North Carolina – Republicans
He Gets No Respect
He’d been through, he said, the ordeal of sitting for a whole hour and fifteen minutes under hot lights, sweating, answering questions but then, he added, when he saw the interview on TV he had been shocked. He sounded – not in the TV interview but, later, when he described the interview to a…
Read MoreKeep Pat Safe
Once again, a TAPster bails me out on a busy day with this guest blog: “Regardless of our personal feelings about Governor McCrory, we should all pray for his safety. We should help him across the street, taste his food and take turns guarding the mansion’s front door. “These drastic measures are required…
Read MoreDebating Incentives
Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post used to say: “I come in every day with an empty bucket, and somebody fills it up.” Some days I come in with an empty blog, but TAPsters (readers, commentators and contributors) fill it up. Here’s a guest blog that’s timely in light of Senator-elect Andy Wells’ letter to…
Read MoreDuke Who?
When 60 Minutes came calling, Governor McCrory was quick to dump, and dump on, his old employer Duke Energy. When Leslie Stahl asked about Duke’s record on coal ash, McCrory squinted real serious-like and said, “Actually, there’s been no record regarding coal ash disposal.” Stahl: “They haven’t done anything?” McCrory: “Very little, very little.…
Read MoreGood Luck, Bad Luck
Talk about a fellow being star-crossed – after the election as everyone took a deep breath and settled back peacefully for Thanksgiving the Governor, without a lot of hoopla, quietly launched his reelection campaign, blanketing the Internet with a nice pleasant new video – then, the next day, an environmental group announced it had found…
Read MoreToe Stepping
There you go again, Governor. “Stepping on toes.” Some people think leadership is about getting people to work together, or inspiring them to put the common good ahead of self-interest or even, as Harry Truman once said, “persuading people to do what they ought to have enough damn sense to do on their own.”…
Read MoreYoung Dems
Democrats looking to the future should look today to the swearing-in of four new Wake County Commissioners. They are a large part of why I told the AP’s Bill Barrow that the key to the party’s success in 2016 and beyond “will have to come from younger Democrats in the cities.” Huffington Post picked…
Read MoreDemocrats and Education
One thing Democrats did right this year was push education onto the public agenda. But will it last? And the key question: Where do they take it now? The Hagan campaign came close largely because they almost turned a United States Senate race into a school board election. The same thing was true…
Read MoreDid Pat Pick Right Fight?
Governor McCrory’s political instinct is right, but his choice of battlefield is puzzling. The Governor seems to understand that the best way to get reelected is to pick a fight with the legislature. Governors are always more popular than legislatures. McCrory’s approval ratings are twice as high as this legislature. But why not…
Read MoreA Waste of Time
The Governor sent a letter to Thom Tillis and Phil Berger taking the legislature to task for asking for an independent audit of the Department of Health and Human Services. Then the next day, when the Governor needed it least, the News and Observer reported that when DHHS’ new computer didn’t work the Department…
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