Well, this one’s kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it?
Thom Tillis is the winner of this week’s “Worst Week in NC Politics” award. Tillis earned this dubious honor by making several remarks which made headlines in the New York Times and the Washington Post, and landed a segment on the Daily Show, earning his fair share of ridicule in the process. For most people, who don’t pay attention to politics much, it’s their first introduction to North Carolina’s junior senator.
The comments in question … well, everyone who reads this blog already knows the context. Tillis was trying to illustrate the needlessness of many governmental regulations, even those thought to be most essential, and used the hand-washing of restaurant employees as an example. Tillis offered that maybe government shouldn’t interfere with sanitation protocols of those working in the food industry by requiring all employees wash their hands. Instead, the free market would easily sort that out and probably shut that whole thing down, just so long as signs are posted warning patrons that employees were not mandated to wash their hands – which, as many have pointed out, is a regulation in itself. Or, to borrow from the Daily Show: “Employees must wash hands” becomes “Employees didn’t wash hands.”
The media quickly lapped up the comments like a thirsty dog; it was yet another opportunity to lampoon a politician, and the fact that it was a Republican quickly propelled it into the national conversation, at least for a few days. The media not being inclined to nuance, by the time they were done with him, most observers had the impression that Tillis wanted to require restaurants to force-feed unvaccinated children food contaminated with human feces and urine.
It was not a good week for Tillis, but it was perhaps an even worse one for libertarians of the Ayn Rand variety, whose propositions seldom become part of the national discussion. This week, though, saw a nation unusually focused on public health, and those who seemed opposed to modern health practices came out the worse for it. As a side note, while most of those being derided by the media were Republicans, interestingly, it is in liberal enclaves like Marin County in California that post the lowest rates of vaccination. I predict now that vaccine denialism has somehow become associated with conservatives suspicious of big government, the rates in these areas will rise substantially. And the state with the highest rate of vaccinated children? Mississippi – for the first time maybe ever, a leader in public health.
But I digress – the bottom line is that Tillis will have to be more careful in the future when speaking off-the-cuff, but who could have foreseen such a reaction? The real danger is that this incident will come to define Tillis, making him known as the “not-washing-hands Senator”. Dan Quayle never got over the silly potato thing, maybe we’ll still be hearing about this years from now.
The saving grace for Tillis is that with the advent of the 24-hour news cycle, the Internet, and social media, the world seems to have developed a severe case of ADD, such that incidents like these fail to stick with us for longer than a few days. With “Thom Tillis” trending on Twitter, the initial coverage is more intense, but the memory is less pronounced. The Steve Scalise thing was a little over a month ago yet no one is talking about it now. In a couple weeks, it might be “Thom who?” which the senator should prefer, and this blog will go back to its usual routine of not bashing Tillis.
This week, though, our junior senator’s turn as GOP whipping boy #1. Thom Tillis, for making remarks that by the end of the day made people not want to shake your hand, you’re our winner of this week’s “Worst Week in NC Politics” award. Congrats, or something. By the way, I don’t understand the not wanting to shake Tillis’s hand thing. I could understand maybe if people are wary about dining with him at his choice of restaurant, but that’s a reflection on the sanitation habits of the restaurant employees and not on the senator’s personal hygiene. Unless he’s working in the restaurant as a short-order cook, a job Tillis once held and which as wags observed was touted in his campaign ads, and there’s a sign indicating employees are not required to wash their hands. That I can understand.
Check out the past winners of this prestigious award here:
January 30, 2015 – Julia Howard
January 9, 2015 – NC House Democrats
Do you know an NC political figure who had a bad week? Feel free to nominate someone by sending us an e-mail or by writing in the comments section and explain why you think they’re worthy of the prize.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
Thom Tillis has proved that he is NASTY in more ways than one,and there is noting tasteful or honorable about his political will or skills. I did not get who I voted for so I am forced to digest a lot of crap for the next six years that sickens.
I personally think that the people of N C got what they wanted and then found out they were sold a bad seed. Lest we forget who is the Gov. that said he wasn’t going to touch abortion in a debate and what was the first thing he done????????????????????
James, that seed kept sprouting hinting at what it was going to grow into if planted. You’d have to be blind and live so far back in a cave that you could qualify as a new species to not know what Thom was going to perpetrate if elected. The good people had a year of good ‘ol Pat, good ‘ol Phil, and good ol’ Thom to know what the harvest was going to yield. Well, he was and now, we shall all reap what has been sewn.
Except, the people that funded him, promoted him, and portrayed him as palatable, well they won’t reap anything; they own the plantation.
True! Those plantation owners do not live and pay taxes in NC; regardless, the need to suffer with us.
Oh, come now, he proved himself an idiot during the debates when he kept repeating the same sentences verbatim over and over again regardless of the questions asked him.
Yes, but this time he opened up his mouth on a national stage and proved it to the world, rather than just to North Carolina.
And a majority of those who voted this past November sent him to the United States Senate knowing fully well what he was (or was not) capable of, quantifying his beliefs in his mind. So the monster is now loose and free to roam terrifying the village and the entire nation for the next six years.
No. The majority who voted in November did not vote for Tillis. Only a plurality.
Plurality defined: “the number of votes cast for a candidate who receives more than any other but does not receive an absolute majority.”
I’m defining it not to insult you but because I did consider using that word rather than “majority” in my post. But based on the definition, it would have been a misuse.
Thom Tillis REP 1,423,259 48.82 %
Kay Hagan DEM 1,377,651 47.26 %
Sean Haugh LIB 109,100 3.74 %
Looking at the totals again and with due consideration, Plurality would have worked. I shouldn’t have been quite so quick on the draw.
“better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Can you say, Not Ready For Prime Time??
I surely hope no one ever forgets what he said.
The problem for Tillis is that he doesn’t know how “to be more careful….. when speaking off-the-cuff.” He demonstrated that by addressing who are the “traditional North Carolinians” during the campaign (why would he even try to do that?), and by incorrectly stating the subcommittee Hagan served on (and missed meetings of), too, during a debate.
I’ll offer kudos to you, John, for giving the award to the very best candidate. But I’l also say “shame on you” for being such an apologist for Tillis as you “honor” him. As in:
– saying “yet another opportunity to lampoon a politician, and the fact that it was a Republican quickly propelled it into the national conversation”…
– softening the deserved blows to Tillis by digressing to the vaccination issue so you can take a swipe at “liberal enclaves like Marin County in California that post the lowest rates of vaccination”…”
– saying “but who could have foreseen such a reaction?” (even though you yourself offer solid familiarity with the media (i.e., “The media not being inclined to nuance,” and “with the advent of the 24-hour news cycle ……..the initial coverage is more intense…”)
– offering the lament “I don’t understand the not wanting to shake Tillis’s hand thing….”
6 more years…. *shakes head*
Not meaning to lap at Thom’s blunder like the liberal media, it nevertheless seems to me that Wynne’s logic, if applied to the operating theatre, would hold that when patients died when surgeons resisted hand-washing protocols, the free market would take care of it, as the patient-killing surgeon would inevitably lose patients.
‘The real danger is that this incident will come to define Tillis, making him known as the “not-washing-hands Senator”’
Nah…he’ll be “Poopyhands” Tillis.