Posts by Carter Wrenn
GovernEr
The jinx was on Pat McCrory last week. When his campaign emailed out a press release and misspelled the word governor (spelling it governer) a little contrition would have solved the problem. But McCrory’s Campaign Manager, Victoria Smith, compounded the error with a second mistake, saying the misspelling was sabotage – they’d been ‘hacked.’ Then,…
Read MoreMcCrory the Liberal?
Fred Smith didn’t waste any time welcoming Charlotte Mayer Pat McCrory to the governor’s race. His response to McCrory’s announcement: He called McCrory a “tax and spend liberal” who “probably ought to be in the other party.” There’s a point to Smith’s bluntness. Pat McCrory is largely known outside Charlotte. Smith means to correct that.…
Read MoreChange
The Democrats got the infection first. But it didn’t take long for the Republicans to catch the bug too. The symptoms: Uncontrollably saying the word ‘change’ passionately a dozen times in each sentence. Hillary says she’s been fighting for change all her life. John McCain has too. Barack Obama’s a fresh face which makes him…
Read MoreNew Hampshire
Ten polls yesterday in New Hampshire; John McCain led in nine; Barack Obama in all ten. The press loves a good story and Obama’s given them one: David slaying the Clinton Goliath. And the press has gone a little berserk. Hillary’s best hope is to hold on until the wave passes. Which takes two things:…
Read MoreCharlotte Rising?
Money talks in politics and there is more money – a lot more – in Charlotte than anywhere else in North Carolina. So the emergence of two new candidates from Charlotte may be Republicans’ best hope of nominating candidates who can match the Democrats’ – until now – huge financial edge in the campaigns for…
Read MoreSpeculating on the Presidential Race
Here is a bit of speculation – just for the fun of it – with the first round of Republican Presidential primaries around the corner. Mike Huckabee – Rolls to victory in Iowa, then South Carolina. Which makes him one of the final two Republicans left standing. He will fight it out with either Romney,…
Read MoreFreedom and Religion
I must admit Romney’s statement – “Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom” – sounds like a political slogan, not theology. After all, religion has been around since before God told Abraham to leave Ur and go to The Promised Land; it survived the Pharaohs, Romans and The Dark Ages when there was little…
Read MorePassing the Buck to Parton
The City Fathers up in Roanoke Rapids are giving Randy Parton a good old-fashioned drubbing. He’s been accused, one way or another, of everything from drunkenness to negligence to mismanagement. But, after all, who’s really to blame? The City Fathers, not Parton, decided to borrow $21.5 million to go into the country music business –…
Read MoreBlind Dumb Luck?
Here’s how Presidential campaigns work: We put a candidate on a pedestal, strip off his clothes and let anyone who wants to beat on him with a cudgel – then we see how he reacts. Like trial by ordeal it’s brutal but whoever survives is probably tough enough to be President. The only way a…
Read MoreHuckabee’s Hymnal
I didn’t realize it until it was too late but on Sunday morning some devil, or to put it in more modern (but less meaningful) terms, some spirit of masochism infected me. In retrospect it was just there. There was no old movie on television – so I turned on the morning talk shows. The…
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