Posts by Carter Wrenn
The Affair dé Haircut
At first when the press (no doubt with help from his Democratic opponents) revealed John Edwards paid $400 for a haircut in Beverly Hills, Edwards blithely passed the buck saying his staff got ‘that guy’ to cut his hair. He didn’t know how much it cost. He didn’t even know ‘that guys’ name. Well, it…
Read MoreZigzags
John McCain may be right by removing four top staffers to resurrect his sagging presidential campaign. But it’s difficult not to suspect McCain’s deeper problem may be McCain. After the 2000 election, Senator McCain became a sort of maverick Republican in the Senate, co-sponsoring the Kennedy-McCain Immigration Bill, brokering deals with Democrats on judges and…
Read MoreBlack: 63 Months
This morning a federal judge sentenced former House Speaker Jim Black to 63 months in prison. But the scandals that have rocked Democrats in the State House may not be over. Monday federal prosecutors revealed that Black took $500,000 from a lobbyist and put the money in his campaign account in 2000. Of course, what…
Read MorePick a Fight with a Blonde: Raise $500,000
Incensed, swept away by a wave of spontaneous outrage, Elizabeth Edwards picked up the phone and called Ann Coulter on ‘Hardball’ to give her a piece of her mind for smearing John (The News and Observer, 7-1-07). Now, I can think of a lot of things my wife might like say to the woman who…
Read MoreA Constitutional Head-butt
The News and Observer headline – “Executive Privilege Showdown Looming” – may sound boring, but it could be the start of some real fireworks. The Democrats sent a little subpoena over to the White House, demanding to see records about “The Bush Administration’s terrorism-era warrantless wiretapping” and a few other things. The President sent it…
Read MoreShaking Up the World $50 Million at a Time
Who’d have ever dreamed Hillary Clinton would raise over $50 million – and that Barack Obama would outraise her by almost $5 million. Worse – if you’re Hillary – Obama now has 258,000 donors, who’ll keep giving and giving, which spells a big financial edge in the coming months. This is a political wind change…
Read MorePirates of the Potomac
American government, it turns out, is a lot more colorful than I was taught in High School Civics class. Take the stale, old, boring ‘The Separation of Powers Doctrine.’ It turns out it’s not boring at all. The real theory here seems to be that most politicians are pirates. So the Founding Fathers set up…
Read MoreWhat Raleigh Needs Is a $150,000 Consultant?
Mayor Meeker and the City Council are considering changing Raleigh’s C.A.C. (Community Action Council) structure. And, of course, the first thing someone suggested was hiring a consultant to do a study. For $150,000. The C.A.C.’s are gadfly-like neighborhood groups funded by the city to advise the City Council. Right now, they claim 6400 members. But…
Read MoreEdwards Supports Gay Marriage?
Well, not John. Elizabeth. Mrs. Edwards made a pilgrimage to San Francisco to help kick off the annual gay pride parade which The News and Observer (6-25-07) described as ‘a campy civil rights celebration… attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators sprinkled with drag queens, leather chaps and a healthy dose of nudity.’ Mrs. Edwards promptly…
Read MoreBurr’s Contortions
Senator Richard Burr’s contortions on President Bush’s Immigration Bill have him tied in knots. First, Burr announced he was against the bill. And voted against it. Then, yesterday, he reversed himself, supporting Bush’s bill on a key procedural vote. Now, Burr’s staff is reassuring opponents of the bill, telling them he will vote against its…
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