Ted Kennedy was both an inspiration and political poison to North Carolina Democrats. We loved him because he was the last link to the glory days of John and Bobby Kennedy, the New Frontier, the Mercury 7 astronauts, the Peace Corps, “pay any price, bear any burden…” and all that. And his voice…
Read MoreGive Governor Perdue credit: She’s not a quitter. She has been a blur of activity since the legislature left. Launching a government-efficiency study. Riding a bus the first day of school. Asking for money-saving ideas. Sending out YouTube videos. Clearly, she has the energy to fight her way back. All she needs now…
Read MoreBill Friday surprised me in our UNC-TV interview when he asked me about the most remarkable characters I’ve met in politics. So I’ve given it more thought. I’ve come down to two people I met during Governor Hunt’s 1984 campaign against Jesse Helms. At different times that year, our campaign was advised by…
Read MoreBack in January when Governor Perdue made a healthcare lobbyist head of the Department of Health and Human Services it looked like she’d slipped and put the fox in charge of the henhouse. But the Governor shrugged it off, saying that whoever Lanier Cansler had lobbied for in the past, ‘He’s now owned 100% by…
Read MoreA strange tale is unfolding over in a courtroom in Hillsborough about madness, an Evil Twin and Alvaro Castillo hearing the Voice of God. When Alvaro Castillo was a teenage boy – he’s now twenty-two – he saw a new version of the movie Romeo and Juliet, set in a modern day city…
Read MoreI never liked the crabby grouch Bob Novak played on television. But I did like Bob Novak the reporter. I got to know him when he covered the Hunt-Helms race in 1984. Novak obviously was a conservative, but I don’t know what he thought of Helms. He liked Hunt personally, but I don’t…
Read MoreOn Friday night at 9 o’clock turn off MSNBC and Fox and CNN and click over to Channel 4 and you’ll have a once in a lifetime experience: Gary’s being interviewed on Bill Friday’s program. This could turn out to be like having a front row seat at a movie about North Carolina politics.…
Read MoreFirst President Obama retreated under Sarah Palin’s “death panel” attack. The Great Communicator couldn’t communicate how ludicrous the attack was. The provision actually was proposed by a Republican. It would have reimbursed doctors who advised patients about leaving instructions for how they want their end-of-life decisions made. Something everybody should do. It spares families…
Read MoreMy wife is an unusual woman. She sets her course, steers by it, only rarely changes her mind and her wisdom is such that almost always – with the exception being when she slipped and married me – everything works out fine. On the other hand, we’ve all heard the old saying, It’s a…
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