Tap-dancing toward an HB-2 sellout?
Are Raleigh’s ‘Mr. Conservative’ and his sugar daddy about to pull a number over on us? The Magic 8-ball says ‘Quite Possibly.’
I did one heck of a spit-take a couple of weeks ago while watching NC Spin. Grandpa Tom singled out John Hood and asked him about a new “working group” Little John is heading up. All giggly and beside himself, Hood revealed that said “working group” is aimed at finding a “compromise” on the *dreadful* HB-2 law. (*Boys bathrooms and girls bathrooms are simply draconian.*)
His partner in said “working group”? Former lieutenant governor Dennis Wicker !!!!! (Insert ‘”horrified” emoji here.)
Yessiree. Raleigh’s ‘Mr. Conservative’ has joined forces with arguably the most viciously partisan Democrat out there today to “fix” HB-2. (How can this possibly have a happy ending?)
Now, let’s turn to McClatchy from a week or so ago:
Republican financier Art Pope, who is poised to co-head a group to find a bipartisan compromise on House Bill 2, said state leaders should take “a collective deep breath” on the issue.
“The LGBT community has legitimate issues. Those who have concerns about the privacy in the bathroom of women and children or men have legitimate issues as well,” Pope said in an interview last week on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
John Hood, president of Pope’s family foundation, and Pope are organizing the group working to find a solution, the Observer reported this week. Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker would head the effort with Pope, and former Republican Gov. Jim Martin would be the honorary chairman.
Hood and Pope say the idea grew out of discussions over how to find a way out of a situation that has resulted in economic losses, celebrity boycotts and dueling lawsuits between the state and the U.S. Justice Department.[…]
Hmmm. I was always under the impression THAT is what we had an elected legislature for — to make policy decisions that govern the state. I don’t remember voting to allow a small cadre of self-important pointy-head politicos to huddle in smoke-filled backrooms to, um, “decide” things for us.
(For what it’s worth, Hood hinted on this week’s NC Spin that ”movement” on HB-2 is looking quite possible.)
Pope and Hood — it’s clear — believe it is very important for Pat McCrory to be re-elected to another term as governor. If they stepped outside the Raleigh beltline a little more often, they might realize that HB-2 is THE ONLY THING keeping a lot of conservative voters from sitting out the governor’s race.
Let’s face it, ol’ Pat hasn’t done a lot to distinguish himself from his predecessors. He’s griped about budget cuts and tax reform. Administration hiring decisions, appointments and policy decisions are quite often made in terms of WHO contributed HOW MUCH to a certain reelection campaign.
Ol’ Pat waffled around on fighting ObamaCare implementation, and has been a weak sister on battling Obama on amnesty for illegal aliens. HB-2, and the stance Jones Street AND Blount Street have taken on it SO FAR, is the first thing in a looooong time to come along and excite the conservative base about the current inhabitant of that mansion on Blount Street. Sabotaging the efforts behind HB-2, to appease Coli
n Campbell and McClatchy, could very well cause November to blow up in the faces of the NCGOP.
Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms — arguably the two most successful and influential Republicans ever in North Carolina — recognized the importance of reaching out to family values voters and keeping them as part of the team.
Hood and Pope and Wicker may be slick about this and wait until after the November vote to make their move. Wicker and his cohorts in the Democrat Party will be happy. Art, John and their Raleigh country club buddies will have some temporary satisfaction. But the move will accelerate the coming crack-up of the NCGOP.
Pat McCrory and his team will have succeeded in doing to the NCGOP what they did to the Charlotte Republicans.
John Hood is one of those pointy headed intellectuals who has no grasp whatsoever of real world politics. He is always coming up with some hare brained scheme that would screw conservatives, whether it is ”non-partisan” redistricting (ask California or Arizona how ”non-partisan” that actually turns out to be!) or abolishing runoffs in primaries (let the establishment win by splitting the conservative vote). Watering down HB2 is just another one of Hood’s attempted blunders.
I am sure that WIcker is smart enough to figure out, even if Hood is not, that McCrory selling out on HB2 would doom his chances of reelection. One has only to look at the miserably low poll numbers our US House and Senate leaders ”achieved” by betraying the GOP base on key issue. Republican voters have had it with surrender monkeys and if McCrory transforms himself into one, then he is toast. Look at the recent presidential primaries if you want to see how angry GOP voters are at our own Obama enablers.
Burr is already in trouble for being a surrender monkey and his pitiful position on HB2 just reinforces that. I know lots of Republicans who plan to leave their ballots blank in the Senate race because Burr has been such a sellout. McCrory saved himself from that same situation by taking a firm principled stand on HB2, something that moronic John Hood now wants to throw away.
There are a number of red lines for conservatives on HB2:
– no surrender on the provisions that protect NC small businesses from lawsuit harassment by homosexual activists
– no recognition of mere sexual behavior as a protected class in law, or allowing local governments to do so
– no allowing people of the wrong sex into bathrooms.
We need to stand up to the despicable corporate bullies, not knuckle under to them.
In short, no surrender!
