The Brits & The NRSC fire on Roy Cooper — AND MISS.

Posted on by

The GOP establishment is trying to insert an empty suit into our soon-to-be-vacant US Senate seat.  Their candidate has little to nothing in the way of accomplishments to brag about.  No real principles to espouse or defend.  So, the GOPe types have to resort to personally tearing down the likely Democrat nominee.

A couple of days ago, we were subjected to this from The London Daily Mail — a right-leaning British tabloid that has feasted in the US during the Trump era:

Wed AND buried ????

Did ol’ Roy kill a previous wife or something? (How did our grossly-inept state party staff miss THAT?)

Of course, The Daily Mail made you fight through a paywall to read the actual story.  We got our hands on the story itself, and settled in for what looked like an interesting read.

The takeaway?  The woman we all knew as The First Lady of North Carolina was not – in fact – Roy’s first and only wife.  *Okay, so where is that “shameful marriage secret”?*

According to the story, the first marriage appeared to break up over Roy not abiding by Wife #1’s wish to stay out of elected politics.  According to the story, ol’ Roy came home one day and basically told his sweetie: “I filed.”

Another takeaway: Ol’ Roy apparently started dating Miss Kristin before she was fully and officially divorced from her first husband.  To those who may not know, North Carolina has a waiting period for getting divorced.  You have to be separated for one full year before you are officially labeled “divorced.”  It doesn’t matter if the marriage itself is dead and over with no chance of reconciliation.  You have to wait a year.  If either party gets involved with someone else during that year – and is found out – they can be sued. 

(Former state House speaker and current congressman Tim Moore can tell you all about that.)

This part of the story happened about 33 years ago. The Daily Mail does not provide any evidence that the ol’ Roy. and the current Mrs. Cooper were ever sued for adultery.  The Daily Mail story DOES inform us that the current Mrs. Cooper got full custody of the child from her first marriage.  The story mentions that ol’ Roy adopted said child once he and Ms. Kristin were married.

(I’m still waiting for the “shameful marriage secret.”)

The Daily Mail also quotes WIFE #1 pondering over WHY Roy Copper never talks about her.  Show of hands: How many of you out there – who have been divorced or know people who have been divorced – hear much talk about that ex-spouse and / or that now-dead marriage? 

Divorce is not exactly an enjoyable experience.  Most people want to forget the experience and move on.  (Besides, this particular breakup occurred nearly 40 years ago.)

If messy breakups were a disqualifier for elected office, the halls of The General Assembly and The US Capitol would be practically *ghost towns.*

FYI — Ronald Reagan had one or two divorces to his name.  President Trump is currently on his third wife.

And — a secret wedding or divorce?  You need a marriage license that goes on file at the county courthouse.  Divorces are conducted in front of a judge and the paperwork is filed with the court clerk.

Are politicians obligated to feed us all of the details of their divorces?  If the circumstances involved some kind of criminal misconduct, the answer could be a hearty YES.  (I don’t see any of that here.)

The silence from political Raleigh on this was actually quite deafening.  Though, one Republican state senator did offer up his two cents on social media:

I spoke with another friend who is a well-known Raleigh insider.  He read The Mail story and commented:

“If this is the worst the GOP has on Cooper, we are in bigger trouble than I thought!”

As I’ve previously noted, ineptitude on the part of the NCGOP has greatly aided Cooper in getting to where he is today. There is a lot better stuff out there to hit Cooper with:

  • The crime lab:  During his time as AG, things were so bad at the lab that local governments were having to hire their own independent consultants to complete CSI work so it would be ready in time for court. A complete lack of respect for all of those crime victims out there.
  • Encouraging economic boycott of NC: Roy did just that during the 2016 race for governor.  A bizarre tactic for someone who wants to be the state’s chief executive and chief cheerleader.
  • The Atlantic pipeline shakedown
  • Shady solar deal on family land.  Of course, Thom Tillis and Tim Moore and a lot of other establishment Republicans in North Carolina are up to their eyeballs in solar sleaze.
  • Ignoring illegal aliens:  These people have been tying up our lawmen, filling up our jails and emergency rooms, and shredding our social safety net. Yet ol’ Roy appears to think it is all fine.

So many in the media want you to think the general election for US Senate is already set.  There are two other candidates out there – Don Brown and Andy Nilsson — in addition to the one state and DC Republicans are trying to shove down our throats.  The primary is in March. 

If you’re looking for a silver bullet to use against Cooper, The Mail’s story ain’t it. It would be nice if we had a party with leadership that would rally behind an actual marketable candidate and sell us on some principles and ideas they really intend to follow through on.

But we all know better than that.