News reports suggest that President Bush may overrule military commanders and order more American troops into Baghdad. Which makes sense. After all, he and Rumsfeld overruled military commanders and sent fewer troops when the war started. So at least he’s consistent in ignoring military advice. If Bill Clinton had done this, Republicans would have started…
Read MoreIt comes as a shock: After the Mayor has spent $215 million on the Convention Center he says that’s only enough to build a “grade-B facility.” (News and Observer 12-15-06). Mayor Meeker wants – and he’s gotten –$6.4 million more. For what? He got a cool million for stone floors. Two million for kitchen equipment.…
Read MoreDemocrats nationally and in North Carolina are zeroing in on Senator Dole in 2008. She is vulnerable â to the right opponent. Beating an incumbent Senator is tough. I learned that working for Jim Hunt against Jesse Helms in 1984 and for John Edwards against Lauch Faircloth in 1998. Democrats need a tough, well-funded opponent…
Read MoreFrom the News and Observer: “Chuck Williamson was mad, already, about Interstate 40 repairs expected to suck up $20 million that taxpayers planned to spend for other Triangle road work. He was mad about the prospect of waiting another 18 months, if we’re lucky, to get the I-40 paving job unbotched. Now, after a personal…
Read MoreRonald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” He was right. George W. Bush said he looked into Vladimar Putin’s soul and saw a man he could trust. He was wrong. One side effect of Bush’s Iraq disaster is his lack of attention to what’s happening in Putin’s Russia: murder, war crimes and growing…
Read MoreThe other day Governor Easley boasted North Carolina’s quarter-cent cut in the sales tax meant North Carolinians “will see their hard-earned tax dollars can stretch a bit further.” On Tuesday, he turned into the Grinch who stole Christmas and said going ahead with the rest of the tax cut (another quarter-cent) might be unwise. (If…
Read MoreTwo years and one month from now, America will inaugurate a Democratic President. Why am I so certain? Reason No. 1: History. Since 1950, the Presidential party typically serves two – or one terms – and then is kicked out: Democrats in 1952, Republicans in 1960, Democrats in 1968, Republicans in 1976, Democrats in 1980,…
Read MoreI was struggling to grasp two developments in Washington last week: The gay daughter of the Vice President of an anti-gay administration – along with her lesbian partner – will be a mother soon. Bless her. That Vice President hailed Don Rumsfeld as “the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had.” But one…
Read MoreThe Iraq Study Commission’s hinting we need a grand diplomatic strategy, involving Iran and Syria, to get us out of the war in Iraq. But it’s hard to believe we’re going to talk our way out of this mess. The idea that there is a diplomatic, magical wand Jim Baker (or anyone else) can wave…
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