Archive for January 2015
Obama’s Fail
Two headlines this week tell why even President Obama’s fans despair sometimes. First, while Obama and his staff focused on rolling out his free-community college proposal, they neglected to send anybody to the biggest story in the world: the Paris rally against terror. Second, while the President was giving a speech on cybersecurity, our…
Read MorePaul’s Conversion
Has Rep. Paul Tine found the promised land – or no man’s land? Tine, who was elected twice as a Democrat, says he can help his district by switching to unaffiliated and caucusing with House Republicans. But will it help him or hurt him in 2016? Voters clearly have no love for…
Read MoreMore Powerful than Magic
Obama stands on a stage in Tennessee and promises nine million people he’ll give them $3,800 a year each (on average) and the press coos he’s made a “dramatic announcement” then a skeptic asks how Obama’ll come up with the money and Obama has the White House staff tell him, ‘That’s beside the point.’ …
Read MorePass McCroryCare
Here’s an idea for Democratic legislators, one that could be good politics and good for North Carolina: Help Governor McCrory pass his plan for Medicaid expansion. After meeting with President Obama at the White House last week, McCrory said he argued for flexibility to develop a “North Carolina plan.” But, as Carter noted during…
Read MoreWatch Us on WRAL
David Crabtree and Mark Binker of WRAL hosted Carter and me for this weekend’s “On the Record” show. We talked about the new Congress, the political landscape, Richard Burr’s reelection race, Governor McCrory and Medicaid, Paul Tine’s switcheroo and Jeb Bush. The show airs Saturday at 7 pm, or whenever basketball ends. It will…
Read MoreJerry Brown is Not Pusillanimous
At 76, the California governor is still young at heart, bold of vision and quick of wit. Brown was sworn into his fourth term this week, and he’s off with a bang. He wants to attack global warming by reducing California’s energy consumption over the next 15 years, slashing gas consumption by cars and…
Read MoreElectronic Walls?
A poor boy of seventeen Jomah joined ISIS for money then landed in a class to train children to be soldiers; the morning he received his first lesson teachers holding not guns but knives led in three captured soldiers and after the lesson the circle of boys passed around the severed heads. Ismail, also…
Read MoreThey Walk the Line
John Boehner, Jeb Bush and Pat McCrory took their first steps this week along a Republican Party fault line that offers peril for each of them – and peril for Democrats if they succeed. Boehner had to fend off a conservative challenge to his reelection as Speaker. Two dozen right-wing Republicans abandoned him. Lucky…
Read MoreRumors and Fictions
In a realm filled with rumors in the blink of an eye fictions take root in fertile soil and blossom adopting the image of spoken truth like this one you’ve heard a hundred times: ‘Romney lost because he shifted too far to the right during the primaries.’ In fact, the polls told a completely…
Read MoreGive ’em Hell, Harry!
You’ve got to love Harry Reid, especially since Republicans hate him so bad. The Harry-haters were hee-hawing and high-fiving last week after Reid hurt himself exercising. One wrote, “It Couldn’t Happen to a Nastier Guy.” Another speculated that Reid is into kinky sex. Here’s hoping that Harry will get well and keep giving…
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