Posts by Gary Pearce
Hypocrisy From the Left and the Right
Two news stories from the same day: While Republicans in Congress and the Bush Administration fulminate over The New York Times’ “treason” in publishing the banking-surveillance story, Republicans in Congress criticize the administration for not telling them about the program. They wouldn’t know about it today if they hadn’t read it in the Times –…
Read MoreNorth Hills Developer Takes a Plunge
I admire what John Kane has done at North Hills in Raleigh. He’s obviously a businessman with vision and guts. But I wonder if he knows what kind of political buzzsaw he has walked into now. Specifically, the anti-developer buzzsaw that seems to be dominating Raleigh politics. Kane has asked Raleigh and Wake County for…
Read MoreAmerica’s Debt to George Bush
When George W. Bush – the “compassionate conservative” – became President, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Today it is $8.3 trillion. That is $2.7 trillion in additional debt. That is a 48 percent increase. By the way, if you’re having trouble grasping how much a trillion is: It’s a million millions. Click to Read…
Read MoreAn Election Lesson from Mexico
Put this under the category of non-surprising news: the Mexican election might be stolen. But the news made me thankful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Namely, the much-maligned Electoral College. American elections are going south – literally. Thanks to Florida 2000, every closely fought presidential election will see charges of fraud. Just like…
Read MoreFlags and Whipping Boys for the 4th
Here are two appropriate topics for my Fourth of July post: flag-burning and The New York Times. The two have this in common: They are the Republicans’ latest ploy to avoid an election disaster in November. Since W can’t catch Osama, pacify Iraq or convince Americans he has a plan to win the war, he…
Read MoreBuck Up, Brad
This is a piece of advice that I hope finds its way to my Congressman, Brad Miller. Brad, Americans love happy warriors. Think Roosevelt, Clinton, Kennedy and, yes, Reagan. We do not go for mopers and whiners. Think Dole (Bob), Hoover and Carter. This week, Brad, I talked to two friends who attended recent fundraisers…
Read MoreRalph Reed’s Moral Money
I remember Ralph Reed as a baby-faced, holier-than-thou aide to Jesse Helms in the 1984 Hunt-Helms Senate race. Reed went on to run Pat Robertson’s Moral Majority. Now he’s running for lieutenant governor of Georgia. In the meantime, it appears he rang up some big profits from a suspect source. A bipartisan Senate report has…
Read MoreThe Emerging Republican Minority
Republicans in Washington claim their border-state hearings on illegal immigrants this summer are not a ploy to kill a reform bill. I believe them. The hearings are a ploy to win the November elections. Immigration demagogy is Step Two of the Republican Survival Handbook this fall. (Step One is accusing Democrats of wanting to lose…
Read MoreKerry Rides Again
I thought John Kerry had done all the damage he could do to the Democratic Party in 2004. But no. Now he insists on being the “cut and run” face of the Democratic Party on Iraq. He angered even fellow Senate Democrats by calling for pulling out this year. Kerry was for the war before…
Read MorePolitical Reality Check
The ground can shift quickly in politics. And I believe it has – on both the state and national levels. Here was the conventional wisdom not long ago – like, last week: A national tsunami will hit the Republicans in November. Jim Black’s ethical troubles will sink North Carolina Democrats in November. But I believe…
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