McCrory's Lawyer: Yes, Gov. Squishy Has a Weak Hand

In massive release of email -- only took a lawsuit! -- McCrory's general counsel Bob Stephens is revealed to have agreed with some criticism of HB2 but admitted the truth about his boss: What good would it do to veto the law when the Berger-Moore General Assembly would immediately override the veto?

Translation: My boss is weak and ineffectual, but don't blame him for a terrible loss of business in North Carolina.

Berger v. Stephens Court of Appeals Race

PamsPicks.net, guest blogging:

NC COURT OF APPEALS JUDGE, Race #1

Phil Berger Jr. (Tea Party/Republican): http://www.philbergerjr.org and Phil 4 NC on Facebook

OMG. This guy again. Better fasten what seat belts you can find, because my appraisal of Mr. Berger is going to be a tad bumpy.

Let's get right to the point.

Phil Junior is Daddy's little boy! Phil Berger Sr. is without any doubt the real Republican power in the state of North Carolina, running the NC Senate with an iron hand and treating Gov. McCrory as a mildly tolerable infant. In that role Phil Senior has done everything in his power to make sure that sonny boy gets a seat on the NC Court of Appeals.

But first, Daddy Dearest tried to get his son a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Phil Junior ran in 2014 for the seat vacated by Congressman Howard Coble, backed by wads of money and the full-bore influence of Daddy Phil. What happened? Phil Junior lost the Republican Primary that year, which shocked everyone, not least of whom was his father.

Following quickly that humiliating defeat, Phil Junior got himself appointed to an administrative law judgeship (with daddy's help, we feel certain), earning a cool $100,000 per annum. That job has obviously proven unsatisfying (from a purely partisan perspective), so Phil Junior now has his sights set on bringing his brand of toxic partisanship to the 2nd highest tribunal in the state.

He's running against a good incumbent judge in Linda Stephens, and he's doing it (IMO) to bring the worst conservative instincts into an arena where he can do the most damage.

The final straw in why I can't stand Phil Berger Jr.? Daddy Phil, at the last minute in the short session of the General Assembly this past summer and as President of the Senate, saw to it that the law got changed as regards random "ballot order," insuring that candidates that belong to the same party as the sitting governor get listed first. So now Phil Berger Jr. is listed above Linda Stephens on this November's ballot.

Why does it matter? Numerous studies have shown that being listed first on a ballot can give that candidate at least a slight advantage, especially on down-ballot races like the Court of Appeals race where candidates aren’t as well-known as presidential or gubernatorial candidates.

So, yes, I have absolutely no earthly use for any of the corrupt, puling, manipulative, self-serving and uber-grasping Berger clan. May they all go down in flames. And stay down.

Linda Stephens (Democrat): www.judgelindastephens.org and Re-elect Judge Stephens on Facebook

Stephens was first appointed to the Court of Appeals by Gov. Mike Easley in January 2006, but lost her seat in the general election of 2006. Easley then reappointed her to the Court of Appeals in January 2007 to fill the seat vacated by the election of Robin Hudson to the NC Supreme Court. Judge Stephens won a full term in the general election on November 4, 2008.

Stephens is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She's a progressive and smart judge who has benefited from the endorsements of the NC National Organization for Women, EqualityNC, the Muslim-American PAC, The Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, NC Academy of Trial Lawyers, and NC Association of Women Attorneys.

Her legal career has been a string of firsts: the first female law clerk to Judge Fred Hedrick of the NC Court of Appeals; the first woman associate, and then the first female partner with her law firm; and the first woman to serve as President of the NC Association of Defense Attorneys.

Stephens was named one of the top 50 women lawyers in the state by Super Lawyers Magazine and was listed among the Best Lawyers in America for her last 11 years in private practice. Since joining the bench, she has earned the J. Robert Elster Award for Professional Excellence and Lawyers Weekly’s Women of Justice Award, presented for “leadership, integrity, service, sacrifice and accomplishment in improving the quality of justice and exemplifying the highest ideals of the legal profession.”

The Race for Governor in North Carolina

PamsPicks.net, guest blogging:

Pat McCrory (Republican): https://www.patmccrory.com and Governor Pat on Facebook

Pat McCrory is the smarmiest car salesman on the lot.

