Posts by Gary Pearce
A Teaching Moment
I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. How can you not? Her testimony was powerful, persuasive and painful. She clearly was traumatized by what Brett Kavanaugh did to her. Her life was derailed. And now she has to go through this. If Republicans stick with Kavanaugh, they have only one way to go: “Well, what a…
Read MoreDisaster politics
Governor Cooper excelled at his first three tasks in the wake of Florence: command (resources), communicate (be safe) and comfort (we’re with you for the long haul). Now comes the long haul. And politics. And bureaucracy – federal, state and local. And inevitable human frustration at the pace of relief. Nearly 20 years ago, after…
Read MoreThe worst of times, the best of people
The worst times bring out the best in us. Before we go back to bashing each other over politics, let’s salute all those who rose to Florence. Salute first the responders who are always there first. Salute the thousands of volunteers who saved lives (human and animal), served meals and succored those in need. Salute…
Read MoreThe Gathering Storm
Carter once said a wave election is like a hurricane. You know it’s coming. But you don’t know if it’ll be a Category 1 or a 5. And you don’t know if it’ll hit Wilmington or Nags Head – or everywhere. We’ve got a big one coming at us now. We’ll worry about the election…
Read MoreLegislative wrecking crew
There’s nothing this legislature can’t screw up. The Constitution, redistricting, congressional elections, judicial elections – and that’s just this week. A TAPster noted, “If you had to return to your auto mechanic to correct his screwups as often as our legislators return to fix theirs, you’d get a new mechanic.” Congressional elections are in chaos,…
Read MoreMcCready and McCain
Listening to Dan McCready got me thinking about John McCain. Right after I posted yesterday’s blog, McCain and Trump, I went to a lunch for McCready. He’s running for Congress in the 9th District. When you hear 9th District, you probably think Charlotte. But the district stretches east to Robeson and Bladen counties. McCready had…
Read MoreMcCain and Trump
Both were part of the Vietnam generation. One served; the other didn’t. One was shot down over North Vietnam, imprisoned for over five years and tortured so brutally he couldn’t even comb his hair. The other had five draft deferments and bone spurs. And spends a lot of time combing his hair. One dedicated his…
Read MoreDon’t impeach!
Democrats: Don’t impeach Trump. Don’t talk about it. Don’t even think about it. Think this through. We want every Republican officeholder and candidate to spend every day of the next 27 months, all the way through Election Day 2020, defending, rationalizing, apologizing for, agonizing over and tiptoeing around Trump. When a Democrat in Congress gets…
Read More“Beyond a reasonable doubt”
Do Republicans realize how big a club they’re giving Governor Cooper to beat them with this fall? Here is the most telling sentence in Tuesday’s decision by two members of the three-judge panel who reviewed the proposed constitutional amendments on separation of powers and judicial appointments: “…A majority of this panel concludes beyond a reasonable…
Read More“Both sides”-ism at the N&O
No, Colin Campbell, “both sides” do not “share in the blame” over “the last-minute legal tussle between Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislature over proposed constitutional amendments.” And the N&O fails its readers and its history by running Campbell’s “both sides” column where the newspaper’s editorial voice once rang clear, loud and true. No, both…
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