Governor Perdue’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler has out done himself. Here in North Carolina we’ve got a State Ethics Commission, a House Ethics Committee, a Senate Ethics Committees, dozens of watch-dog groups and a free press all ferreting out chicanery by the politicians in state government – and all of…
The worst injuries in politics are often self-inflicted. Two examples are in the news today. First, the war of words between Ron Margiotta and William Barber. Margiotta called his opponents at a WakeCounty school board “animals.” Barber took offense, then compared the board majority to the Mafia. Margiotta and John Tedesco took offense. Then…
As far as political shenanigans go this isn’t in the league with John Edwards’ goings on but it’s pretty strange. Down in Onslow County, after twenty-four years in the State House my old friend Robert Grady decided not to seek re-election and to run for Clerk of Court instead. Now what you have to…
Those four words – scrawled by James Carville in the Clinton 92 war room – may be the smartest ever uttered in politics. And they say more than the river of words unleashed lately about What’s Wrong With Obama. Washington is awash in the debate. Is it Rahm’s fault? Or Axelrod’s? Why has…
The Tea Party crowd is in a frenzy over rising deficits and the national debt. In Asheville Friday, Republican candidates fell all over themselves at a Tea Party meeting that featured a clock tracking the debt. Do these people have any memory cells whatsoever? Obviously not, so let me remind them that,…
Jerry Brown is one of those idiot-savant politicians who can be both a genius and a self-destructive fool. Years ago, he was California’s youngest governor ever, and he succeeded an actor (Ronald Reagan). Now he’s trying to be the state’s oldest governor ever, and he would succeed another actor. Brown’s own roles have…
A supporter of the new Wake school board held up a sign at this week’s hearing: “Elections matter.” At the health-care summit President Obama told John McCain: “The election is over.” They’re right. And Obama should ram through health-care reform just like the new school board majority is ramming through its new policies.…
WakeCounty is North Carolina’s most Democratic county. President Obama carried the state in 2008 because he racked up a 60,000-vote margin in this county alone. But two big and bitter battles yesterday showed what a split county this is – and that there are no final victories in politics. The votes – the…
Sometimes you come across a rascal who’s got so much brazenness and old-fashioned nerve you just can’t help but admire his audacity – throw him in a briar patch and he’ll land on his feet and end up owning the place. That’s why it’s hard not to keep an eye peeled to see what…
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Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…