Posts by Gary Pearce
A Tale of Two Rallies
The contrast couldn’t have been more stark. And it could easily swing a close election. Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday was hateful, divisive and mean-spirited. Kamala Harris’ rally in front of the White House Tuesday was hopeful, unifying and uplifting. She drew the contrast in her speech: “I pledge to you to…
Read MoreTwo Warriors
There are newer names and bigger stars campaigning for Democrats this year: the Obamas, Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé. But two veteran warriors, Bill Clinton and Jim Hunt, were back together this month doing what they’ve done for decades: campaigning for progress, fairness and equal opportunity. Hunt and Clinton were at a get-out-the-vote event in Hunt’s…
Read MoreCarville is Right: We Will Win
James Carville was the first and loudest Democrat to say President Biden should step aside. I disagreed, but Carville was right and I was wrong. Now he’s written an op-ed in The New York Times: “Three Reasons I’m Certain Kamala Harris Will Win.” This time, I agree. He’s right again. His three reasons: “Mr. Trump…
Read MoreFree Speech and Football
I went to Berkeley last weekend for football. I got an unexpected lesson in free speech – and a reminder that freedom is on the ballot this year. Because wannabe dictator Donald Trump would terminate the First Amendment in a minute. My son James and I were exploring the University of California’s beautiful, hilly campus…
Read MoreBe Like Rosie
North Carolina Democrats have reason to be optimistic about this election. But the ghosts of 2016 and 2020 keep us scared. Both years, our hopes were high. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was so optimistic about North Carolina that she held an election-night rally in Raleigh’s Reynolds Coliseum. Notwithstanding performances by Lady Gaga and Jon…
Read MoreStarring Mark Robinson!
Mark Robinson should get an Emmy for Most Appearances in Other Campaigns’ TV Ads. For months, he has starred in Josh Stein’s ads, admonishing women who didn’t “keep your skirt down” and warning that “some folks need killing.” Stein’s ads drove Robinson’s negative ratings so high that every Democrat from Kamala Harris down is linking…
Read MoreA Scary Time
Republicans usually are better than Democrats at closing out elections, because they’re better at scaring voters. This year, what Republicans will do if they win should scare voters. As they do every election, Trump and MAGA are stoking fears about non-existent crime waves and fictitious immigrant invasions. And now there’s “tax-paid sex-change operations for prison…
Read MoreThe Kennedy Ideal
Ethel Kennedy’s death recalls a time when hope and idealism triumphed over hate and fear. Robert and Ethel Kennedy were noisy, passionate and boisterous, a contrast to cool, stylish and sophisticated Jack and Jackie. But the two very different brothers became “the Kennedys” who stood down the Soviet Union in Cuba and stood up for…
Read MoreFlood of Lies
First came cataclysmic floods. Then came the cascade of lies. The lies – and the lying liars who tell them – compound the suffering in Western North Carolina and complicate the recovery. Like supercharged hurricanes fueled by superheated ocean waters, the lies explode in today’s social-media ecosystem. Elon Musk has turned X/Twitter into a breeding…
Read MoreRise and Fall
As Hurricane Helene ravaged the mountains, my wife and I were thousands of miles away, on a two-week trip to Turkey and Greece. We followed news of the devastation as we toured historic sites in Istanbul, Gallipoli, Ephesus, Rhodes, Crete, Athens, Mycenae and Delphi. We walked on the stones of ancient empires that rose and…
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