The time to waste and wait

by | Oct 14, 2016 | Editor's Blog, North Carolina | 20 comments

By now, the top-of-the-ticket campaigns have solidified. The voters have enough information that there are very few undecided people out there. The ones who are still questioning will either stay home or make decisions based on something besides ads.

The governor’s race is a referendum on Pat McCrory and the state of the state. Roy Cooper and his allies have made the race about House Bill 2 and the impact on North Carolina. For many voters, the loss of the NCAA and ACC was the last straw in a government that has embarrassed the state nationally and taken the state down a socially conservative road that it’s avoided since the Civil Rights Movement.

McCrory and his supporters point to a Carolina Comeback that has eluded too many families. While the economy is definitely on the rebound, the recovery has not been nearly as spectacular or widespread as McCrory promised. According to most polls, voters seem to agree with Cooper’s assessment more than McCrory’s. The governor will probably need more than ads to change the direction of the race.

In the US Senate contest, Deborah Ross has made a case that Senator Richard Burr has been part of a dysfunctional and semi-corrupt Washington establishment. The argument has resonated enough to keep the race essentially tied for a month. Burr, for his part, is hammering Ross about the sex offender registry. He claims she opposed it and implies that she’s coddling sex offenders. She says she voted to support it and that Burr is taking out of context her reservations about parts of it. So far, Burr’s argument has not had the negative effects that Burr’s allies hoped for since Ross is still standing. The hit may be over the top. It’s not really credible to claim that a woman with an otherwise strong record would support sex offenders.

The driver of the race, though, will be the presidential contest. Donald Trump has made the race about him and all his brutish bravado. Pat McCrory and Richard Burr are sticking with their man. Both defended supporting Trump in debates this week. They’re in a precarious situation. Polls show Trump tanking with women voters across the board. They also show that Trump supporters are punishing Republicans who abandon the GOP nominee. Burr and McCrory have determined that they need their base more than the need the women who make up the majority of swing voters. Given the information coming out about Trump, it’s a risky bet.

While down-ballot races are just starting their campaigns, voters have generally made their decisions about top-of-the-ticket races. The ads we’ll see for next three weeks will have little impact on voters’ attitudes toward the candidates. They are largely a waste of money that’s the result of an arms race. While neither side will move big numbers with TV at this point, neither is willing to shift resources away from the most powerful advertising medium.

From this point on, turnout is the most important factor in the campaign.

20 Comments

  1. Ebrun

    Another sanctimonious lecture, D.g? Sorry, I am fed up with your sophistry. Didn’t bother to read past your third sentence.

  2. Ebrun

    D,g, seems you just can’t resist the demagoguery. Yank you chair, even tongue-in-cheek, and you take the bait faster than one of Pavlov’s dogs with another long, supercilious harangue filled with personal insults and political invective.

    And then you try to portray yourself as a paragon of virtue. But your intolerant hate speech suggests a more pernicious persona.

  3. Ebrun

    Troy, I doubt you can find any post by me that moralizes against liberals by citing God, religion or biblical quotations. As an atheist, that’s not my bailiwick.

    Just above you spent two or more long paragraphs doing just that, not just about Trump, but Republicans in general.

    And I challenge you to cite any post where I have promoted Trump’s candidacy. He is not and was not “my candidate.” That being said, he is, from my perspective, a better choice than Hillary Clinton.

    • Troy

      And Republicans are infamous for using the same three standards of morality you cited for justifying the means to their ends. Your judgments and feelings of moral superiority come as inferences in your writings.

      No, you haven’t ‘endorsed’ Donald Trump as “your candidate.” You’ve likewise not rejected him either. So by either commission or omission. You’ve made your political views known here time and again. If you want to try and stand on the technical point of not having endorsed Donald Trump, be my guest. Try to convince anyone here you’re not going to vote for him. Throw in a few simple statistics to back up that claim too.

      • Ebrun

        Oh, I am going to vote for him, Troy. I have never denied that. He’s no doubt a very flawed candidate, but so is Hillary. Sometimes we have to choose the least worse of two or more bad options.

