WataugaWatch

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, making his exit today from 14 years of incumbency, shreds the Eleventh Commandment for Republicans, which is to say, he speaks ill of some fellow GOPers.

As in ... Sarah Palin is an obvious bobblehead and the national Republican Party has begun to feel like acid reflux. Not in those exact words, but still.

When and if he decides to reenter politics, the right-wing of his party (which is to say, his party) is going to make him eat those words.

Labels: Pat McCrory, Republican "brand", Sarah Palin

Reading about Forsyth County's long lines for early voting, one realizes how really fortunate we in Watauga are with our local Board of Elections.

Since the beginning of early voting on Oct. 16, Forsyth, one of the largest counties in the state, has maintained only four early voting sites, two of them in the 12th Congressional Dist. and two in the 5th. Forsyth County accounts for some 38% of all the votes in the 5th District, and they provide only two early voting sites?!

Forsyth currently has the longest lines in the state and the fewest polling sites per capita.

The Forsyth Elections Board seems quite surly about it, too. They'll open more sites next week, they say, so in the meantime, wait in line over two hours or come back another day.

Members of boards of elections are appointed by the local political parties, two by the Democratic Party and one by the Republican (because the governor is Democratic. Don't yell at me ... that's the way the NC law is written). Wouldn't surprise us in the least if early next year, and if Bev Perdue wins the governor's race, there'll be some fresh blood on the Forsyth Board of Elections. If Pat McCrory wins, there'll certainly be fresh blood, and early voting will become even more problematic. As it will in Watauga too.

Labels: Beverly Perdue, Forsyth County Board of Elections, Pat McCrory, Watauga County Board of Elections

Mike Munger (gotta love that pic!) is the Libertarian running for N.C. governor, but he isn't invited to participate in the debates between Bev Perdue and Whatisname. In the most recent of those debates Tuesday night, Whatisname chanted the orthodox Republican mantra of "drill, baby, drill!" and the Democrat acted like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, which is what Democrats are doing these days when off-shore drilling comes up (which it does approximately on the hour).

Mike Munger, excluded (we repeat) from the debate, e-mailed his critique of this charade:

The offshore oil drilling "issue" is a gimmick. There will no effect, zero, on prices in N.C. The governor of N.C. needs to work to make sure that HIGH prices have the economic benefit of encouraging the development of alternative energy sources.

Gosh. A man running for office who dares to tell the truth.

Labels: Beverly Perdue, Mike Munger, oil industry, Pat McCrory

What would we do for comedy without an e-mail from Madam Foxx?

This a.m. our comedienne in Mugstomp-on-the-Potomac scolds us that we’ve GOT to reduce our dependence on oil, and she has the sure-fire solution: GET MORE DEPENDENT ON OIL, by letting those humanitarians in Big Oil drill off all our coasts (and behind the sofa, if need be), and soon alternative energies will magically appear, but not until Big Oil sells our natural resources back to us at inflated prices and leverages all the patents to alternative energy solutions so they can sell that to us too.

It’s not enough, those undrilled 68 million acres of federal land that Big Oil already holds drilling rights to. Corporate America has a bigger appetite. And our best interests in the deepest recesses of their microscopic hearts.

Thank gawd Madam Foxx has volunteered to fight for the beast.

FOOTNOTE
Dan Besse has written an excellent letter to the editor (as found on BlueNC):

To the editor:

Pat McCrory has just called millions of North Carolinians "hypocrites."

According to the Raleigh News & Observer (6/30/08), McCrory said that anyone who drives daily and opposes drilling [off North Carolina's coast] is "hypocritical."

In McCrory's view, it doesn't matter whether you drive an efficient car or even a hybrid vehicle. He doesn't care whether you cut back on driving by taking the bus or a bike or a carpool where possible. To him, it makes no difference whether you already use ethanol or biodiesel in your vehicle, or actively support development of biofuels so that you can. It doesn't matter that you don't control where the oil companies drill for oil or from whom they buy it.

If you aren't willing to jeopardize our coast and our fisheries and tourism industries in order to increase Big Oil's profits, then McCrory says you're a hypocrite.

Pat McCrory owes an immediate apology to the people of North Carolina.

Labels: Dan Besse, oil industry, Pat McCrory, Virginia Foxx

Looking for a fix, Republican candidate for NC guv Pat McCrory now says he's in favor of punching holes in the sea floor off the North Carolina coast. Gonna git that awl. Which'll make it possible to keep running all these SUVs up and down the road. Sez he'll issue an "executive order" once he's guv. Since he'll be god and all.

NC-11 Congressman Heath Shuler labels this oily pandering as a "lack of maturity" in his fellow House Republicans.

Shuler said oil and gas companies already hold leases on nearly 68 million acres of federal land that could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. That would nearly double total U.S. oil production and would increase natural gas production by 75 percent, he said.

Instead of insisting that Big Oil drill the leases they already hold, Republican politicians posture for the cameras and tout the "easy fix" of drilling off our coasts and in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Like Madam Foxx. And pathetic Liddy Dole.

