North Carolina – Democrats
A Gift to Democrats
Nine times out of 10 in politics, what you think is a conspiracy is just incompetence. So it is with the Republicans and abortion. Several TAP readers believe that all the GOP’s thrashing on abortion is a well-thought-out plan to pass new restrictions and avoid the political consequences. They may achieve the first…
Read MoreA Quirk of Human Nature
The other morning there was a picture on the front page of the News and Observer of a hundred angry women, every one of them mad as blazes, carrying signs, shaking fists and chanting, ‘Shame, shame, shame’ at Republican Senators who’d just passed a new abortion bill (that required abortion centers to meet the same…
Read MoreHard Day
Monday was a hard day for Reverend William Barber. For months, Reverend Barber has been leading ‘crusades’ for the poor, the needy, against racism, and against Republicanism. But Monday, the Civitas Institute put a dent in his image – it reported the groups sponsoring Reverend Barber’s ‘Moral Monday’ protests have received over $100…
Read MoreTrading Punches
When Reverend William Barber steps up to a microphone wearing his vestments and clerical collar and lets fly with a haymaker calling Republicans immoral or characterizing Republican legislators as George Wallaces who want to turn back the clock to the days of Jim Crow – it’s just natural some Republican’s going to feel an itch…
Read MoreShooting the Reasonable Fellow
Colon Willoughby, the District Attorney, is catching it from all sides. Faced with the chore of prosecuting hundreds of ‘Moral Monday’ demonstrators, Willoughby suggested to the protestors they were wreaking more havoc on the Wake County Courts than on Republicans and politely suggested maybe they ought to reconsider the virtues of getting themselves arrested…
Read MoreHagan for Governor
A TAPster offers an intriguing strategy for Democrats: “Kay Hagan should run for governor. “She should forget the US Senate, where nothing ever happens and there’s little chance to help her fellow North Carolinians, and come home. She can beat Pat McCrory, especially if his leadership continues to be weak or he is…
Read MoreRestless Natives
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest blogger filling in for Gary is a Tapster. The recent dustup about so-called ‘outside’ agitators spear-heading the Moral Monday protests has spotlighted a significant trend in North Carolina: the state actually is being run by outsiders. Each of the last two Gov’s were born in other states, and…
Read MoreThe Last Thing Pat McCrory Needed
All last year Democrats hammered away at Pat McCrory saying, Disclose, disclose, disclose – demanding McCrory disclose the clients he worked with at the Charlotte law firm of Moore and Van Allen. Apparently, no one gave a toot and, after the election, the Governor may well have thought and he’d heard the word disclose…
Read MoreMean Hallways
The word that keeps popping up when people describe the atmosphere at the legislature is “mean.” “Everybody you pass in the halls is either somebody who screwed you or somebody you hate,” said one aide to a Republican leader. “It’s all about revenge, Republicans getting even for all those years out of power,” said…
Read MoreA Wobbly Kind of Conservatism
Thom Tillis said he was running for Senate and as soon as he got the words out of his mouth Greg Brannon, the Libertarian doctor who’s also running, let fly with a broadside calling Tillis “yet another in a long line of career politicians eager to take the next step on the ladder of political…
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