Alex Constantine - December 23, 2013
December 17, 2013
By now, you've read about Sen. Bob Rucho, the Charlotte Republican who claimed in a tweet that Obamacare poses a worse threat to the country than the Nazis, Stalin or terrorists ever did. If not, here's an overview.
So you're probably thinking, who is this nut and why is he embarrassing the Republican Party? Sorry, but Rucho is no nut — at least, not to his fellow Republican senators. Rather, he is co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the senator most responsible for the GOP tax-deforming legislation which slashed rates for the wealthy and corporations while handing 80 percent of North Carolinians a tax increase.Rucho was also called upon by Republican senators to defend their voter-suppression legislation, which trampled on people's rights to cast a ballot in the fraudulent name of "voter integrity." Rucho memorably explained why the bill, among its many other monstrosity provisions, eliminated the program for high schools to get 16- and 17-year olds registered in advance so they'd be good to go at the first election after they turn 18.
Rucho's reason: Getting registered early apparently caused his son some confusion about whether he was eligible to vote prior to age 18. Which had listeners joking that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree — a comment I repeat here only for purposes of stating how mean it was to the son.
Do click on that final link and listen to Sen. Josh Stein, the Raleigh Democrat, quiz Rucho on this matter if you find my re-telling of it hard to believe.
Kudos to our old friend Claude Pope, the state GOP chairman, for denouncing Rucho's statement and calling on him to apologize. Since he won't apologize, Claude, your next move should be to call for his resignation.
