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When I was faster i was always behind.

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Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Enhanced Protest Techniques / Moral Mondays uncover what could be the real “moral majority”

Moral Mondays uncover what could be the real “moral majority”

by Kay|  July 11, 20136:41 pm| 85 Comments

This post is in: Enhanced Protest Techniques, Events

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Commenter Summer sent me this great piece about Moral Monday protests in North Carolina from The Feminist Wire:

“Grotesque” is the word the New York Times used in an editorial today to describe North Carolina politics. I can think of some others.
In many ways, what’s happening in North Carolina is not entirely different from what is happening in places all over the country. In North Carolina as in other places, legislators are investing immense time and resources on abortion policy that intervenes in “problems” that arepolitical phantasms, while their constituents are navigating fundamental problems like hunger and access to basic health care. Education is being gutted in many states. And in what appears to be a desperate attempt to hold onto power, the Right is relying on some tried and true strategies that have the effect of un-democratizing democracy bylimiting public protest and constraining political participation (through voter ID laws and a tax on parents’ of college students who register in college towns). (In North Carolina too, moneyed interests are at work buttressing policymakers’ efforts by labeling some forms of citizenship as, perhaps, too citizen-y.)
But in North Carolina, weekly Moral Monday protests have been growing since April. Reverend Doctor William Barber, the state’s NAACP President, has spearheaded and sustained civil disobedience that has called out thousands of protesters and led to hundreds of arrests. The sheer mobilization of people achieved by Moral Mondays is incredible and inspiring. But what’s happening in North Carolina is worth paying attention to for three additional reasons.
1.News coverage has incorrectly reported that this past Mondays’ protest revolved around the North Carolina General Assembly’s recent abortion related efforts. The policy aims is to reduce access to one clinic in a state with a highway that stretches 604 miles from border to border. Surely, many protestors cared about reproductive justice, a site of struggle in which abortion is only one facet. But protestors were there to speak up about higher education, gerrymandering, the racism deeply structuring the criminal justice system, unemployment benefits, policy that directly attacks the lives of people with disabilities, the sustained exclusion of LGBTQ North Carolinians from any state recognition, pay increases for the NC Cabinet, and privatization of cityand county resources. (It’s always worth considering when and under what circumstances “big government” is demonized and when it is strategically deployed.)
I know the range of issues protestors were fighting against because I was there. The conversations that happened on the bus ride from Asheville, North Carolina to Raleigh were wide ranging as people articulated how voting rights, redistricting, and abortion policy are connected to environmental sustainability, family wellbeing, and racism. Participants whose political engagement tends towards a single issue (or maybe two) are articulating a seemingly newfound understanding of the importance of coalition building. Moral Mondays represent a significant moment in contemporary political struggle wherein single-issue politics are giving way to a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of social issues.
2. On Moral Monday, protestors moved from the lawn outside the Legislative Building into the rotunda that bridges the House and Senate chambers. Police gave protestors a five-minute warning to vacate the premises. A select group stayed and was subsequently arrested. I was not a part of that group.
As I made way toward the exit at the two-minute warning, I passed an Ob-Gyn entering the rotunda, the area in which arrests would promptly begin. I knew she was an Ob-Gyn because she was wearing her white doctors’ coat embroidered with her name and professional affiliation. I do not know if she was arrested. But her visibility at Moral Mondays demonstrates something significant.
By wearing her physician’s jacket, the woman I saw was protesting not as a “Democrat” or a liberal, a progressive or a radical, but first and foremost as a doctor.

It really is a broad coalition, a diverse group of people down there getting arrested, with the NAACP in the lead. The lack of a divide on social issues is heartening because as you all know “social issues” have been used very effectively over the years to divide us on economic issues.

Summer would also like to organize a Balloon Juice meet-up in North Carolina:

So if you’d like to let people know that they can email summerjsmith97 at gmail, I will put something together here in Durham or Raleigh, maybe even one after a protest.

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85Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    The lack of a divide on social issues is heartening because as you all know “social issues” have been used very effectively over the years to divide us on economic issues.

    Isn’t the conventional wisdom that Obama lost NC in 2012 because of gay marriage?

    Anyway, this is heartening to see. Like the Texas protests.

  2. 2.

    gogol's wife

    July 11, 2013 at 6:56 pm

    God speed these good people. I read that editorial in the Times and was deeply shocked.

