Archive for 2015
Debate prep
Get your pizza, popcorn and drinking games ready. This debate is going to be rich, really rich. Just like Trump. Which is why we’ll watch. Nobody would tune in to see Jeb Bush, Scott Walker or Marco Rubio. No, it’s all Trump, all two hours: How far will he go? Who will he attack? Will…
Read MoreIn praise of budget slowness
Democrats are surely and sorely tempted to blast Republican legislators for dallying and delaying the budget. Not so fast, my friends. Here, slow is good. Especially after Senate Capo Tom Apodaca blasted the House for (horrors!) not even meeting with the Senate on the budget. He complained that the House is spending too much time…
Read MoreMcCrory’s troubles
There are few sure things in politics. So it’s no sure thing that Governor McCrory will lose reelection. But it is a sure thing he’s in what Poppy Bush would call deep doo-doo. Carter pretty well summed up what the new fundraising numbers mean: “You very seldom see a challenger outraising an incumbent when it’s…
Read MoreFoxwatcher
A TAPster visiting relatives had to watch Fox News this morning and provided this report: “Fox news is incredible. Beating Kasich to death for ‘joining forces with Obama’ and expanding Medicaid.” Then, “Did you know there are some jobs married women can have but still be true to their roles as wives?” Next, “After the…
Read MoreTurnaround ideas for McCrory
A contributing blogger, noting that Governor McCrory has had a run of bad news lately, offers five ways he can turn around “his disappointing governorship:” Get focused. Choose three priorities and make them the theme of your administration. Don’t allow other things to distract you. Wear out your veto stamp. Veto every single bill that…
Read MoreSentimental but Thin-Skinned
The editorial made Governor McCrory so mad he sat down and wrote the editors a letter telling them they had a choice: They could continue to malign an outstanding public servant – the Governor was talking about his legal counsel – or they could admit they were elitists who lacked journalistic standards. It’s an odd…
Read MoreSauce for the Goose
Right there in the middle of the page on the News and Observer’s website was an article with the Governor ripping into the newspapers for suing him for violating the ‘public records’ law – and right next to it was a second article about the Republican Party suing Roy Cooper for violating the same law.…
Read MoreTrump’s show
Some pundits predicted Donald Trump’s hot-air balloon would crash after he criticized John McCain for crashing and being captured in Vietnam. But no. He rose even higher in some polls. As Slim Pickens asked in Blazing Saddles, “What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?” Some pollsters will tell you it’s…
Read MoreThe Flying Insult
John McCain said Donald Trump’s supporters were ‘crazies;’ Lindsey Graham said Trump was a ‘jackass;’ Trump called Graham an ‘idiot’ and McCain a ‘dummy’ and said McCain ‘wasn’t a war hero.’ Then, a couple of days later, when the Last Socialist (Bernie Sanders) and Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley got up to speak at the National…
Read More‘She’s better than Bill!’
That was the enthusiastic assessment of one wise old Democrat after Hillary Clinton’s fundraiser in Raleigh last week. Another attendee, who never has stars in her eyes and has been skeptical, was won over by Clinton’s message and presence. Which raises two questions: First, will she run better in North Carolina than Bill? Second, will…
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