The Top 10 Republican mistakes

Published August 8, 2013

by Bob Geary, Indy Week, August 9 edition.

We were jockeying for position in the Target store in Raleigh, the moms and kids and I all racing for the pens, pads and back-to-school bargains on the last-ever sales tax holiday weekend in North Carolina, when it struck me: Our state Republicans are their own worst enemies.

I'm not talking here about their reactionary policies or payola politics. Their policies are intentional—would they be Republicans if they couldn't punish poor folks?—and they seem devoted to the idea that if you hold a public office, you should be able to use it to make money for yourself and your friends.

Without going to jail, of course. That, to quote Richard Nixon, would be wrong.

Republicans know that when they pass a budget and it cuts school aid, or they pass a bill and it cuts unemployment benefits, they can simply get in front of the TV cameras and say that the budget helps schools, or the bill helps the unemployed, and most citizens won't realize they're not telling the truth.

The rule, then, is to avoid doing things that are so obviously stupid or dishonest that they give the truth away.

Lately, though, the Republicans have been making all kinds of telltale mistakes.

10. TAXING OUR PATIENCE The Republicans gave us "tax reform" this legislative session, cutting taxes on the rich and big corporations. Because the tax cuts were so costly, the GOP imposed new sales taxes on some items, like movie tickets. Still, most of us might not have noticed what they were up to—until the Republicans also repealed the annual back-to-school sales tax holiday that many stores advertised and shoppers could enjoy. Worse, they timed the repeal so stores could advertise last weekend's tax holiday as the last one ever—thanks to the GOP's brand of "reform."

9. HATING ON EDUCATION... The Republican budget added here and subtracted there from public school aid, making it hard for critics to prove that the schools are worse off—which they are. But flaunting their disdain for education, the Republicans ended (with some exceptions) pay increases for teachers who earn master's degrees. Such an easy story for TV news: the Republicans are against better-educated educators.

8. ...AND THEN LYING ABOUT IT The Republican budget gave teachers no pay hike—zero. Our teachers' pay was already near the bottom, and this new goose egg could put us dead last. But then Gov. Pat McCrory, in a speech to the N.C. Chamber of Commerce, claimed that with "tax reform," teachers would see a 1 percent hike in their take-home pay. Not true. Only people making $250,000 or more will see a 1 percent gain—a point we might've missed until the clueless McCrory spoke up.

7. UNCONCEALED MAYHEM Are the Republicans in thrall to the gun lobby? If you were in doubt, they changed the law so people with conceal-carry permits can take guns into bars. Cue comedian Bill Maher: Call it the "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" law.

6. HATING ON WOMEN It's Republican policy to oppose abortion rights. But you could argue that they're not against women per se. You could, except they waited until the end of the session to unveil a horror-show of anti-choice measures without talking to women's health experts. Worse, they passed the measures as amendments to, first, an anti- Sharia Law bill and, later, a motorcycle safety bill. Were they trying to be funny?

5. HATING ON MEDICAID You've heard the Republicans' chant: Medicaid is broken! Medicaid is broken! It isn't—or it wasn't—but whether Medicaid worked well under Democratic administrations was at least a debatable question. But then the Republicans rolled out their new dysfunctional system, NCTracks, for paying Medicaid claims to doctors and other health care providers. It's "a real mess," says Adam Searing, director of the N.C. Health Access Coalition.

4. FRACKING UP GOVERNMENT The N.C. Rural Center was a dubious idea when the Democrats invented it. Public funds were doled out for economic development by a political board without much oversight. The Republicans shut it down, while inventing a new " public-private partnership" for development deals brought in by their own political cronies. The deals can be financed, Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker proposed, using a slush fund from fracking revenues. Good thing the press isn't here, Decker told a business crowd—and a News & Observer reporter duly jotted it down.

3. CHAPPING ON CHARLOTTE McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, was popular in the Queen City, but not so much since the Republicans took away its airport. After realizing that they should've heeded the state treasurer's warnings about bond defaults, the GOP gave it back, but not really. The Charlotte Observer can't get enough of this Republican screw-up story, which is now in court—and will be for months.

2. DOING FOR DUKE ENERGY Is McCrory, who worked for the giant utility, still a wholly owned Duke Energy asset? Some say yes, and they say it with more confidence after McCrory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources let the corporation off with a piddling $99,000 fine for polluting, via coal-ash discharges, the groundwater around its plants in Asheville and Charlotte.

1. SHAMELESS HYPOCRISY Republican State Chairman Claude Pope denounced D.G. Martin, the popular and mild-mannered host of UNC-TV's "Bookwatch," for saying bad things about the GOP in a newspaper column. Pope declared that such a toxic and divisive person shouldn't be on TV. I guess he never saw the truly vile and disgusting Jesse Helms when he was WRAL's editorialist—before he ran for Senate on the Republican ticket.

