Issues
No Friends at All?
No doubt the Governor can explain to her fellow Democrats why she’s fighting Republican legislators ‘tooth and nail’ but how on earth can she explain to Democrats she’s been bushwhacked from behind by the Obama Administration? The problem, Obama’s Justice Department says, is the Governor (or rather her minions who run Medicaid for her)…
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 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 MorePolitics as Usual
Washington has done it again. They’ve appointed a ‘Super Committee’ to cut spending only there’s a hitch – the newspapers report the members of the committee have taken three million dollars in campaign contributions, from the special interests who’s spending they’re supposed to cut. Senator Patti Murray, who’s also taken an additional $1 million…
Read MoreDisputing Pat
A TAPster takes on Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory over McCrory’s op-ed in the Charlotte Observer on voter ID: “I think there are some interesting facts that McCrory failed to share in his piece – and I’m surprised a paper like the Observer would publish without asking him some questions on his sources. Notably McCrory…
Read MoreSmart ALECs
A TAPster takes strong issue with the N&O’s reporting on the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is meeting this weekend in New Orleans. “The N&O’s Under the Dome blog reached a distressing new low in public affairs reporting with its story on the American Legislative Exchange Council. The blog reports on allegations by a liberal…
Read MoreBad Outcome for Democrats
Democrats hoped the debt-ceiling narrative would play out like this: Tea Party extremists nearly drive America over the cliff. Instead, it went like this: Government is broken and doesn’t work. That’s a big problem for Democrats. Because voters see them as the government party and Republicans as the anti-government party. Democrats always…
Read MoreHolden On
Can Holden Thorp escape being sacked by an all-out Rams Club blitz? Even worse, he’s catching hell both ways: from people mad he fired Butch Davis and from people mad he didn’t fire Davis earlier. No good deed goes unpunished. Here’s the story I hear: Davis’ firing was Thorp’s doing, not new…
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