#ncga: House Dems loaded for bear against a, um, license plate
The moles are reporting in about the appearance of something in Jones Street’s lower chamber called the “License Plate Subcommittee.” From what I hear, this new entity will be spearheaded by Reps. Marvin Lucas (D-Cumberland) and Becky Carney (D-Mecklenburg) — a really old white lady who (1) gets easily confused while voting and (2) likely witnessed Sherman’s March to the Sea.
What is this committee all about? Why, if you believe the Democrats, it is about finally ridding the world of racism. To everyone else, it actually looks like a not-so-subtle attempt to wipe The Sons of Confederate Veterans commemorative license plate right out of existence.
My House sources tell me a bill killing the plate is already being drafted. They also tell me Speaker Moore and the rest of the House leadership are well aware of this — and are doing nothing to hinder it. Apparently, this is not being seen by the powers that be in the House as worthy enough to expend any political capital on.
Of course, our boy governor opened the door to this kind of thing.
Do you think they will stop with this committee and this bill? The SCV will be smeared as the second coming of the Klan and the Nazis. The plates will be banned. And then something else will catch the liberal lynch mob’s eye. *Welcome to post-racial America.*
If some of the smarter, more creative House members — yes, we’re looking at you Mr. Blust — wanted to have some fun, they’d counter this sideshow with a seminar on the Democrat Party’s role throughout history in preserving, protecting and spreading racism and racial violence across North Carolina.
They could call in RobRielleWho from The N&O and professor Bill Link in as star witnesses. Both of these men wrote great historical surveys of North Carolina. They could educate the public about the 1871 impeachment of Republican governor William Holden for daring to take on the Klan and their Democrat allies. The Raleigh News & Observer was founded by the Daniels family as a mouthpiece for the Democrat Party of the time — which was the caretaker of Jim Crow and all things racist. McClatchy, shortly after buying out the Daniels clan, apologized for the paper’s role in agitating the 1898 Wilmington race riots. *Perhaps — due to its history as a symbol used to further racist ends — The N&O needs to be banned, as well. *
All in all, none of this is going to fix anything. It will allow people to score political points against each other.
Instead of whitewashing historical info and disappearing symbols, we need to be learning from the past.
Explain this to me, please: Every week in Charleston numerous blacks murder other blacks. Were these killings caused by the Confederate flag? Last week a drug-crazed nutcase shot and killed people in church. What do any of these killings have to do with the NC Sons of Confederate Veterans, a highly-regarded historical society founded in our state in 1896 to honor the veterans who fought honorably for their southern homeland? One would think Governor McCrory and House Democrats would have something better to spend their time on. This is utter nonsense.
Combating the symbols is much easier than combating the actual problems. If they attempted to combat the problems it might come down to getting off their butts to do something, and cause them to feel bad because they never worked to make their communities better. Plus, the drive-bys can just do a two minute feel good story on the “issue” and get back to reporting the murder and mayhem that these same people constantly perpetuate in their neighborhoods.
This does NOTHING to the SCV organization. It just removes OUR State’s endorsement of a symbol also used by racist members of society. There are only 2000 of these plates in the state anyway from what I understand. The State Government (legislature & Governor) is just attempting to remove this symbol that has negative (at best) connotations for most Americans from the NC “brand”.
This is a really smart political move that we Democrats have made and it follows up on McCrory’s not so smart move.
Of course, stupid for the Republicans started with Nikki Haley. That was not stupid for her personally, but she threw her party under the bus by making a big issue of the flag. As to Haley, she is a lame duck as govenor and the gig she is looking for is VP. I know a little bit about posturing for VP, and that is exactly what she was doing, trying to get the attention of the moderate Republicans like Jeb Bush.
Less smart politicians like McCrory, who are not lame ducks, embraced Haley’s attack on the flag, and that is going to cause them the same sort of problems it caused former SC Republican governor David Beasley who was defeated for reelection when his attempt to demote the flag became a big issue and most South Carolinians did not like what he tried to do. Suckering Beasley into moving against the Confederate flag and irritating his own base gave us the last Democrat governor we have had in SC.