        And I believe you are the one on this thread who raised raised the issue of “moral superiority.” My initial comment here dealt with economic trends, not moral issues.

        • Troy

          And my writings with regard to those who feel themselves to be morally superior by writing legislation on the basis of puritanical more and biblical teaching all the while rigging the game to suit themselves and squeeze the poor just a little bit more had nothing to do with you, now did they? Odd that you picked that particular paragraph upon which to launch your rebuttal; being a professed atheist.

          Do you really not understand the irony and hypocrisy expressed in that paragraph and in those views?

  4. Ebrun

    Yeah, right D.g. We teenagers today get no moral foundation from our liberal educators, politicians and the left wing media. It all depends on the ends, which justify the means.

  5. Ebrun

    Wow, you guys sure are prolific spinners! A lot of typing and 30 paragraphs in response to a few simple economic statistics put forth in six sentences. To you really think anyone even attempts to follow all that partisan BS?

    Demonization of your political opponents may make you feel good, but does little to enhance your intellectual credibility.

    • Troy

      I will refer you back to my quote of an economics professor I had with regard to your “…few simple statistics.” Is that short and concise enough?

      • Ebrun

        Wow, does this mean you now reject the demonization of those who disagree with your political views? Given your propensity to moralize, I remain somewhat skeptical.

        • Troy

          I dunno; it was your candidate that bragged about grabbing women in by their private parts. Is that the demonic aspect, pointing it out?

          You have had no problem brandishing those same attributes of disagreement yourself; so let’s not be less demonic than thou.

      • Ebrun

        “We the people are supposed to take whatever is offered and be glad you’re getting that.”

        If that’s your outlook, Toy, then of course you won’t get much. In a democratic society with a market economy, those who wait to see what’s offered to them will be the losers. Those who prosper are those who don’t wait for the government to offer them prosperity or even economic security, but take the initiative to earn what they need to survive and prosper.

        I know that’s a hard concept for collectivists to accept or even understand, but it’s still the fundamental principle for success in our society.

        >

        • Troy

          I wasn’t referring to waiting for the government to offer anything Eb. When you go to work, you’re offered a compensation package. You have a simple choice. Accept or reject it. When you’re hungry or there is a glut in the market, you’re going to get low-balled. So yes that is the expectation of business. Pay as little as possible or what the market will bear. Not what the job is worth or how qualified the person is. Just the absolute lowest amount the person is willing to work for.

          So in that regard, how much initiative can one exert to earn what they need to survive?
          “The job pays ‘x’; take it or leave it. Someone else will come along that will take it if you don’t.” Do you continue to starve on the basis of principle? Or do you take what is offered and be glad you got that. Most will take it and continue to be beaten down by Republican doctrine and rule making along with Business sector acumen for taking advantage of someone else’s misery.

          I know that it is simply unconscionable for someone who works for someone else to expect to be able to negotiate their pay and benefits with the employer and dare I say, enter into a contract with them. To have a property right interest in their employment since that is the means to their livelihood and subsistence. But they should.

  6. Troy

    Here we go…

    • Troy

      Well Dis, I’ve thought about it. I’ve went head to head with him several times. But what I find uncanny is that he accuses us of the very things that he too does. We’re accused of being partisan to anything that is pro-democrat and anti-republican. We’re lambasted for ‘spinning facts’. We’re accused of being anti this and that.

      But at the same time, Republicans are the best spin doctors of all time. For example, Republicans still embrace the Reaganesque notion of “trickle-down” economics. We know it doesn’t work, but using that same theory in a different context, shouldn’t Republicans be applauding the President? It is, after all, his office that is the starting point for the trickle. If North Carolina has truly experienced a “Carolina Comeback” acknowledging that the economy has improved since the crash of 2008, and the State is in such great fiscal shape because Republicans “…cut up the charge card…” then why did State employees only receive a 1.5% raise? Why is pay continuously doled out as “bonuses” that doesn’t count toward the employee’s retirement?

