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Brave Sir Robin ran away.
(“No!”)
Bravely ran away away.
(“I didn’t!”)
When danger reared it’s ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
(“no!”)
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about
(“I didn’t!”)
And gallantly he chickened out.

Bravely taking (“I never did!”) to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
(“all lies!”)
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Robin!
(“I never!”)

Minstrel – “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

As much as I love Attorney General Jeff Jackson who has the distinction of being one of the very few candidates I’ve ever had the pleasure of voting for wholeheartedly and without reservation because he was always looking for the best solution for North Carolinians even if that required working with the party opposite, I have to respectfully disagree with his take on Senator Thom Tillis announcing he’s standing down from the Senate prior to the midterms.

I wish I could believe Senator Tillis is sincere in his remarks but I have to face the reality that so many times he has SAID the right thing only to completely U-TURN the moment his position was threatened with a primary opponent by Trump and the GOP.

He was more than happy to stonewall Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court many months before the election of 2016 only to completely do an about-face when Senator McConnell engaged in rank hypocrisy to ram through Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett in near record time right before a Presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

That vote had dire consequences for the women of this country and their ability to choose what happens to their bodies which has only gotten worse since the end of “Roe v Wade”.

His performance in nomination hearings has been a joke exemplified by his cruel behaviour to a woman who had the bravery to step forward and provide evidence of just what kind of a person Secretary of Defence Whiskeyleaks really is prior to the committee vote.

He assured her that she would get a full investigation of her claims only to roll over soon and vote to confirm after a meeting at the White House where one has no doubt he was threatened with a primary opponent. Why would they ever change their pressure tactics against Senator Tillis when they’ve worked so well all along.

He’s all but abdicated any pretense of meaningful oversight of the Executive Branch even though he swore in an op-ed in the Washington Post on 25 Feb 2019 that he was all about preserving the separation of powers and then stood idly by in Trump’s first term and the start of this second term standing on the sidelines speaking loudly but doing nothing.

And now he’s announced the crowning achievement of a political career best described by the word COWARDICE and completely ignoring the needs of the people of North Carolina and the Constitution that he swore to serve by chickening out of being held accountable by the voters for all he has done to us.

He’s going to be just fine taking that massive index-linked pension and Cadillac healthcare for life and the even more massive piles of money from K Street lobbying firms who will pay a king’s ransom for his ability to walk into Congress and lobby anyone there with little impediment.

Meanwhile, he may well vote against Trump’s utterly evil “big beautiful bill” but I wouldn’t be surprised if his final act of cowardice would be to cave in and vote for it just to make his last year and a half in the Senate rather like how some of us wanted to spend our senior year in high school and just cruise on through.

That sounds just like how Senator Burr ended his tenure when he announced his retirement and treated the final six months as a taxpayer-funded gardening leave…completely on auto-pilot and uninterested in the mundane affairs of ordinary North Carolinians.

I desperately wish I could take Senator Tillis at his word. But when his actions are usually the exact opposite and reek of political cowardice that he’s done time and time again over a record that spans decades…I’d be a fool if I ever believed a word that came out of his mouth unless it obviously benefited him.

I just can’t reward Sir Thom the Chicken-Hearted with the benefit of the doubt after so many disappointments through the years when his record of bravery and courage of conviction is eclipsed by Sir Robin’s… 🙁