Strong commenter reaction to today’s Winston-Salem Journal article on Mayor Allen Joines, who (somehow) is running unopposed in the upcoming city elections. And this ain’t Greensboro, mind you —– Joines will be the mayor for at least four more years.

I certainly found it interesting that Forsyth GOP head Nathan Tabor complained about Joines’ conflict of interest as president of the Winston-Salem Alliance right after defending the defensive strategy of re-taking the City Council. The best way to fix that is to get rid of Joines, right? Forget that. The fact that Republicans can’t find a candidate to take on a vulnerable incumbent certainly reflects the state of the party.

But commenter Landscaper doesn’t pull any punches:

Mr. Tabor is quite the talker, isn’t he? He claims in the article he will win pick up four more seats on the city council, and implies he can drive a wedge between Mr. Clark and the mayor, for a 5 to 3 majority. What is Mr. Tabor smoking?

…Tabor may be the biggest genius of the bunch. He gave the Democrats the mayorship for 4 more years without one citizen casting a vote. Mr. Tabor, please resign and let a grownup pick up the pieces and try to glue something together, if not for this year’s election, then to get started on the 2010 contest. People respect people who get things done . The mayor can, and Mr. Tabor can’t. It’s that simple.

Now the question becomes whether or not Republicans can really take over the City Council.