A man who promoted himself in the election of 2012 as a reasonable moderate with a long history of more or less progressive management as mayor of Charlotte, Pat McCrory quickly turned into the weak, feckless doormat for an extremist Republican agenda promoted by more powerful men in the North Carolina General Assembly. Instead of trying to return to the mantle of "moderate Republican" in 2016, McCrory has obviously decided he can only win by grandstanding for the yahoos, aping Donald Trump, defending the indefensible (both HB2 and voter suppression, among other extremist measures), and going full Conservative Prick.

Only problem is he doesn't wear that hard-line mask at all naturally nor comfortably, so he perpetually looks like a man surprised by reality. Plus the real Republican Power in Raleigh -- chiefly Phil Berger, president of the NC Senate -- has consistently treated McCrory like a red-headed step-child, ignoring his meekest requests and full-out running over him when he's in the way. McCrory's vetoes have been overridden by the General Assembly about as often as the Republicans over-rode Democratic Governor Bev Perdue.

In short, McCrory has presided over the worst slide away from forward-thinking progressivism in North Carolina history. We can't retire this colossal failure soon enough.

Roy Cooper (Democrat): www.roycooper.com and Roy Cooper for NC on Facebook

Remember what I said in Pam's Picks back in 2012 about how important the Governor's race was?:

"Here's the thing: The Party of the Governor controls both the State Board of Elections and each and every North Carolina County Board of Elections. If Democrats do not win the Governorship, and the State House and Senate remain in Republicans hands, get ready for some serious voter suppression in North Carolina. And ASU students can bet their bottom dollar their voting precinct will be removed from the Student Union."

Well, it's certainly been a long three plus years fighting for equal voter protection here in Watauga, hasn't it?

My own greatest hope for the candidacy of Roy Cooper centers on the fact that his election will end organized voter suppression in North Carolina and especially in Watauga County … because his election will end automatically the reign of terror of majority Republicans on county Boards of Election. As we know so well in Watauga, Republicans running election machinery have been far more intent on limiting the vote than in encouraging it.

With Cooper in the governor's mansion, the voter suppression of Stacy C. Eggers IV ("Four") and Bill Aceto, current chair of the Watauga Board of Elections, will be over.

The fact that Cooper is an upstanding and effective Attorney General is just icing on the cake. I have known Roy Cooper since the early 90's, and he is one of the finest people I know. He is strong of character. He has stood up for basic fairness. He has spoken out against the extremist agenda of the General Assembly. He has defended the rights of consumers against predators of various stripes. He warned the Republican Overlords in the General Assembly when they were going too far and then refused to defend their bad laws when the federal courts unanimously ruled them unconstitutional.

This race is really, really important. Remember that on November 8th.

Lon Cecil (Libertarian): http://www.electcecil.org

Retired High Point engineer, Lon Cecil is making jobs the focus of his campaign. “We need to bring clean, modern industries to this state that can manufacture goods for energy, transportation and better environmental conditions. It will take more than short-term corporate tax bribes, however.”

Cecil is a newcomer to state-wide electoral politics, so it's unclear whether he might be a spoiler in the hot race for NC governor (though it's generally agreed that he will pull votes from McCrory more than from Cooper). Cecil did put himself into the US House 12th District race in 2010 and considered running again for that House District in 2014 but decided against it. He's a virtual unknown.

Cecil was born in Oklohama and got his degree there in electrical engineering. He's a veteran of the Vietnam War.

An Attack on Democracy Itself

The firebombing of the Orange County GOP office is indeed violence against the very idea of our democracy, and it must be resisted with all of our might. The perpetrators must -- and will -- be caught and punished.

It's salutary that Orange County Democrats immediately raised thousands of dollars to help rebuild that office.

My Take on This Year's Election -- President

PamsPicks.net, guest blogging:

I come from a long line of inadequately paid, hard-working, conservative folks in southwestern Virgina. Trump Country. And for a while I understood his attraction for them. He promised to get rid of the trade deals that many (including me) believe make for slave labor and slave wages. He promised not to mess with Social Security and Medicare. He supported Planned Parenthood (he's since "un-evolved" on that), and he wanted to run some bankers out of town. He promised to shake up the system.

I am a Bernie Democrat. Hillary Clinton is in my opinion far afield of anything close to a perfect candidate. For one thing, poetry's just not her thing and that sucks and it hurts her on the campaign trail too. The email server decision was dumb as hell, at best. She is prone to secrecy. She supported the war in Iraq and is hawkish, believing, it seems, that America needs to police the world. She supports fracking, for Pete's sake. And she's not a revolutionary (sigh). Clinton triangulates and compromises too much for me. I don't like her ties to Wall Street and corporate CEOs, and I don't trust her on trade or financial regulation.

