Posts by Gary Pearce
Take Me Away
Sometimes I wonder why I watch the nightly news. Earthquakes killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and Syria. Aid was slow in coming, and builders are blamed for shoddy construction. Russia launched a new offensive. Ukrainian forces, short of ammunition, fell back. Several US airliners had near crashes and collisions. A train carrying dangerous…
Read MoreThe Goodwin House Gets a Shakeup
If Anderson Clayton can infuse North Carolina Democrats with the energy, optimism and aggressiveness of her insurgent campaign for state party chair, 2024 can be a good year. The first vice chair, former state Sen. Floyd McKissick, also was ousted, by Jonah Garson. Kimberly Hardy defeated incumbent second vice chair Matt Hughes. Garson and Hardy…
Read MoreBully Bill
The “Parents’ Bill of Rights” should be renamed the “Bullying Bill of Rights.” Yes, parents should be involved in their children’s schools. But any good in the bill the North Carolina Senate passed last week is outweighed by the harm to LGBTQ+ students. Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, (pictured) said, “no matter the intent, the consequence…
Read MoreErskine Bowles and the Community Woodpile
The best thing about blogging again is reconnecting with old friends. Like Erskine Bowles, who emailed to welcome Carter and me back. In 2004, I worked in Erskine’s unsuccessful race against Richard Burr for Senate. Erskine and I had a rocky relationship then. I pushed him to do things he wasn’t comfortable with, like running…
Read MoreCan Democrats Go Country?
As North Carolina Democrats elect a state chair this weekend, three divides emerge: young/old, rural/Raleigh and grassroots/headquarters. Two contrasting candidates are 73-year-old incumbent chair Bobbie Richardson, who defends the party’s 2022 performance, and 25-year-old Anderson Clayton (pictured), who says the party should do more at the grassroots and in rural areas. One young Democrat texted…
Read MoreThe Crazy Party
Returning to reality after a week off, I was struck by this from The New York Times report on President Biden’s State of the Union speech: “Republican lawmakers shouted both ‘liar’ and ‘bullshit’ at parts of Mr. Biden’s speech, and no one appeared shocked.” No one was shocked? Has the Republican Party gone off the…
Read MoreDavid Price Made Politics Work
If you want to know politics at its best, study David Price. He was showered with well-earned praise when he retired from Congress earlier this month. But too few people fully appreciate what a force for good Price has been for so long – for the Triangle, for North Carolina, for the Democratic Party and,…
Read MoreHow Much Hate?
Frank Bruni wrote in The New York Times this week that Lt. Governor Mark Robinson’s candidacy for governor would raise “the question of how much bigotry and divisiveness Republican and independent voters in North Carolina are willing to endorse, indulge or be persuaded to overlook.” Well, North Carolina elected Jesse Helms (pictured) to the Senate…
Read MoreBiden vs. Putin and Republicans
Republicans revered Ronald Reagan for bringing down the Soviet Union, the “evil empire.” But Trump and MAGA Republicans swoon over Czar Putin’s iron-fisted rule, gay-bashing and bare-chested manliness. President Biden armed the Ukrainians and united the free world against Russia’s brutal invasion. Now he is sending Ukraine tanks. Courageous Ukrainians exposed Putin’s military as rotten,…
Read MoreRun, Liz, Run
America needs a third party. Liz Cheney should be its nominee for President. She could save America, and the Republican Party, from Donald Trump. We don’t need a centrist third party searching for a mythical middle ground. We need a true, never-Trump conservative party. Trump is no conservative. He’s a divider and a destroyer. Cheney…
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