      Advocating for the devil for a moment, if the latest attack ad on Roy Cooper is true; that he is working for Hillary Clinton and not the people of North Carolina, conversely then, who is Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, and Tim Moore working for? Duke Energy? Charles and David Koch? What thing is it they have done, what piece of legislation have they drafted and passed, during regular sessions or special sessions, that have benefited some of those “poor people” that Governor McCrory keeps referencing in his waterside chats in the flooded areas? But I digress.

      An economics professor I had once said, “There are three kinds of people in the world; liars, damn liars, and statisticians.” Republicans find it necessary to quantify everything with a number. There has to be numerical significance to anything government does or it shouldn’t be done. So they go out of their way to ‘prove’ things. They’re proving what most people know by simply looking at it. So they waste inordinate amounts of resources proving or disproving things that neither need to be proved or disproved.

      The fallacy of statistics is, they’re recited to those that don’t understand what it is they’re hearing. They don’t know what questions to ask to clarify their understanding and when they do ask questions, an angled answer is provided and the one that used the statistic heads off on another tangent to further confuse and befuddle. And it’s not just the Republican party or the Democrat party; the media does it with routine recklessness every broadcast.

      But the sobering thing that marks the difference between Eb and us is this. If a Democrat messes up, someone on here calls them on it. I think we’ve all pointed out bad policy and bad decisions be it Beverly Perdue, Mike Easley, or the President at varying times on different issues. But not Eb. No matter how bad a Republican is or behaves, they’re still a Republican, and they’re always right. I have yet to read him write anything bad or derogatory concerning anyone in the Republican party about what they have said, done, or proposed.

      Those of us that post here are, collectively I believe, trying to be fair even if that means disagreeing with our own party and politicians. Eb wants only to be a Republican; they are always right and everyone else is always wrong.

      • Troy

        I know what you’re talking about. I went the first day and the wait was over two hours. I decided it would be best to go back when the rush is over.

        They don’t ask questions because they either; a) don’t have an answer; or b) don’t care about what you have to ask about. Have noticed that more and more of our elections become more about personality and completely avoids substance and ability? I have. I know you’ve seen and watched how politicians only run to the public when they want a vote. And then don’t know who the voter is post-election. Government isn’t supposed to be about serving yourself when you’re a part of it.

        I had the opportunity of watching a Republican booth set up in a local venue recently. I watched the people come and go. Few had stickers or buttons. I saw only one campaign sign leave. Few of the people walking up to the booth however struck me as the atypical Republican. How do you judge that simply by a look? Well, think of a used car salesman or look at Donald Trump. I categorize that as ‘trick’ or ‘slick’. Broad yes, but generally accurate up to the 98th percentile. Have you noticed too that the mantra of “Get a job” has grown into “get a better job?” Living wage? What’s that? We the people are supposed to take whatever is offered and be glad you’re getting that.

        The only thing that I agree with conservatives about is protection of the Bill of Rights. The difference is, I support all of them. Why? Because if you succeed in eroding one right, that opens the door for others. Case in point; Richard Burr’s campaign has fielded an ad attacking Deborah Ross for supporting flag burning. Yes, we know that is protected speech under the first amendment, but how many out there don’t? And as we have recently seen, if Democrats prevail in this election, we know we won’t hold power forever. What is to keep Republicans from successfully making it a crime to burn a flag when they get power back? Or doing something worse?

        Privatization. I don’t agree with it. But investors want to get their hands on all the Social Security revenues. Government serves to do things in which there is no profit motive like emergency services, roads, water and sewer infrastructure; things that make our lives better. Government provides insular services to help during economic downturns and people that may have a run of bad luck. Friends of politicians want their piece of the public dollar. They don’t want better pay or benefits for public service workers. They don’t want public service workers. They want those guys and girls working for them making minimum wage with no benefits and no insurance. The owners are going to reap all the benefits, take none of the risks, do none of the work.

