Last year (after their big victory in the 2012 election) as soon as Republican State Senators and State Representatives got to Raleigh they went to work to cut spending and it was almost like a competition: The House would announce it had cut a hundred million dollars. And the Senate would top that…
Read MoreThis is one of the oldest battles in our Republic. And you ain’t seen nothing yet. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision ignites a battle over women’s health care, which will command center stage. But it’s really just part of the long-running battle over the proper relationship between corporations and the government/the people.…
Read MoreAs much as I admire the Old Bull Mooses’ single-minded pertinacity, I’ve been unkind lately to the State Senate but at dinner last night Conor, who may be the last of the Jessecrats, set me straight. I’d written – a couple of days ago – how the Democratic political wizards around Raleigh believe the…
Read MoreMaybe Chad Barefoot really believes Putin reared his head and Russia reached its tentacles into the anti-fracking forces in North Carolina. Or maybe it’s just a cynical attempt to raise money from a Fox-fed mob of ignoramuses. Or maybe it’s a desperate overreaction to a poll showing that voters don’t like fracking. …
Read MoreThe other day while I was having lunch with one of Raleigh’s Democratic wizards he said, You know a lot of people believe the Senate Republican Caucus has captured the Chamber of Commerce and turned it into an appendage of its political committee. I said, How’s that? and he explained the Democrats, rooting through…
Read MoreMike, a young down-the-line rock-ribbed Republican partisan who sees eye to eye with Senator Bob Rucho (who once tweeted ‘Obamacare has done more damage than the Nazis’) but is too smart to say anything that foolish within earshot of a reporter, and Jim who would like Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for President because Hilary’s…
Read MoreIt’s a rite of summer. The House, the Senate and the Governor can’t agree on a budget. They tell themselves that millions of North Carolinians are in suspense, following the latest twist in the budget deliberations like they’re binge-watching Netflix. This year, Governor McCrory and Speaker Tillis decide a bold stroke is needed to…
Read MoreWhen the ‘anti-frackers’ launched their million dollar ad campaign to defeat Chad Barefoot and three other Republican State Senators the Senate Republican Caucus returned fire, calling on Barefoot’s opponent to denounce the flood of “special interest money” pouring into the district then added, “Who knows what Sarah Crawford (Barefoot’s opponent) has promised these people.” …
Read MoreTo quote Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles, “What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?” What is politics coming to when a deeply conservative Deep South Senator rallies black Democrats to win a Republican primary? When a GOP bridge-builder beats a fire-eater? When a big spender beats a budget slasher?…
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