Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Rolling Downhill
It’s peculiar: My memory is far from perfect but I can’t recall either Jesse Helms or Jim Hunt spending taxpayers’ money to sue another politician – but these days it happens all the time: We’ve got packed courtrooms where one group of government lawyers are battling another group of government lawyers in front of judges…
122 Professors
It’s one of the oldest temptations walking around on two legs: A man will try most anything to get his hands on a dollar – and the other morning 122 professors proved they’re no exception. Over in Chapel Hill at a Board of Governors meeting one of the trustees stood up and said it was…
Bowling with Donald
When the average two-legged creature adds the title ‘Congressmen’ to the front of his name it can turn out to be humorous – but expensive. Last week at 10:30 in the morning House Republican Leaders rolled out their plan to repeal Obamacare; twelve and a half hours later the forty Congressmen sitting in the Ways…
Trump Tower
Angry because Jeff Sessions wouldn’t run the Justice Department’s investigation into the Russians meddling in our election, Trump erupted at the White House staff then flew to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. The next morning, up before dawn, holding his Twitter machine he pressed send and struck out at Obama. Some people figured Trump meant to…
How did Hillary lose to him?
A Democrat watches Trump and wonders, “How did Hillary lose to this guy?” A political pro wonders, “How did Hillary lose to this guy after running so many more TV ads than he did?” She ran 200,000 ads to his 76,000. Was it Twitter? Comey? Putin? Or was it the ads themselves? A new study…
Roy vs Phil
Phil Berger can take away Roy Cooper’s powers. But he can’t take away his microphone. And he can’t match the Governor on TV. Democrats will happily take the contrast every day through the 2018 and 2020 elections. Last night, the Governor was smiling, positive and optimistic. The unshaven Senate boss was dark, negative and partisan.…
NoCare
“Tired of winning yet?” That’s the question from a TAPster who sent this excerpt from a story about millions of Americans who could lose health insurance under the Trump/GOP NoCare plan: Martha Brawley of Monroe, N.C., said she voted for President Trump in the hope he could make insurance more affordable. But on Tuesday, Ms.…
Thanks, Josh
Politics has been so bad that for four months – ever since Election Day – I’ve meant to write about something good. But never got to it. Thanks, Trump. So now the good news: Attorney General Josh Stein. After the carnage of Election Day, one veteran Democrat said, “If you’re going to win just three…
Crank, Crazy or a Crook?
In his State of the Union early last week, Trump sounded like a normal President. By the weekend, he was back to his cranky, crazy self. He went on a Twitter rampage. He claimed President Obama wiretapped him. Without a shred of evidence. And despite denials from intelligence officials. Now, it could just be that…