We Democrats just sit back and grin while Republicans self destruct by alienating their base. Just like Beasley did.
Our people in NC know that we have a win / win issue on this. We help stir up the black voters in our base no matter what ends up happening in the end on the issue. Just stirring it helps us pump up black turnout for next year. What Haley did is what allows us to play this issue. Thanks,. Nikki, you are a darling.
McCrory’s people on the other hand, keep playing dumb. They are not going to get the black vote or the liberal vote anyway, so pumping this issue does not gain them votes among anyone for whom this is a major issue. Playing the Haley / Beasley gameplan, however loses them many descendants of Conderate soldiers who mostly voted for McCrory last time, but will not after he trashes their heritage. So McCrory cuts his own throat.
As an old Tennessee boy, I now there is nothing really wrong with the Confederate flag, but politics is politics, and you do what moves the ball forward. Electing more Democrats will help us save the Polar Bears, and that is what it is all about.
As a lifelong Republican and McCrory supporter, I hate to admit it but Al Gore is right. McCrory has cut his throat and thrown his own party under the bus. Everyone I’m talking to who has an interest in southern heritage are going to do everything they can to defeat him in 2016, It is unbelievable the animosity towards this man right now, even from people who put up yard signs for him last time.
I am right there with wanting Pat out of the gov office, but it will be a hard pill to swallow if Cooper is up there. The one plus is that you know for sure Roy will never do anything good for NC, while with Pat it is a mixed bag. I would almost rather get someone I know I will hate vs. someone I have hope in….but then that would make me violate my own promise to never vote for a democrap.
Yeah. I’ve got the same dilemma. Unless something can be done in the primary we may be left with no good choice; perhaps the Libertarian.
I hope that our legislators have the brains and political savvy not to fall into the same far left feeding frenzy trap that McCrory did. If they do, it will only hurt GOP legislative candidates with their base voters and that will cost some seats.
In South Carolina, moving the flag not only cost Beasley the governor’s mansion, but it also cost some GOP legislators who voted to move the flag their legislative seats. Of course, Beasley went down in the general election and the legislators mostly lost in primaries.
Given the lateness in the session, the rules will not allow this to move UNLESS the leadership allows it to be grafted on to legislation that is already in the pipeline like they did on gutting the Voter ID law. If the leadership pulls a stunt like that, then the GOP’s fingerprints will be on this insult to the ancestors of many North Carolinians and that will cost the party on election day. Those who get offended are not just those who actually have the plates, but the hundreds of thousands more who have Confederate ancestors. Personal attacks like that tend not to be forgotten.
This is a very sensitive time for much of the GOP base, with the recent whacks at traditional marriage, religious liberty, and our southern heritage. Those Republicans who pile on with the liberal Democrats will not be looked upon with favor. Many are already wondering who their real friends are.
Just because I am not so stupid to be a Democrat does not make me stupid enough to be a Republican.
I want to see an amendment attached… that the Homosexual Pride Rainbow flag never be allowed to adorn anything issued by the state so long as there is a ban on any confederate symbol used in the same manner.
Of the two flags only one is currently used as a means of oppression.
There are two very recent polls released the last couple of days that the legislature needs to be mindful of. Both are national polls, so support for the Confederate flag is likely even higher in southern states.
One was conducted by CNN, and found that 57% of Americans believed that the Confederate battle flag was a symbol of southern pride while only 33% believed it was a symbol of racism. Interestingly, the same poll taken 15 years before had found that 59% believed it to be a symbol of southern pride, the difference over that 15 years being within polling margin of error.
The other was conducted by USA Today and the First Amendment Center. It found that only 35% believed that government should be allowed to deny a group a license plate if they planned to display a Confederate flag on it, while 56% opposed government being able to deny display of the Confederate flag on a license plate.
In spite of the massive media crusade against the Confederate flag, it has not moved the needle of public support for the flag.
If the legislature has any brains and any sense of democracy, they will stand with the people, not with the yellow journalism of the media.