National Republicans
Romney’s ‘Retroactive Retirement’
Of all the ridiculous political-spin phrases ever, this one is up there with John Kerry’s “I voted for it before I voted against it.” It came Sunday from senior Mitt Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie. He was trying to spin his way through CNN’s “State of the Union.” Specifically, he was insisting that Romney…
Read MoreRichie Rich Romney
The Obama campaign has drawn blood. For the first time in this campaign, they have their teeth into Mitt Romney. And if he doesn’t escape, his candidacy could bleed to death before he accepts the nomination in Tampa. Two weeks ago, Romney thought he had Obama trapped – by making him the symbol for…
Read MorePartisanship
North Carolina’s most famous Democrat, Jim Hunt, ran for statewide office six times and each time gave the liberal Democrat running for President a wide berth – and so did Mike Easley when he ran in 2000 (Al Gore) and 2004 (John Kerry). And no one thought much of it. But now two Democratic…
Read MoreLeBron Obama
President Obama is the LeBron James of politics. No one else in the game inspires the same passions – pro and con. No one else has the same political skills. No one else can put as many points on the board – for both sides. For all the talk about Mitt Romney –…
Read MoreHuck’s Complaint
Mike Huckabee always struck me as a likeable Republican. So his critique of his party in The New York Times Sunday was striking. He was asked: “Is this different from the party that you know and love?” His answer: “Very much. It’s one of the reasons that I did not think this was…
Read MoreWillie Bain Horton
Summertime is historically when presidential candidates get defined in a way that cripples them in the fall. It happened to Michael Dukakis in 1988. After he locked up the nomination, he went back to Boston, rolled up his sleeves and work to work – on being governor. Meanwhile, Lee Atwater rolled up his…
Read MoreHow Washington Sets Policy
How Washington went about setting health care policy is for more erudite minds than mine but here goes: Tom, Dick and Harry rolled into the ER in ambulances and each was having a heart attack – Tom’s so poor he couldn’t afford to buy health insurance, Dick could almost afford it but not quite,…
Read MoreMove On
Will Republicans now make the same mistake on health care reform that President Obama made? Apart from never adequately explaining his reform, the President hurt himself by focusing on health care when Americans were focused on the bad economy. Now a poll shows that, however they feel about the law, Americans want to…
Read More36 Years Too Late
Venerated Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, who is seventy-eight years old, just faced his first primary in three decades – a Tea Party opponent ran against him who said Washington could do with one less politician who’d spent years voting for more debt and more spending. Senator Hatch weathered the storm but, then, after the…
Read MoreWhose Economy?
Speaker Thom Tillis says Republicans “own the economy” and is optimistic: “I think we are seeing some green shoots.” But Pat McCrory says Governor Perdue owns the economy and it’s “broken.” Nationally, of course, Republicans say President Obama owns the economy and it sucks. Obama avoids sounding too optimistic. Democrats say it’s…
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