Ashe County Crack-Pot Politics

Not to be missed ... this account of the Ashe County Tea Party and the politics of discrimination against The Gayz. And, welcome back on-line, Ashe Watch.

Thom Tillis: "Toxic to the Fortunes of the NCGOP"

We'll have to agree with the conservative blog "Daily Haymaker" when it refers to Republican Speaker of the NC House as "mealy-mouthed." We were sitting in the audience that night in Boone when Mr. Tillis, more responsible for getting the absolutely horrible "marriage amendment" through the General Assembly than any other mother's son in Raleigh, deny that he even wanted to put that amendment before the people.

Look no further. That matches our definition of "mealy-mouthed."

"Isn't There a Liberty Interest in Choosing To Marry?"

Under the headline "Why So Many Conservatives Oppose the Amendment," John Russell, in the Raleigh News & Observer:

...Only a month after the U.S. Supreme Court heard powerful arguments against the health insurance mandate as unconstitutional, it rings hollow to many conservatives to insist that the heavy hand of the state come down against people who want to commit themselves to sharing a life. Put simply, if there is a liberty interest in choosing to buy health insurance, isn’t there a liberty interest in choosing to marry? 

If Amendment One were simply an annoyance to business, then conservatives wouldn’t have so much trouble backing it. But it’s so bad that scores of normally apolitical business leaders have written or spoken publicly in opposition.

Jim Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy (speaking for himself, not the utility), lambasted Amendment One during a speech in Charlotte recently. A top Bank of America executive said that passage would be “disastrous” for the state’s business climate. 

Among emerging growth companies, the situation is even more pronounced. North Carolina is uniquely hard hit by measures that cut our advantage in fields such as technology and life science, which rely on hiring talented people of diverse backgrounds. Amendment One attacks this creative meritocracy. 

One of the strongest criticisms conservatives make of liberal social legislation is that overly broad language forces judges to make law. This happened in Ohio, which passed a amendment similar to ours. There, multiple men accused or already convicted under the state’s domestic violence statute contested their guilt on constitutional grounds. The reason? The women they abused, threatened or assaulted weren’t their wives. It took the Ohio courts two years to decide they were guilty anyway. 

Conservatives criticize sweeping laws that attempt to control the future – witness debates over climate change. Conservatives believe in less certainty of prediction than liberals, and want market forces of all kinds to play out. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a recent case involving police searches that he wished for a limited result that would not “embarrass the future." ...

Froth Meets Substance?

Interesting analysis from the North Carolina Free Enterprise Foundation, which ain't no Democratic group:

In Senate District 45, Sen. Dan Soucek (R-Watauga) toppled an incumbent Democrat in 2010, but the district looks very different this time and includes populous Caldwell County, which is home to former Rep. George Robinson (R-Caldwell), who is facing Sen. Soucek in the primary. This race has largely flown under the radar this primary season, but don't be surprised if this contest is closer than many expect.

Wouldn't that be a kick in the old pantaloons!

These Entrepreneurial Businessmen Say Amendment 1 Will Be Bad for Business

Powerful stuff. "This amendment will make it harder for the high-tech startups that are driving our economic growth to continue to grow and operate in our state."

Duh.

Postscript
According to Chris Fitzsimon, WRAL in Raleigh produced a documentary about the impact of Amendment 1 on the business climate of the state and went through the amendment's supporters to find a CEO willing to speak on camera in favor of the law, "but they could not come up with a single one."

A Courageous Citizen And the Double-Talking Member of the General Assembly

Renee Ellmers: Tea Party Republicans Collectively Became "A Monster"

Renee Ellmers, who beat Bob Etheridge in the 2010 Tea Party uprising to represent the 2nd District of NC, apparently spills the beans about her fellow Tea Party freshmen in a new book, depicting the Republican Conference under Speaker John Boehner as something approaching the Freedonia of Duck Soup, or the student council of Beverly Hills High.

Virginia Foxx: Belittling People for Over Four Decades

Ken Ilgunas, in today's Winston-Salem Journal:

...[Virginia] Foxx has plenty of tolerance for today's broken system of higher education and its ever-rising costs, but little tolerance, she says, for the students who are struggling with the system that she herself helped create. 

Today's college students don't need belittling words from someone of Foxx's generation, for whom college was affordable. They need the sort of assistance that Foxx profited from when she was young.

Pat McCrory & Mitt Romney Share the Same DNA

Both are terrified of their right wing. Neither has a political or philosophic core, unless self-interest qualifies.

Tim Funk on Mr. McCrory in today's Charlotte Observer: "He’d rather talk about something else – say, the economy or education. But press Pat McCrory about gay marriage, and the presumptive Republican nominee for governor will say this much – and little more: On May 8, he plans to vote for the proposed N.C. constitutional amendment reaffirming the state’s ban on same-sex marriage."

Way to stand tall, Pat.

Apparently, he hopes his particular device of hiding out from actual accountability will fool enough voters: "... by not making the amendment a major issue in his 2012 campaign, [NC State Univ. political scientist Andy] Taylor said, McCrory appears to be hoping that he can maintain his appeal with his old coalition of business Republicans and moderates – including many Democrats and independents."