But I do trust her on overturning Citizens United, pushing through debt-free college; a path to citizenship for immigrants; paid family leave; big investment in jobs; very progressive appointments to the Supreme Court; inclusion of more women and minorities in her administration; championing the rights of women and children; fighting for civil rights; addressing climate change; criminal-justice reform; LGBTQ rights; the expansion of Social Security, a public option for Obamacare (the single best way to force down insurance costs for everyone), and a hike in the minimum wage.

Besides, folks, the real Donald J. Trump is for the same things I fault Clinton for and is a certifiable nutjob with (or maybe without, who knows?) money to boot.

Trump is an authoritarian and a con man. He makes up things (sometimes just for the hell of it), and he encourages violence and fear. He is completely unqualified for public office. He is opposed to basic justice for anyone but himself, and he is selfish and a sleaze. He is incoherent on important issues like defense and trade. He is a misogynist, a xenophobe, a racist, and a sexual predator. He's a hypocrite.

I am still very concerned about Clinton, but, let's face it, she's not running against Bernie anymore. And, while I provide profiles below of both Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, I'm voting for Clinton because, bottom line, either she or Trump is going to end up in the White House, and I'm gonna make the most of the field I'm forced to play on.

Besides, I'm getting a little long in the tooth.

I don't want to spend the next four years trying to keep bad crap from happening. I want to spend the next four years trying to make progress. I don't want to spend my time trying to keep Trump from dumping millions of newly insured people off Obamacare. I don't want to spend my time trying to keep Trump from deporting five million immigrants (at least!) or forcing them to inform on their neighbors.

I don't want to spend the next four years having to fight a national stop and frisk program. I'd rather spend my time considering legit proposals that will stop the violence between minorities and community police. I don't want to spend my time fighting against yet another huge corporate tax cut. I want to spend the next four years pushing for a minimum wage and for making the very rich, like Trump, pay their fair share for building roads, and bridges, and schools, and community care clinics (and pay their taxes too).

I don't want to spend the next four years having to fight back against violations of basic human rights and decency, and respect: voter rights, abortion rights, equal pay for equal work, gay rights, and dealing with the neanderthals who insist climate change isn't real. I don't want to spend my next four years having to fight against hate and greed.

I don't want to spend the next four years freaking out about WTF/OMG does this mean: Trump has said, “We’re going to have to do things that are unthinkable."

Besides, I'm sure I'm not the only woman sick to death of men who say they "cherish women" and then go about the business of groping and assaulting us on airplanes and then bragging about it to their buddies -- in the locker room or anywhere else for that matter.

And most of all, I don't want to spend the rest of my life having to live with the inevitable devastating decisions of a right-wing Supreme Court. As noted over at FiveThirtyEight by Oliver Roeder, who simulated 10,000 hypothetical future courts under a President Trump and a President Clinton:

“If Donald Trump is elected president, the Supreme Court may, seat by vacated seat, will move rightward toward its most conservative position in recent memory. If Hillary Clinton is elected, the court may quickly become the most liberal it’s been in at least 80 years.”

Now of course it's up to us to force her to put what is the most progressive platform in the modern history of the Democratic Party into action. As Sanders put it recently: “I’m not going to sit here and say to you that Hillary Clinton is going to be great on all these issues with absolute confidence…. I’m saying that on many, many issues, her views are progressive. In many areas, they are awesome. Where they’re not progressive, we’ve got to push her."

So, it's a fact. Clinton's not progressive enough for me and many other Bernie Sanders' supporters. But I'm old enough to remind my fellow progressive activists to consider the fact that we don't think she's progressive enough has as much to do with how we have managed to push our politics leftward as it does with a rightward drift by her. And that's a good thing. And that's what I'm willing to work with because that's where we are.

Gary Johnson (Libertarian): www.johnsonweld.com and Gary Johnson President 2016 on Facebook

Johnson is the former Republican governor of New Mexico. I have to confess that I have a soft spot for Gary Johnson (just like my other favorite Libertarian, Sean Haugh, running for US Senate). I find myself agreeing with some of his policy positions (civil liberties and Internet freedom, for example), and I also like his demeanor (in a presidential year when candidate demeanor went completely rogue!)

