Editorial: Catawba Nation weakens case with new casino plans

State officials have the right answer, if not necessarily the right reasons, for opposing the Catawba Indian Nation's bid to open a casino just inside North Carolina.

The right answer: No.

The right reasons:

The Catwbas, a South Carolina-based tribe, couldn't even sell their own neighbors and their own state government on the idea of building on that side of the line. Trying to take their arguments north of the border doesn't strengthen their case; it weakens it. At the outset, the Catawbas forfeit one of their more creative arguments - that gambling should be allowed in the high country because the state allows Charleston-based gambling cruises into international waters.