Black Jesse Helms' battles for GOP votes

Wash Times ^ | 4/13/04 | Ralph Hallow

[paltz]

A North Carolina newspaper meant to chastise Republican Vernon Robinson when it declared: "Jesse Helms is back! This time, he's black."

Now that quote has become Mr. Robinson's campaign slogan as he battles seven other 5th District congressional candidates in the July 20 Republican primary.

[TaxRelief]

Sounds like y'all have a bounty of conservatives; the rest of the country should be so fortunate.

Or maybe there's only one conservative, and the rest are copying because that's the only way to get elected these days?

[rrrod]

I peronally like vernon but ....and this is not an attack he has a tendency to botch things up. should he win the primary i hope he can take a deep breath and think his campaign thru. Vernon will stay true in his beliefs of that I am sure. RELAX VERNON!!! smile ol buddy!

[TaxRelief]

Do I really look like this Mr. RRRod?

LOL! Thanks.

[alancarp]

Okay, I'm getting ready to finish up my tax return (okay, I'm really stalling), so it's time for my Ed Broyhill Rant.

Ed Broyhill is all about "jobs" -- that's what he's made the centerpiece of his campaign. However, he's already proven to be a lousy businessman -- having bankrupted the "Edgar B" mail-order furniture biz he had operating out of Clemmons from 1978-95. His website omits this little tidbit in his resume. But others have ranted thoroughly about that, so I'll refrain (www.BankruptBroyhill.com). But that cost up to 140 jobs that were never recovered.

But the thing that really gets to me are his ads: "Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom" is the theme. He shows his family singing in church (angled so that you don't notice that it's staged). He talks about the church his grandfather helped build. However, when asked for use of spare building space to use for a temporary home for a fledgling church in Clemmons, he offered it... at full retail rental price. This was an out-building -- four rooms, poor shape, lots of junk. We would have cleaned it up, carpeted, and painted, plus (likely) added numerous other upgrades. But the comment I still hear from that episode is "I'm a businessman."

Now Broyhill didn't have to do this. He owns (or maybe his father does, after the $16 million or more pumped into Edgar B) the space and has the ultimate right to do with it as he pleases. Yet he's now touting himself as a community leader, a man of faith, and a man of action. I didn't see any of those traits that day -- what I saw was the character of a used car salesman - trying to make a buck.

I am a pragmatist: I will almost always vote for Republicans, whether I like them or not. This man would be an exception to that rule, for if he should happen to win the GOP nod in the NC 5th district, I would not vote for him -- and would actually strongly consider a vote for the Democrat candidate in this extreme case.

End rant.

[Tax-chick]

My son Patrick has a butterfly plush toy named Vernon. This is just a strange coincidence, not intended to mean anything politically.

many of the 5th District's 3,500 families who home-school their children

That's a lot of homeschooling families in one congressional district ... maybe more than we had in Oklahoma 1st. Suggests that the public school stink.

[TaxRelief]

The only beefs I'd seen about Broyhill were from customers who'd pay'd deposits that were not refunded. Is that part true?

[alancarp]

I believe that to be true, for I've heard this from multiple sources - including print media. That's actually not terribly unusual for a company in receivership, for the "customers-in-waiting" simply get added to the end of a long line of creditors waiting for satisfaction... and while I don't know the NC law in this regard, it is typical that the biggest creditors (banks, etc.) get satisfied first.

[Windom Earle]

Rrrod is exactly right. Robinson is a staunch conservative. You know exactly where he stands, and he will not waver. I believe it's possible for such a conservative to attract 50 percent plus 1, but I wonder if he can do it.

[Huber]

For the record, there are few, if any, stronger conservatives than Vernon in the country. There are others in the race who have learned to talk the talk, but Vernon's conservative track record is phenomenal. He has been a veritable Conservative "Army of One" in Winston-Salem.

(Actually, Vernon would probably prefer that we use the term "Air Force of One." As he likes to say, "The best offense is a good air strike!")