General
Unseating Liddy Dole
Democrats nationally and in North Carolina are zeroing in on Senator Dole in 2008. She is vulnerable â to the right opponent. Beating an incumbent Senator is tough. I learned that working for Jim Hunt against Jesse Helms in 1984 and for John Edwards against Lauch Faircloth in 1998. Democrats need a tough, well-funded opponent…
Read MoreYes, I will. No, I won’t. Yes, I will.
From the News and Observer: “Chuck Williamson was mad, already, about Interstate 40 repairs expected to suck up $20 million that taxpayers planned to spend for other Triangle road work. He was mad about the prospect of waiting another 18 months, if we’re lucky, to get the I-40 paving job unbotched. Now, after a personal…
Read MoreBush’s Other Foreign Policy Disaster
Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” He was right. George W. Bush said he looked into Vladimar Putin’s soul and saw a man he could trust. He was wrong. One side effect of Bush’s Iraq disaster is his lack of attention to what’s happening in Putin’s Russia: murder, war crimes and growing…
Read MoreThe Grinch Who Stole Christmas?
The other day Governor Easley boasted North Carolina’s quarter-cent cut in the sales tax meant North Carolinians “will see their hard-earned tax dollars can stretch a bit further.” On Tuesday, he turned into the Grinch who stole Christmas and said going ahead with the rest of the tax cut (another quarter-cent) might be unwise. (If…
Read MoreAlice in Washington-Land
I was struggling to grasp two developments in Washington last week: The gay daughter of the Vice President of an anti-gay administration – along with her lesbian partner – will be a mother soon. Bless her. That Vice President hailed Don Rumsfeld as “the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had.” But one…
Read MoreIraq Diplomacy
The Iraq Study Commission’s hinting we need a grand diplomatic strategy, involving Iran and Syria, to get us out of the war in Iraq. But it’s hard to believe we’re going to talk our way out of this mess. The idea that there is a diplomatic, magical wand Jim Baker (or anyone else) can wave…
Read MoreNo Wonder
It comes as a shock but waste dumps can be built in North Carolina without an environmental study to determine the potential harm when they are put in flood plains or near a water supplies. The Environmental Review Commission (which is studying four mega-trashdumps out of state companies plan to build here to bury garbage…
Read MoreThe United Nations Dictates to the N.C. House?
This is a peculiar twist. The ACLU and anti-torture activists want the Governor, the Attorney General and just about everyone else – including the Johnston County Commissioners – to investigate Smithfield based Aero Contractors, which provides charter flights to the CIA. No one – including the Global Transport Authority – has taken them up on…
Read MoreThe Republican Dam Breaks
Presidents should know they’re in political trouble when members of their own party break with them, especially U.S. Senators. That has happened now on Iraq. The Republican Senator is Gordon Smith from Oregon. CNN quoted Smith – “in an emotional speech on the Senate floor” last week – as saying the U.S. military’s “tactics have…
Read MoreJim Black: What Can Republicans Do?
With only 52 votes Republicans don’t have much voice in choosing Jim Black’s successor as Speaker of the House. But here’s a suggestion: Challenge the Democrats to elect a new Speaker who is not part of the current House leadership. Why? Because a ‘fresh face,’ without ties to the current leadership, can best clean up…
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