NC state treasurer and candidate for governor Richard Moore: Another race-baiting Democrat

I’ve written here before about race-baiting Democrats and how they routinely get away with saying and doing things that would get a Republican laughed out of a campaign or political office.

Add another one to the list: our state treasurer Richard Moore, who is also a candidate for governor. He’s been subtly playing the race card for months … not against Republicans but instead against his Democrat opponent Bev Perdue, who is our Lt. Governor. However, the latest radio ad he’s started to run against Perdue drops the subtility and goes for the jugular. Here’s the text of the ad (via MKH):

“Have you heard about that old Confederate junk she’s selling in them stores she owns?” one man asks.

“What junk?”

“Perdue’s stores sells those hats with Rebel flags and that Confederate junk.”

“Perdue sells Confederate stuff?”

“Yeah caps and beer holders that say ‘Old times will not be forgotten.'”

The News and Observer reports:

Perdue’s campaign said her husband has partial ownership in the “The Right Stuff Food Stores” in Georgia, which are run by Perdue’s stepson. Last week the Moore campaign held a news conference in which they produced images of a handful of Confederate beer koozies and caps among other merchandise not uncommon in convience stores.

Several African American supporters of Perdue, including former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, have appeared in ads denouncing Moore’s attacks.

As the ad continues, one man mentions a law Perdue voted against that would have made it easier for the state to investigate hate groups. Perdue has said her vote was a mistake.

“And Perdue wants to be our governor?”

“Well maybe in 1958, but not in 2008.”

Here was the Perdue campaign’s response (again via the N&O):

Perdue’s campaign said that saying Perdue is selling the material is false. Perdue has no dealings with the company. Her husband is part owner but draws no salary and is not involved in day-to-day activity.

“It’s a shame that North Carolina voters have to be exposed to this kind of race-baiting campaign, and it’s shameful that Richard Moore would stoop to this level,” Perdue spokesman David Kochman said. “Richard Moore is using patently false information to smear Bev Perdue and he knows it.”

Moore’s response:

Moore said in an interview that the ad raises important questions for voters. As of February 2007, Perdue was listed in Georgia records as a secretary of the corporation. Sale of the merchandise is relevant because Perdue says she has supported civil rights her entire life, he said.

“I think most people would say that someone who is selling Confederate paraphernalia with the ‘Old times will not be forgotten’ in blazes, that those two statements would be hard to reconcile,” Moore said.

Seeing as they’ve both worked in state government together since 2000 you’d think that if he felt the Lt. Gov. was a closet racist he would have spoken out about it long before he started running for the Dem nomination for governor, right?

Richard Moore: Yet another race-baiting Democrat willing to say anything to win.

Moore, like Perdue, has endorsed Barack Obama (neither of them are superdelegates, BTW). Will Obama be called on by the mediots in advance of next Tuesday’s primary to condemn the ad as McCain was the NC GOP’s ad against both Moore and Perdue, which accused them of guilt by association for endorsing the man who had a 20 year spiritual mentorship with the hateful Rev. Wright? Will DNC Chair Howard Dean denounce the ad as “racially divisive“? I won’t hold my breath on either count.