Johnson supports abortion rights, gay marriage, and supports the legalization of marijuana, and he believes that the federal government should keep its nose out of these issues, but when it comes to state and local governments, Johnson believes their ability to restrict all of these rights is fair game. Johnson has some other policy positions that negate my support for him: wants to cut Medicare and Medicaid, wants to eliminate taxes for corporations, favors Charter schools over public schools, opposes any laws regulating gun ownership, and supports "Citizens United and no limits on corporacandidates." Johnson opposes government protections of civil rights, government regulations of financial institutions, and government policies to preserve the environment.

Jill Stein (Green--Write In): www.jill2016.com and Dr Jill Stein on Facebook

If you write in Jill Stein's name on your ballot under the Presidential race, your vote will be counted.

Stein has a medical degree from Harvard but has only been elected to one position: representative to the town meeting of Lexington, Massachusetts. Wanting to vote for a candidate rather than merely against one is obviously where we all want to be. Me included. I agree with Stein's opposition to fracking, her assertion that Obamacare isn't good enough, and her support for a single payer system, among other things.

Some of my progressive friends argue I should write her name in for this election because "she's not Hillary Clinton." But I prefer building authentic grassroots alternatives, instead of the Green Party's top-down vehicle for protest.

Besides, rather than articulating a compelling progressive vision for America, Stein is all about conspiracy theories. She seems to me at times to traffic in fear and paranoia, like her opposition to vaccines and her belief that WiFi is potentially dangerous. Stein believes that Trump and Clinton are equally bad. It may disappoint some of my more progressive readers, but I do not. Clinton doesn't get it for me on issues like fracking, trade and war, but Trump is a misogynist, racist, xenophobic billionaire with poor impulse control.

I agree with Noam Chomsky, a Stein supporter:

"In a swing state – a state where it's going to matter which way you vote – I would vote against Trump, and by elementary arithmetic, that means you hold your nose and you vote Democrat," he said. "I don't think there's any other rational choice. Abstaining from voting or, say, voting for ... a candidate you prefer, a minority candidate, just amounts to a vote for Donald Trump, which I think is a devastating prospect."

The bottom line is that the Green party is only on the ballot in 39 states and the District of Columbia. In North Carolina Stein is a write-in candidate, and North Carolina is in a position to make or break Trump's march to the White House this year. We don't cast our ballots in a vacuum, simply accepting or rejecting a single candidate. We have choices and the ones we make have consequences.

Will the United States of America Survive This Election?

Donald J. Trump went full demagogue in his speech yesterday in West Palm Beach. If I don't win, he told the alternately booing and cheering crowd, it's because of a giant conspiracy "against YOU." I've heard Trump supporters on camera say they're going for their guns if Trump doesn't win. Trump has laid the groundwork for that kind of violence.

So has Franklin Graham. At a "Carolina Values Summit" and rally in Raleigh yesterday, the reporter there from The Independent experienced this:

...an old man wearing a cowboy hat lets me know who’s in charge.

He calls me a “fucking sodomite” and tells me he hopes I “burn in the fires of hell.”

But wait. I’m married, I tell him. To a woman. I have kids.

“Well, then, you’re a sodomite lover,” he snarls....

Fast-forward a few minutes. It gets personal.

I’m talking to a sweet-looking little old lady who is attending the rally with her forty-six-year-old son. When he heard my line of questioning, he grabbed his mother by the arm.

“Look at his nose,” he says. “He’s a fucking Jew-boy. Don’t waste your time with him.” (Technically, my dad is Jewish, but my mom isn’t, so, according to Jewish law, I’m not actually a Jew.)

I believe this is what the Trump fans mean when they scream their disdain for "political correctness." Yeah, we fully understand the pinch on your "freedom" to express your hatred for fellow Americans who don't attend your church.

Trump told them yesterday that if he doesn't win the election, then his politically incorrect followers have lost America forever. The whole shooting match will be over. Except for the shooting, of course.

When you've set the table for famine, what's left but cannibalism?

Hundreds of Students at Liberty University Break with Jerry Falwell Jr. Over Trump

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them."

--Isaiah 11:6 

A statement written in opposition to the presidential ambitions of Donald J. Trump and critical of Liberty University's president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for endorsing Trump has quickly gained the support of many students at the Lynchburg, Va., college.

In the months since Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed him, Donald Trump has been inexorably associated with Liberty University. We are Liberty students who are disappointed with President Falwell’s endorsement and are tired of being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in American history. Donald Trump does not represent our values and we want nothing to do with him....

Read the entire statement and Falwell's response to it.

