General
Brad and the Banks
Here’s another example of a politician trying to have his cake and eat it too: The other day Congressman Brad Miller bemoaned the Supreme Court ruling on corporations spending money in elections then wailed he’s in hot water because he’s made the banks mad, saying, “I’ve made a real nuisance of myself to the most…
Read MoreBlaming Bush
I have a real problem with the way President Obama blamed George Bush for the budget deficit in his State of the Union speech. But my objection is directly opposite Republicans’. I don’t think Obama blamed Bush enough. As I recall, Ronald Reagan was still blaming Jimmy Carter and the Democrats for everything…
Read MoreJust Another Washington Politician
Over the last year with every breath he’s taken the President’s shown a burning faith in government (led by enlightened politicians) as the engine of progress – his faith has been so overwhelming he’s fearlessly taken government into recesses of American life where no President ever dared tread. But, the other night, Obama the…
Read MoreSex in Juvenile Prison?
Awhile back the newspapers were running horror stories about patients in state mental hospitals being sexually attacked, beaten and even dying due to neglect – the whole thing sounded like a nightmare straight out of 19th century mental asylums. Now the newspapers are running horror stories about juvenile prisons for young girls – and…
Read MoreShelter From the Storm
A reader was not impressed by Governor Perdue’s performance this weekend: “She returned from her warm weather vacation to be a leader and then didn’t look much like one.” At least she came back. I don’t begrudge a governor ever taking a vacation. But you take a chance when you go someplace warm…
Read MoreAnother Victim
I told myself I wouldn’t post another word about John Edwards. But then I spent an hour on the phone with a disillusioned former staffer from Edwards’ presidential campaign. This young man now finds himself unemployable. “Former John Edwards staffer” doesn’t look so good on a resume. He began to have doubts…
Read MoreA Young Man in a Political Maze
When Ruffin Poole was twenty-five years old and fresh out of law school he went to work for Mike Easley; he’s thirty-seven now and indicted for 51 counts of everything from extortion to racketeering and could go to prison for 85 years. What went wrong – for a small town boy from Kinston? For…
Read MoreMirror, Mirror…
No one was much surprised when John Edwards fessed up and said he was the father of Rielle Hunter’s daughter – but nothing involving John Edwards ever seems to run along the straight and narrow path and sure enough there was an odd line in Edwards’ confession that twisted contrition into a knot. Here’s…
Read MoreHandcuffed
I don’t know Ruffin Poole well, but he never struck me as a fellow who posed a physical danger to the populace. So why did the feds force him to make a well-photographed “perp walk” in cuffs? I put that question to a Democratic lawyer friend of mine who has done considerable work…
Read MoreBev’s Buzzwords
“The jobs governor.” “Setting government straight.” “Career and college – ready, set, go.” “Safe communities.” You may as well get familiar with all these phrases. You’ll be hearing them from Governor Perdue – presumably for a good while. Team Perdue has carved out those words as her roadmap to political…
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