There’s a crack in the Republican wall over HB2. State Rep. Tamara Barringer is the first GOP legislator to call for its repeal. Barringer voted for the bill but is now in a tough re-election fight with Susan Evans. She’s also running in the type of suburban district where voters have less tolerance for the social conservatism that the NC GOP has embraced. They’re also the type of voters who might stay home instead of vote for Donald Trump.
Pat McCrory and the GOP seem to have latched onto HB2 as a means to energize their base. In defending HB2, they’ve embraced the language of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, bashing the press as the liberal media and casting themselves as fighting a culture war. In doing so, they are alienating voters in the fastest growing parts of the state.
It’s hard to know if McCrory is getting bad political advice or if he’s just unwittingly let himself become the face of HB2 and the discrimination it represents. While elections have become increasingly polarized and driving out the base is necessary to win in closely divided states like North Carolina, there’s still a moderate core of voters who are less partisan, less ideological, and need to be persuaded. Most of them live in districts like Barringer’s.
McCrory and the GOP blame the press for driving the issue and misrepresenting it. They want it to be about bathrooms and safety. Unfortunately for them, it’s not and everybody knows it. It’s part of a pattern of legislative overreach that discriminates against minorities and offends a growing segment of the population as well as corporate America.
The NCAA spelled out why HB2 is different than bills in other states. HB2 has broad reach to discriminate against gays and lesbians. In particular, it prevents local governments from enacting anti-discrimination ordinances that protect the LGBT community. That also doesn’t sit well with younger suburban voters in districts like Barringer’s.
Similarly, Republicans claim their voter suppression bill is about voter ID. It’s not. It’s about discrimination. The bill was carefully designed to enact measures that disproportionally affect African-American voters. Again, bills like this don’t sit well with those younger suburban voters.
Pat McCrory and the GOP like to blame the press for their ills but they’ve brought the problems down on themselves. They’ve lost credibility with reporters because their attempts at spin come off as dishonest. Nobody believes that HB2 is just about bathrooms. And we now know for a fact that the voter suppression bill wasn’t about voter fraud.
McCrory and the North Carolina GOP have lost credibility with the press and corporate America. They’ve made arguments that are patently untrue and hurt segments of the population. They may motivate their base, but they’re alienating the swing voters who decide elections. They may turn districts like Barringer’s blue.
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 >
Democrats have yet to learn the art of grabbing and holding attention. Trump is ahead, and McCrory and do nothing Burr could win reelection because the Republican Party has perfected the art of rabble rousing. Instead of focusing in real issues, like the impact of having a president with numerous business connections that are in direct conflict with the interests of America, or the economic damage of having a legislature that would rather jam the state up in court at every turn while the tax payer pays the bill, they get the rabble aroused about bathrooms, thoroughly debunked scandals and religion. What amazes me is how well indoctrinated Republicans are. It must be the 20 + year drip, drip of hysterical hate filled rhetoric spewed by cynical radio talk shows. That’s the only way I can explain how working Americans can continue to vote against their own interests. Otherwise, I would have to assume they are just plain stupid.
Well said. In the case of Trump, he is a master of the illusion.
Since we’re talking statistics and data, allow me to add these.
The living wage was made public today for NC. For 2 adults and two children, the poverty wage is $11.00. The living wage is $23.36. That poverty wage is the second worst in the nation, which makes us 49th worst, according to the news outlets and a quick perview of the MIT post. And yet…people still support McCrory and his policies; people will vote for Trump. Both are against raising the minimum wage, both are against people being paid for the job they are doing.
And yet, our ‘leaders’ keep attention focused on what bathroom a child is going to use and some e-mails that were sent and received so long ago, you can probably find most of the content on Wikipedia.
Minimum wage means nothing in the greater scheme of things. Bluntly raising the minimum wage will actually hurt the very people it is supposed to help. We could argue the merits of my view – and yours – all day but never agree I’m sure. But lets just say if you are working a minimum wage job for more than a year, and you want to know what the problem is just look in the mirror.
How many of us once made minimum wage? Virtually all of us. How many still do? Virtually none of us. I had to take a minimum wage job back during the Carter recession when I graduated from engineering school. That’s all I could find. Within a year I was on salary somewhere else and within 10 years a vice-president.