If You See Caitlyn Jenner in the Men's Room...

...you should call Governor McCrory and congratulate him for being actually dumber than a two-dollar dog.

What he said last night in the debate with Roy Cooper. Pay attention! Your governor is an idiot.

Liveblogging the McCrory-Cooper Debate

My own drinking game this evening: every time Pat McCrory claims he's stepped on toes on both the right and the left, take a snort.

Star power (and an index to how important the national media considers this race) ... Church Todd in the moderator's seat.

Here we go!

1-minute opening statements. McCrory, without his glasses, goes immediately to his crisis management skills with the floods down east. "Not my first crisis." Problem-solver.

Cooper opening: Thoughts and prayers for flood victims. McCrory has taken our state backward, and he's not being honest about his record. Whoa. Cooper on the attack right out of the gate. Heavy emphasis on school funding. HB2!

7:06:
1st question: Chuck Todd goes right to economic impact of HB2. How do you fix the state's reputation?

McCrory, immediately whining about the extremely liberal mayor of Charlotte, with help from the Attorney General (Roy Cooper, he's referring to you!) ... it's all their fault.

Cooper: House Bill 2 has to be repealed. We've lost jobs. McCrory continues to claim this isn't hurting our economy. Governor, what planet are you on? You've got to quit blaming it on other people.

McCrory: The Attorney General doesn't deny that he and the Mayor of Charlotte started this mess. (Did he say "this mess"?)

Cooper: Glad he's admitting it's a mess and an embarrassment to the state.

Question to Cooper: You declined to defend HB2. How can you pick and choose which laws you defend.

Cooper: I told the governor not to sign it because it writes discrimination into law. It has to stop.

McCrory: He's running a commercial against me! We've created 300,000 new jobs. His commercial is a lie. Let's get off the social issues. Let's get out of the bathroom.

Question to McCrory: Why was it okay for Raleigh to get involved in Charlotte politics?

McCrory: We had to stop government overreach. (Now, that's just too funny, considering the overreach in HB2!)

Cooper: McCrory is the one who's been all over national TV, talking about HB2.

Question: What bathroom can Kaitlin Jenner use in North Carolina? (zing!)

Cooper not answering that question.

McCrory: She can go anywhere she wants to in a private facility. If she goes to a public facility, she has to go to the men's shower. (Are you freaking kidding me?)

Cooper: Drilling in on HB2.

McCrory: Desperate to change the topic. Wants to claim that if Cooper were governor, we'd be deeper in debt.

Cooper: He promised a tax cut. He came through for the rich and for corporations. But he's raised taxes on middle-income citizens. If you go to a movie, you pay a tax, thanks to him.

McCrory: Returns to the "Carolina Comeback" as a trope. Yes or no, Mr. Cooper, are you going to raise taxes?

Cooper: We do not have to raise taxes to fix our economy.

7:19:
Teacher pay. According to statistics, a teacher cannot get to $50,000 per year salary until 25th year in the profession, yet you, Goverrnor,  have bragged that the average salary is $50,000.

McCrory: We've given teachers $5,000 more. That's progress.

Cooper: My mom was a public school teacher. The governor is not being honest about these figures. We're 44th in teacher pay. Try to find a teacher who's making $50,000 a year. You need to be straight with the people.

McCrory: You're about as straight as another NC politician, John Edwards. (He's now channeling Trump! Pure trash-talk!)

Cooper: When I was in the General Assembly, we moved teacher pay from 40-something in the nation to 20-something.

Question to McCrory: You say teacher pay is not enough. Why not do something about it now?

McCrory: Whining about the terrible, horrible economic situation he had to deal with coming into office.

Question to Cooper: Where do you get the money for more teacher pay?

Cooper: Brings up the fact that McCrory moved disaster relief money to defend HB2.

McCrory: Calls Cooper a liar. (Cue the fact-checkers!)

Cooper: I helped pass through the disaster relief funds for Hurricane Floyd. We shouldn't be taking money out of that fund.

7:26: Question to McCrory about breaking his promise not to sign any more restrictions on abortions.

McCrory: Claims the laws he's signed didn't do a thing to restrict abortions. I was just protecting women's health. No challenges to our abortion laws. (Huh? Is he serious?)

Cooper: Distortion, misrepresentation of your record! He signed a law that put state government into the exam room with the woman and her doctor. He promised he wouldn't put more restrictions in place. He did. Now he's saying it wasn't a restriction.

