How Berger Won
Published August 10, 2013
By Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, August 9, 2013.
Carter has done a couple of insightful (as always) blogs about Senator Phil Berger: that he’s a true-believer conservative and a small-town product, in contrast to the big-city moderates who are the second- and third-most powerful Republicans in North Carolina (respectively, Thom Tillis and Pat McCrory).
It also looks like Berger was a lot smarter than the other two when it came to figuring out how to be the most powerful man in town. It’s a classic lesson in getting and using political power.
First, Berger decided that nobody would get to his right. He always staked out the most extreme right-wing ground on issues. He boxed in McCrory and Tillis, who were terrified of alienating the right. Berger knew that, in the end, both would crumble like chocolate chip cookies.
Second, unlike Tillis, he didn’t hamstring himself by saying he’d run for U.S. Senate and not President Pro-Tem again.
Third, again unlike Tillis, he didn’t stake himself out promising that the legislature would leave early. Rule of thumb: the most powerful man in the legislature is the one who doesn’t care when he gets home.
At bottom of all this, of course, is an inescapable conclusion: Berger & Co. hate – and from what I hear that’s not too strong a word – Tillis and McCrory. And he took them to school this session.
August 10, 2013 at 8:25 am
Richard Bunce says:
Political hack analyzing the internal workings of the opposing party isn't worth the bits used to publish it.
August 10, 2013 at 11:23 am
dj anderson says:
Did Gary come to praise Berger, or bury Tillis & McCrory, or both?...well, or bury all three, as usual? When is Gary going to tire of trying to look back at what others are doing, and look at his people?
When is Gary going to tell us who is the leader of his Democratic Party? It's a short list to pick from. He's not speaking for his party, just against the other.
When is Gary going to critique the Democratic strategy for a comeback in 2014 & 2016? Does he have an idea of what that is? Does anyone?
Gary does a good job of telling Republicans they are wrong in bringing about change, and letting Democrats feel like they did nothing wrong to bring about change. Keep their heads in the sand while making a living entertaining us.
