Posts by Gary Pearce
2014
Millions of dollars will be spent and billions of words spilled, but only one thing will decide this election: Will voters be madder at President Obama or at Republicans in the legislature? On today’s market, the outlook for Democrats is as chilling as a New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge. For two months, the…
Read More2014: Another 2010?
Maybe I should apologize. But would Bob Rucho apologize? No sir! So I’ll double down, as they say. My blog yesterday – warning that the next Congress might be run by people who think like Rucho – apparently ruined the Christmas spirit for some Democrats. My friend Jerry Wayne Williamson of Boone (follow…
Read MoreA Christmas Truce
Americans are so polarized politically, we argue about Christmas and Santa Clause’s race. I propose a truce. And I’m going first. Through a blessed accident of calendar, Christmas and New Year’s Day are on Wednesdays this year. That effectively wrecks two work weeks. Good riddance. But let’s go farther. Like German and…
Read MoreFlexible Ethics
Governor McCrory and Republican legislators said they would do away with “pay-to-play” and “corruption” in Raleigh. Then a group of lobbyists held a fundraiser in Raleigh. It’s illegal, of course, for lobbyists to contribute to legislators. But the fundraiser was for a congressional candidate named Phil Berger Jr. Yes, the son of State Senate…
Read MoreRepublican Vs. Republican
Don’t underestimate the chances that people who think like Bob Rucho might control Congress a year from now. Behind Rucho’s tweet and the budget battle in Washington is a death match between the Tea Party and the GOP Establishment. If the Tea Party wins that war, and if Obamacare sinks Democrats in November, the…
Read MoreRucho’s Tweet
Sometimes all you have to do is repeat a politician’s own words. Like Senator Bob Rucho’s tweet: “Justice Robert’s pen & Obamacare has done more damage to the USA then the swords of the Nazis,Soviets & terrorists combined.” (Note to grammar cops: Yes, his tweet said “has,” not “have” and “then,” not “than.”) …
Read MoreAshes and Switches
Every child knows just before Christmas is the time to be ‘as good as you can be’ – so you might think after the mischief it’s been up to this year Congress would be rolling up its sleeves and planning to work straight through the holidays to pass the farm bill, a jobless benefits bill,…
Read MoreUnhealthy
Both President Obama and Governor McCrory are learning that reforming health care can be harmful to your political health. Their politics are different, but their experiences are strikingly similar. Both are trying to make big changes in the health care system, Obama with the Affordable Care Act and McCrory with Medicaid privatization. Both…
Read MoreQuoting Pat
December brings “Best of 2013” Lists, and here’s one about Governor McCrory, courtesy of the website Buzzfeed. (Like President Obama. I thought buzz feed was something you did in college at 2 a.m.) The Governor has acquired a reputation as the unwitting source of unintentionally funny and baffling statements – and misstatements. This is…
Read MoreOn the Air
This from our Shameless Self-Promotion Department: Carter and I did an interview with Don Gonyea, National Political Correspondent for NPR. Part of it ran in a story about Senator Kay Hagan’s reelection race. And I was interviewed on Chris Fitzsimon’s News & Views on WRAL-FM. It’s on the NC Policy Watchwebsite.
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