  3. 3.

    gbear

    July 11, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    I bet no one dressed up like a drone. Bunch of Obots.

  4. 4.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    @Baud:

    Well, but the question is what you do with that, right?
    You could say “oh, you’ll lose on that” OR you could just bring it in, which is what the NAACP are doing.

  5. 5.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    July 11, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    I’m really glad to read that non-wingnut protesting seems to have gotten past the idiotic giant puppet stage to substance. Kudos, NC people.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    @Kay:

    Sure. No choice but to plod ahead and try to overcome those barriers. I just hope protest unity carries over into election unity when the time comes.

  7. 7.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    @Baud:

    He won NC by 0.32% in 2008. I don’t think anyone expected him to win it in 2012. I doubt, honestly, that gay marriage was the decisive factor.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    @NickT:

    I’m just repeating what I’ve read. The Dems held the convention there, so someone thought NC was a good short or long term investment .

  9. 9.

    Hal

    July 11, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    Republicans claim to have the wind at their backs on the abortion issue, and yet seem incapable of passing laws without lying and subterfuge backed up by an astonishing amount of ignorance regarding female anatomy and reproduction. In conservative states.

    Issues like this are for me one major reason to vote Dem in 2016. If all that can be accomplished is a 5-4 flip on the Supreme Court, that would go very far (potentially) in holding off some of the insanity from the right. I’m still holding out for a conservative to retire before 2016. If anything, Obama’s made some good SC picks.

  10. 10.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 11, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    There is no commenter named Summer. This sounds like one of those craigslist serial killers, different venue.

  11. 11.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    @Baud:

    It was worth putting the convention there as a means of fighting for Virginia and North Carolina and forcing Romney to spend money. When it comes to North Carolina, I am inclined to think that Governor Bev Perdue’s extreme unpopularity plus an unimpressive economy are more plausible candidates for our failure to win NC again, although it was always going to be a very long shot once some of the more favorable conditions of 2008 were removed.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    @Baud:

    I would bet you 50 dollars that these people vote :)

    Apparently the minister had a change of heart on SS marriage some time ago.

    It’s interesting, because my sense is GOP guv is standard issue plutocrat and HE is annoyed at all these social.issues clouding up the tax credits and privatization AGENDA.

    What happens if the social.issue divide starts to cut AGAINST them?

  13. 13.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:11 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Summer says:
    June 22, 2013 at 9:53 am
    Happy birthday, John! Thanks for your rockin’ blog!

  14. 14.

    gene108

    July 11, 2013 at 7:12 pm

    As much as this protesting is nice to see, how many people “secretly” are happy with what the Republicans are doing?

    I’ve known people from rural North Carolina, who really don’t like anyone who hints of the pointed-headed Chapel Hill elite and would have been happy to vote these guys into office, just to make sure an effete liberal doesn’t get in.

    They may not feel like they need to make as much noise, since their guys are in power and maybe secure.

    There’s a significant reactionary group in the state, which for example kept re-electing Jesse Helms and didn’t vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate from 1980 to 2004.

    The abortion issue maybe a big winner for rural religious North Carolinians, who do not support legal abortion (Eric Rudolph has holed up in rural Western North Carolina, when the man hunt for him was going down), though they may not like cuts to their public schools or other state benefits.

    I really don’t know how the acts of the Republican legislature are playing out across the states. Most of the folks I know from NC are from RTP, but I do know there’s a big cultural difference between RTP and rural NC.

    I really do wonder how it’s playing out in rural NC, which is what will make or brake this Republican government.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    She’s an infrequent commentor. I asked her about NC the other night.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 7:13 pm

    @Hal:

    Still peeved we have to live with Bush I’s appointment of Clarence Thomas.

    @NickT:

    Fair enough. I do recall that NC was controversial because NC is an anti-union state, so I thought it was more than that.

    @Kay:

    I agree. I’m curious to see how the GOP nominee in 2016 will handle being against gay marriage, as he will have to be.

  17. 17.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 11, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    @NickT:

    1. You were supposed to pie me, assclown.
    2. Of course “she” is going to pretend to be a real commenter. The ruse wouldn’t work otherwise.

  18. 18.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Taking five minutes off from your neighbor’s sexy pink raft, eh?

  19. 19.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 11, 2013 at 7:16 pm

    @NickT: OMG, are you doing comedy now? I like that you’ve set reach goals for yourself.

