North Carolina – Republicans
How Government Works
A couple of months ago an 80 year old man on Medicaid received a letter from Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler’s department telling him his in-home medical care had been cut. He appealed the ruling, proved he needed the care, and won. But he still didn’t get it. What happened? …
Read MoreThe New Bev?
That was a flash of steel Governor Perdue showed, firing Kenneth Lay. And there may be more to come. John Hood of the John Locke Foundation said at the John Locke Luncheon Wednesday that a Republican legislature could be the best thing to happen to the Governor. She would no longer have to…
Read MoreTea Party Skunk
I thought it was my job to be the skunk at the garden party: yesterday’s John Locke Foundation “Headliners Luncheon.” Then Mr. Herbert Hoover Rosser (yes, his real name) stood up. I was the token Democrat on the panel. The other panelists and audience members were savoring the prospect of big Republican wins come…
Read MoreThe Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight
A few years ago the Department of Health and Human Services set out to reform mental care and wrecked it. Next it set out to reform in-home care for Medicaid patients and wrecked it. And, now, itâs got another â $265 million dollar â train wreck on its hands. Back before he…
Read MoreThe Same Old Republican Pledge
For the fourth consecutive decade, Republicans are “pledging” to cut taxes and cut spending. Ronald Reagan made the pledge in the 1980s. Newt Gingrich made it in the 1990s. George Bush made it in the 2000s. And now it’s back in the 2010 “Pledge to America.” Jon Stewart did a masterful job of…
Read MoreThe Wrong Message
Gary, doggone it, itâs like âdéjà vu all over againâ â here you are [see below] attacking me for a TV ad. Canât a fellow even oppose the Ground Zero mosque without being called a bigoted skunk? And how did the folks opposing the mosque become the wicked, hard-hearted âdividersâ as opposed to the Iman…
Read MoreCarter’s ‘Victory Mosque’ Ad
Birds fly, fish swim and Carter Wrenn pushes the envelope to the edge. That’s what they do. Like him or not, Carter will boldly go where others fear to tread. He did it for Jesse Helms. He did it when he and Helms had a falling-out and Carter challenged the senator to disclose…
Read MoreThe Republican Divide
In retrospect, the Republican primary for the 13th Congressional District – Bernie Reeves versus Bill Randall – was a microcosm of what’s happening in the Republican Party nationally. It’s the Golfers versus the Grizzlies, the Country Clubbers versus the churchgoers, the K Street crowd versus the cul-de-sac crowd, the Establishment versus the pitchfork-carriers, the…
Read MoreThe Other Budget Gap
The breakfast conversation the other day was about what happens with the state budget next year if Republicans win the state House or Senate this year. They won’t raise taxes. So they’ll have to cut $3 billion or so out of a $19 billion budget. My Republican friend said that can be done…
Read MoreStorm Warnings
Democrats remind me of my friends on the Outer Banks last week: battening down, nervously watching the approaching storm and hoping it turns out to be a Category 1 that spares the house â and the Senate. There are dire warnings of losing the state Senate and possibly even the House â or a…
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