Pat McCrory: The Most Spineless Politician

by | Jun 16, 2016 | Civil Rights, NC Politics, NCGA, NCGov, Veterans, Women's Rights | 22 comments

Pat McCrory is setting the record for Most Spineless Politician. Since getting elected, he’s repeatedly trashed his own purported principles, and refused to own his decisions. He’s got no backbone, no courage, and no right to be taken seriously.

McCrory’s history of weakness is long and contemptible. Just a month into his administration, he capitulated to the Right and signed a bill to make Medicaid expansion illegal. This, days after he had advocated a “pause” for additional study. He’s cycled through this routine again and again, on issues ranging from abortion rights–promising not to limit them, signing every restriction that passed–to tax shifts. The most generous interpretation is that he doesn’t care.

Then came HB2. McCrory, having pre-emptively demagouged the “bathroom” issue, hinted he did not favor a law that went further. The GA called a special session anyway, passed a bill so sweeping it still has not been fully reckoned with, and sent it to McCrory’s desk. He signed the abominable document within hours.

All of that is disgraceful. What takes it from disgraceful to disgusting is that he refuses to take responsibility. Not once has he held a signing ceremony for one of these bills. The least he could do is stand before TV cameras with Tammy Fitzgerald and tell LGBTQ citizens, or African-Americans, or women, that he opposes their rights. Instead he signs them in abject darkness, going so far as claiming to have the flu in order to avoid showing his face.

As with everything in our dismal political moment, this story comes round to Trump. Given an opportunity to publicly support his candidate, McCrory yet again wussed out. When Trump smeared the U.S. Armed Forces, the governor of a pro-military, veteran-heavy state was meekly hiding out somewhere, counting money raised by the Donald.

There may be a more cowardly, contentless politician somewhere in the world. But my guess is that no one can outdo the current occupant of 200 North Blount Street.

22 Comments

  1. Flor

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  2. Ebrun

    Keep bad mouthing your home state, D,g., and ignore all the economic progress that is creating an influx of new people and new businesses here. NC Democrats are desperate to regain control and power before the economic progress under GOP policies becomes readily apparent to all but a few die hard liberals. So while you may be able to persuade a few left wingers in the NE and on the Left Coast that thing are awful here, the NC economy continues to build momentum. But go ahead and keep your head in the sand if it makes you feel any better,

  3. Lan Sluder

    What do you expect from an NC governor who was born in Ohio?!

  4. Edison Carter

    Governor “McCrappy” is one, and done. He has the dubious distinction of being the biggest lying and most incompetent governor in the history of North Carolina. Anyone with half a brain can see that he is bought and paid for by American Legislative Exchange Council (A.L.E.C. for short) that has written the legislation that he, along with the Tar Heel Teabilly Taliban Legislature and Senate, now has positioned this state under the loser status of the state of Mississippi for quality of life, educational, cultural and economic advancement…. And in just 6 years of being in control of all branches of state government!

    Amazing!!!!

    Who wants to relocate here? Nobody.

    ……Welcome To North Carolina – Set Your Clocks Back 70 years.

    • Ebrun

      Nothing like keeping one’s head in the sand. Your diatribe implies you are oblivious to the latest economic, population, business and political data. NC’s economy is out pacing the regional and national averages under GOP control, net immigration is steady and above national averages, the state’ s business climate is ranked in the top five by several national business publications and the latest statewide opinion poll has McCrory ahead of his Democrat opponent by seven percentage points.

      But no need for liberals to be glum. Just keep believing the anti-GOP propaganda being spread on this blog as well as by the News and Observer, the Charlotte Observer and the rest of the state’s liberal press and your fantasies will seem real, at least for the time being.

  5. Janet F Cohen

    So….lets get out the vote and change our government reps. It’s the only way forward and it’s what we all need to do.

  6. Norma Munn

    May I suggest a cartoon McCrory with a wet noodle for a backbone? Just can’t get the image out of my head.

  7. Louis Housel

    Don’t forget the toll road issue.

  8. Mike Leonard

    Time to send Art Pope’s lapdog packing.

  9. JC Honeycutt

    When you start off with no principles, no real governing experience and not a heck of a lot of intelligence, what could go wrong? McCrory began his political visibility as mayor of Charlotte, a job which requires little understanding of how government entities work, but a lot of glad-handing, particularly toward large businesses who might consider locating in our area. He was never qualified to be governor, and a lot of those who supported him knew it: they just figured he’d follow the party line and look good on TV, while back-room Republicans made his decisions for him.

