Chris Kromm shows how to take the moral highground

Chris Kromm of Facing South ventured into the belly of the beast today, debating in person with Art Pope at a radio station in Raleigh. It was awesome.

The show revealed a culture of privilege that runs deeper than I thought here in North Carolina. On the right, that culture is personified by poor Mr. Pope. On the left, it's more diffused, Democrats having been in power longer.

That culture of privilege is all Mr. Pope brought to the showdown today. That, and the ability to play the game. My hat's off to Chris. I couldn't have stomached it. Art Pope's level of rationalization was mind-boggling. "Rich Democrats have done the same things."

Nice job standing for something, Mr. Pope. I'd call that a swing and a miss.

My main takeaway for the debate was a familiar one. Progressives like Chris routinely call out Democratic politicians for their many transgressions. We are, on the whole, actually interested in transparency and integrity. In Mr. Pope's show, those two ideas are simply road kill, things to be run over on the way to the bank.

Who won the debate? Mr. Kromm, of course. He owned the moral high ground. Because for all of Art Pope's shucking and jiving, the only thing he really stood for was the pursuit of political power.

Beautiful work, Chris.

We owe you.