McCrory’s Hometown Newspaper Calls His Behavior “Incomprehensible”
Like most North Carolinians, The Charlotte Observer is done with McCrory. His his bogus voter fraud accusations and refusal to concede are further tarnishing his reputation. He is also perpetuating the myth that there is massive voter fraud in North Carolina, even though there is very clearly not, as most of his voter fraud accusations have been rejected by GOP-controlled boards. McCrory is pushing too hard and hurting North Carolinians in the process. It’s time for him to concede.
Pat McCrory, it appears, is going through the five stages of grief. First came denial, then anger. Right now he’s in the bargaining stage. That, thankfully, means that depression and finally acceptance should not be far behind.
Such a cycle may be normal, but what the governor has done since the Nov. 8 election is anything but. In a razor-close race, he has gone way beyond asking that every vote be counted before a winner is declared. He and his fellow scaremongers have disrespected democracy and honest election workers of both parties while slandering innocent North Carolina citizens by recklessly accusing them of felonies. In doing so, he has further tarnished his already-stained legacy and will be remembered always for the lack of grace he showed in what may be his final election.
His behavior is so incomprehensible – he fights in the face of virtually certain defeat – that it suggests there is an alternative goal. Like President-elect Donald Trump’s, McCrory’s creation of phantom election cheats tills the ground for future voter suppression efforts. Flimsy though the allegations are, they are all legislative leaders would need in their efforts to justify politically motivated restrictions. Witness N.C. GOP leader Dallas Woodhouse’s statement Monday night, in which he intoned voter problems “will still linger long after the current results are certified.”