    I hate to say “I told you so” (actually I don’t hate saying it–I just hate that McCrony’s election to a job he clearly is not qualified for makes it necessary): but when I urged his opponent to run on the slogan “more than just a pretty face”, no one took it seriously. McCrory is essentially an empty suit, and his screw-ups in judgment and slavish clinging to the worst of the Republican party leave his face–not to mention his character– looking a lot less attractive than when he was elected. I look forward to seeing this invertebrate slink away into oblivion after this fall’s elections–because I (and the future of our state, IMHO) “can’t stand Pat”.

  10. Linda

    Pat the crook has destroyed NC. Just take the coal ash mess as just ONE example. How can anyone condone fouling this earth- oh, crooks, that’s who.

  11. Carlton Huffman

    Her name is Tami* #IStandWithPat

  12. Ebrun

    Such over-the-top invective aside, I suspect NC voters will take Governor McCrory seriously and re-elect him to a second term. And to the dismay of the left, the Governor is going to receive unprecedented support for a Republican running statewide from minority voters.

    But don’t worry Bob, NC’s liberal press will do everything it can to besmirch the Governor’s record and reputation, as Mr. Jones has done in this blog. Fortunately, a majority of the state’s voters have apparently become impervious to the biases and blatant partisanship of the state’s major papers and left wing zealots like Mr. Jones.

    • A. D. Reed

      I love your choice of phrasing, Ebrun: “the Governor is going to receive unprecedented support for a Republican running statewide from minority voters.” Hmmm. Of course any English teacher would put the last phrase with what it’s supposed to modify (“support”), but since you wrote it the way you did, let’s parse it the way you wrote it.

      “…a Republican running statewide from minority voters.”
      “…running … from minority voters.”

      Yes, you’ve got it! Ebrun’s right, everyone. Republican “governor” Pat will be running desperately from minority voters, whose right to sue for discrimination he signed away and prohibited with HB2. And he’ll be running from seniors, Democrats, and from thinking people of every ilk … and from his own record. He will be running from Roy Cooper and the heritage of his predecessors, respected Republican governors Jim Martin and Jim Holshouser.

      And that “unprecedented support”? Well, Holshouser, the first GOP governor since Reconstruction, won on the reelection coattails of Richard Nixon in 1972, with 51% of the vote (compared to Nixon’s 60.7%). Martin won in 1984 on Ronald Reagan’s reelection coattails, with a 54-45 margin (compared to Reagan’s 58.8%); he also was supported by Democratic Lieut. Gov. Jimmy Green, who was so angry at losing the Dem. nod to A.G. Rufus Edmisten that he supported the Republican (and later switched parties himself).

      So maybe McCrory can ride Donald Trump’s coattails, such as they are — and get 4% to 5% of the state’s minority vote. Of course, African Americans oppose Trump 95-5, and Hispanics (who were a negligible population in 1972 and 1984, but now a serious bloc in the state) oppose Trump by 89%.

      It will be fun to watch Hapless Pat running from the state’s minority voters, indeed.

      • Yojji

        Flippin’ brilliant!

      • Ebrun

        Guess you missed the rallies when the Black ministers and the Hispanic clergy came to Raleigh in support of HB2 and the Governor. I am betting double digit support for the Governor from African Americans and even higher support from Latino voters now that voter ID is in place. And with straight ticket voting no longer available, the Democrats’ lemmings may have trouble finding the Party’s down ballot candidates. So laugh while you can, you may not feel so jolly in November.

        • Ebrun

          Most recent poll has McCrory 48%, Cooper 41%. Real Clear Politics web site. Read it and weep.

        • Ebrun

          D.g., the last two NC statewide polls show Trump up by four over Hillary.

        • Ebrun

          Read what I posed more carefully, D.g. Trump is up by FOUR (not ten) in NC STATEWIDE (not national) poll. Your name calling won’t change that.

    • Alex Jones

      Just getting around to reading the comments.

      I’m flattered, Mr. Ebrun. The idea that my obscure, low-traffic blog posts have the power to affect the governor’s reputation attributes to me more influence than I could ever have hoped for.

      • Ebrun

        Happy to give your ego a boost. While you obviously share Mr. Mills’ contempt for the Governor, I would have thought his three-year crusade to vilify the McCrory Administration would be sufficient to satisfy liberal followers of this blog. Your rant against the Governor merely mimics Mr. Mills’.

  13. Bob

    Amen and amen. I have been waiting for this editorial. I would love to see this get picked up by state newspapers. He has no principles and no power. He is a puppet governor.

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