Behind the bickering

Here’s an idea for the North Carolina Leadership Forum that Rob Christensen wrote about this week. The Forum is a group of prominent leaders from both sides of the political aisle. Rob described its mission this way: “Why not get North Carolinians of all political stripes together to have conversations, to better understand one another’s…

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Signs

Old people watch for signs: Pains shooting down a man’s arm, a hardly discernible lump in a woman’s breast, all either portents of disaster or false alarms and in politics there’re signs too: Like Roy out-raising Pat by $1.2 million. $5.1 million to $3.9 million. A portent? Or a hiccup? Roy raising more money than…

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Democrats: storming the castle

Hillary Clinton has the bad luck to be the Establishment in a bad year for the Establishment. She’s living in the castle just as peasants with pitchforks and torches storm the castle. She took $200,000 speaking fees from Wall Street just as Democrats turned against Wall Street. This is galling to Baby Boomers like the…

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The Reaction

A girl who thinks she’s a boy asked to use the boys’ bathroom at her high school. The principal allowed her to use a staff bathroom instead. Then a boy who thinks he’s a girl circulated an internet petition saying the principal was wrong. And it landed, beneath a picture of the two teenagers, on…

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He’s baaaaack!

Long before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, a lot of people in Raleigh didn’t like John Edwards. Like insurance executives, defense lawyers and doctors, to be exact. They took great delight in Edwards’ fall from political grace. Schadenfreude is the word for it: “a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing…

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Womb Police

Republicans are right: Our freedoms and liberties are at risk from an overly intrusive, overreaching government. Like the Republican-controlled government in North Carolina that requires doctors who perform an abortion after the 16th week of pregnancy to send an ultrasound to state officials. That’s kind of creepy, when you think about it. Are the DHHS…

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Ghost of Christmas Future

My last blog – a scenario wherein Donald Trump wins the Presidency – depressed some Democrats. And more than a few Republicans. So here is a Happier New Year scenario, in the form of a news story that might be written at the end of next year: In the wake of sweeping election defeats in 2016, Republican leaders…

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In defense of Woodland

Two people say something stupid, the Internet goes crazy and a fine little town gets smeared around the world. I rise in defense of Woodland, North Carolina. Regrettably, I’m not defending the town against the usual hit squad of right-wing Republicans who stereotype people, like Muslims and gays. This time, the stereotyping is by some…

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An Obstacle Standing in the Way

Saturday morning the New York Times ran a front page article about the attack in California and, right next to it, for the first time in 90 years, it ran a front page editorial – calling for more gun control. Think about that: In California terrorists killed Americans and, in New York, the Times wants…

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Sillier and Sillier

Sunday, after the attack in California, President Obama spoke to the nation and laid out his best ideas to stop terrorism: War is still out. There is no way we’re going to use overwhelming force. It’s not in his make-up. And using the words Muslim Terrorist is still off the table. What’s in? Gun Control.…

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