Pat McCrory--"Fighting for Jobs in North Carolina"

Here is another speech excerpt from Pat McCrory in Franklin on Saturday night.

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Pat McCrory--"Bring Back Good Government in North Carolina"

This is an excerpt from the Pat McCrory speech in Franklin, NC on Saturday Night.

I am in the process of chopping his speech up into You Tube-sized segments.

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Behind the Scenes at the Meet the Candidate BBQ Dinner with Pat McCrory

The Meet the Candidate BBQ Dinner this past Saturday in Franklin was a success!

I am re-posting the speech and my notes on his speech below my "Behind The Scenes" video:



And now for the speech:





Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was the guest speaker at a Meet the Candidate & BBQ Dinner held in Franklin, NC and hosted by the Republican parties of Cherokee, Clay, Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties in western North Carolina.

Among the reasons he stated for why he was running was to tame the egos and fight corruption in Raleigh. He said he wanted to bring back good government to North Carolina, that we were once known as the good government state...and we now have ten people in prison so far for corruption in government.

He said that recently, a $9 million jet was ordered for the state government, but the order was cancelled once word got out about it. McCrory wants to bring transparency to state government.

He spoke to the economic concerns of North Carolinians and touted his 28 years in the private sector and 13 in the public sector as part of his experience.

He said that he wanted to do 3 things to put North Carolina back on the right path:

#1) Build relationships with large and medium size industries in the state based on respect-not to treat them as the enemy. He said that we could not compete with surrounding states, including South Carolina and Virginia as states with lower income tax, and that we were not even in the same league as Tennessee...a state with no income tax. The crowd responded to his desire to lower the tat income tax with cheers and applause.

#2) He wants North Carolina to get into the energy business. He said that right now, the United States had to depend on nations like Nigeria, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Russia for our energy needs. He said that puts our National Security and our Economy at risk.

He said North Carolina should be part of the solution. He said we can drill for natural gas and oil offshore and generate new jobs doing so. He said that he is also in favor of nuclear, clean coal, wind and solar energy, and that he also was in favor of conservation.

He related that his opponent had stated hat she was 100% opposed to offshore drilling for natural gas and oil ten weeks ago at a Farm Bureau Speech, and that it wouldn't happen on her watch. McCrory said that that was correct, "It's going to happen under my watch," to the cheers of the crowd.

#3) Get back to the basics of education, and offer students the option of choosing vocational training instead of a college-bound curriculum. He said that our employers needed skilled workers, and vocational training could provide that for them. It would, he said, help recruit new industries and businesses if we were producing skilled workers.

He related the latest Rasmussen Poll that showed Pat McCrory with 51% to is opponents' 47%.

He said that the Power Elite in Raleigh were stunned, and that in short order, a series of negative ads were produced about him that, he joked, caused him to decide not to vote for himself to the amusement of the crowd.

He said the ads were false and misleading and that Bev Perdue would say or do anything to stay elected, including not telling the truth.

There were three lies he wanted to address, the first being that Pat McCrory wanted to dump garbage from New York City in North Carolina. He said that when he heard it, he had no idea where it was coming from...and that she was making this up. He said that in his years as Mayor of Charlotte, he had never supported a bill that would allow the dumping of garbage from New York City in North Carolina. He said that the newspapers even said it was a lie.

He said, "We fought a tax, and they converted it into a negative ad. This is the type of deception that we must end in Raleigh politics."

The second lie was that he hired illegal immigrants to build the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"Just the Opposite," McCrory said. e was the first mayor in the nation to lead a discussion on illegal immigration which stated that the net cost of illegal immigration was greater than the net gain. He specifically listed the costs to hospitals, jails and schools.

He stated that he had warned that illegal immigrants could find their way into construction jobs in Charlotte and, "...we need to make sure that doesn't happen..." and that he did make sure it was put in writing that those who contracted with Charlotte "followed the law" in city construction projects.

The third lie McCrory wished to address was that he was against rural roads.

He said that what he was against was putting the roads where the powerful politicians live. He said the roads should go where the need is.

He said that he has been fighting the DOT (Dept of Transportation) for 13 years, that it has become so politicized that the party registrations of DOT workers were checked. Pat McCrory said that that was not right, that he didn't care what party a NC-DOT worker belonged, only that they were a good worker. He said he wanted to take politics out of the DOT.

He began to wrap up with informing the crowd that millions of dollars were being poured into negative ads about him, and that he was not going to do negative ads, and that he didn't in the primary, nor as mayor. He stated that he believed, "...a good candidate with a little money is better than a bad candidate with a lot of money." This was met with approval and cheers from the crowd.

We are going to change North Carolina politics forever, he told those gathered. We are going o prove that you don't have to run an 8 year campaign for governor, and that you don't have to be a millionaire to hold public office, and most importantly, that you can do it running a positive campaign.

He addressed the need for everyone present to get out the vote on election day, and that the next week and a half were going to be the most crucial in our state's history...that "...we have an opportunity to change the status quo in state government," and, "have a governor that will participate in problem solving."

He said, that as governor, he was going to concentrate on economic development, jobs, and protecting the quality of life in North Carolina. He said it was time that all areas of our state were represented in our state capital.

He ended by repeating his exhortation to get out the vote.

**11.39am** Richard Bernier also attended an event with Pat McCrory, and his video is posted on the Buncombe County GOP website.

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Find Out What Richard Moore Says About Beverly Perdue

What Beverly Perdue says and what she has done are too often very different...





