Posts by Carter Wrenn
Corporate America Under Fire
Wachovia Bank just agreed to pay $144 million to settle a fraud case. (According to the newspapers it was alleged they allowed telemarketers to use Wachovia accounts to steal millions of dollars.) The bank did not plead guilty or admit guilt, which, in itself, is a commentary on our legal system. How can anyone agree…
Read MoreYou Can’t Have It Both Ways, Bev
So much for Bev Perdue’s no more negative attacks pledge. She just called Richard Moore, Jesse Helms – which is about as mean a charge as you can lay on a fellow in a Democratic Primary. Then, in case anyone missed her point, she added Moore (who attacked for her for voting, twenty-years ago, against…
Read MoreObama, Race and Jeremiah Wright
The NC GOP has an ad attacking Barack Obama, playing a videotape of Reverend Jeremiah Wright saying, “Goddamn America.” John McCain says he wants the ad pulled. Now. Because, ‘It’s degrading.’ And, no doubt, a lot of people will agree. Because the ad touches racial chords. So, a lot of people will want this debate…
Read MoreObi-wan and the Chameleon
Imagine this. Obi-wan Obama the zen-master sitting Buddha-like, voice a calming balm, is giving an interview. Interviewer: What about the war on terrorism? Obi-wan: We can save the planet. Interviewer: What about the war in Iraq? Obi-wan: We can end a war. Interviewer: What about corruption and rising unemployment and soaring gas prices and…? Obi-wan:…
Read MoreBeing Mike Easley
I read in one of the newspapers awhile back (I can’t recall exactly which one) the governor likes to leave Friday for his beach-home, return Monday, and in between spend as much time (after hours) as possible on his hobby, woodworking in the basement of the Governor’s Mansion. Don’t get me wrong, one of the…
Read MorePolitical Forgiveness
Representative Joe Boylan has gotten himself in a big mess. A year ago Joe passed out on the House floor and said it was a bout of flu and dehydration. Which sounded fine. And made sense. But, then, the newspapers reported Boylan, who’s married, had made “a drunken pass at a female legislator” in a…
Read MoreNegative, Positive and Accurate
Bev Perdue’s campaign manager is filling Internet Inboxes with messages from people praising Perdue, pounding her on the back, for renouncing negative ads. In one email he quotes Priscilla and Kathy and Donna as gushing, “Way to go… you very well may have earned my vote… Mr. Moore’s negative ads have totally turned me off.”…
Read MoreHillary’s Blues
A political campaign, by nature, is born in chaos. Think of it this way: In twelve months Barack Obama has created the equivalent of a mammoth $200 million corporation, employing hundreds of people who’ve, mostly, never worked together before. Add to that fierce competition and you can see why most campaigns become not well-oiled machines,…
Read MorePerdue’s Meltdown – Chapter Two
Bev Perdue once called herself ‘the coal-mine’s daughter.’ And there was some truth in it. Her father once worked in a coal mine. But unlike Loretta Lynn’s father he ended up owning it. Several of them. Not long after Mrs. Perdue arrived in the State House – in 1986 – a cohort of her fellow…
Read MoreThe Mahatma Gandhi School of Political Theory
Politics is nothing if not full of surprises. First, the Governor’s office said Dempsey Benton fired Debbie Crane. For incompetence. Then Dempsey said he didn’t. And she wasn’t. That, of course, lead the newspaper reporters straight back to the Governor’s door, Who fired Debbie Crane? The governor’s chief-of-staff, Franklin Freeman, said the Governor had her…
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