Archive for 2012
Popcorn Politics Part Deux
**Gary is taking a break from blogging and he asked a few Tapsters to post a few blogs. Here is another one a Tapster sent in: The biggest day of the 2012 political calendar is August 10. No, that’s not the start of the much-ballyhooed and underfunded Democratic National Convention, nor is it…
Read MorePopcorn Politics
**Gary is taking a break from blogging and he asked a few Tapsters to post a few blogs. Here is one a Tapster sent in: The rankings of the allegedly most influential lobbyists were released last week by the NC Center for Public Policy Research. This biennial joke was greeted by the usual…
Read MoreWhen It’s Over…
Harry Reid stands up beside his desk in the Senate and announces he’s got ‘credible evidence’ Mitt Romney hasn’t paid taxes for ten years – but then says he’s not sure it’s true. The Chairman of the Republican Party, throwing manners aside, brands Reid a ‘dirty liar.’ Reid’s spokesman fires back it’s ‘clear…
Read MoreWhy Is It Close?
A prominent Democrat asked this question: “With the economy so bad, why is Obama even close in North Carolina?” Three theories: (1) Voters like him; (2) they don’t like Romney; (3) they’re afraid the Tea Party has taken over the Republican Party. Maybe all three are right. A poll found Obama leading in…
Read MoreA Hard Fight
It started four years ago as an uneven fight: Five rural County Commissioners against a multi-national conglomerate with plants from Iceland to Arabia – so, losing ground, the Commissioners who’re Republicans turned to the Democratic Governor for help and got it in an odd way: The Governor helped but, at the same time, her Department…
Read MoreThe Big Dog Speaks
Hereâs why Iâm glad Bill Clinton will have a big role at the Democratic convention: Nobody in American politics today is a better contrast to how brain-dead American politics is today. Clinton is the one national figure who can weave sensible policy proposals from the extremes of left and right, the one politician who…
Read MoreJust Plain Bad Manners
WRAL-TV put an Internet link on its website to a map that shows streets where concealed handgun permit holders live – the map doesn’t give the handgun permit holders’ names or addresses it simply reports, say, ‘two’ permit holders live on Maple Avenue. That didn’t sit well with the pro-gun lobby Grass Roots North…
Read MoreBurr as Veep?
Maybe Senator Richard Burr sees himself as the best running mate for Mitt Romney. In an interview with WBT radio, he said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) could use “a little more experience.” He called Kelly Ayotte out of New Hampshire a “longshot.” And he had faint praise for former Minnesota Gov. Tim…
Read MoreRinging the School Bell
One of Walter Dalton’s biggest challenges is winning Independent women voters in the Charlotte media market. How does he do that? Take them to school. Dalton can go after on education Pat McCrory two ways. One, McCrory will rubber-stamp whatever the legislature does to the public schools. Senator Josh Stein did a…
Read MoreDigging the Hole Deeper
The State Medicaid Department has a Public Integrity Section to root out fraud which sounds fine only according to the State Auditor the department paid IBM and SAS $8 million to help find fraud but then only recovered $427,000 – so, at the end of the day, instead of fighting fraud the department compounded fraud…
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