It is very easy now, after listening to the outcry from state Democrats following Wednesday morning’s House vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the proposed state budget, to take offense and point fingers at Republicans.

Not so fast.

The political football that is the 2019-20 state budget has bounded crazily for the better part of three months now, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over what seems like a singular issue: Medicaid funding.

Since Cooper’s veto back in late June, the path chosen by Republicans has been to find enough Democrats to support an override and, along the way, begin passing mini budgets that get parts of the proposed fiscal spending plan put into place.

But that football took a crazy, some say unexpected bounce when Republican House Speaker Tim Moore saw there were only nine Democrats on the floor and quickly called for an early morning vote to override the veto. It passed, 55-9, and set off the fireworks.

Democrats say they were assured there would be no votes taken on Wednesday morning. Republicans say there was no such assurance made.

Democrats called the vote despicable, trickery, deceptive and a mockery of procedure. Republicans say there was nothing deceptive about it and procedure was followed to a tee.

As in most political cases, the attacks from both sides probably have a flavoring of truth around the edges.

But let’s not forget how the Democratic Party operated in the Statehouse during the 100 years it was in power here. They did things their way. They drew district maps the way they wanted them. They push through legislation with no regard for the GOP side. Dems wielded their power mightily because they could.

In an attempt to boil the fireworks since Wednesday’s veto override down to a single firecracker, it is Democrats who should be ashamed. They were caught with their pants down, so to speak, because they knew a veto override was on the House calendar almost every single day since Cooper’s veto, yet they chose to believe no vote would be taken Wednesday morning.

The saying goes that “all is fair in love and war,” but politics should be a third option. There has been a standing mistrust between Democrats and Republicans for decades, so why did Dems let their collective guard down when they knew this vote could happen at any given moment?

And we will agree with the words of the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, who said:

“The Democrats’ outrage over the alleged surprise vote overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto on the budget doesn’t ring with any moral authority. I remember quite well the deceit, the shenanigans employed by Democrats when they were in control of both chambers of the General Assembly and passed a state-operated lottery. The negative impact of that vote, the damage it’s done to the poor and the weakest among us lives on to this very day. The impact of the current budget bill will be fleeting in comparison. No political party has the moral high-ground here. It’s the way the process often works, and it’s always worse when your side is somehow the victim.”

Amen.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“You snooze, you lose.” (Unknown)