McCrory: Why didn't you go scrub the floors in abortion clinics that were dirty?

Cooper: Another example of McCrory putting social issues ahead of the well being of all our citizens. He's putting right-wing ideological issues ahead of the good of the state.

BREAK. Lord, have mercy! This is the best debate of the season! Fast-moving and sharp.

7:31: Question to Cooper: State crime lab ... excellent service?

Cooper: This is an issue about leadership ... identifying a problem and working to fix the problem. When I took office, we had a terrible backlog in rape kits. Turns to McCrory's poor administration of Charlotte's crime lab. I'm sure we'll hear him blame it on somebody else.

McCrory: The reason Charlotte had its own crime lab was because Cooper wasn't doing his job. (Cooper set him up for that one!)

Cooper: Another distortion. The Charlotte crime lab was started in 1969. (Oh, good come-back!)

McCrory: I've asked for more money for the crime lab. I've gotten not one email from Cooper to ask for more money.

Cooper: We met with McCrory's budget director every time before a legislative session to make our requests. The governor has not been doing his job getting resources.

McCrory: Cooper's head of SBI was a political hack.

7:35:
To McCrory: You signed a law keeping police body cams secret. Don't we need more openness?

McCrory: We're protecting the rights of criminals (yeah, right!). Politicians shouldn't be making the decision to release footage. It needs to be a judge. It's a perfect law.

Cooper: I'm mindful that there are communities out there that feel targeted. They want respect. Part of mutual respect is transparency.

McCrory: Typical Roy Cooper. After the law is passed, he finds fault with it.

Cooper: I have strong support from law enforcement across North Carolina. Law enforcement needs respect, needs support, but the community needs respect too.

Question to Cooper: Hillary Clinton said implicit bias is sometimes a problem with police. Do you agree with that?

Cooper: We need to emphasize community policing.

McCrory: I think there's bias in all of us. I agree with Cooper: we need more police training. But to attack police officers, as Hillary has done, is bad.

Question to Cooper: What does Black Lives Matter mean to you?

Cooper: It's true. They do matter. And they often feel targeted. What they want is to be heard and to be respected.

McCrory: I was an admirer of Martin Luther King. All lives matter.

7:42:
National politics are impacting the state. To McCrory, why didn't you retract your support for Trump over the Access Hollywood tape?

McCrory: Trump needs to have his mouth washed out with soap. But so does Hillary Clinton. I'm voting for the candidate that best represents my viewpoint.

Cooper: It's hard to believe that he continues to support a candidate who has admitted to sexual assault. Governor, you've gone to Trump rallies and made jokes about HB2 on stage. McCrory and Trump are a lot alike.

McCrory:You had to make a choice to vote for Bill Clinton, didn't you?

Cooper: Trump is bad for this country.

Question to Cooper: Do you think Hillary is honest and trustworthy?

Cooper: More than Trump. She's not going to be a dangerous president, like Trump.

Question to McCrory: Is Trump a role-model for kids?

McCrory: Changes the subject to Syrian refugees. (You can run, Governor, but you cannot hide.)

7:47:
Question on Obamacare. There's only one major insurer in North Carolina offering Obamacare.

Cooper: The reason for that is Governor Cooper and his pals in the General Assembly, who have fought all vestiges of Obamacare. Brings up the failure to expand Medicaid. McCrory is putting the social issues ahead of the best policies for our state, once again.

McCrory: It's a first: I'm being blamed for Obamacare. I tried to get you to fight Obamacare with other states, but you wouldn't. If you feel so good about Obamacare, get on it and give up your state insurance.

Cooper: The governor will not accept the billions in federal money that we've already paid in and get it back for Medicaid.

McCrory: Admit Obamacare is a failure. Just admit it. It's okay to admit it.

Cooper: We can make a North Carolina plan and expand Medicaid in a North Carolina way. But the governor continues to say no because of ideology.

Question to McCrory: Why won't you expand Medicaid.

McCrory: Because we don't know the costs. Whines about the Perdue administration's spending on Medicaid.

7:52:
Voter ID law was ruled unconstitutional. Do you regret signing the bill?

McCrory: Absolutely not. If an ID is good enough to buy Sudafed, it's good enough to vote.

Cooper: The legislation was much broader than mere voter ID. It had to do with early voting and much more. It targeted black people and young people.

Not one question on coal ash. Thank you so much, Chuck Todd!

Closing statements, but my ears have quit listening.