  20. 20.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:18 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Just documenting your various atrocities. You seem terribly sensitive this evening. Did your “partner” deflate as you were getting all hot and heavy?

  21. 21.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    @gene108:

    You advocate this yourself, but I don’t think Democrats and liberals should weigh engagement on whether we’ll flip the state in 6 months.
    They won’t. They should be there anyway.
    One of tge funny parts of being in a political minority (in this county) is how grateful.people are to see you :)
    “I thought I was ALONE!”
    It has it’s own odd appeal, being outnumbered.

  22. 22.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 11, 2013 at 7:23 pm

    @NickT: Good stuff there. Try repeating it a third time for maximum lolz.

  23. 23.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:25 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Let me know if you need assistance with any of the difficult words. I like to do what I can to help the unfortunate.

  24. 24.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:26 pm

    Anyway, Kay, returning to intelligent conversation, do you think this diverse coalition will hold together when the 2014 elections come around? What can the Democrats do to make it so?

  25. 25.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 7:40 pm

    @NickT:

    I think voting rights are really important for turnout. I wish “Democrats” (allies, whomever) would take it truly national. Go into.places like Alabama, where there isn’t a clear short term gain. Just BE the voting rights people, on the ground. It’s just really important to a vital group of Democrats. It’s always been really important in states like OH where they need huge turnout in 5 counties, but it could be national.They don’t have to “understand” it, and they won’t, because it’s directed toward very specific groups. They should just do it.

  26. 26.

    Rob in CT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:45 pm

    Hmm. I’ll be down in NC in a week. I’ll have to ask my Aunt (a Long Island transplant) how she sees things. Former/present kinda-sorta Catholic, probably not thrilled about abortion, but quite liberal in most ways. Could be an interesting conversation.

  27. 27.

    PhaseIV

    July 11, 2013 at 7:45 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    The only Summer I know is Summer Glau — a somewhat popular squeaky-voiced actress who is not a serial killer.

    I can only guess a woman named Summer must have been cruel to you at some point in your life.

  28. 28.

    JoyfulA

    July 11, 2013 at 7:52 pm

    @Kay: That’s the 50-state Howard Dean strategy, which brought a DNC organizer into the red middle of this blue state. It was great, and I miss it.

  29. 29.

    MikeJ

    July 11, 2013 at 7:54 pm

    @PhaseIV:

    The only Summer I know is Summer Glau — a somewhat popular squeaky-voiced actress who is not a serial killer.

    That you know of.

  30. 30.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    @Kay:

    Have they given any reason for not doing so? I am all in favor of taking back any ground we can, so I’d be interested to hear whether they feel short of money, organizers, resources – or whether they just can’t be bothered.

  31. 31.

    bemused

    July 11, 2013 at 7:59 pm

    We have family in Raleigh and am sick thinking of our grandkids living in a state that lunatics are trying to flush down the toilet as rapidly as possible.My dil said she warned some friends out of work awhile ago that their unemployment checks were going to drop drastically. I got the impression that a lot ofpeople weren’t paying attention to what was happening seemingly right under their noses but Moral Mondays is doing a good job of getting people up to speed on what is going on and now it’s also national news. My dil says she has had to turn off the news, she gets steaming mad.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 8:00 pm

    @JoyfulA:

    I was less impressed with it. We got an organizer who gave us a powerpoint with incredibly complex plans and this huge workload, and then I didn’t see him again. He lived like 60 miles away.

    I actually like to deal with labor people. They’re very straightforward and focused. I know not everyone HAS labor people, though.

  33. 33.

    John 2.0

    July 11, 2013 at 8:06 pm

    @Baud: Amendment 1 didn’t have much to do with Obama’s loss of NC (although I will say his announcement that he supported marriage equality the day after the Amendment succeed did make a lot of advocates here VERY angry at his timing). As stated above Gov. Bev Perdue basically torpedoed any chance of a blue NC. She won four years prior due to the Obama ground game and the ‘Mecklenburg Curse.’ But she almost never had approval ratings get out of the 30s, and was generally a pretty terrible governor. She announced less than a year before the election that she wouldn’t run again. So the Republican candidate, who had spent 4 years running against Perdue had a huge head start on a state Democratic party in complete disarray, with almost no time to do fundraising or back a candidate (who was Perdue’s Lt. Governor, and even though that office is elected separately, was tarred with Perdue’s unpopular record).

