Archives

Categories

Broken Record

By Gary Pearce February 16, 2012

Pat McCrory hasn’t yet figured out how to deal with not having Bev Perdue to kick around any more.   He said at his filing that he’s running against “broken government.” Well, who isn’t?   As questions he got showed, “broken government” can mean the legislature as well as the executive branch.   And McCrory…

Read More

We’ve Heard this Before

By Carter Wrenn February 16, 2012

Obama’s new budget is out and the more things change the more they remain the same – he’s increasing the deficit (from $1.3 to $1.33 trillion) and increasing spending, but big cuts are coming somewhere down the road.   Obama’s been running that same flim-flam, promising big cuts down the road since he was elected…

Read More

Berger and The N&O

By Gary Pearce February 16, 2012

A TAPster who has watched a succession of politicians tangle with the N&O was struck by Senate Leader Phil Berger’s letter to the editor Tuesday, especially the end:   “Interestingly, the editorial opines that the state’s Legislative Building is a ‘hot-air factory where opponents of the Racial Justice Act seemingly will say anything …’ Clearly,…

Read More

Play that Video

By Carter Wrenn February 15, 2012

I’m old-fashioned enough not to have much faith in these new ‘automated telephone polls’ that the Democrats at Public Policy Polling do, but you have to give them credit – those polls have turned their company into a P.R. juggernaut. They’re in the newspaper just about every day.   Their latest poll on the Democratic…

Read More

Mitt as Pretzel

By Gary Pearce February 15, 2012

Mitt Romney has to be the most phony-baloney politician in American history. If there was an Olympics for Flip-Flop, he’d hold the Gold. If he did yoga, he’d be a pretzel. He is the Mickey Mantle of Political Switch-Hitting, the Oscar Robertson of Obfuscation, the unchallenged champion of the George Orwell Trophy for Double-Talk.  …

Read More

The Dark Side

By Gary Pearce February 15, 2012

Economic numbers are brightening a bit, so President Obama’s ratings are a bit brighter. But the most striking thing about the election climate nine months out is the darkness on the Republican side.   Listen to them – and to what their words and their expressions say about their mood, their attitude and their vision…

Read More

It’s Free!

By Carter Wrenn February 14, 2012

I wonder, sometimes, if Obama believes what he’s saying? He ordered the Catholic Church to provide contraceptives to its employees;― the Bishops said No, outrage followed, and Obama realized he’s bitten off more than he could chew.   So Obama announced he had a solution. The Church, he said, wasn’t going to have to provide…

Read More

Politics 101

By Carter Wrenn February 14, 2012

A lot of times people ask me about political campaigns: How are they run? What matters? What doesn’t?   In fact, most political campaigns are simple. More often than not they boil down to one fact: Who voters know. Because when a voter walks into a voting booth if he knows one candidate and not…

Read More

Media Blitz

By Gary Pearce February 14, 2012

Bill Faison got a rude welcome to statewide politics. The N&O story about his ex-wife’s divorce allegations – published the day Faison filed – was like blitzing a rookie quarterback on his first play of the season.   The divorce apparently dogged Faison’s race against David Parker for state party chair – and cost him…

Read More

Categories

Archives

Recent Articles

Going Too Far

By Carter Wrenn February 3, 2025

Cheeks round, pudgy fingers fumbling, Ellmer took a newspaper article out of his briefcase, pushed it…

Read More

Dividing Line

By Gary Pearce February 3, 2025

Trump has done America a big favor: in just two weeks, he’s drawn a bright line…

Read More

A Show

By Carter Wrenn January 31, 2025

Addison McDowell worked for Ted Budd, worked as a lobbyist, 31 years old ran for Congress,…

Read More