#NCSEN: The shih-tzu shows his teeth
N&O executive editor John Drescher’s attack lapdog is upset that the mean ol’ baby doctor is “attacking” Mr. Invevitable in the GOP’s US Senate primary. The remnants of the Tar Heel State’s mainstream media soooo want the baggage-laden dollar-chasing ideological weathervane from Cornelius (by way of Jones Street) to be the GOP nominee against Democrat incumbent Kay Hagan. It will be so much more fun to talk about the mean ol’ legislature and its speaker than it will be to debate ObamaCare with a practicing physician.
Mr. Drescher’s tiny dog was snarling fiercely in his Morning Memo:
For months, Greg Brannon has sniped at House Speaker Thom Tillis in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The potshots came in fundraising letters designed to stir the base detailing Tillis’ ties to political insiders, sex scandals in his legislative office and more recently his financial ties to legislation approved at the statehouse.
Translation: the base = people who think the party and its leaders should actually abide by the platform. And, of course, one little dog’s “sniping” is simply another man pointing out important facts that the mainstream media simply isn’t telling its readers about. (Apparently, the shih-tzu is not upset about state senator Jeff Tarte — a close political ally and friend of Thom Tillis — aggressively shopping the Brannon civil suit story to the media for months.)
We broke the story about Thom Tillis’ legislative actions and its ties to the clients of his in-laws’ Massachusetts law firm in January. McClatchy’s Jim Morrill gave the info little more than a dismissive two-sentences buried in a mid-February story on the Senate race. I still haven’t seen The N&O or Charlotte Observer dig into the beer wholesaler contributions or the movie studio contributions or the in-laws’ ties to the toll road consultants working the I-77 project Speaker Thom is so excited about. But wait. The little dog wasn’t finished:
It makes sense: Brannon is the little-known tea party challenger seeking to break his natural ceiling of support and Tillis is the perceived frontrunner, leading the money race and backed by the bigwigs in Washington.
The difference about the latest Brannon attack: Tillis’ camp responded. Campaign manager and spokesman Jordan Shaw had declined to comment on Brannon’s own troubles – a civil jury verdict that he misled investors, plagiarism on his campaign website and an unpaid tax bill – until now.
First, the shih-tzu neglects to mention that his beloved Public Policy Polling has Brannon TIED for the lead with Tillis. (And we also don’t apparently want to talk about the Brannon straw poll victories — the latest in Moore,Davidson, and Durham counties — or the Brannon endorsements by FreedomWorks and senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee. )
Next — a property tax bill due in January that was paid in February counts as a scandal? (Show of hands. How many husbands and wives out there have slipped up on getting a bill paid on time because they thought the other was handling it?)
And let’s not forget ‘plagiarism.’ The shih-tzu declared months ago that the Brannon campaign had plagiarized the 2010 campaign web site of Kentucky senator Rand Paul. Never mind that Team Brannon and Team Paul had been close allies for some time. Never mind that Paul had endorsed Brannon. Never mind the possibility that Team Paul said “Hey, you’re trying to come up with a web site for your campaign. Here, use what worked for us in 2010.”
Is it really plagiarism when someone says, ‘Here, use my stuff?’ Do Thom Tillis and Kay Hagan write all of their speeches and web site copy? How often do drive-bys like the shih-tzu merely crib from press releases from lefty allies like Gerrick Brenner and Bob Hall?
Also — why is it that the shih-tzu, his master Mr. Drescher, and the rest of the evil empire at McClatchy REFUSE to interview Brannon’s co-defendant in the civil suit? The guy has been willing to talk to anyone who will listen. I found him, and so did Asheville radio host Pete Kaliner. The shih-tzu wouldn’t have to travel far. Mr. Rice lives in the Raleigh area. But that would be too much work. It’s so much more fun to sit on your cushioned dog bed in the newsroom and spit out falsehoods and exaggerations like “fraud conviction” and “misleading investors.”
The questions that keeps coming back to me is why Brannon did not stand up, face the jury and explain why he was innocent of the charge.
