Posts by Gary Pearce
Obamascare, Day 2
The story in the Onion summed it up: “Man Who Understands 8% Of Obamacare Vigorously Defends It From Man Who Understands 5%.” How you feel about Obamacare probably correlates about 100 percent with how you voted in the 2012 election. Unless you already found out you pay more or less for insurance. I’m double-sold.…
Read MoreAt the Zoo
Sometimes writing this blog is easy. Like today. Below is a reprint – in full, with no cuts or comments – of yesterday’s news release from the Governor’s Communications Office: Press Release: Governor McCrory visits North Carolina Zoo Raleigh, NC – Governor Pat McCrory visited the North Carolina Zoo this morning, stopping by Asheboro…
Read MoreShutdown Politics
The shutdown showdown shows how much worse politics is today than in the 1990s. And it was bad then. Back then, Newt Gingrich shut down the government because…well, nobody can remember why. Except he was mad that President Clinton made him sit in the back of Air Force One. And Newt wanted to show…
Read MoreMillennial Politics
Today I suspend Republican-bashing to recommend a provocative political analysis. Titled “Will Disillusioned Millennials Bring an End to the Reagan-Clinton Era?,” it’s from a professor and Daily Beast contributor named Peter Beinart. It’s long, and it’s worth reading. Here’s my best shot at a short recap: For decades now, politics has been…
Read MoreTransparency
A TAPster writes: “At least the Republicans were right when they said they would lead a transparent government. It’s pretty easy to see through their BS.”
Read MoreWos-ectomy?
That’s what one TAPster suggests Governor McCrory needs. The question is whether the legislature will perform the procedure. When the legislature adjourned, the Governor worried that the honorables were dragging down his approval ratings. So he vetoed a couple of bills. That didn’t work out. Now, GOP legislators worry that the Governor and…
Read MoreWos in Charge
Governor McCrory has to hope that Aldona Wos and the high-paid operatives around her pull off a miracle at DHHS. Because he clearly can’t fire her. Wos is the most powerful person in Raleigh today. Back in January, it looked like Budget Czar Art Pope was. Then, during the legislature, it was Senator Phil…
Read MoreMy Man Dan
I’m always looking for something nice to say about a Republican. But Dan Forest? Sorry, I’ve got to do it. Monday, I posted a blog (Let Teachers Teach) saying we should pay teachers $100,000 a year. Then, on Wednesday, Lieutenant Governor Forest called for North Carolina to pay the nation’s highest teaching salaries. Asked…
Read MoreHardball
Governor McCrory has learned one thing about his new job: He’s not in Charlotte anymore, Toto. And he doesn’t like it. At a news conference, the Governor vented thinly veiled frustration at how politics is played in Raleigh. WRAL reported: “Asked if he was concerned about the scrutiny DHHS has faced, McCrory said…
Read MoreDHHS Is the New DOT
A great investigative reporter once said, “DOT is God’s gift to investigative reporters.” Make way for DHHS. Doesn’t anybody there realize how much political damage they are doing to Governor McCrory? Doesn’t anybody around the Governor? Or McCrory himself? He based his campaign for Governor on ending Raleigh’s “culture of corruption and cronyism”…
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