And now Pat McCrory.

Labels: Elizabeth Dole, Heath Shuler, oil industry, Pat McCrory, Virginia Foxx

Saturday’s opening head-to-head debate between incumbent Sen. Liddy Dole and challenger Kay Hagan during the NC Bar Association's annual meeting at Atlantic Beach produced this welcome description of Hagan, from the indispensible Laura Leslie: "Hagan ... came across as down-to-earth, confident, smart, and most of all scrappy, which she'll need to be to pull this off. She came out swinging and never let up."

We like scrappy.

Dole, on the other hand, in "TV makeup," was "distinctly grande-dame -- dignified, confident, witty, and impeccably prepared."

Leslie scored it a draw.

Gov. candidate Bev Perdue didn't do as well in her debate with Pat McCrory, with the crowd of lawyers seeming to favor McCrory (though some apparently thought McCrory was a bit shallow on detail).

Labels: Beverly Perdue, Elizabeth Dole, Kay Hagan, Laura Leslie, Pat McCrory

GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory welcomes El Presidente to Raleigh today, but he doesn't want anyone to know Bush is here -- except fat-cat contributors to his campaign. "Big name ... small profile," the N&O observes.

"Not designed to draw attention." But putting a sack over the president's head and rushing him in the servants' entrance will inevitably draw some attention.

Labels: George W. Bush, Pat McCrory

El Presidente is coming to N.C. July 20th to do a "high-dollar fundraiser" for Republican Guv candidate Pat McCrory, but lest anyone actually see McCrory with the wildly unpopular president, the fundraiser is being held at the private home of a real estate mogul. Birds of a feather.

McCrory has already received one rebuke from a Charlotte conservative blogger for this bit of scheduling. Can the Perdue campaign be far behind?

Labels: George W. Bush, Pat McCrory

1. Poor Pat McCrory. The Republican candidate for NC Gov. criticized Democratic candidate Beverly Perdue for an opinion she doesn't have. In fact, Perdue agrees with McCrory on state policies regarding illegal immigrants admitted to community colleges.

2. Poor Gov. Easley. He's submitted his budget to the short session of the legislature, and because it calls for increased "sin taxes" on beer and cigarettes, the N&O judges it dead-on-arrival.

3. Poor little Patty McHenry. The 10th Dist. congressman attacks Democratic candidate and decorated war hero Daniel Johnson as a Nancy Pelosi recruit and a (gack!) liberal. Dear Patrick, you're going to have to do better than that, like, starting with something that's factually accurate.

Labels: Beverly Perdue, Daniel Johnson, Mike Easley, Pat McCrory, Patrick McHenry

Say it once and don't say it again: it was a very big night for the Barack Obama campaign, a disastrous night for Hillary. And can we put aside the supposed black/white gulf, when lily-white Watauga County went for Obama by a greater percentage than the rest of the state? This despite the stumping of Bubba through our neck of the woods. Buncombe County, which hosted visits by all three Clintons, went for Obama by over 54%. So much for the "Clinton magic" in western North Carolina (and in rural America generally).

Other Big Winners
Walter Dalton, who won outright in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination for Lt. Gov. Just about everyone was predicting a run-off.

Pat McCrory, who won outright in the Republican primary for NC Gov. Beverly Perdue has now a far tougher row to hoe.

The 40+ NC mayors, including Boone's own Loretta Clawson, who endorsed Barack Obama.

Losers
Republican Appeals Court Judge John Tyson, who was knocked out in this primary by two Democratic candidates, who will now have to face each other in November: Kristin Ruth and the grandson of Sen. Sam Ervin.

Poor Fred Smith, whom we were rooting for, who proved (once again?) that free barbecue can't compete with expensive political consultants.

Congressman Patrick McHenry, who though he beat back the challenge from fellow Republican Lance Sigmon, appears to be damaged goods and must now face a gen-you-wine military hero in Democrat Daniel Johnson come November. Sigmon said prior to yesterday that he would never endorse McHenry.

Jerry Butler. What's the deal with Jerry Butler? Why did his home county of Watauga not vote for him in his win in the Republican primary for the NC-45 state senate race? Inquiring minds want to know what the home-town Republican voters were thinking.

Big Losers
Linda Daves and the North Carolina GOP. Their big negative ad against Obama -- the "eeek, a scary black man" TV spot -- did not work in a state where it might predictably have had some effect. Not only have the state Republicans looked craven and desperate to a national audience; they've also effectively slammed the door on reaching out to under-30 voters, who (1) can't countenance the theatrical incompetence of the Bush administration and (2) have apparently grown more mature than their tiresomely racist elders in the South.

Labels: Barack Obama, Beverly Perdue, Daniel Johnson, Fred Smith, Hillary Clinton, John Tyson, Kristin Ruth, Lance Sigmon, Loretta Clawson, Pat McCrory, Patrick McHenry, Sam Ervin IV, Walter Dalton