A candidate for the United States Senate needs to be able to express himself openly and honestly. I am sure had Brannon done that the jury would have ruled him innocent.
He needs to face the voters and explain in detail the whole thing.
Jimmy,
Due to his appeal, he may not be able to speak about the details of the case. I am not sure how the process works but that is just a thought.
The fact that he offered to pay his accuser out of his own 401k should tell you a little about Dr. Brannon. The fact that the accuser (Mr. Piazza, I believe) didn’t accept the offer, should tell you a little about him as well. What was Mr. Piazzas agenda?
I would think that the case would be of secondary importance to winning a seat in the United States Senate.
Don’t the voters need to understand this jury decision in order to have the confidence to vote for him.
Not telling his side of the story is the worse thing he can do in my opinion. Look the voters straight in the eye and tell his side of the story. Pretty basic politics to me.
Looking at the poll numbers immediately after the case, this is a non-issue. Why beat a dead horse?
The issues that matter are things that impact real voters – illegal aliens taking our jobs and mooching off of American taxpayers, green energy boondoggles that drive up our electric rates, Obamacare, bloated government and excessive taxes, etc.
We need political leaders with the courage to face real voters at candidate forums and answer questions about real issues. Candidates who cowardly run away from such forums like Thom ”Toll Road” Tilli$ are just not acceptable.
Clients tend to follow the advice of their lawyers, not their political consultants when it comes to court matters.
The more important place that candidates need to stand up and let the voters ask questions about their positions is at candidate forums during the campaign. Greg Brannon, Mark Harris, and most of the others have been present and accounted for at those, fielding questions from potential constituents. The only candidate who has been consistently AWOL, ducking all of those forums, has been Thom ”Amnesty Amigo” Tilli$. Why is this craven coward running away from the voters? Is Tilli$ just trying to hide his liberal positions on issues?
A candidate for the Senate of the United States should have demanded the opportunity to stand before the jury and tell them of his innocence.
No lawyer in the country could keep me from standing up and telling the truth.
Brannon could have told the truth and this would not be a subject for the campaign.
Who cares about the details of a business dispute? Voters care about candidates who want to flood our country with illegal aliens, waffle on Obamacare, raise our electric rates by sweetheart deals with green energy crony capitalists, etc.
Tillis runs away from real issues or talks out of both sides of his mouth. No wonder he ducks candidate forums.
More examples of why I stopped paying attention to what the N&O publishes… they have an agenda and perspective that extends quite beyond the editorial pages.
With the liberal media these days, it is hard to tell the difference between the editorial page and the ”news”. They are both heavily laced with liberal opinion and the liberal agenda.
Now it comes out that the judge was a Hagan donor in 08′?
http://pundithouse.com/2014/03/conflict-of-interest-in-brannon-case/#.Uyipc8FJeVU.twitter
Please!
You got a candidate for the United States Senate who gets found liable of misleading an investor (by a jury of his peers) to the tune of $250,000. And the jurors were North Carolina jurors. Local folk.
And you do not think a political reporter is not going to cover it?
That is about like Rob not covering John & Rielle. Well, he did get around to it after the baby started college. But better late than never.
Regardless of which side you are on a story like this is bread and butter for the media. Think of all the courtroom dramas on TV as well as the courtroom reality TV Shows. Judge Judy would love to try this one on her show.
I doubt it will go away anytime soon. Just too juicy to be denied.
So ”juicy” that is has no impact whatsoever on the polls even right after it happened? LOL.
We have a politically biased judge who is a contributor to an opposing candidate who failed to recuse himself. That makes him as crooked as a snake. He also made some very bizarre rulings like the answer to the jury question on ”admission / omission” which had major impact on the case. Conservatives need to go hammer and tongs after this disgrace to a black robe. The State Bar disciplines an attorney candidate over that campaign sign nonsense, but what this judge did was much much worse.
“So ”juicy” that is has no impact whatsoever on the polls even right after it happened? LOL.”
Absolutely. If his political opponents cannot make hay out of the jury decision then they do not deserve to be in the race. Brannon will defeat Hagan easily.