That is absolutely right. The best thing North Carolina can do is CLEAN HOUSE. Find new blood for the capital and help get our state to a place people can live in harmony. Gays need to learn that they can give on the situation just like the rest. Being gay does not make them ROYALS only the same person with their own choices. The rest of us have to make choices we don’t go in bathrooms to enjoy music and a drink we just need to be able to feel safe when we are at out weakest moments. Face it people Obama is just using this to stir up trouble for everyone so he can scream MARTIAL LAW, and then my friends no matter how much we like Trump i”It’s Over” then we will have KING Obama.
“Hmmm. I was always under the impression THAT is what we had an elected legislature for — to make policy decisions that govern the state.”
With ALEC’s very beneficial guidance, of course.
“If they stepped outside the Raleigh beltline a little more often, they might realize that HB-2 is THE ONLY THING keeping a lot of conservative voters from sitting out the governor’s race.”
This is simply the bottom line. McCrory averaged in the 80% area during the primary, Burr was more like 50-60%, at least in my county. If the election were tomorrow, I believe Burr would be cleaning out his desk. If McCrory doesn’t want to follow Burr out the door, he’d better make it clear to one and all, that HB 2 stays and stays unchanged. And Dan Forest better start weighing in because his silence on this scheme sounds a lot like consent to me. In the wake of his support for Craig Collins and ConnectNC, I’m thinking that he is just another pretend conservative.
The absolute ONLY reason I am voting for Pat is HB2 (especially given Michelle Malkin’s stunning expose of his selling out NC workers for foreigners). Make even the most minuscule movement away from anything less than HB2 and Pat can kiss my vote good-bye.
From some of the past articles on this site on polling, McCrory was down ten points in the Civitas poll just prior to the adoption of HB2 and then up seven points in the poll taken after he signed HB2 into law. That is a heck of a positive bounce. Why in the world would Team McCrory want the negative bounce of going backward on that issue which has played so well for them with the voters, indeed enough that even our worthless Attorney General has backtracked on his position on the issue and agreed to represent the state in court? It makes no sense.
If Jack Hawke were still around, I know Jack would be telling him to stay the course.
But we all know it isn’t Hawke advising him these days, and now that a known liberal has seized control of the NCGOP from Hasan Harnett, he isn’t likely to get sound advice from that quarter either. His past poll numbers, at least in my part of the state, were a result of him losing ancestral Democrats over the Confederate flag comments. HB2 is a political godsend for him and it’s beyond comprehension if he screws this up before November.
I agree that HB2 has allowed the governor to recover from the political damage his comments on the Confederate flag caused. Those who respect the flag were virtually all part of his 2012 base and those who hate the flag are not going to vote for him or any other Republican anyway.
As to Hawke, I remember his comments on the abortion issue when he was Jim Martin’s campaign manager and I think they relate to the HB2 issue, as they are both social issues. Martin took a position that he opposed all abortions except in the instances of rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother (not the health or mental health of the mother, but the actual life), and Hawke polled on that. What he found was that the biggest group of voters were in the middle, not comfortable with abortion but not wanting to completely outlaw it either, and the next largest being the pro-life group, with a smaller contingent which was pro-abortion at any time. The pro-life group would tolerate a little wiggle room, and they would go with Martin’s position, but not much farther. The pro-abortion group were hard core Democrat voters anyway, and were not going to vote for Martin under any circumstances. The middle group, for whom abortion was not a key issue they decided races on, for the most of them anyway, either were okay with Martin’s position or at least it did not cause them by itself to vote against Martin. Martin’s position kept him where he solidified his base and kept the consideration of the swing voters.
On HB2, I think McCrory has already gone as far as Christian conservative voters will let him go in his executive order which fudged somewhat on the issue. If he goes any farther, he will risk losing them. The hard core pro-LGBT voters are likely mostly Democrat voters anyway, and mollycoddling them is not going to gain any votes. For those in the middle, I don’t think that HB2 will be a deciding issue on who they vote for, and besides McCrory has sufficient muddied the water with his executive order that in the final analysis they will not have a bone to pick with him. I think the key with this group is to keep the focus on bathroom privacy and whether they want grown men allowed into the bathroom or locker room with their daughters or granddaughters.
I think Hawke, if he were alive, would tell McCrory that he is positioned on this issue just like Martin was on abortion and he is right where he needs to be politically to win.
Amen!
Hood needs to run for office if he wants to make policy. Hood has his fingers in other groups like education. Our state should be rid of Common Core but no, the governor and general assembly caved to big business. What did Hood do, he worked with a non-elected group to basically re-brand Common Core.
McCrory could have led the way to repeal CC, what a missed opportunity.
Hood is a disappointment.
The so-called Hood Group resembles the dying carcass of the Washington Republican Establishment. I agree with Raphael that both McCrory and the GOP legislature need to stay the course. HB2 helps rather than hurts their re-election chances. HB2 might just keep the state’s Southern Heritage organizations from endorsing Cooper because of McCrory’s stupid attacks on the SCV, UDC, and other Southern historical groups. Of course, he may yet lose these endorsements. The legislature has so fouled-up conservative reform of the UNC system that HB2 may be their salvation with a significant block of conservative voters as well.