    So it was less about gay marriage, and a lot more about one side being pretty much dispirited. Of course, now that side is pretty fired up with all that’s happened since the R’s have control of all branches of government here.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    July 11, 2013 at 8:08 pm

    @Baud:

    The Dems held the convention there, so someone thought NC was a good short or long term investment .

    Long term. 2008 was a sign that NC is at least within striking distance. It probably won’t go Democratic regularly for a while, but doing it just once is proof that it could happen again. And it’s a lot more likely to happen again sooner than later if we see 2008 as proof of future possibilities and put some effort into developing things there rather than a one time fluke.

  35. 35.

    Yatsuno

    July 11, 2013 at 8:10 pm

    @bemused: It really is amazing what straight folk will tolerate as long as dem kweerz are getting screwed over.*

    *There was just no way to not make that sexual. So I said to Hades with it.

  36. 36.

    Cassidy

    July 11, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    Speaking of women who kick ass, OT…

    This weekend, Invicta FC 6 is happening. They’re the female fighting organization and they’re moving up to PPV. The main event is Cris “Cyborg” Santos v. Marloes Coenen for the FW belt. Cyborg won their first match, but was later caught for steroids. She should be clean now and is tested frequently by IFC, but still has a significant amount of muscle mass, Coenen is a Dutch kickboxer and submission wiz and I’m hoping she wins. The card also features Thug Rose Namajunas, Rowdy Bec Hyatt, Joanne Calderwood, Leslie Smith, and Sarah D’Alelio. The whole card looks good, it’s not expensive.

    I’ve actually had a couple of interesting conversations the last couple of days, one with my oldest daughter and fellow fight fan, about Cyborg. If you go to any MMA board or website, you’ll find her regularly referred to as “brutish”, “ugly”, or “she’s a man” or any combination of derogatory terms. I’ve never described her that way, but the MMA demographic isn’t exactly the most progressive bunch. In all her interviews she strikes me as a nice person who is just exceptionally athletic. The steroid bust didn’t help. The conversation with my daughter broadened into why athletic women seem to have to pose nude or in skimpy clothing to get noticed; she was annoyed with the ESPN body issue and Meisha Tate, another fighter, being nude. I explained a little bit more about the body issue and how it is pretty tasteful and seems to cover the gamut of male and female athletes, skin colors, and even non-traditional athletes, but she was still annoyed at the broader point that female athletes have to sell pictures of their ass to make money. All I could do is tell her that all fighters, except the big names, have to hustle to make money and the women have at least one more asset they can use over the guys. Wish I had a better answer than that.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 8:13 pm

    @JoyfulA:

    I would say, too, there’s a part ofcthis that doesn’t get talked about and it’s candidate recruitment. It’s hard to get people to run in R districts.
    Marcy Kaptur does it. She actually recruits people. If there’s “never” a candidate in some of these districts, House members in adjoining districts should be helping find one. She’s “safe”. She doesn’t HAVE to do this recruiting. Still, she does. My election law teacher in law school was recruited by Kaptur to run in this brutal district. He lost, but he went on to.local government.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 11, 2013 at 8:14 pm

    @Kay: I think that Dean got the idea of the 50 state strategy rolling; as far as execution goes, you aren’t the only person I know of who was less than impressed.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 8:14 pm

    @John 2.0:

    Thanks for the info. I have to admit, I get annoyed with “dispirited” Dems. We get upset with other people have short memories, and we too often don’t do any better.

    @Roger Moore:

    Sooner rather than later, hopefully. Same with Texas.

  40. 40.

    MomSense

    July 11, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    I have so many friends in NC who have been participating–it is just incredible! Wish I could be there!

  41. 41.

    MomSense

    July 11, 2013 at 8:18 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t know why he lost but I have heard my friends describe the difficulties with voting this year. In 2008 we registered so many people to vote (I was there for the primary) using One Stop Early Vote. This last time around they had fewer days of early voting and registration, shorter times–and really long lines. People had to go again and again to try and vote. Now the legislature wants to get rid of it all together.

  42. 42.

    bemused

    July 11, 2013 at 8:19 pm

    @Yatsuno:

    I think some of my kids’ friends, in their 30’s, have paid little attention to issues, any issue, don’t watch or read news and are or were clueless politically. I think they are getting a rude education now.

