will cost do damage to the economy. The state’s reputation has suffered greatly under McCrory as a incubator of ALEC legislation and as a state gaining a higher profile exemplifying southern bigotry and racism. Businesses are now avoiding North Carolina. McCrory has decimated public schools, attacked labor, supported regressive tax policies, rolled back black voters’ right and established a disgraceful record on the environment.
If the governor thinks voters need more hatred and bigotry to get reelected, ruining the state is a small price to pay to keep McCrory in government housing for another four years.