Posts by Gary Pearce
Mansfield for Chair?
Eric Mansfield is emerging as a leading challenger to David Parker for state Democratic chair. The one-term state Senator from Fayetteville – and unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in this year’s primary – is sounding out Democrats about seeking the post. Mansfield’s boosters see him as a fresh face who can energize the…
Read MoreSorting Us Out
The 2012 election and its aftermath show how sharply – and bitterly – divided we are in America. Elections are no longer choices between candidates or debates about issues. They are holy wars between Red and Blue America. Ferrel Guillory at the UNC School of Journalism recommended an excellent book about this split:…
Read MoreApp Response
A TAPster – and Appalachian State student – responds to the N&O’s story about sociology professor Jammie Price: “The film she showed was a sociological examination of the porn industry. Very mainstream film that would really only be offense to a very young child. She is a SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR. And it was a higher-level…
Read MoreSunday Talking Points
So this whole Libya flap is about what our UN Ambassador said on Sunday talk shows? That’s what has Senators McCain and Graham and the Republican Party in high dudgeon? Not security in Libya. Not what the American deaths portend for our role there. But talking points for a Sunday talk show. Let’s…
Read MoreDid McCrory Flip-Flop on Dix?
Was Governor-elect McCrory for Governor Perdue’s Dix plan before he was against it? A well-wired TAPster says yes. The source – whom I’ve always found to be reliable and knowledgeable – said Governor Perdue ran her plan by McCrory and Art Pope before announcing it. She thought she had their support. But Senator…
Read MoreTea Party Pat?
Just three weeks after the election, Governor-elect McCrory is getting a taste of the story line he may be reading for a long time to come: Is he “Charlotte Moderate Pat” or “Tea Party Pat”? The first story comes from a national publication, Businessweek. The headline: “N.C.’s Gov.-Elect Shifts Hard-Right, From Transit to Tea…
Read MoreOut-Foxxed by N&O
I’m always flattered to be quoted in Under the Dome, but this time I’m flummoxed. Dome took note of only three of the four rising Democratic stars I spotlighted last week (See “New Democratic Leaders” below). Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx was left out. Paranoid Charlotteans will not doubt take this as a sign that…
Read MoreNew Democratic Leaders
The party needs a new leadership pipeline for Governor. For decades, it was the Sanford-Hunt tribe. Then it was the Senate’s Basnight-Rand clan, which produced Easley, Perdue and Dalton. It was a good run, but has run dry. The party has talent in the legislature. But do the rising stars have the requisite political…
Read MoreRepublican Reality
Will Republicans’ Election Day encounter with reality put them more in touch with reality on global warming, evolution and whether women who are raped get pregnant? Don’t count on it. Denial is a powerful habit. In the election’s aftermath, it is clear that the Romney-Republican-Rove-Fox echo chamber fell victim to their own spin.…
Read MoreWhat If It’s Close Again?
This election showed how closely – and bitterly – divided Americans are. Suppose we go through another 2000 cliff-hanger one day? Increasingly, we don’t just hold different views and opinions from our opponents. We hold them in contempt. We call them ignorant, bigoted, fascistic, communistic, unpatriotic and un-America. We question a winner’s very legitimacy.…
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