Posts by Gary Pearce
September Surprises
The 9/11 rallies and replays this weekend were a reminder of how X Factors can scramble our lives – and politics. Nine years and three days ago, George Bush was working hard to be the No Child Left Behind president. After 9/11, he became obsessed with his oedipal need to both avenge and…
Read MoreLight Our Fires
Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, said this week that the Times eventually will stop printing the paper and go totally on-line. Some say that could come as early as 2015. Just shoot me now. Not just because I’ll be one of the final holdouts who will still have a morning…
Read MoreRoy’s Ploys
In PR it’s called “getting ahead of the story.” Roy Cooper has tried it twice on the SBI story. Not happening. The N&O owns this story. Another Pulitzer is in sight. And today the N&O showed Cooper again that it, not he, is driving this train. Yesterday Cooper tried to get ahead by announcing…
Read MoreIt’s the Obama, Stupid
For a long time, I thought the main driver in this election was the rotten economy. But the 2010 election instead may be all about the colossus who stands astride American politics today – for better and for worse: Barack Obama. That thought occurred to me when I read this from Tom Jensen…
Read MoreStorm Warnings
Democrats remind me of my friends on the Outer Banks last week: battening down, nervously watching the approaching storm and hoping it turns out to be a Category 1 that spares the house â and the Senate. There are dire warnings of losing the state Senate and possibly even the House â or a…
Read MoreCarter’s Religious Test
In a recent blog, Carter posed some lofty questions to me about religion, like: Are all religions equal? Is Islam a violent religion? And so forth. I’ve pondered posting some lofty thoughts that might help our readers in their own struggles with these vital issues of theology and faith. In the end, I’ve…
Read MoreHope Springs Eternal
This headline on a Wilmington Star-News editorial represents the apex of either naïveté or optimism about politics: âMisleading ads won’t work if voters are savvy.â
Read MoreTake Off
It’s Tom Fetzer’s job to run around the state sounding alarms. But it’s not the media’s responsibility to salivate every time he rings the bell. There is no greater example than the Perdue flight flap. In the end, that looks to be nothing more than a few small licks of flame. Fetzer did…
Read MoreThe Marshall Plan
Senator Richard Burr’s ad shows he knows he could be vulnerable. Voters don’t know him or what he’s done. Which supports Elaine Marshall’s case for getting the $10 million she needs from the DSCC to be competitive. Senate Democrats are playing defense most everywhere this year. It would be nice to make one…
Read MoreGovernment Jobs
A reader called today with an interesting thought spurred by Richard Burr’s ad. She took issue with his suggestion that all jobs come from the private sector. She pointed out that government contracts with Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR and a raft of defense contractors sure created a bunch of jobs. She has a point.…
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