Who is invited to the table in Hood’s ”working group” on an HB2 ”compromise”? That is the real key here.
The two important policy groups are the Christian conservatives like the Christian Action League and NC Family Policy Council on one hand, and the LGBT groups, whose names I am not familiar with on the other. Unless they find some thing that all of these groups can live with, it is not a compromise, it is a betrayal. I wonder if the Christian conservatives have even been invited. If they have not they need to get on the horn hard with the Governor’s office, but privately to demand that the governor tell Hood and his group that they need to have a seat at the table if the governor is going to consider the result. If the Governor’s office will not do that, then they know a sellout is in the works, and they should make their demands public.
The other key is that small business groups be invited. These are the people protected by HB2 from being wiped out in harassment lawsuits by homosexual activists. Look at what has happened to Christian bakers, florists, and photographers around the country who have been targeted by these extremists who demand that they abandon their Christian faith to participate in homosexual ”weddings”. If there are organizations of Christian businessmen, so much the better. Small businesses are unlikely to be sued in federal court, so maintaining the prohibition on lawsuits in state court is critical.
It is small business organizations like the Federation of Independent Business that should be invited not the corporate welfare / big government whores of the NC Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is owned by big business and is totally unrepresentative of small business.
The role of the arrogant corporate power bullies who are trying to make public policy through extortion should be small as possible. These scoundrels really suck, and they should not get away with their extortion or they will keep doing it. Big business is trying to screw small business on this issue because big business is virtually always sued in federal, not state court. Big business can absorb lawsuit costs they may put a small business out of business. Big business is cynically seeking a competitive advantage over small business by putting small business in the firing line of the homosexual activists.
If the ”working group” does not fairly represent all sides, and John Hood does NOT fairly represent Christian conservatives, then this is a sham and needs to be called out for what it is.
Yes indeed, Pat is one issue away from losing my vote. If he sells us out on this HB2 I will withhold my vote. The question I always have to ask is: What kind of sick, perverted, and internally rancid individual wants to open restrooms to people who are obviously disturbed? Does anyone really believe that gender dysphoria is not an abnormal psychological condition? One need not address it as right or wrong but at least address it for what it is! So going back to the question: Do we want obviously disturbed individuals behind a closed door with women and little girls? I for one do not!
HB2 is the most important to my family of any law our government has passed. If they repeal or water it down our republican law makers can just go home as far as we are concerned.
I recently talked to a college friend who is from Indiana and what is going on there should be a warning sign to John Hood and his cronies.
My friend is a longtime GOP activist with his precinct and county party, and worked and contributed in the campaign of the current GOP governor, Mike Pence. My friend is also a Christian conservative, and they thought Mike Pence was, too.
Last year, the Indiana legislature passed a solid religious liberty bill modeled after the one that has been adopted at the national level. They were immediately attacked by the Gaystapo, the liberal media, and the strident corporate bullies. They panicked and ran scared. Pence led the climbdown that destroyed the religiious liberty bill and gave the homosexuals something they had never had before in Indiana, recognition as a protected class. It was a surrender and a rout, with the whole GOP leadership being exposed as craven cowards who would sell out in the drop of a hat because they were nothing but girly men. One wonders which restroom Mike Pence would use if he has the choice.
Having contributed to and campaigned for Mike Pence last time, my friend is adamant that he will not even vote for him this time, and says there are a number of GOP activists in his rural county who feel the same way. He also said that at a recent church social, a group he was in was standing around talking politics and he was the only real political activist in the group, and when the sellout on religious liberty came up, there was strong consensus in the group that the thing to do in the governor’s race and also their local legislative race was to leave their ballots blank. Common people are still furious with Pence and the legislature over their betrayal of religious liberty and pandering to the homosexuals.
Indiana is a state where an incumbent GOP governor should be a shoo-in for reelection, but Pence is neck and neck with the Democrat. Pence is in trouble because he did something that smart politicians never do, and that is piss on his own base.
Indiana is a cautionary tale for our governor and legislature.
People who sit out the election over single issues are effectively voting for Cooper, like it or not. It’s just math.
Voting for the lesser of the evils used to be a very accepted thing, but that is changing. Watching Boehner, Ryan, and McConnell constantly enable Obama has led many to abandon that notion. For the more politically involved, what the establishment did with their race baiting smears in the Mississippi Senate runoff to Chris McDaniels has so disgusted them with the GOP establishment that they consider the GOP establishment not much different than the Democrats. That is the new political world we live in. An R by your name does not automatically get you a vote from conservatives unless you are also perceived to also have an R in your heart.
McCrory’s problem is not people voting against him on one issue. To the contrary, it is that for many conservatives, there is only one issue on which he has demonstrated a reason to vote FOR him and it is this one. If he blows it, many will no longer have any reason to vote for him.
Hood and company are whistling past the graveyard if they think they can do what they please on this issue and conservatives will still vote for McCrory as the lesser of the evils.