Archive for January 2014
Bully at the Pulpit
Republicans can toss their Christie for President buttons, but they can learn a lesson from Governor Soprano. Pat McCrory can learn to take responsibility. He, Phil Berger and Thom Tillis (“whining…losers”) can learn that voters don’t like bullies. A TAPster (who once thought well of McCrory) noted the contrast between Christie and McCrory:…
Read MorePolitics in Columbialand
A long time long ago in the far away Kingdom of Columbialand two tribes battled over control of Congress for years then one of the tribes (the Republicans) split into two smaller tribes: The Pachyderms and the Tea Partiers. The Tea Partiers turned out to be an unusual tribe. They had a creed and they…
Read MoreRespirators
In a speech a couple of weeks ago the President urged Congress to get moving and pass his bill to extend unemployment benefits then, climbing up on his rhetorical high horse, he added that paying unemployment benefits “is one of the most effective ways to boost the economy” – which sounded a little odd, like…
Read MoreMovin’ On Up
Ricky Diaz’s work here is done. Clearly it is time for him to work his magic for Republicans all across America. He gave North Carolina a year’s worth of scandals, stumbles and PR disasters. Starting with his hiring: a 24-year-old getting a DHHS job paying $85,000 a year, while teachers and state employees got…
Read MoreSnow Geese
The surprise wasn’t Governor McCrory’s Cabinet Secretaries ripping into the liberals over at the Southern Environmental Law Center, calling them ‘do-gooders sitting in ivory towers in air-conditioned offices in Chapel Hill sipping lattes’;— the surprise was the cost of the two bridges the Governor’s camp and the environmentalists were battling over. The Governor’s folks…
Read MoreThe Teacher Pay Shuffle
Governor McCrory is in a box on teacher pay, and Democrats can’t let him wriggle out. You don’t need to be a political genius to predict what’s coming. McCrory will try to make a big splash by proposing a pay raise for teachers this year. He has to. He and the Republican legislature have…
Read MoreMitt Tillis
Thom Tillis’ campaign paid too much attention to what he said and not enough to what you see in his new TV ad. It’s a perfect set-up for his opponents, whether Republicans or Kay Hagan. Tillis looks and sounds like the Mitt Romney that people hated in 2012: a wealthy corporate boardroom guy surrounded…
Read MoreDeclaration of Independents
A “record-high 42 percent of Americans identify as Independents: Republican identification lowest in at least 25 years,” Gallup breathlessly tells us. But those numbers may obscure the truth about politics today. It’s not that four in 10 Americans swing bath and forth between the two parties – carefully studying the issues, judiciously judging the…
Read MoreClay for Congress
Don’t underestimate a candidate who already won 12 million Americans’ votes on TV. Clay Aiken may be a surprising candidate for Congress, but he may be just what Democrats need: a new face and fresh blood that energizes new voters, especially young voters. The social-media response to his possible candidacy in the 2nd…
Read MoreThe Old Two-Step
Like a lot of politicians, Governor McCrory wants to blame somebody else for all things bad and claim credit for all things good. Yesterday, he set a land speed record by doing both within a matter of minutes. First, speaking to a business group, he claimed credit for North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropping 2…
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