Posts by Gary Pearce
WalMart Vs. Democrats
Wal-Mart is becoming for Democrats what al-Qaeda is for Republicans: the source of all evil. The Democratic presidential candidates – even including moderate Senator Evan Bayh – are attacking the big retailer. Its sins include low pay, scarce benefits and big success. All this while Wal-Mart – with Al Gore’s help – is trying to…
Read MoreEdwards and Lieberman
John Edwards and Joe Lieberman have little in common. But they do both have one big thing this year: running as outsiders. Most politicians fantasize about “outsider” campaigns. Usually when they get tired of playing insider games with other politicians, interest groups and contributors. But the dream has come true for Joe and John. And…
Read MoreReform-mania
Nothing is quite so repellent â or dangerous â as a politician in the throes of reform-mania. Witness the North Carolina legislature. To start with, no legislator really wanted to pass lobbying or campaign finance reform. They liked the old system. After all, they had designed it to serve themselves. So they did what they…
Read MoreTerror Politics: The Democrats
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee knows how to fight back. Its new web ad blasts the Bush record on protecting America: “Not enough troops… “Four times as many terror attacks in 2005… “Iran developing nuclear weapons… “North Korea quadrupling its nuclear arsenal… “Millions more illegal immigrants… “Feel safer? Vote for change.” Click here to see…
Read MoreTerror Politics: The Republicans
I’m not the only one suspicious of the timing of last week’s airport-terror scare. As Keith Olderman pointed out on MSMBC’s Countdown Monday night, the Bush administration for years has conveniently announced terror threats at politically-advantageous times. Like right after the Connecticut Senate primary. Has the act worn thin? We’ll see in November. Click to…
Read MoreThe N&O’s big boo-boo
Since I got my first job as a copyboy at The News & Observer 41 years ago this summer, my life has been inextricably intertwined with that paper. But I’ve never seen the N&O do more damage to itself than with the front-page mistake on the Duke-lacrosse investigation. Public Editor Ted Vaden described it this…
Read MoreIn Defense of Jim Black
Everybody’s piling on Jim Black. So I’ll dissent. First of all, enough with Republicans decrying a pay-to-play system in Raleigh. It’s a pale imitation of the pay-to-play system Republicans installed in Washington – and in Raleigh, when they had the House majority. Second, enough with politicians and reporters who are shocked – shocked, mind you…
Read MoreTerror Politics
It didn’t take Bush and the Republicans long to turn the airline-terror plot against Democrats. “Defeatocrats,” one blared. Cheney didn’t even wait for the arrests. The day before, he said Ned Lamont’s victory in Connecticut emboldened “al Qaeda types.” So what do Democrats do? Two relatively new Democrats – with impeccable military credentials – show…
Read MoreLieberman Piles On
Joe Lieberman went even farther than the Republicans: “If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England. It will strengthen them,…
Read MoreLieberman’s Revenge?
Joe Lieberman’s supporters suggested it was wrong for Ned Lamont to even challenge a sitting Senator. Bad for the party, they said. Lamont’s supporters said they had every right to challenge an incumbent. They said a cause was at stake. And that’s what democracy is all about. They were right. Now, some Lamont supporters suggest…
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