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    July 11, 2013 at 8:24 pm

    We moved here 5 years ago and I was pleased to see a Dem get elected governor in 2008, but I knew nothing about Bev Perdue or the guy who came before her. She seemed to throw in the towel pretty goddamn quickly, and voter apathy in 2010 and 2012 was a gift to the Tea Party crackpots, who are 90% elderly white males. The current governor’s solution to having the 5th highest unemployment rate in the country is to plan to close 40 Employment Security Commission offices and throw those state workers to the dogs. More austerity for the Koch Brothers, who have a lot of influence here. The Republicans’ idea of being “business friendly” is to eliminate corporate taxes entirely and shift the burden onto the taxpayers instead.

  44. 44.

    Bostondreams

    July 11, 2013 at 8:25 pm

    I work at the Department of Public Instruction, and our building sits across the lawn from the legislative building. It is inspiring to look out the window and see those folks there on Mondays. And it is depressing that I cannot truly take part in if I want to keep my job.

    Fun fact: we got an email saying that while we did work in a public building, protestors on the lawn were NOT allowed to come in and use the bathroom. ‘For security’.

  45. 45.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 11, 2013 at 8:25 pm

    As I said in another thread, even the Republicans in NC are disgusted by the current legislature. One of our extremely conservative judges (Lifetime NRA member who carries a gun strapped to his ankle) said to me last week “Even Alabama is pointing at us and laughing right now”. The New York Time editorial put it plainly, North Carolina is now the laughing stock of the nation. I am honestly embarrassed to live here.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 8:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I was on GOS at the time, and they was all ga-ga over the 50-state strategy. It seems like a good idea in theory — expand the playing field, make the GOP spend money where they didn’t want to — but I never learned any of the details of the plan.

  47. 47.

    Violet

    July 11, 2013 at 8:26 pm

    @gene108:

    There’s a significant reactionary group in the state, which for example kept re-electing Jesse Helms and didn’t vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate from 1980 to 2004.

    The people who voted Dem prior to 1980 are the same people who voted Republican after 1980–racist southerners.

    North Carolina changed a lot in the 1990’s from what it was prior to that. Charlotte went from a small city to a financial center. The research triangle took off. There’s still the rural reactionary folks, as you said, but like with most of the rest of the Republican voters, they’re getting older and aging out of the system. Ahem. That’s not to say there aren’t some younger Republican voters, but most young people aren’t voting Republican.

    There’s also a significant and growing Latino population in the state that wasn’t there in the 1980’s and 90’s and even the very early 2000’s. Here’s a link. Many of them are in smaller towns. It’ll be interesting to see how that population changes the voting pattern as they get old enough to vote. As we know, younger and non-whites aren’t going Republican.

    Eric Rudolph was caught in 2003. That was ten years ago. The state has changed a lot in that time. The type of people who harbored him still exist, but they are fewer in number.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think you have to accept reality, too. If you’re going to find and run Democrats in conservative districts, they will be MORE conservative than the progressive caucus. Probably 1/4 of our local people are “anti-abortion”. They don’t vote that way, because every Dem who wins a Prez primary is pro-choice, but they lean Right on that issue.
    Don’t even get me started on flag burning, which of course YOU’RE always doing :)
    Remember when Clinton did the anti-flag burning nonsense in the Senate? They thought that was GREAT.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    even the Republicans in NC are disgusted by the current legislature

    No offense, but that’s completely meaningless. Those guys know how to do their duty.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    July 11, 2013 at 8:27 pm

    @Baud:

    Sooner rather than later, hopefully. Same with Texas.

    From your mouth to FSM’s noodly appendage. One of the things that seems like it’s really important in places where the Democrats haven’t been winning recently is the need to build up an organization that’s capable of winning elections. My impression is that a big problem in Texas is that the Democratic party is structured to maintain ironclad control over the party apparatus and hand out the few safe seats, rather than to contest control of the state with the Republicans. It’s going to take something like Battleground Texas, which is basically an attempt to build something outside of the state party’s control, to have a chance of getting anywhere. A big reason that Moral Mondays is so exciting is that it looks like a serious grassroots movement that can accomplish stuff on the ground.

  51. 51.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 8:28 pm

    Interesting story here that suggests that McDonnell is negotiating his resignation in return for no prosecution:

    http://www.the-richmonder.com/2013/07/sources-confirm-mcdonnell-negotiating.html?spref=tw

    Multiple sources in Richmond’s legal community have confirmed to me that the investigation of Star Scientific by state and federal prosecutors turned up what they feel is sufficient evidence to charge Virginia’s Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen with one or more felonies and in consequence, McDonnell is attempting to negotiate his resignation in exchange for no prosecution of Virginia’s first couple.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    @NickT:

    That’s silly. He only has a few months left in office. Why would a prosecutor accept such a deal?

