Posts by Gary Pearce
Fear Itself
Old FDR was on to something in March 1933. Eighty years later, fear itself drives American politics – and maybe is driving us into serious economic troubles. Fear lies at the bottom of the mean streak in politics today. You see it in the Tea Party: “I’ve got mine; the hell with you.” You…
Read MoreGOP Debacle
For Republicans, the shutdown turned into a slapdown and the default into their fault. The GOP lost the debate, lost the battle for public opinion and put itself in a deep, deep hole for the 2014 elections. Governor McCrory’s DHHS debacle, $87,000 salaries and $230,000 bathrooms pale in significance. The issues in the shutdown-default…
Read MoreCan the Potty Jokes
Spend $230,000 in taxpayers’ money fixing up the private bathrooms at the Executive Mansion? You could hear howls across the state when that news leaked. (Get it? “Leaked”?) OK, time out. No more potty humor. This has already been a headline-writer’s dream: “Flushed,” “in loo of,” “down the drain,” “taxpayers take bath.” Let’s deal…
Read MoreAnarchist Alert
The legislature’s gendarmes were searching in all the wrong places. General Assembly Police Chief Jeff Weaver revealed this week that his 18-officer department is collecting intel on “anarchists,” including Moral Monday protestors. The Chief and his sleuths are on alert for people who are “against government.” Here’s a clue, Inspector Clouseau: You’ll find…
Read MoreEt Tu, Tommy?
A Republican legislator did a fine job of stating the case against Governor McCrory and the Republican legislature: “It makes it awfully difficult…to hear from teachers making $30,000 a year and not receiving raises in five years, and you hire someone one year out of college with an English degree and pay him $85,000.” …
Read MoreDoctor My Eyes
So all the DHHS scandals are based on a report that was doctored to mislead legislators and taxpayers. The $87,000 salaries for young campaign aides, lucrative contracts for political allies, eyebrow-raising sudden exits by top department officials and sweet severance payouts. All that is based on the McCrory’s administration claim that it inherited a…
Read MoreOverconfident?
What if Obamacare flops? What if the public has sticker shock? What if voters blame both sides for the shutdown? From the White House down, Democrats seem awfully confident the shutdown-Obamacare standoff will end well for them. Plus, they say, Americans will love Obamacare once they get to know it. But suppose all…
Read MoreStagner for Raleigh
I wish the N&O had endorsed Randy Stagner for City Council. It would be bad to lose a good council member because of what looks like a failure to communicate. Like the N&O, I was bothered at first by the flap involving City Manager Russell Allen and City Council parking places. I even wrote a…
Read MoreGet the Congressman Some Coffee
The government is shut down, so Congressman George Holding got some shuteye. On camera. At the moment one of his Republican colleagues declaimed, “It’s about time to do what’s right for the whole country,” the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina was catching a few winks. CSPAN’s camera caught him. Unfortunately for Holding, he was…
Read MoreWhen Headlines Compete
Look at the news this week, and you see that Republicans made a classic PR mistake: They stepped on their story. For them, the best story would be problems, questions, concerns and online glitches with Obamacare. Instead, that story is competing with shutdown fallout: national monuments closed, WWII veterans turned away, school tours cancelled,…
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