THE LIE

Beverly Perdue's website says, "she was instrumental in developing Smart Start, a national model for school readiness and early childhood development."

Her television commercial, "Love and Faith," claims that in the General Assembly, she was "leading the fight for Smart Start."

THE TRUTH

In 1995, Beverly Perdue's hometown newspaper, the New Bern Sun Journal, reported that: "Jones County’s Smart Start program could be in jeopardy. Perdue said she has never been a strong supporter of the early childhood health and education program that Hunt championed in his first year in office. Smart Start cost $20 million to install 23 pilot programs in its first year, and is expected to grow to $500 million by 2000, she said. 'I don’t think North Carolina can support that bureaucracy,' she said."

[New Bern Sun Journal, 1-24-95]

See more examples.

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Watch Pat McCrory Live at WCU at 10:30 AM

**1.08 PM** Here is a short video of a supporter speaking for Pat McCory I recorded this morning:

And here is the forum on Education that aired on Public Television:

**10:53 AM** Due to Pat not showing up, most people left, and only a few students remained to speak with Joe Johnston in a very informal setting. I decided not to broadcast or record the meeting.

Here is a you tube play list I made of the Gubernatorial Debate at Blue Ridge Community College back in March.

I received word this morning that Pat McCrory was speaking at WCU in front of the WCU Political Science Club...so here is my live coverage without splashy graphics...I am flying by the seat of my pants today!





I will have the speech up later today if my batteries hold out.

I have already started the stream as I try to work through the bugs...in real time.

**10:05AM** I just received word via email "Due to the buyout of Wachovia Pat is now going back to home. Joe Johnston will be there today for him...."

**10:28 AM** Here is some info about Joe Johnston from the McCrory Website:

Joe Johnson currently serves as the Director of Resource Development for the Council on Aging for Henderson County. He previously served as the Director of Public Affairs and chief political advisor for the Sheriff of Henderson County. Johnson has worked actively in Republican Party politics on the local, regional and statewide levels and was a candidate for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2008. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University. "I am excited to join the McCrory Campaign in this capacity," said Jeff Hunt. "Pat understands Western North Carolina issues and will be able to bring true positive change to our state government as the next governor of North Carolina. As District Attorney, I know that Pat has what it takes to tackle the issues facing our criminal justice system and make North Carolina truly a safe place to live, work and play.""I am honored to have this opportunity to serve with a leader such as Pat McCrory," said Joe Johnson. "Pat will bring a needed breath of fresh air to the halls of our government in Raleigh. He cares about all people throughout our great state and I know he will be able to tackle the tough issues facing North Carolina of corruption, the economy, creating new jobs and strengthening our educational system."

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Price Gouging Laws Are Evil

Thursday evening, the people of western North Carolina (and beyond) went slightly nuts and had a panic run on the gas stations...emptying many of them with an unusual demand on a limited resource that has to be trucked into the region. I posted about it and made a video mocking those idiots.

The Governor of North Carolina has decided that prices should not rise more than 20 cents a gallon and has instructed the Attorney General to enofroce the state's price gouging law.

Let me quote a regional blogger on the function of panic in the economy:

Panic is making a temporary resource shortage worse and is causing pumps to dry up.

The price should be able to fluctuate freely to direct these resources to where they are most needed. “Price gouging” laws are exactly the wrong thing to do.

The gas stations that are running out of gasoline did not raise their prices high enough. Why? The natural economy is now against the law.

Sorry fire trucks, ambulances, police, construction and public transportation. We ran out of gas because the prices were too low. What caused prices to remain lower than they would in a natural economy: the government.

Source: Et in Arcadia ego


Commentary

If everyone had proceeded as normal, or reduced their consumption of fuel, then there would have been very little interruption in the supply of fuel to our region.

Capitalists understand the Law of Supply and Demand:

Supply and demand is perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of economics and it is the backbone of a market economy. Demand refers to how much (quantity) of a product or service is desired by buyers. The quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy at a certain price; the relationship between price and quantity demanded is known as the demand relationship. Supply represents how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a certain good producers are willing to supply when receiving a certain price. The correlation between price and how much of a good or service is supplied to the market is known as the supply relationship. Price, therefore, is a reflection of supply and demand.

Source: Law of Supply and Demand

What Governor Easley has instructed the Attorney General to do is immoral, and potentially more damaging to the economy than the idiots who flooded the gas stations Thursday, Friday and into Saturday.

**7.54 PM** Jon Ham also understands the problem.

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The Full Text of Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech

What follows is the full text of the speech given by Alaskan Governor as she accepted the nomination of the Republican Party for Vice-President that set the conservative base of the Republican Party on fire last night:


Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.

Our son Track is 19.

And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.

In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That's how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.

He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.

Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.

We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

No one expects us to agree on everything.

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.

Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.

And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

Our state budget is under control.

We have a surplus.

And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.

I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.

I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.

As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.

But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much ... he promises more.

Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.

How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.

And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.

He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.

A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.

It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.

It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you all, and may God bless America.

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WTVD Gubernatorial Debate Tonight

**update** Katy at Katy's Conservative Corner has live-blogged the Gubernatorial debate. She has provided excellent coverage.

Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue will face off tonight in a televised debate live at 8 PM tonight on WTVD-TV and it will be streamed live.

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YMI Cultural Center Gubernatorial Debate Clip

The last of the Gubernatorial debates took place last night at the YMI Cultural Center in Asheville, NC and Richard Bernier of URTV's Sound Off Buncombe was there to capture the action. Here is a short preview clip of the program he expects to have ready sometime this weekend:

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