Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Look Out, Dick Nixon
The USA Today/Gallup poll now shows George Bush at a 31 percent approval rating. Nearly two-thirds of Americans – 65 percent – approve of the job he’s doing. I think he is basically down now to the total viewership of Fox News. According to USA Today: Only four presidents have scored lower approval ratings since…
Another Version of ‘Pay to Play’
When the state had to bid an $18 million contract to purchase office supplies, it hired the consulting company Accenture and paid them $300,000 to evaluate the bids. However, according to the News and Observer, Accenture, the state’s consultant, has also been paid millions of dollars by Office Depot (for work unrelated to North Carolina).…
Gas Price Politics
Has there ever been a worse idea than the Senate Republicans’ proposal for a $100 tax rebate to help Americans buy more $3 gas? Has there ever been more convincing proof that Senator Bill Frist belongs in an operating room, not the White House? In fairness, Washington Democrats aren’t much better. Since I whacked Bill…
Raleigh Mayor
A good way for Republicans to get a head start on the next Mayor’s race is to start making Mayor Charles Meeker’s runaway spending an issue. Now. On top of proposing to raise taxes on new homes, and raising property taxes to pay for a school bonds and raising property taxes two years ago, the…
Pope versus Morgan – Chapter 4 – The Purge
The usual way to eliminate an opponent, politically, is to defeat him in an election. A simpler way – when the legislature redraws its districts – is to put him in someone else’s district. After he was elected Co-Speaker, Richard Morgan took Leo Daughtry out of his district and put him in a district with…
A Small Cut
With Mayor Meeker talking about raising taxes again, and the City Council talking about spending $11 million more than it has, Republicans should be recommending ways to trim the budget. Here’s a small idea. The City publishes a newsletter, “Liveable Streets Update: Downtown Raleigh.” The newsletter seems to exist for only one reason – to…
Brad Miller’s Burden
Brad Miller is an ideal Congressman: serious, sincere and hard-working. Here is how decent a guy Brad is: He chaired the Senate committee that drew up his Congressional district, but his friends say he didn’t make the district nearly Democratic enough. No good deed goes unpunished. Brad now has Vernon Robinson as an opponent. Robinson…
Quote of the Day: It’s about Me
The day before the election, when defense attorneys asked a Durham judge to remove DA Mike Nifong from the Duke University lacrosse rape case, charging his “zeal to win votes trumped his duty to see justice,” Nifong responded (News and Observer, 5/2/06): “Some people try cases in the media by filing motions that contain outrageous…
Pope Rules Republican Roost
Art Pope is now Pope of the North Carolina Republican Party. By engineering the defeats of Reps. Richard Morgan and Rick Eddins, Pope made himself Supreme Pontiff, Enforcer of Orthodoxy and All-Powerful Exorcist of Heretics. I believe that bodes ill for Democrats this November. Pope showed that he has the money – and can buy…