Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
“Both sides”-ism at the N&O
No, Colin Campbell, “both sides” do not “share in the blame” over “the last-minute legal tussle between Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislature over proposed constitutional amendments.” And the N&O fails its readers and its history by running Campbell’s “both sides” column where the newspaper’s editorial voice once rang clear, loud and true. No, both…
Reading to the right
Sunday’s Nonfiction Best Seller list in The New York Times was disturbing reading. Three – count ‘em, three – of the top four best-sellers were written by Fox News commentators. And Number 10 on the list was by Dinesh D’Souza, who may or may not be on Fox (I wouldn’t know). What does this tell…
It’s not about Trump, stupid
“It’s the economy, stupid.” (Sign in the 1992 Clinton war room.) For Trump, it’s always about Trump. For his acolytes, it’s all about Trump. For Steve Bannon, 2018 is all about Trump (so he can get back into the game, the news and the money). Democrats, don’t take the bait. Voters, real people, have strong…
The Eight-Year Itch
Politics is volatile and unpredictable, but one iron law prevails: The pendulum always swings back the other way. The last big swing was 2010. That was the first mid-term after the stunning election of a new kind of President whose first two years in office drove his opponents bonkers – and to the polls. 2018…
A tale of two party leaders
A sharp-eyed TAPster noticed a big difference between two potential 2020 opponents: Governor Cooper is rewriting the book on how to lead and strengthen a party, helping raise nearly $6 million into NCDP through Break the Majority to support legislative candidates statewide and break the Republican supermajority. Break the Majority is giving Democrats the financial…
The 2020 candidate you haven’t heard of…yet
He’s the first announced Democratic presidential candidate for 2020. He’s the first to campaign in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. He has an intriguing personal story. He has what hits me as the right message. And you’ve never heard of him. Because the media hasn’t picked up on him. You read it here first. He’s…
Politics These Days
“If he doesn’t cooperate or get a pardon, he’s going to die in prison,” a former federal prosecutor told the Los Angeles Times, talking about Paul Manafort. The Times also reported that, a month ago, Trump called Paul Manafort’s jailing “very unfair” and that, two days later, Rudy Giuliani said Manafort being treated unfairly was…
A Democratic wave is coming, but…
All signs show a big Democratic year coming. Unless Putin hijacks it. Or Democrats blow it. Which we could do. Politics today is volatile. And unpredictable. And subject to last-minute breaks. (See Jim Comey and Hillary’s emails.) But we know the basic shape of the 2018 elections. Democrats are fired up and ready to vote.…
Everybody Loses
The media says Trump, by inflaming them, makes the most liberal Democrats more powerful. But what inflames Democrats isn’t Trump’s ideology – it’s Trump, himself. And when Trump insults and boasts the anti-Trumpsters protest and hurl insults right back – they’re the mirror image of Trump himself, proving the old adage: Those to whom evil…