  53. 53.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 11, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    even the Republicans in NC are disgusted by the current legislature. One of our extremely conservative judges (Lifetime NRA member who carries a gun strapped to his ankle) said to me last week “Even Alabama is pointing at us and laughing right now”.

    I’m seeing the same thing.

    http://www.jdrhoades.blogspot.com/2013/04/giving-voice-to-voicelessrepublicans.html

  54. 54.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 8:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This is O/T but I have to know. Did you listen to the Zimmerman trial close?
    I was coming back from western MI so I listened to most of it.
    If so, what did you think?

  55. 55.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 11, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    @Violet:

    Eric Rudolph was caught in 2003. That was ten years ago. The state has changed a lot in that time. The type of people who harbored him still exist, but they are fewer in number.

    And the ones that remain are in the far western part of the state, which is…different. (See “604 mile highway” above)

  56. 56.

    burnspbesq

    July 11, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    @Hal:

    Issues like this are for me one major reason to vote Dem in 2016.

    Dude, we need you in 2014, and if you live in NJ or VA we need you this year.

  57. 57.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    @Baud:

    Desperation makes people try the silliest things, maybe. I guess it depends on what he could offer if there were a deal. I personally don’t know why state/federal prosecutors would think it worthwhile to strike a deal, but that’s because I have no idea of the background beyond the evident fact of the McDonnells’ corruption.

  58. 58.

    Yatsuno

    July 11, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    @NickT: That will get him zero consideration from the feds, who are also breathing down his neck. So he might stay out of the state pen but he may yet get a trip to club Fed.

  59. 59.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 8:46 pm

    @Yatsuno:

    Hell, I never said the Republicans made sense in anything they did. I just report the madness once in a while. I reckoned it might be of interest. Remember how not so long ago people were talking up McDonnell as the next GOP president to be?

  60. 60.

    Violet

    July 11, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    @J.D. Rhoades: You’re getting into Appalachia in the far western part of the state. Appalachia is its own world. No surprise they hid Eric Rudolph.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    July 11, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    @NickT:

    I can see why he was so disappointed Romney didn’t select him for V-P.

  62. 62.

    MikeJ

    July 11, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    @Baud:

    He only has a few months left in office. Why would a prosecutor accept such a deal?

    Attorney general Ken Cuccinelli might just want it to go away.

  63. 63.

    burnspbesq

    July 11, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    And if you think working conditions are bad at Smithfield Foods now, wait until the Chinese take over.

  64. 64.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 8:50 pm

    @MikeJ:

    I wondered why Cuccinelli had suddenly begun denying any and all association with McDonnell as of about a week ago. Somehow I didn’t see the terrifying figure of Terry McAuliffe being responsible.

  65. 65.

    burnspbesq

    July 11, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    @Baud:

    That’s silly. He only has a few months left in office. Why would a prosecutor accept such a deal?

    It’ll cost a gazillion dollars to try him, the Republicans in the Legislature will retaliate by taking a chainsaw to his budget, and he might not get a conviction.

  66. 66.

    Violet

    July 11, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    @NickT:

    Remember how not so long ago people were talking up McDonnell as the next GOP president to be?

    Didn’t he do the State of the Union response? That’s been a career killer for any Republican who is done the response to Obama. So far there’s been:
    Bobby Jindall (actually responding to Obama’s first address to both houses of Congress)–Kenneth the Page
    McDonnell–not looking so good
    Paul Ryan–VP pick could be his high water mark. We’ll see.
    Mitch Daniels–I guess he’s doing okay
    Marco Rubio–give that man a drink of water!

    Overall, not so good to do the response to an Obama speech.

  67. 67.

    Violet

    July 11, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    @burnspbesq: NPR did a segment on the Smithfield takeover by the Chinese. Sounds scary.

  68. 68.

    burnspbesq

    July 11, 2013 at 9:01 pm

    @Violet:

    Imagine Foxconn with big, sharp knives, supervisors who only speak Chinese, and workers who only speak Spanish.

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 11, 2013 at 9:01 pm

    @Kay: I missed it. Busy at work. What did you think?

