Terror politics

The Great Ebola Panic hit America a year ago this October, right before the 2014 midterm elections. President Obama’s poll ratings plunged, and races that had been within Democrats’ reach – including the U.S. Senate and legislative races in North Carolina – shifted to Republicans. This year, the Paris terrorist attacks remind us how dangerously…

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Ted Cruz Moment

It starts with seeing a tiny cloud on the horizon – and that’s the first sign; then, next, out of nowhere chains of emails start floating across the Internet – and that’s the second sign: After studying Donald Trump with unease (and amazement) and Ben Carson with hope (but doubt) conservatives’ eyes have now locked…

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Turning Up the Heat

He flattened the Governor to get a $3 million state contract then like a one-man wrecking ball crashed into Senator Phil Berger to keep his contract and after the press chewed on the Governor the reporters made a beeline straight for Berger – who didn’t mince words. Yes, he said, Graeme Keith called him about…

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A moment for Hillary

The Paris attacks and the Syrian refugee crisis quickly brought out the worst in Republicans. Will it now bring out the best in Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton? Of course Republican politicians are doing what they do best: stoking Americans’ worst fears, deepest suspicions and darkest prejudices. No surprise. The politicians saw what bashing Mexicans did…

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Weak as Water

How do you figure it? Obama’s sending fifty soldiers to Iraq to whip ISIS. Fifty soldiers. We’re at war with the craziest bunch of mean-eyed terrorists anyone’s laid eyes on since Genghis Khan rolled out of Mongolia – and 50,000 soldiers might scare them. But fifty? Colonel Travis had more men than that at the…

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Feeling the heat

Governor McCrory is in hot water, and his spokesman sounds like a teapot on a hot stove. Democratic Rep. Larry Hall said of Prison-Gate, “It’s obvious they went to great lengths to ensure this contractor had special access and opportunity. There’s a pay-to-play, quid pro quo way of doing business that’s happening right now.” Josh…

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Democrats losing white America

Seven years ago this month, Democrats across America were celebrating the election of an African-American President. It was an extraordinary historic achievement. But no good deed goes unpunished. Vox sums up what has happened since: “Under President Obama, Democrats have lost 900+ state legislature seats, 12 governors, 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats. That’s some…

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Asking hard questions, made easy

The Republican presidential candidates are right: the questions asked at the CNBC debate were awful. But not for the reasons the candidates complain about. By straining to ask “tough” questions, the panel made the debate too easy on the candidates. There’s a better way. Less is more. The hardest questions to answer are short, sharp…

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The Big Kerfuffle

Just hearing the four words Grand Jury and FBI Investigation is enough to make a politician’s blood run cold and the Governor’s got both on his hands, a Grand Jury investigating the Department of Health and the FBI investigating the Prisons Department but after reading the morning newspaper story he tore into not the FBI…

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A Hurricane

When Donald Trump stormed out of Trump Tower and roared into the lead in the Republican Primary, the press said he was sure to collapse. They said the same thing after the first debate. And after the second debate. After the third debate, with Trump still leading, they said: Rubio soars. Cruz scores. Trump falls…

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