Sippin’ on that Tillis kool-aid
Check out this quote in DC’s The Hill newspaper:
[…]“North Carolina is a true purple state. Thirty percent of our voters are registered Republicans, 34 [percent] are registered as Democrats, 35 percent are registered as unaffiliated voters,” said state Republican Chairman Michael Whatley. “Fifty-two to 48 is a landslide in North Carolina.” […]
PURPLE. That’s Thommy T’s favorite word when talking about the state he allegedly represents. Whatley has spent most of his tenure as state chairman hugging up to President Trump. Now, he’s adopting the Low-T rhetoric of The Man from Cornelius.
The party registration breakdown doesn’t mean a whole lot these days. The late Jesse Helms won big in Dem-dominated eastern North Carolina over his 30 year tenure. (The registration numbers were nowhere near as favorable for the GOP during his time as they are NOW.) The GOP ticket did well in 2016 and 2020 in Dem-dominated Robeson County.
The state party chairman is the chief cheerleader for the party and its candidates. Whatley doesn’t sound inspiring there, does he?
That kind of language almost makes Whatley sound like he’s trying to cover his posterior — just in case the ol’ NCGOPe underperforms in November.
Dale Folwell got reelected in 2020 with 53 percent. There’s nothing purple about him. In 2010, Richard Burr won reelection to the Senate with 55 percent. Pat McCrory got 55 percent of the vote in 2012. Dan Bishop, certainly no shrinking violet, got 56 percent of the vote in his 2020 reelection bid.
Ted Budd has been more conservative in the House than he has been on the Senate campaign trail. Unfortunately, he has a lot of Tillis campaign operatives running his Senate show. *You know, those architects of those Tillis electoral romps?* (The man has yet to see 50 percent of the vote …)
Ted would be handling Cheri much easier if he was allowed to be himself. Hopefully, he will be his own man — responsive to US rather than Thom — when he gets to DC.
Quality candidates who espouse a credible conservative platform and don’t get stabbed in the back by establishment types can do very well statewide. All of this crossing-the-aisle crap espoused by Team Tillis is not likely to cause a grassroots firestorm. You might scoot by on Election Day. But where’s your mandate? What good is a system where voters really have to study the situation to determine which party is better? What good is a system where its hard to detect a significant difference between the two main parties? (Tax-raising, big-spending, corruption, cronyism …)
If we wanted someone to cooperate with Schumer & co., we’d vote for someone with the (D) after their name.
At the first state convention that elected Whatley, I watched and actually wrote down the long, long list of counties that supported his conservative challenger. We can thank Gaston and Mecklenberg county “republicans” and a relative handful of irresponsible county delegations that gave us this poseur. Looking at you, RNC committeeman and committeewoman. Special shout out Whatley’s home County GOP Chairman for picking up the phone and lobbying myself and presumably delegates in other counties to support this Washington DC-picked RINO for state chairman. You really know how to pick them.
Voting behavior is indeed the key to political analysis, NOT party registration numbers. A high proportion of Unaffiliated voters regularly vote straight ticket Republican. In my count, it is 75% of them.
As Senator Helms and his campaign team understood, it is issues that win elections. I have been disappointed at the way Budd’s staff has run his campaign. He should be out front challenging radical Beasley on issues a lot more than he is. Carter Wrenn from the Helms organization is still around as a consultant, and he would have been a better bet than the ones Budd hired.
The seriously flawed Shumaker strategy of faking to the right in the primary and then running down the middle in the general avoids using issues, and that is why we have had such squeakers. I am concerned about our judicial candidates using Shumaker, and even worse, the GOP Judicial Campaign fund using Shumaker, but maybe a wave year will carry our judicial candidates over the finish line in spite of Shumaker. Glenn Youngkin in Virginia showed how using issues wins races. Jack Hawke knew how to use issues and that is why McCrory won with 55% in 2012.
Whatley either doesn’t get in or he doesn’t want to tell it like it is.
Cloned after McConnell. Massive $$ support for ONLY R’s that support him and will drop a conservative R in a second and allow the Dem to win. Actually, it’s the entire R party and leadership at this point at state and national level. IF the economy was not SO bad, and inflation raging and mid-working class getting hammered, likely Beasley takes that seat. I’ve seen nor heard anything that makes me excited for Budd.
IF R’s win at state or national level, it’s only b/c the dems/BIden, DOJ, FBI, Bds of Educ, Immigration have lit a fire under normal citizens that USA is headed south
Here in Eastern NC, the D’s are doing a much better job of at least placing signs out for Democrat candidates. Our local newspaper attempted to provide a series of question and answer articles for local candidates. The response from those running for office was abysmal. Many candidates did not even bother to answer the questionnaire sent by the newspaper. No response from Beasley or Budd (if they were even contacted). Apathy will be the demise of our country. Budd is going to have an uphill battle because Beasley has better name recognition…Maybe not a good record, but more people recognize her.
Not answering questionnaires is not apathy, it’s proper strategy. The questions are often poorly written, requesting “yes” or “no” responses, and proffered by left-wing organizations, like newspapers and WRAL. There is NO benefit for a candidate to respond to them. An answer can easily be taking out of context. The real question is why a conservative would be reading a newspaper.