Archive for June 2007
A Comedy of the Absurd
Five members of the School Board are up for re-election this fall and School Superintendent Del Burnsâ decision to cashier high-school teacher Robert Escamilla may land right in their laps. Mr. Escamilla teaches â or did teach until Burns demoted him â at Enloe High School. For twenty-four years, he has received good to exemplary…
Read MoreThe Bottom’s Out of the Bucket?
For thirty years rural voters have been the bedrock of the Republican Party. President Bush beat John Kerry in rural America by 20%. But, suddenly, according to a new poll (www.npr.org) rural voters are poised to vote Democratic. John Edwards and Barack Obama are as popular in rural communities as President Bush, John McCain and…
Read MoreYou Want To See What? The Books? No Way!
There’s another scandal brewing in the State House, around Rep. Mary McAllister (D–Fayetteville). Last session Rep. McAllister slipped a line in a bill to give $500,000 to a non-profit that pays her a $115,000 a year salary. She also failed to disclose her conflict of interest. When the State Auditor found out he showed up…
Read MoreThe Myth of Fred Thompson
I bet Fred Thompson’s presidential prospects are no more real than the TV and movie characters he plays. He’s done the Dance of the Seven Veils about running for months now. Why doesn’t he get in the race? My guess is that he’s one of these politicians who wants the office but doesn’t want to…
Read MoreThe Woman From the Middle
In the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton had sewn up the Democratic nomination, but was trailing George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot in the polls. So – at the Democratic Convention – he reintroduced himself as “The Man from Hope.” He and his consultants painted that picture to counter the popular view of Clinton as a…
Read MoreDemocrats Stretching Credulity
Rep. Mary McAllister is a Democrat from Fayetteville. According to a report published by Democratic researcher Joe Sinsheimer last year she sponsored a bill that read: “There is to be appropriated from the General Fund to Operation Sickle Cell, Incorporated, a non-profit organization, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2006-07 fiscal…
Read MoreRepublicans Revert to Form on Immigration
George Bush ran as a “compassionate conservative” but hasn’t governed that way – until it came to immigration reform. But his own party is having none of his compassion toward immigrants. By voting 38-18 against his immigration bill, Senate Republicans officially certified Bush as a lame duck President. This is no surprise. Republicans reverted to…
Read MoreDemocrats, Corruption and Loopholes
Democrats must have a cadre of people working “round the clock” to find ways to skirt the state Ethics Laws. Take this example. Lobbyists in North Carolina for Time Warner Cable – just to pick an example mentioned in The News and Observer – are banned from contributing to Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue’s campaign for…
Read MorePolls Matter
Here’s a peculiar poll. And a good example why – if you’re a candidate – depending on polls is more reliable than depending on your instincts. John McLaughlin and Associates, a respected Republican pollster, reports Fred Thompson has gained nine points on Rudy Giuliani since April. Giuliani dropped from 28% to 24%. Thompson rose from…
Read MoreThe Politics of Immigration
The pro-immigration camp, politically, is small. It’s only 10-20% of the voters. They are mostly liberals though not all liberals – by any means – support the President’s plan to legalize twelve million illegal immigrants. The anti-immigration camp is huge. Roughly 70% of the voters. They are primarily Republicans and conservatives. But not entirely. Many…
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