Robert Pittenger

Yesterday Morning the Republican Party here in North Carolina landed a "scathing" attack on Education and Jobs for our Rural citizens.

Apparently Linda Daves really is against Education.

Scott McClellan's unremarkable announcement that the Bush White House was in permanent campaign mode is revealing on two counts. First is the simple fact that the administration has been focused on manipulating public opinion for seven years instead of governing. That should be obvious to anyone who's paying attention, but it bears worth saying.

The second is equally troublesome. From McClellan's comments we must conclude that for Republicans, "campaign mode" means lying to the electorate at every turn.

This is that time in the cycle (short session in a federal election year) when people run bills through the General Assembly for purely political purposes. Case in point: Sen. Robert Pittenger, who is running for Lt. Governor, has introduced the NC Citizen Protection Act. It includes about everything you'd think, most of which have already been ruled unconstitutional. I think a more accurate title might be the Permanent Exploited Underclass Act. It would probably criminalize most churches.
But it's a big bill and in some venue there'll be a discussion and the senator will have his campaign ad that talks about how he's protecting us from the hordes.
Stand by for more heroics.

How does Patrick McHenry manage to stand tall financially? His personal accumulation of assets through property deals has been a wonder. I’ve always been curious how a paper entry on a form turns into a cash windfall later. Now it seems he has a business partner in Republican State Senator and Lt Governor candidate Robert Pittenger, Lord of the LLC land deals, to help him along.

If a gathering of Young Republicans doesn't qualify as a weapon of mass destruction, I don't know what does. There was certainly something in the air this weekend as Young Republicans held their state convention in Charlotte, and that something was the aroma of the mingling of incompetence, greed and fear.

The toddling neophytes of the Republican regime were lobbied by the list of GOP goobernatorial hopefuls including Former N.C. Supreme Courth Justice Bob Orr, Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory(?), State Sen. Robert Pittenger and "wealthy trial lawyer" Bill Graham. Patrick Ballentine was not able to attend.

A little more below the fold....

Jim Morrill from The Charlotte Observer got a chance to step outside his typical dry political world and write about something juicy. I'm not going to give it all away, so you will have to go read it yourself.

Gist for the mill: Sue Myrick is in for 2008. She blames Robert Pittenger for spreading a rumor that she was not going to run. Sue no likey Robert Pittenger anymore and it looks like another man is involved. Oooh, a political menage a trois.

Lift the covers for the good stuff....

A friend nudged me in the direction of this Charlotte Observer rumor mill piece printed yesterday that tossed the idea in the air that Pat McCrory might run for Sue Myrick's seat if she retires. Funny, we were having that discussion here way back at the end of November.

State Sen. Robert Pittenger, according to the Observer, has already made it known that he would run for Myrick's seat if she vacates it. With all this rumor mongering by the Observer it does lead me to believe something is up with Sue. Maybe she isn't well enough to continue serving, or maybe she does plan to run for Dole's seat.

I've also heard through the grapevine that McCrory might consider a run for Lt. Governor, but I'm not sure I see that. McCrory's not a bad guy for a Republican, but my fear is that he would get to Washington and step in line with all the other wingers. I know Pittenger would.