Issues
Unfair Hit?
Did Governor Perdue get jobbed by the AP jobs story: “Plant deal may enrich N.C. political donors”? A TAPster who works in private-sector economic development – and is no admirer of the Governor – says yes: “The land was assembled for this purpose and is in a catalog of sites available to prospective…
Read MoreShoot Him, Quick
The other morning at breakfast Richard the Intellectual (who’s a retired banker) stared at the newspaper headline – Europe Debt Crisis Shakes Stock Market – and laughed: Well, it’s beginning to look like thirty years ago the Wall Street Masters of the Universe sold us a bill of goods. Free Trade, he said, was…
Read MoreBBQ Politics
Something about the combination of barbeque and politics makes political reporters salivate over writing a down-home story about how we’uns in Nawth Ca’lina don’t cotton to outsiders insulting our proud pork product. There has been a run of these stories since news broke that Rick Perry once dismissed North Carolina barbeque as tasting like…
Read MoreSexual Deviance
How’s that for a headline to get your attention? But, seriously. One reason I enjoy this blog is I get insight into viewpoints that differ from mine. This week, I learned something about the attitude toward the gay-marriage amendment and, more to the point, gay people. I blogged (click here): “A business friend…
Read MoreNo Sacrifice is too Small
We’re $14 going on $16 trillion in debt, the economy’s in the tank and the only way out is to cut government spending – so it didn’t seem unreasonable to save $2.8 million by closing the 134 year old Post Office downtown (when there’s a newer Post Office a few blocks away). But not…
Read MorePolicies and Personas
In the 1980s, Democrats were in disarray and Ronald Reagan stood astride the political world like a colossus. Then, as today, Democrats comforted themselves by saying: “Polls show the American people agree with us, not him, on the issues.” Yep, they did. Go through a list of issues, just like today, and the…
Read MoreGay-Marriage Surprises
Constitutional amendments banning gay marriage passed overwhelmingly in other Southern states, I’m told, so one is likely to pass here, too. But think of the unintended consequences that may result. Republicans apparently realized that a November 2012 referendum might bring out a group of anti-gay marriage voters the GOP doesn’t want to encourage:…
Read MoreWith Governor Perdue as an Ally
A little over a year ago an old friend (and Jesse Helms supporter) asked me to drive down to Albemarle to meet with a group of Republicans to help them in their fight with Alcoa Corporation. To make a long story short the argument between the local Republican County Commissioners and Alcoa boils down…
Read MorePriorities, Priorities
A TAPster notes a striking example of where the state spends and where it cuts: “Did the Jones Street Honorables notice a political paradox during their recent visit to Raleigh? “Just a city block away from the Legislative Building, work is concluding on the construction of several gleaming new state government buildings and…
Read MoreWho Runs the GOP?
After the Tea Party debate this week, a Florida Tea Party leader put it bluntly: “The Republican Party isn’t going to pick the presidential nominee. We’re going to pick the presidential nominee.” The candidates then fell all over each other to show their fealty to the crowd. A crowd that, when a moderator asked…
Read More