A government shutdown’s turned out to be a peculiar sort of beast. First, before a shutdown, every politician – in both parties – declares the government shutting will be terrible. Awful. Armageddon. And every politician swears they want the government to stay open. Then the government shuts down. Next one group of…
Read MoreA Republican legislator did a fine job of stating the case against Governor McCrory and the Republican legislature: “It makes it awfully difficult…to hear from teachers making $30,000 a year and not receiving raises in five years, and you hire someone one year out of college with an English degree and pay him $85,000.” …
Read MoreSo all the DHHS scandals are based on a report that was doctored to mislead legislators and taxpayers. The $87,000 salaries for young campaign aides, lucrative contracts for political allies, eyebrow-raising sudden exits by top department officials and sweet severance payouts. All that is based on the McCrory’s administration claim that it inherited a…
Read MoreWhat if Obamacare flops? What if the public has sticker shock? What if voters blame both sides for the shutdown? From the White House down, Democrats seem awfully confident the shutdown-Obamacare standoff will end well for them. Plus, they say, Americans will love Obamacare once they get to know it. But suppose all…
Read MoreHouston, we have a problem. Last weekend, in Asheville, Roy Cooper threw down the gauntlet. He’s running for Governor. This isn’t quite a tsunami or earthquake. But Democrats now have a bona-fide candidate (with name identification and money) standing eyeball to eyeball with Governor McCrory – pouring gas on the fire of the…
Read MoreI wish the N&O had endorsed Randy Stagner for City Council. It would be bad to lose a good council member because of what looks like a failure to communicate. Like the N&O, I was bothered at first by the flap involving City Manager Russell Allen and City Council parking places. I even wrote a…
Read MoreTalk about strange things happening: Up in Washington two tribes of politicians have been pummeling each other night and day over who deserve the blame for shutting down the government. Then, unexpectedly, one tribe changed directions. First the House Republicans voted to fund national parks and monuments, then they voted to fund part…
Read MoreThe government is shut down, so Congressman George Holding got some shuteye. On camera. At the moment one of his Republican colleagues declaimed, “It’s about time to do what’s right for the whole country,” the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina was catching a few winks. CSPAN’s camera caught him. Unfortunately for Holding, he was…
Read MoreLook at the news this week, and you see that Republicans made a classic PR mistake: They stepped on their story. For them, the best story would be problems, questions, concerns and online glitches with Obamacare. Instead, that story is competing with shutdown fallout: national monuments closed, WWII veterans turned away, school tours cancelled,…
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