General
Sarah and John
Vanity Fair magazine has a scathing profile of Sarah Palin that sounds eerily familiar. Below are some of the articleâs characterizations of Palin. I ask you: What other well-known political figure does this sound like? âErratic behavior and a pattern of lyingâ¦â âSarah Palinâs connection with her audience is complete.â …
Read MoreNimrud’s Earrings
President Obama says the war’s over but according to the newspaper an odd problem has cropped up in Iraq: A 4,000 year old statue of King Entemena of Lagash has vanished. In fact it turns out over our seven years in Iraq a lot of antiquities have disappeared. Now when it comes to plunder…
Read MoreBarking Up the Wrong Tree
There’s an old cartoon that showed an owner fussing at his dog: “Bad dog, Rover. Don’t ever do that again, Rover. You know better, Rover. Bad dog, Rover.” Then the cartoon showed what the dog was hearing: “Blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, blah, Rover, blah, blah, Rover.” I’m afraid that’s all the voters…
Read MoreStorming the Castle
The Republican Party is seeing exactly the same thing in its primaries this year that the Democratic Party saw in its presidential primaries in 2008. An inexperienced, untested and nearly unknown upstart challenges a pillar of the party’s political establishment. Propelled by the enthusiasm of inspired new voters, the upstart upends the odds-on favorite in…
Read MoreThe Other Budget Gap
The breakfast conversation the other day was about what happens with the state budget next year if Republicans win the state House or Senate this year. They won’t raise taxes. So they’ll have to cut $3 billion or so out of a $19 billion budget. My Republican friend said that can be done…
Read MoreSeptember Surprises
The 9/11 rallies and replays this weekend were a reminder of how X Factors can scramble our lives – and politics. Nine years and three days ago, George Bush was working hard to be the No Child Left Behind president. After 9/11, he became obsessed with his oedipal need to both avenge and…
Read MoreLight Our Fires
Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, said this week that the Times eventually will stop printing the paper and go totally on-line. Some say that could come as early as 2015. Just shoot me now. Not just because I’ll be one of the final holdouts who will still have a morning…
Read MoreRoy’s Ploys
In PR it’s called “getting ahead of the story.” Roy Cooper has tried it twice on the SBI story. Not happening. The N&O owns this story. Another Pulitzer is in sight. And today the N&O showed Cooper again that it, not he, is driving this train. Yesterday Cooper tried to get ahead by announcing…
Read MoreIt’s the Obama, Stupid
For a long time, I thought the main driver in this election was the rotten economy. But the 2010 election instead may be all about the colossus who stands astride American politics today – for better and for worse: Barack Obama. That thought occurred to me when I read this from Tom Jensen…
Read MoreHard to Believe
Here’re two peculiar examples of modern economic theory as practiced by the Obama Administration. Both have to do with the President spending ‘Stimulus Funds.’ Alcoa Corporation has a net worth of $12 billion. The Obama Administration gave it $13 million in stimulus funds to pay for renovations at its Cheoah dam on the Little…
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