If both Tea Party Republicans and Democratic liberals don’t like the debt deal, does that make it a good deal for America? There is a line of thinking today that what is missing in politics is a “vital center” – those supposed wise men and women who find the right answer to our problems…
Read MoreIt’s pretty hard to sort through all the facts and figures and the rhetoric and posturing about the latest debt ceiling deal – but two facts seem clear. President Obama, Speaker Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid all say the latest agreement will raise the debt ceiling $2.4 trillion in exchange for $2.5 trillion…
Read MoreTwo recent stories make the “what were they thinking?” list. First, the leaders of Peace College kept secret a plan to take the historic school coed, then sprung it as a done deal. Did they really expect that to go down well? Then the N.C. Department of Commerce told PCS Phosphate to…
Read MoreAre Democrats asleep? Below are two news reports that ran a week ago. They are rich fodder for North Carolina Democrats to use against Republicans. But I haven’t seen them do it: “State cuts push up NC jobless rate – North Carolina’s jobless rate rose to 9.9 percent in June, the highest level since…
Read More“We need a third party.” That’s a recurrent fantasy among citizens and commentators frustrated by the bump and grind of politics as usual, like the current debt-ceiling stalemate in Washington. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times gave voice to this longing in recent columns. The fantasy goes like this: A heroic group…
Read MoreI’m impressed by the timing of the TAPster who contributed the item below on UNC football. I posted the blog yesterday, timed to go up this morning. Apparently, its mere presence in cyberspace got action. Bill Friday told the N&O the firing of Davis ends the story. I doubt it. Chancellor Holden Thorp…
Read MoreA TAPster writes “there’s a case to be made that the political leadership of the state should fix the glommed up mess in the UNC football program.” True, but I think the ball is now in the hands of UNC President Tom Ross. Not UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp; he climbed out on a…
Read MoreMaybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s that the dog days of summer always seem to fire up political passions. But this debt-ceiling kabuki in Washington has everybody hot and bothered. Democrats are mad at Republicans, and Republicans are mad at Democrats, of course. But conservative Republicans are also mad at Tea Party…
Read MoreObama’s got just about everyone convinced we’re staring economic Armageddon in the face if we don’t raise the debt ceiling. John Boehner agrees, Mitch McConnell agrees and just about every TV pundit agrees. But here’s what’s hard to figure out: Obama, Boehner, McConnell and Harry Reid could avoid Armageddon with one simple bill that…
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