Posts by Gary Pearce
Come again?
What’s up with Pat McCrory’s ad strategy? Under the Dome reported that he has a new ad “boasting of North Carolina’s economic gains.” In it, McCrory says: “When I entered office North Carolina had record unemployment, high taxes and huge budget shortfalls; it had been that way for years. Now, we have one of the…
Read MoreNews shrinkage
The N&O is again shrinking its print edition, just as it is again shedding news and editorial staff. Of more concern: the N&O’s role as the go-to source of political news in North Carolina is shrinking. As I recall from this morning’s paper, there will be only two sections a couple of days a week.…
Read MoreWill Trump melt down?
We want our President to be ready for the 3 am phone call. Donald Trump is already up at 3 am, firing off vicious, venomous tweets. Attacking a beauty pageant winner, of all things. Which raises the prospect that in one of the debates he could become the first presidential candidate to have a total…
Read MoreVerbs for Hillary
Quick. Somebody get Hillary Clinton a verb. A whole bunch of them. She needs them to reach swing voters – millennials and Trump-averse Independents and Republicans. They don’t know what she wants to DO as President, so they suspect she just wants to BE President. Verbs connote action, movement and progress. No verbs =…
Read MoreOaf in the Oval Office?
Trump blew it. Bigly. One hundred million Americans watched last night for one reason: to see if they could see Trump as President. But they saw a bully. A braggart. And a blowhard. He easily could have won the debate – and maybe the election. All he had to do was pull a Reagan. Be…
Read MoreHillary’s moment
To be great, politicians – like athletes, performers and mythic heroes – must rise to moments of great challenge. Hillary Clinton’s moment comes in Monday’s debate. The merciless beast Momentum has turned against her. It was with her for several weeks after the conventions. Then the media and the commentariat grew tired of talking about…
Read MoreThe Great HB2 Train Wreck
“Is HB2 the worst self-inflicted wound in the history of North Carolina politics?” That’s what a young whippersnapper asked at breakfast the other day. (When you’re my age, you get a lot of questions about history.) I couldn’t think of a worse one. Terry Sanford’s food tax? It hurt him politically, but Sanford didn’t push…
Read MorePolice, protests and politics
Another police shooting of a black man. Another city ripped by unrest, protests and, the media says, “riots.” This time it’s Charlotte. This time Charlotte is in the news for something other than bathrooms. Carter’s blog on this, by the way, is thoughtful and insightful. I commend it to you. So often in cases like…
Read MoreMcCrory vs Charlotte
Pat McCrory acts like the Queen City has become Queer City. Now, the city that made him may break him. He got elected because he had a reputation as a moderate, pragmatic, pro-business Mayor of Charlotte. He may lose reelection because he has a reputation now as a gay-bashing, bathroom-obsessed, bad-for-business Governor. He won in…
Read More“What an asshole”
Dan Kane’s N&O series this week (“Carolina’s Blind Side”) shows anew that UNC leaders never learned The First Rule of Crisis PR. The rule: It’s the crisis. Not the PR. When you think it’s the PR, you ask, “How do we put this behind us?” When you recognize it’s the crisis, you ask, “What the…
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