Archive for 2007
Student Video Trips Up Edwards Campaign
John Edwards’s campaign staffers blew it when they blew up over a UNC journalism student’s video story. No more than few thousand people would have seen the original post on YouTube. After the campaign went nuclear, hundreds of thousands saw it. It’s a double whammy for Edwards. First a minor story gets more attention. Then…
Read MoreMercedes Drove Us to Incentives
The News & Observerâs recent examination of economic incentives said âattitudes have changedâ here since North Carolina lost Mercedes to Alabama in 1993. Actually, attitudes changed because we lost Mercedes. The story accurately noted that North Carolina didnât get the Mercedes plant because we didnât match Alabamaâs incentives. The N&O noted that my old boss,…
Read MoreBush’s Shadow
The Supreme Commander of the U.S. Army in Iraq – from June 2003 through June 2004 – said last week President Bush’s handing of the war has been “incompetent.” Not mistaken. Or flawed. Incompetent. The spinmeisters went to work overnight saying General Ricardo Sanchez’s has a case of sour grapes because he didn’t get a…
Read MoreElectrifying ElectriCities
Carter and I started Talking About Politics when we become intrigued by how blogs create an alternative form of political communication. It’s happening on our own site right now – without either of us lifting a finger. Click here to read a post that somebody (we don’t know who) put on our site about ElectriCities…
Read MoreRough Sailing Ahead for Hillary
Hillary Clinton’s campaign is living on a diet of fingernails. The Main Stream Media (MSM) and the Democratic Establishment have proclaimed her the winner. But John Edwards asks the apt question: Did I miss something? Did Iowa already vote? Did we already pick a nominee? History says that no Democratic front-runner sails to the nomination…
Read MoreRun, Kay, Run
Even before Jim Neal outed himself, Kay Hagan was looking at getting back in the U.S. Senate race. Now she’s getting more encouragement – from home and from Washington. Hagan, a state senator from Greensboro, had looked at running earlier. She pulled back because Senator Charles Schumer from New York, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial…
Read MoreGood PR, Bad PR
I watch “60 Minutes” Sunday nights to see who shines and who fades in the close-up TV glare. The results are often surprising. Valerie Plame and Erik Prince, to take two examples. I was predisposed to like Plame, the outed CIA agent. After all, she’s taken a blowtorch to the Bush Administration. And she looks…
Read MoreMr. Peepers Gets Gored
As if Robert Escamilla – the ‘Mr. Peepers’ of Enloe High School – didn’t have enough problems after being demoted and publicly tarred and feathered by School Superintendent Del Burns, now, School Board Chairman Rosa Gill, lowering her head, has charged right over him too. Mrs. Gill feels that the students and parents questioning Superintendent…
Read MoreMr. Peepers in the Soup
Robert Escamilla is a 21st Century version of ‘Mr. Peepers.’ A bit shy. Awkward. Eccentric. And for eighteen years a diligent social studies teacher who received glowing reports from his superiors at Enloe High School. Until a few months ago, he had only one ripple on his resume with the potential to rock the waters…
Read MoreThe Colbert Factor
Since Bill Clinton blew his sax for Arsenio Hall, presidential candidates have been using TV talk-show hosts. Now a TV personality is turning the tables. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central says he’ll run in South Carolina’s primary – as a Democrat and a Republican. This is no joke – to the candidates. Colbert, who is…
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