charles taylor

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It's been a torturous time for North Carolina's 11th District Republicans since disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor's ignominious defeat in 2006. Wacky Chad Nesbitt tried to take over the Buncombe Party, forcing the end of a libertarian coup. The Henderson County webmaster resigned very publicly. A chorus of voices rose up to criticize The Lump for playing coy over whether he would run again for the Congressional seat. Taylor himself, safely bunkered at his Transylvania compound, was silent as the grave for over a year. Strong potential candidates like Jeff Hunt and Tom Apodaca withdrew their names from consideration in part because of Taylor's intransigence.

Today there are three candidates in the running for the Republican nomination: An intellectual libertarian, a rigid ideologue, and a squishy Party man. The head of the redundantly named Henderson County Republican Men's Club wants to see more of the Party apparatus get involved in putting the candidates out before the public in the same way they did in late November.

The GOP's district Chair, Stephen Duncan, isn't too interested in making that sort of thing happen,

"There are individuals who feel there are different ways of doing things," Duncan said.

Promoted by Betsy......it would be dangerous to women everywhere to have this man in office.

{crossposted from ScruHoo}

Dr. Carl Mumpower, Asheville City Councilman and Army of One, declared himself a candidate for the Republican nomination for NC's 11th Congressional District. He's alone in the race right now, but it's likely that he'll have a corrupt, lumpy opponent in disgraced former Congressman Charles H. Taylor.

AC-T: "In a news release, Mumpower said he is committed to what he defines as “essential issues” as the foundation of his “principles over politics” approach to public service.

Ashvegas caught the final post at the Henderson County GOP website.  Dennis Justice, who says he's run the site for seven years, has had it with disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor's coy antics, and he's quitting.

"Effective immediately, I am resigning as webmaster of the Henderson County Republican Website."

NC-11 Republicans, so long held together by Charles Taylor's lumpy glue, have spun apart in recent months. With the prospect of facing a popular one-term incumbent, the Republicans have fractured into Stompers, Takeoverers, Taylor acolytes, and anti-Taylor rank-and-file. There's so much sniping going on in public and private that it can be hard to keep up. Thankfully, Mr. Justice gives us an insider's look into their self-inflicted suffering:

I will, under zero circumstances, vote for Charles Taylor if he is the Republican nominee for Congress in 2008. His insulting non-answer to the party when expressly asked whether he would run or not against Congressman Heath Shuler is not acceptable. Congressman Shuler had entered the race in July 2005, and certainly we should know by now if Taylor would run. Several possible candidates with gravitas are considering running and are held hostage out of respect that is honestly not deserved, much like Brett Favre holds the Green Bay Packers hostage the last four years hinting he might retire, but never actually committing.

"District Attorney Jeff Hunt said today he will not seek the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler in the 11th congressional district." - BlueRidgeNow.com

Jeff Hunt was gung ho to run when we met him in the spring though he was waiting on disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor to bow out first. Hunt's announcement yesterday coupled with Taylor's coy non-answers to the Henderson County Republican Men's Club make it look like we're going to have to endure another season of Taylor's poorly produced smear ads and outright lies.

The rumor mill says that Tom Apodaca won't run because his wife is reluctant. Carl Mumpower could give it a shot, but you've seen how well Asheville candidates do out in the hinterlands.

Hunt really wanted to run.

Charles Taylor... Are ya sure, Charles? Are you sure? Because you're looking at a 61-39 loss this time unless you have photographs of Heath having group sex with Cindy Sheehan, Al Sharpton, and Larry Craig. You're going to put yourself through the wringer, further blackening your karma, having to deal with agitators - For what?

Hat tip to Blue South for this in the Charlotte Observer

A visit from the White House drug czar to western North Carolina last year has raised questions in a congressional investigation into the politicization of the national drug policy office.

No matter your feelings about Heath Shuler (Mixed Bag D - NC), no one misses The Lump. Disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor ran the dirtiest campaign in memory, throwing nearly $4 million at those amateur television spots and mailers in an effort to make people forget just how much they loathed him. Almost $3 million of that came out of Taylor's own deep pockets, and Charles Taylor does not like spending his own money.

In this post-election year, using every other off-year as a basis, we can safely assume that Taylor is busy raising money to pay himself back for all those rubles he spent. Meanwhile, a squadron of Republican candidates wait in the wings, knowing that every day Charles Taylor doesn't withdraw his name from the race is a day lost.

Unless Charles Taylor rises from the crypt to run again, this is the man who Heath Shuler will likely have to face November next year. District attorney for three counties, former district attorney for two more, he says "I've been on the inside group who have run most of the Republican Congressional campaigns since 1976."

WNCNN has the exclusive interview fresh from the "Karl Rove Memorial 11th District Republican Convention." You'll want to listen through to the end where he mentions the H-word and proudly compares Republicans to termites.

I'm a fan of Jack Betts, the Charlotte Observer columnist and blogger. He's been all over the OLF travesty for years, and now he's all over Richard Burr. His blog post today is a doozie. This one isn't about Burr being bought, though, it's about him being kidnapped!

What have they done with Richard Burr?

If you ask me, I think they’ve kidnapped U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and put some imposter in his place. What else explains the goofy positions, if that’s the right word, that the junior U.S. senator from North Carolina has taken on environmental issues in northeastern and northwestern North Carolina?

This is real, folks: Karl Rove will appear April 28th at West Henderson High School to speak at the Republican's district convention. Is this gonna be fun or what?

WNCNN's own beloved Mad Miss Mattie got tapped for the official announcement.

Front paged with great pleasure by Anglico!