Archive for 2009
Bob Novak
I never liked the crabby grouch Bob Novak played on television. But I did like Bob Novak the reporter. I got to know him when he covered the Hunt-Helms race in 1984. Novak obviously was a conservative, but I don’t know what he thought of Helms. He liked Hunt personally, but I don’t…
Read MoreWhat to do this Friday Night
On Friday night at 9 o’clock turn off MSNBC and Fox and CNN and click over to Channel 4 and you’ll have a once in a lifetime experience: Gary’s being interviewed on Bill Friday’s program. This could turn out to be like having a front row seat at a movie about North Carolina politics.…
Read MorePulling the Plug?
First President Obama retreated under Sarah Palin’s “death panel” attack. The Great Communicator couldn’t communicate how ludicrous the attack was. The provision actually was proposed by a Republican. It would have reimbursed doctors who advised patients about leaving instructions for how they want their end-of-life decisions made. Something everybody should do. It spares families…
Read MoreA Woman’s Prerogative
My wife is an unusual woman. She sets her course, steers by it, only rarely changes her mind and her wisdom is such that almost always – with the exception being when she slipped and married me – everything works out fine. On the other hand, we’ve all heard the old saying, It’s a…
Read More“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”
Gene Robinson, the respected Washington Post columnist, got the blues the other day, so, to lift his spirits, he kicked Dick Cheney – ripping into ole Cheney for being a torturer, the father of black-ops prisons and generally making him out to be the worst villain of the Third Millennium. All that led me…
Read MoreHealth Care As We Know It
There is an echo of the old welfare debate in the health-care debate. But worse – for Democrats. Until Bill Clinton “ended welfare as we know it,” welfare was a huge political problem for Democrats. Big majorities of the public – black and white – objected to a program they believed took money from…
Read MorePassion Gap
In politics as in sports, motivation often separates winners from losers. In the health care debate now, conservatives and Republicans are far more motivated than Democrats and Obama supporters. The passion factor has flipped since the election. Then, dispirited Republicans stayed home. Impassioned Democrats lined up at the polls for weeks at the…
Read MorePost Mortem
The story of how the state budget got made and passed reads like a plot from a bad Gothic novel. On page one Governor Perdue is sitting, looking at last year’s budget and dreaming of all the new things she is going to spend money on this year; she dreams and dreams then adds…
Read MoreGood Luck Pearce Edwards
You’ll need it. Governor Perdue is bringing you from Washington State to save her administration. She may as well have painted a big target on your back. At least you’re from here. You’ll work for a governor who has a reputation for being tough on her staff – and erratic. You’ll be…
Read MoreWorth the Risk?
We’ve got a whale of a health care war going on – and it’s a pleasure to watch the Congressmen and Senators getting bearded in their own Town Hall Meetings. In Round One President Obama charged out of his corner and whipped everyone in sight; then, in Round Two, he unexpectedly got rocked back…
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