National Republicans
The Death of Dialogue?
Taxes and Tea Bags
Fox and Friends
The Fox News crowd was in full cry at North Ridge the other evening. Along with the usual fare of foxy news babes and red-faced rants about creeping socialism, there was video of the Obamas’ new dog. It was too much for one man. “Guess who gave him the dog? Ted Kennedy. What does that…
Read MoreUpside Down
Who said foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds? Republicans in North Carolina certainly appear untethered by consistency when it comes to the relationship between government and the private sector. Nationally, Republicans are in a frenzy about the Obama administration’s policy toward business. Socialism, they thunder. The very idea of the federal government…
Read MoreA.I.G., Alcoa and Taxes
Well, Obama’s after A.I.G. hammer and tongs. Which is fine. More than fine. But there’re also a couple of overlooked questions worth considering: Like why didn’t the Washington genius (and it’s beginning to look like it was Treasury Secretary Geithner) who poured $170 billion into A.I.G. have the good sense to tell A.I.G. up front,…
Read MoreUnintended Consequences
President Obama says flat out that his stimulus bill is going to create 3.5 million jobs – is that a fact or a political fiction? Can President Obama (or, for that matter, a team of Nobel Prize-winning economists) actually predict precisely that spending two trillion dollars is going to reignite prosperity – or will he…
Read MoreThe New Populists
Since the November election, I’ve been telling business people that the election marked a new cycle in politics: from pro-business government to pro-government – and potentially anti-business – government. That cycle has dominated American history since the Civil War. Government was pro-business in the 19th Century, leading to great fortunes and the Industrial Age. Then,…
Read MorePolitical Stories: Jesse Sees a Second Poll
Nobody ever accused Jesse Helms of being naïve but he made a pretty serious misjudgment when it came to running against Jim Hunt â Jesse didnât think running against Hunt would be a cakewalk but he had the idea he was as popular (or more popular) than the governor and on top of that he…
Read MorePolitical Stories: Jesse’s First Poll
Like Billy Flynn in a Chicago courtroom Obama’s speech to Congress was all razzle-dazzle. It takes a silver tongue to spend a trillion dollars then say you’re against big government and get away with it. I don’t know who else could have done it. Surely not Bobby Jindal. Politics is pretty discouraging these days –…
Read MoreThe Great Tax Debate Resumes
It’s time to round up the usual suspects. Because Washington is headed into the same old battle over raising taxes. But this time the stakes are bigger, the faces are different and the outcome may be surprising. Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican formula has been a simple one. As Mary Matalin put it on MSNBC…
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