Posts by Gary Pearce
Blow-Up
It’s hard to talk about politics when Americans are being blown apart at a great event in one of our great cities. A celebration of human aspiration and achievement becomes a terrorist’s target. A race that celebrates leg power and stamina becomes an abattoir of lost limbs and broken bodies. But politics inevitably intrudes.…
Read MoreUNC vs. GOP
Now that UNC-Chapel Hill has a new chancellor, maybe it can move beyond the battles over sexual assaults and athletics-versus-academics and get on with the real war – the one with the new Republican majority in Raleigh. And it will be war. This is a fundamental social, cultural and political conflict. It is…
Read MoreTesting, Testing, 1,2,3
With Republican legislators pushing drug tests for welfare recipients, let’s look at two Southern states’ experiences. For a year, Georgia has encouraged businesses to alert the agency if a job applicant fails a drug test, so that the state can deny them unemployment benefits. How many people have the tests caught? Exactly one.…
Read MoreA Swell Idea
A laurel and hearty handshake go out to Rep. Robert Brawley for boldly speaking up for the right of legislators to take free gifts from lobbyists. Right on, brother! The legislature should pass this bill. Because it then would take almost no time before most of the members are in jail or forced out…
Read MoreRead This Blog
I commend to your attention PoliticsNC, a new blog by Thomas Mills, a Democratic consultant who gives me great hope for the future. Here’s a sample from a recent post he did that stirred up some Democrats: “Two myths seem to be dominating Democrats’ analysis of their problems. The first is that Art…
Read MoreWanted: New Ideas
Today I yield my time and space to Nation Hahn, my social-media guru and guide to all things New Politics. He’s one of the state’s bright talents and one of my prime hopes for the future. He offers a timely and telling warning to Democrats: “Gary called for a Democratic Moses recently. It…
Read MoreRecycled Issues
The more you hang around, the more things come back around. Like controversial Dix land transfers and privatizing the Department of Commerce. At the dedication of N.C. State’s new Hunt Library last week, one visitor took note of a Duane Powell cartoon in Governor Hunt’s office. It poked fun at his hotly debated plan…
Read MoreDissecting the Vote
Ferrel Guillory & Co. at UNC J-School’s Program on Public Life have taken a discerning deep dive into the 2012 election results – and show why last year reversed the results of 2008 and what lies ahead. The most interesting finding in the latest DataNet report is how Governor McCrory outperformed Mitt Romney among…
Read MoreThat Was Then, This Is Now
You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can rationalize doing what you said you’d never do, but it’s still hypocrisy. To wit, this from Bruce Siceloff in Under the Dome: “During his first campaign for governor in 2008, Republican Pat McCrory hammered his opponent, Bev Perdue, on…
Read MoreWild and Crazy Guys
A TAPster and Jones Street veteran urges us to remain calm: “Democrats and other doomsayers who believe our state is on the brink of a GOP-led apocalypse should be reassured by encouraging signs from Jones Street. “House leaders used good judgment by making it clear that legislation to establish a state religion was…
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