It’s the Character, Stupid

If Democrats want to come back in North Carolina, they need to avoid their usual mistake of thinking it’s all about the issues.   It’s in Democrats’ DNA to do that. We’re issues people. We care a lot about things like Medicaid expansion, Common Core curriculum, growth strategies and infrastructure.   It’s not that voters…

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Bailing Out the Enemy

Carter likes to say that politics is an exercise in human folly and error. Both parties seem set on proving it in Washington.   A few weeks ago, President Obama’s job ratings fell when the news was focused on Syria. But Washington Republicans came to his rescue. They shut down the government. Everybody forgot about…

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Trouble Ahead

What’s the over/under on how many bad headlines and headaches will come from Governor McCrory’s plan to shift job recruitment from the N.C. Department of Commerce to a new “public-private nonprofit corporation”?   The N&O’s Rob Christensen reported that similar partnerships across the country have been criticized for “misuse of taxpayer money, conflicts of interest,…

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The Target was Democrats

The judge, after I asked about Eric Holder’s lawsuit, grunted and said, Whatever gave you the idea that law and justice are the same thing – the law can be a darn peculiar beast.   Not long ago the Attorney General of the whole United States sued the whole state of North Carolina to put…

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Patronage Shocker

We all are shocked – shocked, I say – that Governor McCrory and the Republican Party are putting political cronies in state jobs. Like that has never happened before.   I’m reminded of the Jim Hunt supporter who wanted to get a state job for a local boy. The Governor’s patronage chief, Joe Pell, asked,…

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Obamacare Rx

Republicans couldn’t defund Obamacare, and Democrats seemingly can’t defend it. Some states (where there’s competition) are seeing lower insurance rates, and some (where Republicans blocked competition) are having sticker shock.   Nobody understands what Obamacare is, but everybody understands a website that won’t work, so we’re obsessing about that.   Maybe we’re overcomplicating this. Maybe…

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Going Viral

Matt Brown did what digital experts would run over their grandmothers to do. He got a half a million people to read his message, and it didn’t cost him a cent.   North Carolina politicians better take notice.   Think about those numbers for a second. A half-million readers. In a state where 4.5 million…

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Pachyderms

The Pachyderms, or Supreme Republican Leaders in Washington, have a natural animus to Democrats – but, these days, who they dislike even more is Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers.   It’s time Ted Cruz, one Pachyderm snorted in the newspaper, started acting like an adult.   Talking about Senator Mike Lee, another added, He’s so…

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Pachyderms

The Pachyderms, or Supreme Republican Leaders in Washington, have a natural animus to Democrats – but, these days, who they dislike even more is Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers.   It’s time Ted Cruz, one Pachyderm snorted in the newspaper, started acting like an adult.   Talking about Senator Mike Lee, another added, He’s so…

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Cooped Up

Roy Cooper has made strong moves to clear the 2016 Democratic primary field for Governor. But he also may be putting a big obstacle in his path.   The AG is adamant that he can go into court and defend Republican-supported laws on voter identification and same-sex marriage, even though he adamantly opposes those laws.…

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