Posts by Gary Pearce
Learning Moment for GOP?
A TAPster with years of experience around the legislature offers this take on the NCAE veto override: “The Republicans in the N.C. House have made a needless mess of their agenda with 1 am sessions to take potshots at their political enemies. It’s a mystery why the Rs made themselves look so weak and…
Read MoreTillis vs. Media
Speaker Thom Tillis has enjoyed pretty good press over the past year. Then he has one bad day – or, more accurately, late night/early morning – and he gets touchy: “Tomorrow will be the last day I receive the Charlotte Observer at home after nearly 14 years. I decided if the Charlotte Observer is…
Read MoreMcCrory Plays the Media
I havenât kept count, but I guess that so far Pat McCrory has âannouncedâ heâs running for Governor about â I donât know, say a bazillion times. So this tweet from Blair Miller, anchor-reporter at WSOC-TV in Charlotte, caught my eye: âAsked the McCrory camp (twice) when/where “official” announcement for his candidacy will…
Read MoreThe Republican War on Teachers
Here’s a good use for Bill Faison’s half-million dollars – or somebody’s: a super-PAC that hammers at the “legislature’s war on teachers.” Here’s the message (or narrative, as we say today): “First they slashed education budgets and forced layoffs of hundreds of teachers and teacher assistants. Then they took college scholarships away from aspiring…
Read MoreLet Newt Be Newt
The last time Newt Gingrich got this mad, he shut down the federal government. He thought Bill Clinton disrespected him by giving him a bad seat on Air Force One. Now he thinks Mitt Romney disrespected him by having super-PACs dump millions of dollars on his head in Iowa, making his comeback one of…
Read MoreSchool Bells or Alarm Bells?
I don’t know enough to judge the changes the new Wake school board is making in the assignment plan. Of course, I’m inclined to trust the new members – and distrust anything the old majority did. But I’m bothered. In the board elections last year and two years ago, voters rebelled against too…
Read MoreAfter Midnight
The legislature apparently is determined to help Governor Perdue win reelection. The worse the legislature looks, the better her chances in November look. Now she can bash them over a post-midnight power play that punishes teachers who dare to speak out against education budget cuts. (That’s how I’d explain it. It will make a…
Read MoreMitt Broccoli
Mitt Romney is like political broccoli: Republicans may have to swallow him, but they still don’t like the taste. On CNN last night, James Carville cut through all the clutter and chatter with this dead-on analysis of what Iowa means: – Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee. – A lot of…
Read MoreThe Year of the Negative Ad
I begin this new year by publicly thanking the U.S. Supreme Court for all it has done to make 2012 the Year of the Negative Ad. The high court’s bold, wise Citizens United decision already has claimed one victim – and an appropriate one: Newt Gingrich. But the best is yet to come. …
Read MoreBurr for VP?
After Senator Richard Burr and former Senator Elizabeth Dole endorsed Mitt Romney, a reporter asked: Do endorsements matter? Answer: Not to voters, but definitely to politicians and reporters. No voter who is torn between, say, Romney and Newt Gingrich will think: “Gee, I don’t know who to vote for. So I’ll just vote for…
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