General
Quarantines
President Obama may have the most brilliant strategy on earth to defeat Ebola but, on the other hand, he may go down in history as the first head of a government to encourage thousands of people (doctors and nurses) to visit a plague zone and then return home to meld back into the population without,…
Read MoreDog Whistles
The term is new to me, but dog whistles are the oldest thing in Southern politics. This election, like all of them, comes down to race. In 1950, it was “White People Wake Up…Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and daughters in your mills and factories?” In 1984, it was…
Read MoreElon Poll Rx
If you’re tired of ads, tired of contradictory punditry and tired of conflicting, confusing and cooked-up polls, here’s a prescription for sanity: Take a dose of the Elon University poll. A warning about side effects: It will calm Democrats and give Republicans heartburn. (Hagan is up 45-41.)That aside, it gives you as clear, comprehensive…
Read MoreFlip a Coin?
Thom Tillis said Kay Hagan voted for Obama’s Stimulus Bill then her husband’s company got $390,000 in Stimulus Funds as a pay-off. And Hagan fired back Tillis (as Speaker) put a toll road near Charlotte in exchange for $25,000 in campaign contributions and sold three seats on the UNC Board of Governors for $75,000 in…
Read MoreTillis Vs. Tillis
Thom Tillis faces a big obstacle as he tries to catch up in the final days: Thom Tillis. If you turn off the sound and just watch Tillis, you’ll see the problem he has swaying undecided voters, especially those Walmart (or Target) moms who haven’t made up their minds yet. Tillis can look…
Read MoreNot a Ticket Splitter
A pollster will usually ask voters: Would you say you 1) Always vote Democratic, 2) Usually vote Democratic, 3) Always vote Republican, 4) Usually vote Republican or 5) would you say you split your ticket and vote for about as many Republicans as Democrats? Down at the Editorial Board (not in the news room)…
Read MoreMata Hari
Eric pointed to the word ‘backlash’ and said, They put a picture of a Black minister, sneering, beneath a headline saying ‘backlash’ then quote the ACLU as saying Black preachers want to punish gay people because of who they love. A trio of amenable grunts rose from the end of the table then out…
Read MoreThe Next Jonas Salk
Kaci Hickox was mad as hops – she’d gotten off the plane in Newark, been hustled straight into quarantine, and three days later she was still in quarantine only by then she’d hired a lawyer to sue Governor Chris Christie. A few days before Ms. Hickox flew from Sierra Leone to Newark, a doctor, who’d…
Read MoreIrony or Hypocrisy?
An African-American minister proclaimed that a gay person should not be a judge. He also joined Rep. Skip Stam-and apparently 27 other House Republicans-in proclaiming that magistrates, who are officers of the court, should not have to carry out laws and court decisions they don’t like. Forty years ago, several magistrates in North Carolina…
Read MoreAsleep at the Switch
As bleak as Governor McCrory’s job approval numbers were in the WRAL poll, that wasn’t the worst news. Consider how Republicans, Democrats and Independents feel about the General Assembly. Republican Voters Approve 35% Disapprove 38% Conservative Voters Approve 33% Disapprove 37% Independent Voters Approve…
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