Romney’s Superpower

Democrats better not get too giddy over the USA Today/Gallup Poll that showed President Obama taking a 51-42 lead in the top 12 battleground states (which include North Carolina).   Obama’s lead is thanks to women under 50, who now favor Obama over Mitt Romney by 2-1.   Clearly, the Republican primary fight – and…

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Obama v Roberts

Some people are shocked, shocked, I tell you, that President Obama would challenge the majesty of the Supreme Court.   Get real. Court-bashing is as American as apple pie.   Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Franklin D. Roosevelt all challenged the court. For years after Brown v Board of Education, “Impeach Earl Warren” signs lined…

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A Baffling Mystery

Somebody please explain this.   Every Republican running for any office – no matter how high or low – seems to be running against Obamacare.   They rail against the mandate that everyone have health insurance. They say it’s socialistic, un-American and an outrageous intrusion of our liberties. They vow to repeal it.   Yet,…

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ObamaScare

Win or lose in the Supreme Court, President Obama has already lost in the court of public opinion. Polls show that two-thirds of Americans want at least some of Obamacare repealed.   If he loses the election in November, he’ll always wonder why he staked his presidency on an idea he opposed in 2008: the…

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The Ironies of ObamaCare

A gun store in eastern North Carolina uses its electronic billboard to run a mix of hard-right political messages and gun-sale pitches. One message reads: “Work harder. Millions on welfare depend on you.”   When it comes to health care, the billboard could read: “Work harder. Millions without insurance depend on you.”   But therein lies…

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More Politics as Usual

For years Paul Coble’s been your easy going, hail fellow well met County Commissioner, going along with the other local politicians when they wanted to raise the county’s debt, pass budgets with unfunded liabilities and spend Obama Stimulus Money.   But, now, suddenly, Coble’s turned into an anti-establishment ball of fire.   No one can…

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The Fault Line

Since before the Iowa Caucus the pundits have been saying what Republican voters care about most is electing the strongest candidate to beat Obama, or electing the candidate who’d fight hardest to cut spending. Almost everyone’s been opining ‘The election’s about who can beat Obama’ or ‘The election’s about spending,’ but it turns out that’s…

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Two Masters

You could earn a bachelor’s degree in political science just talking to the two of them: former Governor Jim Hunt and Congressman (and Minority Whip) Steny Hoyer.   They were together last night at a fundraiser for Congressman Larry Kissell hosted by Heather and Bruce Thompson in Raleigh.   Hoyer has represented Maryland in Congress…

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What Will Be the 2008 Game Changer?

You can be certain of one thing about the 2012 election: The thing that will decide it hasn’t happened yet.   At this point in 2008, nobody had heard of Sarah Palin. And nobody expected the economy to nearly collapse in six months.   The possibilities are endless: war with Iran? Another disaster in Afghanistan?…

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Obama’s Gallantry, Romney’s Timidity

Near the end of the 1960 campaign, at the urging of civil rights aide Harris Wofford, John Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to offer his sympathy after Martin Luther King was jailed.   Robert Kennedy exploded at Wofford: “You just lost us the election.” As it turned out, the call won JFK thousands of African-America…

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