Trump masters the media universe

Ever since FDR gave his fireside chats on radio, successful Presidents have mastered the dominant new media of their time. Donald Trump masters today’s media by providing what the media wants above all: constant controversy. JFK won on TV in 1960 and kept winning with live televised news conferences. Roger Ailes orchestrated Nixon’s win in…

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The Uber-Alpha-Male

Long ago, in the land we live in today, when enemies threatened, men named Douglas MacArthur, George Patton and John Wayne killed them – whether the enemy was named Hirohito, Hitler or Liberty Valance. Times changed. Small towns with old-fashioned values vanished, devoured by booming secular cities. Newspapers were replaced by Facebook, Twitter, and Internet…

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Where Dollar gets his dollars

Do we want political consultants running our government? We got one: Rep. Nelson Dollar, the chief House budget writer. The N&O reported: “Dollar, 54, is a longtime political and public relations consultant who helps coordinate campaigns for fellow House Republicans and other GOP candidates. His firm, J. N. Dollar & Associates, booked nearly $150,000 of…

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A Democrat’s Dollar dilemma

A diehard Democrat faced a dilemma after reading about House budget leader Nelson Dollar in the N&O. “Should we be helping him?” she wondered. What caught her eye and caused her soul-searching was Dollar saying the Senate budget “makes it difficult to pay for…a 2 percent raise for state employees, additional money for teacher pay…

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Back to school

Seventeen years ago, our daughter went to her first day of kindergarten in the Wake County public schools. This week, she went to her first day as a student teacher in the Wake County public schools. Seventeen years ago, Jim Hunt had just been elected to his fourth term on a promise to raise teacher…

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Government in inaction

A now-retired lobbyist who observed the legislature for many years offers this take on the current session: The revelation that the General Assembly needs more time to agree to a state budget is not startling and, frankly, shouldn’t be troubling. Sure, the school systems are in a knot about drivers’ ed and teachers assistants, and…

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The faith of Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter certainly wasn’t our best President, but he’s clearly one of the best human beings to be President. At the core of his goodness is a powerful Christian faith that has sustained him throughout his life, even as it complicated his political life. My then-N&O colleague Ferrel Guillory was one of the first reporters…

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Fun with Trump

Admit it. You love it. We all love it. That’s why the Donald Trump for President Show rolls on and on and on. That’s why all political news – from the New York Times to Fox News to MSNBC to Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight – is all Trump, all the time. Staid, sober observers…

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Republicans learn to love government

Republicans hate government. Too big and bloated, they say. Too many people on the public payroll. Too many seat-warmers, Governor McCrory says. But something magical happens when they get their turn at the tax-paid trough. To wit: Former state Rep. Nathan Ramsey got a job in the Asheville office of the state Division of Workforce…

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The Carolina way?

After years of damaging disclosures and disastrous PR, you’d think there’s no way UNC could make its grades-and-athletes scandal worse. As George W. Bush would say, don’t misunderestimate them. They could make it worse by making Sylvia Hatchell the scapegoat and Roy Williams the escape ram. A Page One story by the N&O’s Dan Kane…

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