The state can’t afford to pay to care for mental patients, or elderly Medicaid patients who need in-home medical care; tuition is going up at the state universities and even though she raised taxes a billion dollars Governor Perdue is telling us we’re broke – so it comes as a surprise to hear state government’s…
Read MoreThe N&O had a letter today and a guest column last week about John Kennedy’s campaign visit to North Carolina 50 years ago – September 1960. I had my own brush with history that day. Kennedy was campaigning with Terry Sanford, who was running for governor. Sanford had broken with most of the North…
Read MoreIn retrospect, the Republican primary for the 13th Congressional District – Bernie Reeves versus Bill Randall – was a microcosm of what’s happening in the Republican Party nationally. It’s the Golfers versus the Grizzlies, the Country Clubbers versus the churchgoers, the K Street crowd versus the cul-de-sac crowd, the Establishment versus the pitchfork-carriers, the…
Read MoreVanity Fair magazine has a scathing profile of Sarah Palin that sounds eerily familiar. Below are some of the articleâs characterizations of Palin. I ask you: What other well-known political figure does this sound like? âErratic behavior and a pattern of lyingâ¦â âSarah Palinâs connection with her audience is complete.â …
Read MorePresident Obama says the war’s over but according to the newspaper an odd problem has cropped up in Iraq: A 4,000 year old statue of King Entemena of Lagash has vanished. In fact it turns out over our seven years in Iraq a lot of antiquities have disappeared. Now when it comes to plunder…
Read MoreThere’s an old cartoon that showed an owner fussing at his dog: “Bad dog, Rover. Don’t ever do that again, Rover. You know better, Rover. Bad dog, Rover.” Then the cartoon showed what the dog was hearing: “Blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, Rover.” I’m afraid that’s all the voters…
Read MoreThe Republican Party is seeing exactly the same thing in its primaries this year that the Democratic Party saw in its presidential primaries in 2008. An inexperienced, untested and nearly unknown upstart challenges a pillar of the party’s political establishment. Propelled by the enthusiasm of inspired new voters, the upstart upends the odds-on favorite in…
Read MoreThe breakfast conversation the other day was about what happens with the state budget next year if Republicans win the state House or Senate this year. They won’t raise taxes. So they’ll have to cut $3 billion or so out of a $19 billion budget. My Republican friend said that can be done…
Read MoreThe 9/11 rallies and replays this weekend were a reminder of how X Factors can scramble our lives – and politics. Nine years and three days ago, George Bush was working hard to be the No Child Left Behind president. After 9/11, he became obsessed with his oedipal need to both avenge and…
Read More
