Archive for 2011
Ambivalent Bev
Now we see why it took Governor Perdue so long to come out against the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. First, she was waiting to put it out Friday afternoon – in hopes nobody would notice. Not just any Friday afternoon, but the one right before the Columbus Day-fall break weekend. Second, it…
Read MoreRunning With Randall
Dr. Randall Williams’ brief political career is liable to end in today’s election. Which I regret, because he could give Raleigh politics a refreshing – and recurring – regimen of: “What’s with that?” Like his haircut. (Click here.) What’s with that? Then there’s the odd, full-page ad in The N&O today. What’s with…
Read MoreHow to Win Friends Political Style (It Beats Dale Carnegie)
It didn’t work out too well when Congress went into the home loan business a couple of years ago – so it seems odd the Raleigh City Council wants to do the same thing. However, just about everyone in town seems to think passing a bond to borrow millions so the Council can make…
Read MoreHow to Make Friends the Political Way – Part II
The other borrowing the Raleigh City Council has put on the ballot is a Transportation Bond. Which sounds like the Council wants to borrow money to repair potholes and build new streets. Except the newspaper reported three-fourths of the money isn’t for roads. Almost everyone it seems is for this bond too. And if…
Read MoreToo Much for Ellmers!
How bad can the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages be if it’s too much for Renee Ellmers? According to Under the Dome, the congresswoman’s spokesman “confirmed that she planned to vote against the constitutional ban that was adopted by the legislature in September because it is too broadly drawn.” It would ban civil…
Read MoreMcCrory’s Tease
Julie Rose at WFAE public radio in Charlotte tagged Pat McCrory’s announcement-that-he-will-have-an-announcement-later: “Nothing excites donors or attracts free publicity like a good tease.” She also pointed out that McCrory announced he’s delaying his “big announcement” because “campaigns have become too long and too costly.” This from a man who has been running since…
Read MoreThe Left’s Tea Party?
A TAPster asks: Is the Occupy Wall Street protest “a moment or a movement?” Is it a new political wave that, as the Tea Party shaped the 2010 election, will shape the 2012 election? The Tea Party took off two years ago – ironically, sparked by a CNBC reporter’s rant on Wall Street…
Read MoreVindication!
I have an apology from The New Yorker – and a correction (online, at least). The reporter, Jane Mayer, called me to apologize. She said she was “totally mortified” that her Art Pope story identified me as former executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party. My biographical information apparently got mixed us with…
Read MoreThis Is It?
Jilted by Chris Christie, the Republican search for Ronald Reagan Redux goes on. You know things are bad when Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich are rising in the polls. Already, Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry have soared – and then plummeted. But they distinguished themselves by performing a feat no one thought possible:…
Read MoreStop Whining
The New Yorker article about Art Pope takes me back to the 1980s. Then, my fellow Democrats were whining about the money, power and evil influence of Jesse Helms’ Congressional Club. Now, they’re whining about the money, power and evil influence of Art Pope. Stop whining. Get to work. Find our Art Pope. …
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