Hillary Clinton would be cruising to a landslide victory of historic proportions – if it wasn’t for her damn emails. She had a great convention. She got a great bounce in the polls. She wisely stayed silent while her opponent attacked a Gold Star family, fought with his own party and made people question his…
Read MoreSix of us sat down for our weekly lunch and an ethical perplexity landed on the table: Does a Republican have to defend Donald Trump, no matter what he says, because if he doesn’t he’s helping elect Hillary? Eric, an attorney, asked. No one liked Hillary but no one liked Trump either and then Eric…
Read MoreSitting in a century old steakhouse staring out at the Brooklyn Bridge thirty years ago Hank Greenburg (the pollster not the baseball player) explained an election that could only happen in the grubby circus of New York politics: Given a choice between a Crook and a Fool, he said, voters take the Crook. His theory…
Read MoreThe most devastating TV spot in political history was the “Daisy ad” in 1964. This year, Hillary Clinton’s campaign needs an ad that makes one simple point: If Donald Trump is elected President, he will have sole, unchecked power to start a nuclear war.
Read MoreHillary Clinton has been to North Carolina. President Obama has been here. Bill Clinton is back here. Tim Kaine has been here. It’s time to send the Big Gun: Michelle Obama. She was the biggest hit of the Democratic Convention, excepting Khizr Khan. Of course, Donald Trump hasn’t attacked Michelle. Yet. Maybe Melania is planning…
Read MorePat McCrory is acting more and more like Donald Trump. Like Trump, he’s thin-skinned and sensitive. Like Trump, he personally and viciously attacks anybody who disagrees with him. And like Trump, he can’t stop digging his hole deeper. McCrory had his chief of staff call a late-night press conference to accuse a career state scientist…
Read MoreIt’s an odd sort of logic: UNC-Chapel Hill lawyered up and made its case to the NCAA: It admitted it held phony classes that never met; it admitted football and basketball players were in the classes – but said none of that’s a problem because phony classes don’t violate NCAA rules. It’s an unusual argument…
Read MoreWe knew that when a woman ran for President there’d be talk about being temperamental, overly emotional, overly sensitive and subject to mood swings that might be dangerous in the Oval Office and Situation Room. We just didn’t know that talk would be about the man in the race. But since he won the Republican…
Read MoreDuring the conventions the past two weeks, The Charlotte Observer published daily posts by Carter and me. We thank Taylor Batten and Peter St. Onge for the invitation and the guidance. We’ve been honored to do it, we’ve had great response and our blog got new readers. But we’re glad it’s over. Writing for a…
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