Don’t want to make minimum wage? Don’t drop out of school, come to work every day on time, don’t do drugs, and stay out of jail. Its amazing how that works.
I’m sure too. You’re preaching a dystopic vision of the American dream. Sure that rationale and path to prosperity worked…36 years ago…for you. Before global economics, out-sourcing, off shoring, and a host of other intangibles that have eluded those that do go to work every day, don’t do drugs, and hold not only undergraduate but graduate degrees.
But tell me, in the metamorphosis from manufacturing to a service economy and we are still in that transformative state if you believe the economists, where in that alignment and transformation is the niche for more than minimum wage when most of the jobs created or being entered in to are no skill/minimal skill service positions? Advancement, if you want to call it that, is a change of position moving sideways, from one menial position to the next. That’s if you can find a full time job. Benefits are no longer part of the package and as often as not, you can be hired as a contractor or as a part-time laborer. There is management and there is low level labor. There is no middle. Growth and prosperity are happening at the top and we all know that the tribe cannot consist entirely of Chiefs.
Congratulations on your success however. I had the good fortune of rising to the top of my profession in my life as well. I didn’t forget where I started however and how hard it was to attain where I eventually ended up. Providing for the bottom tier essentials of life according to Maslow should not be a life long endeavor or struggle. So my advocacy for a living wage is based on that criteria and the fact that we should make our society better than we found it for ourselves. Life will have challenges but shelter, food, and healthcare should not be among them.
Interesting perspective. There are more things at play statistically here though:
According to an AP story this week, while NC Democrats still hold a large advantage in registered voters (despite losing nearly every election held in 2012 to the Repubs), NC Republicans have closed the gap by 175,000 since 2012. So many more people are registering – or switching – from Democrat or Independent to Republican than the other way around since 2012.
In May 2012 North Carolinians who voted, voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage in the amendment election. While it is true turnout wasn’t huge by any measure, nearly 2 out of every 3 who voted, voted in favor of the ban (later overturned federally). While gay marriage and HB2 aren’t quite the same issue, I have to believe demographically they are close.
Not sure HB2 has quite the support – or lack thereof – that continues to be presented.
Anecdotal evidence – My family members who have declared are an interesting mix: 1 Republican voting Hillary but PRO HB2, and ANTI-McCrory (teachers).
2 Repubs voting Trump, pro HB2, and pro-McCrory (one an educator, one a college student no less).
2 Democrats voting Trump, Pro HB2, and pro-McCrory (both women)
1 Libertarian voting Johnson. anti HB2, pro-McCrory (thinks Cooper is a hack).
1 Libertarian voting Trump or Johnson (can’t decide – just not Hillary), pro HB2, pro-McCrory.
1 Democrat not voting at all – too disgusted with both Hillary and Trump (another college student – not bothering with absentee).
So what does that mean? Probably nothing since it is purely anecdotal… Or it could mean that the electorate is a little harder to read – and pigeonhole – as we are made to believe.
I wonder what McCrory spokesboy Ricky Diaz will do come November 9. Do you think he’ll be able to get a real job, maybe working for Reince Preibus?
McCrory & Co display all the problems that result from dealing with reality through ideological lens. Most of us have a modicum of self awareness and recognize our thinking can, and often does, show our biases. McCrory and his GOP legislative colleagues seem totally unaware. Lying is not lying; it is truth if only we fools were smart enough to see it! Sort of like the explanations I heard long ago from a 3 year old.
The governor and the NC GOP leadership seem to be in a self-reinforcing reality-free bubble. The world beyond Jones Street and the Governor’s mansion sees that the Republicans have grabbed the ball, but they running in the wrong direction. They keep scoring points for their opposition.
Masses of people, who are not their enemies, are screaming at them to “go the other way.” Business CEOs, athletic organizations, heads of universities and powerful Republicans are observing the spectacle unfold in North Carolina like a slow-motion train wreck. Today, the ACC announced that it is considering moving the tournament to one of the other states. It’s a nightmare that keeps happening.
Rep. Barringer takes the Republican finger out of the HB2 dike, not guided by principle but by political opportunism. Expect other Republican legislators to follow suit now having been given a precedent. McCrory and HB2 are heading down and these GOP rats will jump ship and blame the governor and the liberal media for getting them involved in this ugly scheme.
I have my doubts this is altruism.