McCrory and Perdue clash on off-shore drilling

Tonight, once again, I'll be blogging live from the NC gubernatorial debate on WRAL.

Bev Perdue began by telling everyone that he record as Lt. Gov. is a good example of what kind of governor she'll be. I guess she's just proving true that RGA commercial of her being "Status Quo Bev".

Pat McCrory opens by telling that he wants to focus on education -- it's amazing that there are people who are unable to find qualified workers even during such a bad economy. He says if he had a chance to reduce a tax, he would reduce the income and corporate taxes -- right now, businesses will move right over the border to South Carolina just to avoid NC's ridiculous taxes.

The first question aimed to Perdue is what really IS her position on off-shore drilling? She states that she has "always been for off-shore" drilling (although she fails to mention that she doesn't want it off HER shore). When asked what changed her mind, she claims that she has always been for it -- another lie. She also expects all oil drilled in the US to stay in the US. Oh, now she's flopping again and saying that if North Carolina has to put oil rigs on their shore, she wants it to be "fair" and have drilling off ALL states.

McCrory responds that he STILL doesn't know where she stands on off-shore drilling in NC.... we're running for NC governor, not governor of Texas or another state in the Gulf. His answer is "100% yes" to off-shore drilling in NC, but Bev said a few weeks ago that she is "100% against" drilling. He wants to use drilling to create jobs in NC.

Bev is trying to argue with Pat, and the moderators are trying to force her to answer the question! McCrory just called her out on it too -- "That's what you said 3 weeks ago, and the technology has not changed in 3 weeks". GO GET HER!

This is getting to be hilarious!

WRAL debate

Don't forget, Mayor Pat McCrory and Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue go head to head tomorrow night (September 9) on WRAL at 7:00PM!

You can go to WRAL.com and submit questions before and during the debate (keyword: DEBATE).

You can watch the debate LIVE Tuesday night in the following venues:

RALEIGH
WRAL-TV
WRAL Newschannel
WRAL.com
WUNC-FM radio

CHARLOTTE
WMYT-TV
wsoctv.com

GREENSBORO/HIGH POINT
WFMY-TV
myfoxwghp.com


I'll be blogging live from the Wake County Debate Watch tomorrow night, so fire up that laptop and keep checking Bloggers for McCrory and The Political Nerd for updates!

Convicted cop-killer opposes McCrory's plan to lift death penalty moratorium

No, I'm not kidding, although when I read it in the News & Observer this morning, I thought it was a joke (especially when I read the title):

Inmate rebuts McCrory, likes moratorium

A death row inmate singled out by Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory has responded.

At a recent debate, the Charlotte mayor said that the moratorium on the death penalty should be lifted, noting that the convicted killer of two Queen City police officers was still on death row.

"Listen, this is personal to me," McCrory said. "Two young police officers that were shot by one man with their gun, and this man has still not been dealt with even though a jury of his peers convicted him. ... There's no reason we should have the moratorium right now."

At the debate, McCrory did not name the killer, Alden J. Harden, but he did name the police officers, Andy Nobles and John Burnette. Harden was sentenced to death in August of 1994 for the killings, which took place the previous October.

Contacted by Dome at Central Prison in Raleigh, Harden said in a handwritten letter that, "I am being dealt with."

"The moratorium is set to help make sure that more people like you and my so-called peers don't take it 'personal' as well, but rather look at the law," Harden wrote. "Because everyone has a right to fight for themselves under the law."

He wrote that "there's every reason" to have a moratorium.

Apparently, the two police officers that he shot to death were unavailable for comment.

I think this article speaks for itself.

(The pictures above-right pictures are of fallen officers Nobles and Burnette)

Oh to be a college student again....

Today, I discovered a blog whose contributors are students in a political science class at UNC -- I'll go ahead and let you decide which way the posts swing on the political spectrum.

Anyway, what directed my attention there was a post titled "NC Governor's Race: Vocational Training" which criticizes Pat McCrory's stance on education. The blogger wrote:

"Republican Pat McCrory says he “wants to return the word ‘technical’ to community colleges.” Putting an emphasis on vocational training, he says, would improve the state of North Carolina’s economy by providing workers with a good background in specific fields, such as health care and electrical work, where jobs are waiting.

While a nice thought, the idea that high school students can make an informed decision about which career path they would like to choose is ludicrous. Even here at UNC, the most popular declared major for incoming freshmen is ‘undecided,’ and many of those who declare a major while incoming change it later...

