Of course it’s politics

by | Dec 20, 2016 | Editor's Blog, HB2 | 23 comments

Republicans are twisting themselves into knots trying to blame the fallout from HB2 on Democrats. Now that the law is about to be repealed they’re blaming—gasp—politics. Who’d a thunk it?

Of course it was politics. The bill was a political scheme designed to motivate the GOP base while giving some goodies to the business community, who, it turned out, didn’t really want them. It ended up being a lightning rod that shifted from a social issue to an economic one and cost the GOP the Governor’s Mansion and attorney general’s office.

Republicans are screaming loudly that Roy Cooper and his team scuttled the same deal in May that’s being made now. That may have a bit of truth in it, but the political situation was completely different. In May, the LGBT community believed that they might be able to get repeal while keeping the clause in the Charlotte ordinance that allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice. The GOP, though, dug in and made it clear that they were willing suffer economic hardship and national ridicule to keep the bill intact.

By September, HB2 was causing serious political damage to Pat McCrory. We had lost the NBA All-Star game and ACC tournament games, not to mention dozens of other conferences and entertainers. The governor had made himself the face of the law, running ads arguing that it protected women and children from sexual predators. That argument was BS of course, but that was his story and he was sticking to it.

So when the GOP tried to cut the same deal in May (Charlotte repeals their ordinance and the General Assembly repeals HB2), they were in the final weeks of the campaign. Why in the world would any Democrat make a deal that would help Republicans six weeks before an election? At that point, Republicans knew HB2 was a loser for them and Democrats just wanted the scenario to play out.

Post-election, the political damage to the GOP from HB2 was obvious. The courts had ordered new legislative elections in 2017 and McCrory was no longer in place to absorb the blows. Democrats, for their part, want a fresh start without continuing economic damage from the law . The LGBT community knows that the GOP is not going to repeal HB2 without getting rid of the bathroom clause in the Charlotte ordinance.

If HB2 is really repealed, the LGBT community and Democrats won this battle in the culture wars. Local governments will once again have the power to enact anti-discrimination policies that protect people based on their sexual orientation. Transgender people will be able to use the bathroom of their choice regardless of whether language is in the ordinance or not, in part, because they spurred a national conversation about what transgender means. It was a huge educational moment. Democrats, the party that advocates most strongly for equality, took control of the Governor’s Mansion in North Carolina and kept the attorney general’s office, also big wins for minorities that need protecting.

Make no mistake. HB2 was a completely self-inflicted wound. Republicans passed a broad, far-reaching bill that affected every county and city in North Carolina to address a single clause in local ordinance that affected one city in the state. They also threw in measures to appeal to the business community by banning local governments from raising the minimum wage. They did it to fire up their base in an election year and found out that many in the business community care about more than just profits. In the end, they paid a political price for overreach and cost the state millions of dollars in revenue. Repealing the law will stop the hemorrhaging. If the deal falls through, Democrats will bludgeon Republicans with the negative impact of the law in the elections this year.

23 Comments

  1. Paul Patriot

    The Democratic platform seems to consistently lean left towards pro homosexuality, pro abortion, and pro-islam, political correctness, and hostile to our Christian heritage and 2nd Amendment, and is all about more regulation and “big brother”mentality.

    I am shocked that NC would elect a democrat governor. I have lived in and moved from 2 states controlled by the liberal progressive democratic platform, to the great state of North Carolina, thinking I was leaving that behind.

    The liberal progressives that think that repealing hb2 is a great thing have no idea of the repercussions to society that this confusion will cause, I know because I have lived in 2 liberal states that embrace lgbt confusion and

    • Jay Ligon

      Paul Patriot, are you a robot? You wrote the same thing on January 3rd.

    • Troy

      It’s amazing how we wandered in perpetual darkness prior to the passage of HB2, then suddenly we moved into the clarity of conservative light. It’s really not confusing at all. They’re people. They deserve to be treated like human beings and enjoy the same rights and privileges as the rest of the population. Without question, interference, and having to prove something to someone at every turn of the key.

      A concept you would be most adamant about were it to happen to you.

  2. Paul Patriot

    “An important part of YIUR child’s future….” is raising them with Godly, Biblical, absolute morals…..

    Who cares about the economy if society is morally bankrupt?????

  3. Jay Ligon

    Amen, Brother!

  4. Ali paksoy

    Agree with you on that!

  5. A D Reed

    Don’t look now, but this is a Republican legislature.

    They could very well repeal HB 2 today in full; then turn around and reenact the other provisions including prohibiting municipalities and counties from raising the minimum wage, protecting LGBT rights, etc.

    The Charlotte repeal comes into play only if the Lege repeals HB2 in full by Dec. 31. The new Lege takes office on, I believe, Jan. 2, and they can enact new legislation over Cooper’s veto that same afternoon.

    Do not ever, ever, ever trust a Republican to do what he or she says he will do. Never.

    They lie so frequently, so habitually, that they don’t recognize what the truth is.

    I, for one, will wait until late January to believe that HB2 is actually gone and that it’s non-trans aspects are not reenacted.

    • SNAKEDOCTOR

      You know the calling of a Republican a liar is like a Democrat looking into a mirror. I surmise that this is a Democrat Forum page and most of you beating your gums and keyboards are blinded by the wrong light. As a Christian, I know right from wrong. So don’t try to push this “Bull Butter” down my throat or anyone else’s for Goodness sake. I support HB2 ! Roy Coooooper will only be a “One Term Governor” and Lt. Governor Dan Forest will take his place in four years. Dan is more qualified to run this Great State of North Carolina.

      • Apply Liberally

        “As a Christian, I know right from wrong.”

