NCSEN Brannon says: Stop hijacking the term ‘conservative’ | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Brant Clifton gets the conservative perspective on the race for the U.S. Senate seat that Kay Hagan currently occupies in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    Cary physician Greg Brannon, Tea Party favorite and one of the leading contenders for the GOP nomination for US Senate, told a Moore County audience last night about one of his pet peeves:

    "Boy, this word 'conservative' is quite popular. Every election year, you see and hear it all over the place. A lot of people on the campaign trail talk about how conservative they are. But after they get elected, they forget about all of that stuff. Thom Tillis has the word 'conservative' all over his campaign literature and web site. But he's voted for and supported toll roads, government-funded light rail, mandates and common core. If that's what passes for conservative these days, count me out. My view on conservatism is one of strict adherence to The Constitution as well as stripping power from the government and giving it back to the people."

    Brannon also showed some skepticism about Tillis' claims of being a fighter against ObamaCare in the legislature:

    "Sure, the general assembly blocked the establishment of a state exchange. But due to a lack of familiarity with The Constitution, they left the door open for federal exchanges. Legislatures in Alabama and South Carolina passed laws making it illegal for anyone to come into their states and try to implement ObamaCare. If those states could do that, why couldn't our leaders here in North Carolina do the same? Stopping short in the fight against ObamaCare allowed the feds to come in here, get ObamaCare rolling, force average premiums to increase 300 percent, and cause a whole lot of people to lose their insurance. Our legislators owe the people of North Carolina a good explanation as to why they stopped short of finishing that fight."

    Brannon told his audience he sees the campaign as being quite similar to a job interview:

    "All five of us need to be out there in front of the voters fielding questions and trying to explain why they need to hire us as their next U.S. senator. Four of us have been doing a lot of that. I wish Thom would join us. He's pretty well kept to himself, limiting his appearances to private fundraisers. The voters need to see all of us, and hear from all of us, as they deliberate on this very important decision. "