Archive for May 2012
Enough?
One thing is clear from the John Edwards trial, a second thing is much less clear and a third will play out over time. What is clear, after days of mind-numbing retelling of the sordid tale, is that Edwards did terrible things. And so did several other characters. The prosecutors did a fine job…
Read MoreA Hung Jury
At dinner the other night two lawyers and a priest were arguing about the John Edwards trial and one said, A juror would have to be blind to believe John Edwards when he says he didn’t take that million dollars from those two billionaires to hide his affair from voters. The second lawyer nodded…
Read MoreSpare Change
Mitt and Ann Romney this week contributed $150,000 to his campaign. Apparently they found the money under the sofa cushions in one of their houses and needed a place to put it.
Read MoreQuestion for Pat
The next time Pat McCrory answers reporters’ questions, he should be asked: “You say you want to get rid of the politics-as-usual system in Raleigh. Will you follow the example Speaker Tillis set with his staff?”
Read MoreTin-Ear Tillis
Thom Tillis once looked like a formidable statewide candidate. First he overcame the birthers, flat-earthers and Skip Stam to get elected Speaker. He ran the House with crisp – if sometimes heavy-handed – efficiency. He went on a statewide tour that gave him an aura of openness. He seemed to have something of a…
Read MoreGeorge Holding: Kenneth Starr Redux?
The breakfast talk turned to John Edwards’ trial – and to a recent PBS special on President Clinton. Someone asked: “Is George Holding going to go down in history as the Kenneth Starr of North Carolina politics?” Starr will forever be remembered as the obsessed special prosecutor who produced a detailed, explicit examination of…
Read MoreDalton in the Line of Fire
Walter Dalton got good news this week: Public Policy Polling showed he had narrowed the gap with Pat McCrory. That’s the natural result of his primary-winning TV ads and the spotlight that comes with victory. Then Dalton got bad news: A big Republican Governors Association TV buy attacking him. But Dalton’s gun is…
Read MoreAs If By Magic
Awhile back, like incubi of old, mischievous Anony-mices descended on the News and Observer’s website and set up camp; giving themselves colorful names (the way wrestlers on TV do) like Tarheel Crusher, Yosephus and Agent Pierce (who describes himself as Agent Pierce, News Personality, Legendary Cyber Commando) they set about tormenting any hapless victim who…
Read MoreBad Weekend for Obama
If President Obama doesn’t carry North Carolina in November, he can look back to two days on a weekend in May. On Saturday came the David Parker disaster. Remember: the worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted. Sunday, at the 3,000-member Upper Room Church of God in Christ, a black Pentecostal church in Raleigh,…
Read MoreNo Joke
All kidding aside, here’s why Democrats fear the David Parker fiasco could sink the party this year: Parker promised the party’s gubernatorial nominee he would step down. Then he didn’t. So people in Washington who decide how much national campaign money flows through the Democratic Party to North Carolina ask a simple question:…
Read More