Picking Up the Pieces

In 200 years no President has ever had his legal powers taken from him. But, in addition to his legal powers, a President must also have a political mandate to govern, and a case can be made that three of the last seven Presidents lost that mandate before they left office. And George Bush may…

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Subsidies and Skyscrapers

Developer John Kane’s back, asking the City Council to give him $75 million in public money (tax breaks) to subsidize the expansion of North Hills Mall. (I guess he’s figured out he can undercut his competitors if the city goes along with the county commissioners to allow him not to pay 75% of his property…

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Forgetaboutit

If you’re a taxpayer in Roanoke Rapids you’re a guarantor on the city’s $21.5 million loan to Randy Parton to build the Randy Parton Theatre. But if you want to know how your investment is doing forgetaboutit. How’s attendance? Is Parton paying his $41,000 per month rent on time? Is their any money left after…

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Helping Fred Thompson

Say you are a candidate and need to get in step with Republican voters on immigration, because your record wasn’t quite what it should be. There’s one tried and true political strategy: Find an opponent whose record is worse than yours and attack him. That’s what Mitt Romney is doing – accusing Rudy Giuliani of…

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True Believers

A poll last week seemed to support Karl Rove’s argument that Hillary Clinton is a “fatally flawed” candidate. But the results may say more about how polarized voters are today. The poll, by the Pew Research Center, said: “Among voters of all parties with an opinion, Clinton is viewed favorably by 55 percent, the lowest…

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Gilding the Lily Can Be Risky?

Rudy Giuliani has done a little lily gilding of his own, declaring in a campaign appearance he’d “been in the ruins of the World Trade Center Towers as often, if not more than the cleanup workers.” Unfortunately for the Mayor that wasn’t how the workers remembered it. They complained. And the New York Times did…

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From Choirboy to Pitt Bull

It wasn’t too long ago that John Edwards running for Senate as a moderate choirboy was promising to stay above gutter politics and negative smears. By gosh, he said, he was going to keep to the high moral ground. Times change. Nine years later, our choirboy has become a pit-bull attacking Hillary, Rupert Murdoch and…

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The Power of Apology

I confess to not knowing much about Senator Janet Cowell from Raleigh, who wants to run for State Treasurer. But she did something rare for a politician last week. And my opinion of her immediately went sky-high. She apologized. She admitted she made a mistake. She owned up to it. And she did so in…

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NCAE Politics

Richard Moore’s campaign believes the fix is in for Beverly Perdue at the N.C. Association of Educators. Moore sent a letter to the NCAE President asking for a delay in the endorsement in the Democratic governor’s primary. A Moore aide sent me an email suggesting I blog on the matter: “Given NCAE’s history of endorsements…I…

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Nothing Coy About Him

Coy Privette has joined the dubious ranks of self-proclaimed moral leaders who got caught with their morals and their pants down. For more than 30 years, Privette has been a blustering, bullying political presence in North Carolina. He preached – and politicked – against sin, demon rum and the immorality of liberals and Democrats. I…

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