Passion Gap

In politics as in sports, motivation often separates winners from losers.   In the health care debate now, conservatives and Republicans are far more motivated than Democrats and Obama supporters.   The passion factor has flipped since the election. Then, dispirited Republicans stayed home. Impassioned Democrats lined up at the polls for weeks at the…

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ObamaScare

I’m not surprised Public Policy Polling found that only 54 percent on North Carolinians believe Obama was born in the United States, 26 percent said they do not believe he was and 20 percent aren’t sure.   The poll reflects a fundamental divide about Obama here and across America. It was there throughout the campaign,…

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America in The Golden Age

This may be the single craziest thing the United States Government has ever done. The President and the Congress – Democrats and Republicans alike – decided it was a good idea to go out and buy a billion dollars worth of ‘clunkers’ then the response was so phenomenal it took them by surprise. Apparently they…

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Democratic Disaster?

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.   My hair’s standing up on my neck the way it did early in 1994. But four months earlier this time.   Obama is struggling to keep control of the agenda. August will be crucial. If the right-wing attacks on health care reform, deficits, cash-for-clunkers and “Not Born…

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Rechanneling 1994

Back when Casey Stengel was managing the woeful New York Mets in their first year, he looked down the bench one day and moaned: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”   You might ask the same question in Washington today. About both the Democrats and the Republicans.   Both parties are still hung up on…

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Payback

Sarah Palin and her amen chorus are an endless source of free entertainment.   In the increasingly incomprehensible interviews she has given since her incomprehensible announcement that she would resign as Alaska’s governor, she has loudly complained – and her acolytes on the right and on Fox News have loudly echoed – about how badly…

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Big Spenders

Polls suggest that President Obama is losing independents who are concerned about federal spending and rising debt. In North Carolina, Governor Perdue and Democratic legislators fear the political consequences of the coming combination of budget cuts and tax increases.   Democrats don’t need to panic yet. The honeymoon had to end, and Obama had to…

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McCain’s Folly

Nearly a year later, we now see how reckless John McCain was to pick Sarah Palin for Vice President.   Suppose McCain had won. Suppose he had died in office or become incapacitated. The woman who made that incoherent and incomprehensible statement last week – so strange it made Mark Sanford look sane – would…

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The New Ad Wars

Two “issue” ad campaigns caught my eye this week. They show where this kind of media strategy is going.   One ad was about U.S. Senator Kay Hagan and the others, state Senator Doug Berger.   When I first saw the ad about Hagan, I thought: She’s already running a campaign ad? It sounded just…

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Laughs

Two of the best lines I’ve heard this week re John Edwards and Mark Sanford:   “The definition of narcissism is thinking you’d look good in a sex tape.”   “Now we know why Mark Sanford rejected the federal stimulus package. He already had all the stimulus he needed.”

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