Posts by Gary Pearce
Online BS
An outfit called Verifeed says “social conversations” on Twitter helped Thom Tillis beat Kay Hagan. Put me down as a skeptic. You hear a lot of sweeping claims about how social media is transforming politics. The acolytes can drown you in numbers about “clicks” and “reads” and “open rates.” But is there hard evidence…
Read MoreA Christmas Prayer
Not even the season is free from America’s politics. Democrats post stories on Facebook about “how to talk to your right-wing uncle at Christmas.” Republicans claim that atheists and Democrats want to “take Christ out of Christmas.” People debate over whether to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” The New York Times Magazine on…
Read MoreObama Redux
Where was this guy in October when we needed him? In the weeks before the election, President Obama seemed passive and powerless as ISIS ran wild in the Middle East and Ebola panicked America. In the weeks since, he’s come back strong: heralding a recovering economy, challenging Congress on immigration, championing Internet openness,…
Read MoreWayne Goodwin’s Customer Service
Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin and Governor Pat McCrory appear to have different ideas of what “customer service” means. To McCrory and his administration, the “customers” are “corporations” and, too often, “polluters.” To Goodwin, the customers are “consumers” and, in this instance, “homeowners.” Goodwin last week denied the insurance industry’s request to raise homeowners’…
Read MorePat’s Payout Freakout
Two things are for sure here: First, it’s never good to be linked to Mark Sanford in a Page One story. Second, if Bev Perdue had done it, McCrory and the Republican Party would be howling for her investigation, indictment and impeachment. But there are two big questions: First, how bad, and how politically…
Read MoreWarren and Webb
Conventional wisdom says only two people can stop Hillary Clinton from the nomination in 2016: Hillary herself and Bill Clinton. But two other people embody a potential problem: Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Senator Jim Webb. Warren and Webb are vastly different individuals, but are making much the same critique of Washington. The message…
Read MoreKeep Pat Safe
Once again, a TAPster bails me out on a busy day with this guest blog: “Regardless of our personal feelings about Governor McCrory, we should all pray for his safety. We should help him across the street, taste his food and take turns guarding the mansion’s front door. “These drastic measures are required…
Read MoreCharles B. Aycock? Really?
Democrats in Washington are squabbling about torture, a $1.1 trillion budget bill and regulations on Wall Street and big banks. Democrats in North Carolina are squabbling about – I kid you not – Charles Brantley Aycock. Specifically, the squabble is in part over whether the wife of a descendant of North Carolina’s governor from…
Read MoreInfighting
The months right after an election are, as James Carville once said, “when you stop screwing your enemies and start screwing your friends.” That’s true of winners and losers. The winners fight over the best jobs and nicest offices. The losers fight over who’s to blame. And they jockey for positions in the next…
Read MoreFire in the Eyes
I dropped in on a wise old Democrat who has been through the political wars, winning more than he lost. I found him undaunted by 2014 and fired up for 2016. He chided me for chiding Senator Hagan for chiding President Obama over the November results: “You were too tough on her. The President…
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