If Pat McCrory wanted to make this election a referendum on HB2, last night he got his wish. The NCAA announced that it was pulling championship games out of North Carolina, including the opening round of the NCAA basketball tournament. Stripping away the NBA All-star game might have opened eyes, but messing with college basketball in North Carolina is almost sacrilegious.
Last week, HB2 seemed all McCrory could talk about. He released an ad saying that his opponents wanted to let boys use girls’ showers in school. He blamed the North Carolina Chamber for writing large parts of the bill, though they denied it. He blamed Roy Cooper and “leftists” for forcing him to sign the bad legislation.
Throughout the whole ordeal, McCrory has attacked the bill’s critics instead of taking responsibility or offering solutions. He accused musicians like Bruce Springsteen, a working-class hero, of being “elitists” for cancelling their shows. Likewise he called the NBA “sports and entertainment elites” and said their decision to move the all-star game was “PC BS.”
Through all of the debate, McCrory has tried to claim the point of the bill was to keep girls safe by keeping potential predators out of women’s restrooms and locker rooms. While social conservatives may cling to that rationale, most people believe the bill is about discrimination and that’s clearly what the NCAA thinks, too.
The issue is bigger than HB2, though. Since the GOP took over North Carolina, businesses, entertainers, sports groups, and the rest of the country watched uncomfortably as the legislature with the support of Pat McCrory targeted groups for discrimination. They targeted African-Americans with voter suppression measures. They allowed magistrates to discriminate against gay couples who want to marry. They passed an unneeded an anti-Sharia law bill that’s only purpose was to cast suspicions on Muslims. HB2 was the last straw.
The business and entertainment community has decided that it’s not going to reward a state that wants to discriminate against its citizens. Instead of reaching out to them, McCrory attacked them. He’s thrown his lot with conservative populists who want to turn back the clock and his rhetoric has left little room for compromise, not that there’s time anymore.
McCrory has little choice but to embrace his opposition to HB2. Instead of just battling Roy Cooper, he’s in a fight with the NCAA, NBA and most of the business community. While most of the GOP politicians in the state are ducking for cover, McCrory made himself the poster boy for a law he didn’t write.
But McCrory’s not totally alone. Lt. Governor Dan Forest and GOP Attorney General nominee Sen. Buck Newton are standing with him. Newton wants to “keep our state straight” and Forest is one of its staunchest defenders. Despite what polls say, they seem to think standing by HB2 is a winner. We’ll see what voters think in November.
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 >
“When you lie down with pigs, you get up covered with s**t.” So say the wise good-ol’ country boys. Or old-timey politicians. Or whoever coins wonderful “old” sayings.
In this case, even when the pig is wearing lipstick, you can’t get away from the stench.
Poor, poor, Pat.
“When you lie down with pigs, you get up covered with s**t.” Very profound!
When you resort to crude aphorisms, it suggests a total lack of class.
Oh, boo-hoo, Ebrun. No doubt your sensitive soul was offended by an aphorism that has been around for decades. My soul is offended by spurious, provably (and proven) false claims by the GOP about Democrats, liberals, progressives, educated people in general, and specifically about honorable public servants who are dedicated to making our country better, rather than embedding their own power and wealth forever.
Boo-hoo. Here’s a bandaid for your Owey.
Doesn’t offend me, A.d. Coarse invective just helps define the source.
Oh, boo-hoo, Ebrun. No doubt your sensitive soul was offended by an aphorism that has been around for decades. My soul is offended by spurious, provably (and proven) false claims by the GOP about Democrats, liberals, progressives, educated people in general, and specifically about honorable public servants who are dedicated to making our country better, rather than embedding their own power and wealth forever.
Boo-hoo. Here’s a bandaid for your Owey.
And now the ACC has pulled all championships from the state for the current academic year. Football in Charlotte. Women’s Basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and women’s golf from Greensboro. Baseball from Durham. Women’s soccer from Cary. Men’s golf from New London. Total of 11 in all. This hurts everyone. As much as I will miss attending many of these events with short drives, I applaud Commissioner Swofford and the ACC for taking a stand.
Wonder if the ACC will allow those games banned from NC to be televised here? If they do, they won’t look any different to me except that NC teams will lose their home state advantage. Now, ain’t that a shame!
The hubris knows no end: although McCrory hasn’t responded, the North Carolina Republican Party issued a statement admonishing the NCAA, describing its decision as “so absurd it’s almost comical.” The choice of the word “comical” shows how seriously the state legislature is taking the repercussions of HB2.
McCrory has responded finally with a statement, though it took longer to respond to NCAA decision to pull the championship games than it did to shove HB2 down NC’s throat. He concludes the statement with this rough-edged pearl that the right wing evangelicals will love:
“I strongly encourage all public and private institutions to both respect and allow our nation’s judicial system to proceed without economic threats or political retaliation toward the 22 states that are currently challenging government overreach. Sadly, the NCAA, a multi-billion dollar, tax-exempt monopoly, failed to show this respect at the expense of our student athletes and hard-working men and women.”
Speaking of overreach… McCrory is telling businesses how they need to approach HB2.
It’s really time to repeal this all-too costly bill!
Bigotry and discrimination come with a cost. The November 8 election will determine if the majority of citizens of North Carolina are willing to pay the cost of continuing to discriminate against minority groups–or not.
When you find yourself in a deep hole, you can argue that you have every right to be stuck at the bottom of a deep hole or you can stop digging. The governor has argued that his cause, at the bottom of the hole, is righteous and he continues to dig. We should question his sanity at this point.
The latest news that North Carolina will lose March Madness is one more embarrassment in a long string of losses suffered by the state. UNC and Duke are usually expected to do well in the NCAA tournament. Wake Forest and State have had their moments over the years. North Carolina is basketball country and the place where some of the world’s greatest athletes begin their careers. The ACC set a record in 2016 by putting six teams in the Sweet 16, and four in the Elite Eight, a record. Our governor, in the meantime, is stuck in the toilet.
McCrory’s argument, now a campaign ad, is not persuasive. It has been rejected by every major business in the Fortune 500, every sports organization including the NBA and the NCAA and every court to hear it. At some point, you have to know when you are losing and find a different approach.
During Pat McCrory’s tenure of 14 years as Mayor of Charlotte, how many times did he mingle with the ‘NBA “sports and entertainment elites”’ at Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats games? Did the Charlotte City Council mandate that he attend those basketball games, or has he recently had an epiphany, has confessed his sins and has realized how wrong he was? McCrory should step forward and ask forgiveness from the citizens of North Carolina for his past sins!