General
Really?
If I were a self-respecting Republican, I’d be praying for Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman to catch fire – or for Paul Ryan to get into the race. Especially after hearing these gems from Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry: Bachmann in South Carolina: “Under President Bachmann, you will see gasoline come down below…
Read MoreA Good Book
Yesterday was a day the locust ate – everything that could go wrong did and there were no simple solutions. If it could go wrong it did. A television ad jumped the tracks, a website derailed, a mailing imploded. Three train wrecks in three hours. Then, that night, when I got home instead of having…
Read MoreTillis’ Moves
A TAPster who is a veteran observer of legislators has a good take on State House speaker Thom Tillis: “Tillis who squirted from obscurity to the state’s most powerful politician in record time, is an adroit organizer, manager and fundraiser and is as politically sophisticated as most of us have ever seen. He’s made two…
Read MoreEmpty Nest
This is a big day for my wife Gwyn and me. We become empty nesters. We take our daughter to Appalachian State for her first day of college. Our son was born 22 years, two months and two days ago. Every day since, our daily lives have focused on James and Maggie: feeding them,…
Read MoreTillis and the Gay Marriage
Speaker Thom Tillis again shows signs of being soft (if you’ll pardon the term) on gay marriage. According to the Charlotte Observer, Tillis was pressed at a town meeting this week about the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage. “Can you explain to us why you’re squandering taxpayer resources on this…
Read MoreJobs and Debt
The most overused political cliché today is that Washington is wasting time talking about deficits and debt when it should be talking about jobs. But thereâs another political cliché that matters here: He who defines the debate wins the race. By that measure, Republicans are hammering President Obama and the Democrats. And itâs…
Read MoreTwo Story Outhouse
Sometimes a picture’s worth a thousand words; this came in over the transom in an email. ————————————– Two Story Outhouse I can’t even think of anything to add to this… Words fail me! This picture is worth 10,000 of them. Yep!!! This pretty much says it all. Needs no additional comments!!!
Read MoreTata’s Surprise
When I read this morning about Tony Tata’s school-assignment plan, I recalled what one supporter of the diversity policy told me after meeting Tata earlier this year: “I don’t think this school board knows what they’ve got.” Tata seemed much more progressive than the board’s Republican majority. Perhaps the majority was seduced – and…
Read MoreWho Needs a Super-Committee?
We already had one: the commission chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Here’s a link to their report, The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Since Bowles is a straight shooter and Simpson a plain speaker, I was curious what they say about taxes, which appears…
Read MoreBev and Barack
From a message standpoint, Governor Perdue is stronger now than President Obama. The New York Times Sunday captured the White House’s dilemma: combat or compromise? The story said: “As the economy worsens, President Obama and his senior aides are considering whether to adopt a more combative approach on economic issues, seeking to highlight…
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