Another Story from Politics

Watergate sunk Nixon. Jimmy Carter was elected. Two years later Jesse Helms ran for reelection. In 1972, he’d been the only Republican to win a Senate election in North Carolina in the 20th century. After sweeping statewide elections in 1974 and 1976 Democrats were on a roll. Here’s a story about Jesse’s 1978 campaign from…

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A Surprise

‘You tell a lot of good stories about Reagan, like his saying a prayer for the man who shot him,’ a friend reading my book said – then laughed, ‘But I wish you’d been kinder to Trump.’ He’s a conservative. Reagan was a conservative. Trump’s now head of the Republican Party. So he sees Trump…

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Tall Tales?

I might be wrong but a story one of Kamala Harris’ political wizards told after she lost sure sounded like a tall tale. He started out by telling a reporter there was no value, during the campaign, in Harris speaking with the New York Times or the Washington Post, added, Their readers are already with…

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Surprises

Scratching the Surface Broadcasting live on the radio from Grovers Mill, New Jersey on Halloween night 86 years ago a stunned reporter watched Martians leaving a spacecraft, blasting policemen with heat rays. Panic swept across New Jersey. But he wasn’t a reporter he was an actor reading The War of the Worlds on Orson Wells…

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Vanity

Trump’s on the way back to the White House, the MAGA movement’s more powerful than ever – so is it about to Make America Great Again? Back in 1776 the 13 colonies had next to no power – while Great Britain, an empire, was a superpower. Four days after the Declaration of Independence passed, George…

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Fanning Fires

Back during the election as Trump battled Harris – on TV, across social media, on websites – pundits on both the left and right fanned fires. And hordes of people cheered. Harris lost, Matt Gaetz strode onto the stage, new fires spread. Gaetz got out – fire spreaders locked eyes on Pete Hegseth, talking about…

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The Trump Threat

President-elect Trump said two things on Meet the Press Sunday that should set off alarm bells across America: he’ll pardon the January 6 thugs and traitors “on Day One” and the members of Congress who investigated the Capitol attack “should be in jail.” That is dictator talk. Yet, the media treated it as just another…

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Pointing Fingers

Back in the old days when an election was over folks leaned back, heaved a sigh of relief. Squabbling stopped. For awhile. This year, after the curtain fell on the election, squabbling rolled on: We’ve got Fox News still bashing Harris and the ‘mainstream’ media punching away at Trump, who just handed them more red…

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Biden

Joe Biden has been a good President, but missed being great because he wasn’t a great communicator. You can’t be a great politician – and certainly not a great President – if you aren’t a great communicator. Biden’s one term is much like President Jimmy Carter’s. Both did great things, but couldn’t tell the story.…

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It’s Easy to Point the Finger…

Turning on the TV, watching the first debate in the 2016 Iowa primary, I stared at a row of candidates standing on stage – they all talked, sounded like smooth-tongued Washington politicians – except one: Donald Trump. Trump beat Hillary. Covid struck. Biden beat Trump. Trump ran again. Biden got out. Trump called Kamala Harris…

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