        Yes, the United States has gone to hell because prayer was removed from schools. Those one to two minutes have destroyed the social fabric of the nation. Families breaking up, mommy and daddy not being able to find a job to provide for the family, not going to church themselves, predatory priests, and the DSS stopping discipline in the schools. None of those things had any effect on the social fabric. No, it was removal of prayer from schools. But Christians per se aren’t the problem. It’s those that seek to politicize Christianity, those are the villains. They thump their version of the bible since, yes, the alleged word of God comes in versions, and they want us to believe them that the writing is literal. Well if it is literal, let me offer a quote that is found in all four gospels of the New Testament. Republicans sit up and take notice; “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

        Given that passage, Republicans as the party of God should be giving their money away. Trying to help people rise up and be whole. I guess the party of God isn’t really; except when it comes to getting a vote.

  7. Ebrun

    Businesses are being driven out of the state? Not quite. Business expansion in NC has outpaced the national averages since 2013. State tax revenue collections are beating estimates due to increased business activity.

    Since the fourth quarter of 2013, NC has enjoyed per capita income growth at rates equal to or exceeding the U.S rate, according to the Director of he UNC Center for Competitive Economies.

    Approximately 300,000 new jobs have been announced for the state since 2013, and increases in personal income and median family income have bettered the national averages. according to data from he U.S. Census Bureau and he U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

    Unemployment has fallen from well over 9 percent in 2012 to below the national average in 2016.

    Increasing personal and family incomes has resulted in the poverty rate in NC falling twice as fast as the national rate since 2012.

    Despite the misleading political spin from the Governor’s political opponents on this blog and elsewhere, the economic data tell a far different story.

  8. Jay Ligon

    preserve

  9. Jay Ligon

    At the top of the ticket, Americans are fighting for the soul of the nation. A perverse con man with an appetite for young flesh is colluding with enemies of the country to undermine an unpopular upstart woman. The devil has offered the Right a bargain: you can keep a conservative supreme court in exchange for your cooperation in reestablishing an American apartheid, enhancing the possibility of global thermonuclear holocaust and acquiescence to an American authoritarian autocrat who knows next to nothing about governing. His policies will lower your taxes, but will put the economy is serious jeopardy. Trump’s legal problems with follow him into the White House. His fraudulent “university,” his tax problems, his fraudulent use of charitable funds and his string of victims of sexual abuse will continue to be with him for years to come. How do we allow that kind of man to stand with world leaders representing us? What ignorant, embarrassing thing will he utter on the world stage?

    Trump’s defenders are morally and ethically compromised, and they are driven by a blind hatred of a decades-old mythology which describes their own demons, not reality or the candidate they despise.

    In North Carolina, our Republican government is driving business out of the state. The state’s reputation is taking a drubbing. North Carolina thrives when outsiders look at our Research Triangle, our fine universities, and development our 21st Century technology. The richest man in North Carolina sells sophisticated statistical packages to the world. The new library at N.C. State was designed by the same architectural firm that designed the new library at Alexandria, Egypt. Even our Mayberry past is beloved.

    Then the state elected a nasty right-wing legislature and a spineless, intellectually-challenged, ribbon-cutting governor who signed onto a string of laws which betrayed our trust.

    Our problems have been writ large on the national stage. Our reputation as an enlightened Southern state has been tarnished. The Republicans must go, if only to preserved our reputation and economy.

  10. Daniel

    I’m a registered republican, soon to be unaffiliated, who is fed up with the backstabbing politics. Pat McCrory lost my vote after HB2. After that, taking money we needed for DISASTER RELIEF and applying it towards said, unnecessary, HB2 bill. There are STILL cities and townships in NC who need that money more than ever. Yet, McCrory, is acting like the good guy. Are you MF kidding me?!
    As far as Deborah Ross and Richard Burr, I’m still doing my research.

    Lets just say McCrory has done enough and not for the better. Another point to make is while the whole HB2 bill outrage was going on, Duke/Progress Energy; which McCrory worked for 20 or more years, was dumping coal in our rivers and lakes? This cannot be tolerated anymore. Bev Perdue was a complete failure/moron, who probably should’ve been investigated whether she stepped down or not. We were better off with Mike Easley.

    NC can do better for itself.
    Having said that America can do better than Hillary and Trump.

Related Posts

GET UPDATES

Get the latest posts from PoliticsNC delivered right to your inbox!

You have Successfully Subscribed!