Read More NC SPIN >>

August 8, 2013 at 7:27 am
jack dawsey says:

Mr. Geary "nailed" it in defining the current Republican Party. They are not the beloved GOP I belonged to (1964-2002).

These newfangled republicans are mean-spirited, divisive, ornery, obstinate and shameless. Extremism is a virtue in their mind. They are more akin to extreme ideologues dressed in 3-piece Jos. A. Banks suits. Excuse me! They owe Jos. A. Banks an apology.

These folk will systematically dismantle the farsightedness and progress their fathers and mother republicans and their mild-mannered democrat friends made in NC beginning about the year 1960.

August 8, 2013 at 9:44 am
Norm Kelly says:

Haven't even finished reading this piece of crap post and already can't stand the lies and distortions of the truth that are presented.

#5 Hating on Medicaid: "Republicans rolled out their dysfunctional system, NCTracks". Facts are damn funny things. Most politicians like to ignore or stretch them. Liberals don't even know what facts are. NCTracks has been in the works for a decade. It was released way behind schedule and, if I remember correctly, over budget. The Republicans WERE NOT in power 10 years ago. This piece of garbage was created under DEMOCRAT RULE! Another case of "tell the same lie often enough and people will begin to believe it".

I have experience with NCTracks, unfortunately. So far it has truly proven to be a nightmare to deal with. That doesn't mean that Medicaid ain't broken. Anyone that's willing to look at most government programs will come to the rapid conclusion that fixin' is called for. Most everything the federal government gets involved with gets more screwed up than it was before they stuck their nose where it don't belong.

Everyone, especially our Liberal friends, need to realize that the US Constitution is first NOT a living document that can be bent to say what you want it to. Second, the US Constitution LIMITS the power of the federal government. Liberals insist that the Constitution is a limit on the people and gives free reign to the feds. Exactly the opposite of what is true. Typical of Liberals.

Gotta love Liberals.

August 8, 2013 at 7:13 pm
Norm Kelly says:

Haven't even finished reading this piece of cr-p post and already can't stand the lies and distortions of the truth that are presented.

Gotta love Liberals.

August 17, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Terry McEntire says:

Exactly! Now that are actually being called on their lies I'm sure you'll be labeled "uneducated" or something.

August 17, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Terry McEntire says:

Very bad "reporting." Democrats are the real haters as they have kept our state oppressed for the last 100 years. They love women's rights so much they want to take them away before they are even born! They created the economic mess and the low pay grade for education with no accountability. Where's the mention of Mike Easley's felony charges and Bev Perdue's financial indiscretions?

August 18, 2013 at 11:52 am
Norm Kelly says:

Sometimes I just can't help myself. Something inside me forces me to come back to garbage and continue reading it & continue commenting on it. I know that garbage is usually best left by the curb for some government agency to pick up. This blog post being the first to get put out for pickup. But I'm back. It starts right at the beginning of the article.

Other areas of the country are also run by liberals. Like New York & California. They have chosen to continue to raise income taxes on "the wealthy". What's happening in those areas? People of wealth, who by definition have the means, leave the state. They move to areas of the country where income tax rates are more reasonable. If the "progressives" in NC continued their insane ways, NC would become another NY or CA. It's a proven fact that when income tax rates are set to a high enough level, people who can simply remove themselves from the situation. If it happened there, it would most definitely happen here. Once again, that's a fact, so it's better left ignored.

"and they seem devoted to the idea that if you hold a public office, you should be able to use it to make money for yourself and your friends" The blogger in this case sure sounds like the prior Democrat administrations are being referenced. It was wrong when the Dems were in power & did it. It remains wrong now. So what's the big deal? I hate it, but don't find it any more offensive now than I did 10 years ago. Bigger fish to fry, I guess.

August 18, 2013 at 12:08 pm
Norm Kelly says:

Here we go again.

So, in NC, the Repubs decided that abortion is MAJOR surgery and needs to be treated like MAJOR surgery. Facilities have to have a doctor on-site. Really? This is considered oppressive regulation? Why would any woman want to get major surgery without a doctor present? Darn the press for seeing through the plan!

Operating rooms have to be treated like operating rooms in abortion clinics, just like any other operating room? I'm beginning to understand why this is considered bad for women. Who would want to have major surgery in a properly equipped, inspected, and maintained operating room. Shame on those wascally Republicans.

The only clinic that was expected to be able to hold up to the new standards was shut down because it couldn't meet the old standards. What does that tell you about the rest of the abortion clinics in our state?

It's obvious that Republicans intent was to prevent abortions. There is no way the intent could have been safer, cleaner, healthier clinics would be the result. And once again, liberals are not willing to try it any other way. Their way or the highway. Sometimes change is a good thing. But unless we are allowed to try something in a new way, we'll never know if it could be better. Liberals are obviously omniscient, so doing anything in a way different than the way they implemented it just simply won't work. New people, new ideas. What's wrong with new ideas. Especially when it's already been demonstrated that the old ideas & ways of getting it done AIN'T working.