North Carolina – Republicans
Our Better Angels
“If we’re ever going to find our better angels again, it has to start with us setting the example of how to disagree better.” – Utah Governor Spencer Cox Republicans and Democrats now live in separate worlds; each watches their own cable news network; they quarrel, bicker, every day in Congress; political wars are meaner…
Read MoreThe Governor’s Race Just Got Heated
Mark Walker slammed Mark Robinson for denying the ‘Holocaust’ ever happened. In 2018, before Robinson became a politician, he said on Facebook: “This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.” Walker read Robinson’s post, punched. Over a year ago when Robinson called gays…
Read MoreBig Mark and Big Pharma
When it comes to Big Pharma, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson goes from roaring lion to purring pussycat. The Republican candidate for governor told the New Hanover County GOP, “I don’t intend to do like our current attorney general did and sue the drug company.” Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democratic candidate for governor, did sue…
Read More“Hitler,” Mr. Robinson?
Mark Robinson, who leads the Republican race for governor of North Carolina, said this about the criminal charges against Donald Trump: “Law and order has been destroyed, and we have a two-tiered justice system that has been weaponized against political enemies, much like it was during Hitler’s reign.” Have you read the indictment, Mr. Robinson?…
Read MoreMandy Cohen, Covid and Masks
MAGA Republicans apparently like masks only when they’re worn by Proud Boys attacking the U.S. Capitol. North Carolina’s junior U.S. senator, “Popgun Ted” Budd, and 8th District Congressman, “Bathroom Dan” Bishop, last week claimed that, when Dr. Mandy Cohen was the state’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, she “spread misinformation about … Covid vaccinations…
Read MoreTillis’ Tap Dance
Do I have to start liking Thom Tillis now? The second-term U.S. Senator from North Carolina got censured by the state Republican convention for working with Democrats on guns, immigration and gay marriage. The resolution cited “blatant violations of our party platform.” The NC GOP doesn’t tolerate deviations from the party line. Then-Senator Richard Burr…
Read MoreThe Trials Ahead
A reader emailed: “Doing nothing heroic, I served in naval intelligence. My service required a top-secret clearance. Each time I saw a top-secret document, I recall saying to myself: ‘No wonder this is top secret.’ Similar reaction when I saw documents classified ‘secret,’ also reflecting compelling reasons to protect their confidentiality. “Absorbing only what I…
Read MoreIs Bipartisanship Dead?
At breakfast, a friend who has worked with the legislature for many years wondered if there is any hope for bipartisanship. “There are so many leadership-development groups in North Carolina,” he said. “Could they all come together and develop a new cohort of leaders and legislators who can work across party lines?” Given how toxic,…
Read MoreFolwell’s Foolishness
When State Treasurer Dale Folwell announced in March that he’s running for Governor, he said, “Voters like candidates who attack problems, not people.” That didn’t last long. He must have figured out that, in Trump’s Republican Party, the whole point of politics is to attack people. And – shades of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and…
Read MoreShut up, Gene?
Some North Carolina Democrats agree with Republican legislators on one thing: Gene Nichol should shut up. Or at least tone it down and turn down the volume. Ted Vaden writes in The Assembly that Nichol is “back in the spotlight, hurling his supercharged invective in a new book that surveys the changes that have occurred…
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