In addition, this type of vocational training has a number of potential pitfalls. Take, for example, the town of High Point, North Carolina. The town, called the ‘furniture capital of the world,’ had a thriving manufacturing sector, but many of the jobs producing furniture have been off-shored to India and other developing nations. If the workers in these factories were trained vocationally, they would not have the broad-based skill set necessary to innovate in light of these changing conditions. The alternative to vocational training, a liberal arts education, focuses on knowledge in a breadth of areas, making it easier for graduates to adapt to new economic situations."

This poster has clearly never heard McCrory throw off on his own liberal arts education while pointing out that many people working in mechanical jobs make more than he does.

Anyway, here's my response:

I have to admit, I’ve never seen an argument FOR a liberal arts education. I have a political science degree and a fairly decent paying job, but I have no illusions that a trained monkey could do my job, let alone someone with just a high school degree.

You’re talking about a very specialized version of vocational training, and that’s not what Pat McCrory is all about. McCrory wants to give high schoolers the opportunity to participate in mechanical training, electrical training, agricultural training, etc. I have news for you: our mechanics aren’t going to be out-sourced to India.

And your theory that no teenager really knows what they want to do with their lives just because a group of first-year college students partying on mommy and daddy’s dime don’t know what to major in doesn’t hold water in the real world. Many high schoolers know by the age of 15 or 16 if they’re going to be working after graduation. Why not give those kids an option of learning a trade while still in high school rather than wasting their time — and everyone else’s, for that matter — with pre-college classes?

People with liberal arts degrees like myself are quickly and easily being replaced by computers. I’ve only been out of school for three years, and I’m already making plans to go back for a supplemental degree. A liberal arts degree isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

James Carville sees promising outcome for Pat McCrory in November

James Carville's group, Democracy Corps, recently conducted a poll in North Carolina to rate voter's knowledge and general feelings on the candidates. The poll focused mostly on national candidates, but had a few questions which involved gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Bev Perdue -- and I have to say, I'm a little shocked to see results like this from such a liberal poll!

The poll had voters rate each candidate on a scale of 1 - 100 based on how favorably they viewed them (1 being the least favorable, 100 being most, 50 being neither). Out of a list of eleven candidate, Pat McCrory was veiwed the most favorably with a mean score of 55. Bev Perdue received a mean score of 49, and the only person scoring lower than her was John Edward (with a mean score of 35).

In the typical "who would you vote for if the election were held today" question, the vote was completely split between Perdue and McCrory. Given the fact that the rest of the responses lean a bit on the liberal side, this is a little amazing. Even more amazing is when you take into consideration the fact that a 527 has been running ads against Pat McCrory for the past few weeks, while Perdue has had the luxury of having NO negative ads run against her. Must be nice.

I feel good about November. Pat McCrory should too.

"Bev Perdue.... is a person whose word you cannot trust."

Check out this video of a local talk show in Greenville, NC. Joe Mavretic, former Democratic Speaker of the NC House tells Henry Hinton why he will not be voting for Bev Perdue. Keep in mind; this is a DEMOCRAT -- you know, one of Bev's peers.



"I think that her entire political career has been based on flip-flops. Bev Perdue in my personal opinion is a person whose word you can not trust... I've watched her in the House and in the Senate, and in the Lt. Gov. slot, and I think that's an accurate description."

Props to Katy's Conservative Corner for digging up this video!

And that's all I'm going to say about that

Sarah Palin speaks tonight at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, and the talk radio losers in my area are having a field day. The morning guys that I listen to, Brad and Britt, like to claim to be "fair" with their news coverage, but these are the same guys that ridiculed Jesse Helms barely 24 hours after his death, and they're both admittedly Obama supporters. According to them, Bristol Palin's pregnancy is "white trash". I'm glad neither of them have ever made a mistake in their entire lives.

I can't imagine being in Bristol's position, not because she's a pregnant teen (although I did avoid that fiasco), but because she's having to deal so publicly with an issue that is embarrassing even in the most private of situations. Meghan McCain, John McCain's blogger daughter (who is my age), wrote over at mccainblogette.com about how hard it is to deal with the publicity of being a politician's child:

"When I was 14 years old, a reporter questioned my father about me having a hypothetical abortion, had I been pregnant at 14. This reporter's question single-handedly changed my life. This story comes up in almost every profile written about me and in almost every interview."

And yet, the media leeches that will spend so much time prying into Bristol's private life do so with no concern as to how this will affect her now and in the future. They should be ashamed, but they have no shame.