Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Our illustrious Governor does not come out looking good in this piece in today's New Your Times.

RALEIGH, N.C. — As legislators returned to town last week, 10 months after a tumultuous 2013 session when Republicans passed one deeply conservative bill after another, one Republican seemed a bit like the odd man out.

That would be Gov. Pat McCrory, who ran for office in 2012 as a moderate bridge builder and then found himself the face of a party whose restrictions on abortion, voting access, and benefits for the poor and unemployed played out in the most polarizing legislative session in memory in what had been a relatively moderate Southern state.

. . .

Stopping at a paint store in the North Hills section of the capital, Charles Snyder, 72, who owns a construction company, called himself “a lifelong registered Republican” but said he was unhappy with the state’s conservative direction.

He lamented that the governor did not have more control over lawmakers. “If he agrees with them, he’s fine,” he said. “If he disagrees, he’s emasculated.” 

The only quibble I have with the article is that they give McCrory too much credit for being a moderate who's just getting steamrolled by a nutball conservative General Assembly he has no control over. I'm sorry, but anyone who appoints Art Pope to be their Deputy Budget Director (in charge of writing the budget), doesn't get to be called a moderate.

I don't care what's in McCrory's heart. I care about the policies his administration enacts. Art Pope funded both McCrory's campaign and the GOP's campaign to take over the NC Legislature. It's all of a piece. And if McCrory suffers for blowing in the wind with whoever funds him, too bad so sad. Good riddance to bad rubbish.