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    July 11, 2013 at 9:03 pm

    @MikeJ:

    Attorney general Ken Cuccinelli might just want it to go away.

    He might want it to go away, but he can’t make it go away. If Cuccinelli cuts deal with McDonnell, McAuliffe can nail him to the wall for what looks like a politically motivated attempt to sweep dirty dealings under the carpet. Plus the Feds can still prosecute for any federal violations. Cuccinelli’s best chance is to push the prosecution as hard as possible in an attempt to take credit and look like an anti-corruption crusader. It probably won’t help, especially given that he’s also received shady looking gifts from Williams.

  71. 71.

    MikeJ

    July 11, 2013 at 9:03 pm

    @burnspbesq: Dammit, I can’t get another iHam 5 now with the iHam 6 just around the corner.

  72. 72.

    NickT

    July 11, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    “I took those gifts as the only way of forcing Bob McDonnell to reveal his own corruption – honest!”

  73. 73.

    burnspbesq

    July 11, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    @MikeJ:

    Galaxy Bacon is better than any iHam.

  74. 74.

    daverave

    July 11, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    @Baud:

    Srsly? He’s in the parallel justice system that we don’t have access to because we are not one of them.

  75. 75.

    eemom

    July 11, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    Surely, many protestors cared about reproductive justice, a site of struggle in which abortion is only one facet. But protestors were there to speak up about higher education, gerrymandering, the racism deeply structuring the criminal justice system, unemployment benefits, policy that directly attacks the lives of people with disabilities, the sustained exclusion of LGBTQ North Carolinians from any state recognition, pay increases for the NC Cabinet, and privatization of cityand county resources.

    Kind of puts in some perspective the nine million threads devoted to arguing about the “heroism” of a certain pair of expatriated assholes.

  76. 76.

    PhaseIV

    July 11, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @burnspbesq: @Violet:

    Finians Rainbow Meats

    In related news, which means absolutely nothing, there are now over 500 Chinese in their embassy in Iceland.

  77. 77.

    kc

    July 11, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    @NickT:

    A carefully planted comment-that’s just what a serial killer would do.

    KIDDING! I’m in SC, but I’d go to NC for a meetup.

  78. 78.

    kc

    July 11, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    @NickT:

    A carefully planted comment-that’s just what a serial killer would do.

    KIDDING! I’m in SC, but I’d go to NC for a meetup.

  79. 79.

    Steeplejack

    July 11, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Cooch now trying to take credit for the investigation that a week ago he claimed not to know anything about. Good time-line graphic at this page, too.

  80. 80.

    JoyfulA

    July 11, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    @Kay: Maybe I was spoiled by being 10 miles away from headquarters. We got daily emails on what we could be doing to help out, from going door to door to update street lists to forming a flag-waving audience for Democratic officials to the general stuffing envelopes and answering phones stuff. We made caravan trips to help out a House candidate maybe 75 miles away, and our Blue Dog won.

    Our DNC person was a dynamic Texan whose next job was with a union in DC. We have a lot of union people here, but they largely come across as not being interested in anyone else’s issues and as part of the good ole boys conservaDem network.

    We finally seem to have made progress on turning our state committee around, though. In the last meeting, they voted to call for a moratorium on fracking, which horrified the conservaDems.

  81. 81.

    Summer

    July 11, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: HAH! I exist. Am sometimes late to the commenting party but I AM HERE!

    And have been for quite some time.

  82. 82.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 11, 2013 at 10:30 pm

    @Summer: :)

  83. 83.

    Libby's Person

    July 11, 2013 at 11:38 pm

    A central-NC meet-up would be great! How about in Raleigh right after a Moral Monday? We’d certainly be in an appropriately feisty mood!

  84. 84.

    Kay

    July 11, 2013 at 11:42 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I thought it was fine. Too meandering, but he was trying to do 2 things. Get past reasonable doubt on the charge and then tip them away from 51% on self defense.
    I’m ridiculously over- identified with the 17 year old so I was telling my husband the prosecutor didn’t have a FEEL for him, but I have no idea what that means, honestly, specifically. I felt like he coukd have made him more real, you know what I mean, since he isn’t there.
    Maybe 30 year FL prosecutor and 17 yr
    old are just too far apart for him to get whatever “humanizing” I was looking for across.

  85. 85.

    cvstoner

    July 12, 2013 at 8:41 am

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    It would seem that, increasingly, the only thing the Republicans have in common with the electorate is that they are the common enemy.

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