Gerrymandering Won't Save Gov. McCrory

Republicans everywhere, including that genius of understatement Joe Scarbrough, are touting gerrymandering as the only reason Republicans still control the U.S. House of Representatives.

We hope they'll keep strutting that stuff, because more voters need to understand just exactly what Art Pope's computer achieved in North Carolina, which is a prime example of the corrosive power-grab that The Gerrymander actually is.

We thank NC Policy Watch for pointing out that "the 13 Democratic candidates for Congress in North Carolina received 81,000 more votes in total than their 13 Republican challengers, even though only four Democrats won their seats."

Maybe the voters of North Carolina will allow that situation to continue indefinitely, to their own detriment, or maybe not.

But those planning to "take out" Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014 might take note that a Senate seat can't be gerrymandered, and Gov. Pat McCrory, already in thrall to the most extreme elements of his party, might also want to pay attention. As a voting whole, North Carolina hasn't shown that much genuine affection for the new Republican "brand," and McCrory's idiot grin may begin to wear thin when he starts signing all that extremist legislation coming out of Raleigh.