        Right. Sure you do. LOL.

        You DO know that there are other religious radicals in this world who will likewise say “As a ___(insert religious affiliation here)___, I know right from wrong,” don’t you???

        • Ebrun

          Doc, you’re going to rile up the natives here with such blasphemy. This is much more than a “Democrat Forum.” It’s the far left personified. It’s their “safe space” and dissent is just not tolerated nor is civil discourse if you don’t parrot leftist dogmatism.

          • Troy

            And then there’s you. Spreading cheer and compassionate conservatism to the masses.

        • Paul Patriot

          Great point. So who’s right????? What is the standard in which to determine right from wrong??

          Please don’t try bring up the “all truth is relative” nonsense…..someone is right, someone is wrong, not all worldviews (religions) are true, although most claim to be true.

          Example: islam and Christianity cannot both be exclusively true…..ONE is true and one is wrong..

          Soooooooo, let’s look at those “other radicals” and using history, current events, their sacred text, and textural criticism, let’s see how that compares to the Bible which claims to be THE revelation from the one true creator God, and then let’s look at historical, reliability of the new testament, and arrive at the conclusion that Jesus is who he said he is, and the words, “I am the way, the Truth and the life, and no one’s comes to the father except by me” being truth.

      • Troy

        Do you now? Right from wrong huh? Perhaps you’d care to explain, using your unique Christian perspective, what is right and what is wrong. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only dying to know.

        • Paul Patriot

          He knows right from wrong if he is a real Christian, which would mean he was given the indwelt Holy Spirit upon his repentance and confession of the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

          The same Spirit who “convict a the world of sin” and the same Spirit that shines the law onto the human heart to reveal their sin nature and their need of a Savior.

          Most people “don’t know” that simply looking at a woman and lusting after her is considered the same as adultery, according to Jesus, (the author and finisher of Christianity), which is a violation of the 7th commandment……..

          This is one of many examples how a born again Christian does know right from wrong.

          Hope this helps.

          • Jay Ligon

            How could you possibly vote for Trump, a serial sexual predator?

          • Jay Ligon

            There will be enormous suffering around the world because of Trump. The best we could hope for is that he doesn’t launch nukes and murder billions of human beings. He’s crazy enough to do it.

          • Troy

            Just to clarify, I know what right and wrong is. That is your interpretation of what is right and what is wrong based on what you believe. It one thing to know what it is; its another to live or practice those virtues.

            Republicans pride themselves on telling everyone else how they should be living their lives. It’s a real shame they don’t practice what it is they preach.

            As for me, I put no stock in religion. We all have an innateness about what is good and what is bad. In his parables of wisdom, faith, and choice, I believe that Christ knew that and was speaking to the inner depths of what is in one’s soul.

            By what we do, we choose whether we are good people or not. Those teaching guide our actions…or they should.

  6. Troy

    Anyone have a final cost tally on the great experiment in sociology that is HB2? The guesstimates I’ve seen to date gross around $400 million.

    Of course, why should Berger and Moore care, it isn’t their money they watched float away on the back of a sociological premise. It isn’t their money being spent in special session; twice. Its extremely odd that the self-identifying party of fiscal responsibility is penny-wise and dollar foolish.

    • Jay Ligon

      The truth ain’t in them Republicans. The GOP concocted a preposterous statute that could never be enforced. People don’t carry their birth certificates with them in America, because we are the land of the free. This isn’t Germany of the 1930s and 1940s. “Your identity papers, please!” The Republicans’ strange obsession with our nether regions is more a perverse pathology than a legal problem.

      Local authorities do not have the manpower or the budgets to station state-employed bathroom monitors on folding chairs in front of every toilet. Criminals have murders to commit and drugs to deal, and our law enforcement people have better things to do than checking genitalia against birth certificates, we hope.

      In theory the law sounded like the kind of hateful thing that would get stupid people to vote for Republicans, but, in the end, a chorus of Americans protested, boycotted and cost the state so much in goodwill and convention and event business that the conservative business community was cried uncle.

      There remains only one remedy to painting oneself into an avoidable corner. The lie! They lied their way into jeopardy so the obvious solution is to lie their way out. “The Democrats did it! They made me do it! We had no choice! We saw genitals everywhere! It was horrible! Charlotte did it! Charlotte made me do it! Naked boys and girls were in the showers together. We seen ’em. It was immoral and a sin.”

      The pearl-clutching GOP, in reality, believed that a tiny minority could be bullied, and they could take a few cheap shots at a few people and appear to be heroic to a larger number of Bible-thumping bigots. It was a calculation. They figured wrong. They were a whole universe of wrong away from reality. So now, how do we get the ACC tournaments back? How do we get the NCAA events back? How do we get our reputation back?

      The NC GOP has a go-to strategy – the lie. They act as if they invented the lie, and, because of it, they are the most clever people in the state. They are proud of their duplicity, and when caught, they double down on it. They tell a lie when the truth would do them more good and would be a better story.

      • Troy

        Ihre papiere bitte. I thought I’d translate it so we could get used to hearing it.

  7. Jim Bartow

    They talk about keeping trans women out of locker rooms and then endorse for President a confessed sexual predator who bragged about invading Teen USA dressing rooms specifically at times when the teens were changing clothes just so he could look at them naked.

    Hypocrisy much?

    • Steve

      Yeah. How did they reckon that one out? No perverts in the bathroom unless your name is Donald Trump.

  8. Progressive Wing

    Thomas, you wrote: “So when the GOP tried to cut the same deal in May (Charlotte repeals their ordinance and the General Assembly repeals HB2), they were in the final weeks of the campaign.”
    Think maybe you meant to say “in September,” not “in May”……?

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