Posts by Carter Wrenn
A Master Salesman
Taking a deep breath, inhaling a lungful of the highly oxygenated Washington air, celebrity, intellectual, and poo-bah Newt Gingrich announced he, himself, personally, was about to deliver a ‘very-direct, no baloney’ manifesto on Republican politics – then lit into Karl Rove, saying Republican political consultants were arrogant idiots and that the country was better off…
Read MoreRound Three Begins
After the bell rang ending the Second Round of the Obama versus Boehner Fiscal Cliff-Sequester match-up, Obama danced around the ring arms raised as John Boehner staggered back to his corner wobbly-kneed. Just six weeks ago, at the start of round two, the prim and proper Speaker was popular – viewed favorably by 29%…
Read MoreThe Problem with Spending Other People’s Money
It’s a fault of human nature: When you spend your own money you look at it one way but when you spend someone else’s money it’s a different story. Once, years ago, I served on a church-school board with a half dozen tight-fisted, hard-eyed businessmen who could squeeze a dollar out of a turnip.…
Read MoreLocal Politics
Two years ago, Republicans controlled the County Commissioners and the School Board and were happy. Then Democrats won the next School Board election – so they were happy and the Republican County Commissioners were unhappy. Next the Republican Commissioners decided to redraw the Democratic School Board members’ Districts to get them out of…
Read MoreA Curveball
Back in 1980, Senator Helms’ political organization had won elections in 1976 and 1978. And after Reagan won, we figured the conservative millennium had dawned and we’d mastered the art of politics. Next election we lost five races. Back in 1980, Jim Hunt had built the most powerful political machine ever seen in North…
Read MoreA Dead End
President Obama’s in full campaign mode with his eyes fixed on taking control of the House of Representatives next election. He’s put his campaign to work targeting Republican Congressmen and he’s telling voters because of the Sequester 7,450 children in Florida won’t receive vaccinations, 800 victims of domestic violence in North Carolina won’t receive care,…
Read MoreOne-Trick Pony
Like a bull seeing a red cape Karl Rove lowered his head and horns swinging, charged straight for Cole Porter’s adoring but unhappy wife;— as soon as actress Ashley Judd (who starred in De-Lovely) became a possible Senate candidate in Kentucky Rove had put out an ad out saying, “Ashley Judd’s an Obama-following, Obama-loving, radical…
Read MoreA Poster Child for Ineptitude
Cautiously holding their fingers to the wind most politicians avoid controversies like the plague – but State Auditor Beth Wood, a farm girl who put herself through East Carolina University, has a trait that’s all but extinct in politics: Grit. Last year, after Wood audited the state’s new Medicaid Processing Computer System, she blistered…
Read MoreReasonable and Petty
I settled into my chair, rocked back, opened a book, and a few minutes later Obama’s measured voice floated across the room saying John Boehner ought to delay the Sequester, then Obama explained how government ought to do more for people with less and it’s only fair the well off pay a little bit more…
Read MoreOlder and Wiser
After Tea Party candidates rolled to victory in 2010 they headed for Congress to cut spending, and late one night, six months later, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner announced they’d made a deal to pass the biggest annual spending cut in history. Now, two years later, it turns out the cuts were…
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