Posts by Gary Pearce
Strange
Ironic news juxtaposition: Monday was the deadliest day in a year for America military forces in Afghanistan. Seven dead. And Robert Strange McNamara died. When McNamara became president of Ford and then JFK’s Secretary of Defense in rapid succession, all Washington marveled at the power of his intellect. Lyndon Johnson thought McNamara was so…
Read MoreMcCain’s Folly
Nearly a year later, we now see how reckless John McCain was to pick Sarah Palin for Vice President. Suppose McCain had won. Suppose he had died in office or become incapacitated. The woman who made that incoherent and incomprehensible statement last week – so strange it made Mark Sanford look sane – would…
Read MoreThe New Ad Wars
Two “issue” ad campaigns caught my eye this week. They show where this kind of media strategy is going. One ad was about U.S. Senator Kay Hagan and the others, state Senator Doug Berger. When I first saw the ad about Hagan, I thought: She’s already running a campaign ad? It sounded just…
Read MorePerdue in Command?
Back when Lauch Faircloth was a Democrat in Jim Hunt’s Cabinet (pre-1984), he liked to say a governor had to have “command presence.” Governor Perdue’s poll numbers may be low because the public does not see that quality in her today. Speaker Joe Hackney had what struck me as a might chilly reaction…
Read MorePassings
Could there be three more quintessential American stories than Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Billy Mays? Jackson was the Elvis Presley of his day. He and Elvis were racial crossovers, bringing black music into white America. Someone told me Jackson was the first black performer on MTV back in the days when the network…
Read MoreLaughs
Two of the best lines I’ve heard this week re John Edwards and Mark Sanford: “The definition of narcissism is thinking you’d look good in a sex tape.” “Now we know why Mark Sanford rejected the federal stimulus package. He already had all the stimulus he needed.”
Read MoreA Sex Tape?
It’s been a rough couple of elections for Republicans, so I can understand how happy today’s news is making Carter (see his blog below). But how can you blame him? Just when you thought the John Edwards affair could not sink lower, here comes Andrew Young. Just when you thought Mark Sanford…
Read MoreFollow the Money
That old Watergate adage may dictate the 2010 elections. Democrats – both in Raleigh and Washington – may follow the money straight to big-time mid-term defeats. Sometimes at the beach, two waves merge together to make a big wave that about drowns you. That may happen next year. Nationally, the NBC/Wall Street…
Read MoreThe Love Gov
What are they serving these days at governor’s conferences and Senate caucuses? Viagra? Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards, David Vitter, John Ensign and now Mark Sanford. One story has it that Sanford’s staff merely misunderstood him. They thought he said he would be “on the Appalachian Trial,” but he actually said “on some Argentine…
Read MoreWhack the Lawyers
Richard Vinroot is right: How can the legislature tax the services of mechanics and hairdressers, but not lawyers? Of course, lawyers write the tax legislation. But Democrats are getting themselves into enough political trouble without being elitist, too. Governor Perdue is on her “Save the Schools – and My Poll Ratings” tour. Democrats in the…
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