NCGOP struggle DOES mirror national GOP fight
The Wall Street Journal put out an article not too long ago reflecting on the similarities between the internal strife in the NCGOP and the national Republican Party. The article pretty much reflected the Joyce Cotten / Dallas Woodhouse spin. But the overall thesis was right on the money.
All of this stuff — the lockout and slander of Hasan Harnett, the carpet bombing of Trump and the GOPe cheering for Cruz — comes down to MONEY AND POWER. There have been a lot of people who have been accruing power and great wealth while perched amid the GOP power structure for years. Get your friends hired within the party hierarchy, and your consulting business can rake in the cash. Candidates are steered to you. Donations to the party are shifted to your company’s coffers. Life can be good.
There are also 
a lot of folks out there who enjoy being the go-to-guy(or gal) at campaign time. There’s nothing like having presidential staffers, or the governor, or various congressional candidates calling on you for advice and support. It’s great for the ego locally to help Johnny get that big job in Raleigh or DC or solve Jill’s problems with the IRS.
I wrote earlier about one NCGOPe member expressing horror over what might happen if the NCGOP convention fees are reduced: “More people might come!”
That, to them, is a problem. They’ve sat where they are for decades, getting all of the accolades, and here come these newcomers trying to horn in on their action. To a lot of these GOPe folks, picking between the Democrats and the Republicans is not much different from the decision-making process you go through in deciding between Rotary or Kiwanis. It’s JUST two clubs.
It’s not about grand ideas or ambitions for our state and country. Don’t believe me? Check out this party official’s “resignation” email.
NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett hit the nail on the head in the N&O today — suggesting that the efforts against him have a lot 
to do with the GOPe efforts to control the makeup of the state’s delegates to the national convention. In case you haven’t noticed, there is a GOPe effort afoot to manipulate the nomination process. *That Trump guy is winning too damn many primaries.* *And this Harnett guy just IS NOT tucking tail, rolling over and playing nice with the powers-that-be.*
Donald Trump is where he is today because the GOPe in DC made a bunch of promises to us in 2009-2010 and LIED about every one of them. Hasan Harnett is where he is today because the NCGOPe – -and the entire elected leadership — tried to cram one of their toadie errand boys into the chairman’s spot. The sources of establishment irritation at the state AND national level are of their own making. Their arrogance and underhandedness got us to where we are today.
GOPe “cheering” for Cruz? I think it’s more like of the 2 candidates they hate the most, they can stomach Cruz a little better.
– The GOPe is hardly “cheering” for Cruz.
– Yes, the GOPe at both the federal and state level, are corrupt and worthless, liars who’ve repeatedly shown how they dont actually hold the basic principles they often claim, and that they’re instead more interested in personal gain and expanding government’s size and scope.
– But none of that makes Trump a rational, viable or even supportable response. He’s a bad choice, quite independently.