Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
President Obama has taken to slipping the surly bonds of office, going out to Starbucks for a coffee, asking friends to set up late dinners with interesting, intellectually stimulating people (as opposed to the people he deals with in Washington, presumably). When he escapes, he jokes that “The bear is loose.” Surely, Presidents deserve…
Here’s another example of how two different journals this week reported on the same political story: “Goodbye to the GOP wave?” The New York Times. “Odds of a GOP Wave Are Increasing” The National Journal.
It sure looks, Richard said politely, like John Boehner could have found something else to sue President Obama over. Fifty-four times John Boehner and the Republicans have voted to repeal Obamacare so it seemed odd to Richard, a retired businessman, that Boehner was about to sue Obama for not enforcing the Obamacare Employer Mandate.…
As soon as Conor the Jessecrat sat down at our regular political dinner he unfolded a newspaper, pointed, and said, There’s a headline to strike terror in every Congressman’s heart. I read ‘Judge Orders Districts Redrawn’ and thought about the half-a-dozen lawsuits in North Carolina about redistricting but it turned out this lawsuit was in…
Art Pope’s critics often accuse him of “buying the State of North Carolina.” If he did, he got it cheap. The Washington Post this weekend published its obligatory profile about the mild-mannered retail magnate who became the Superman ruling over North Carolina’s budget, politics and university system. Two numbers catch your eye. …
No one’s explained why a Malaysian airliner was flying over a war zone but when it was shot down Senator John McCain had no doubt who to blame: Obama. It was, McCain adamantly told Fox News, Obama’s fault because he hadn’t given the Ukrainians more guns. I reckon McCain figures if the Ukrainians had…
At breakfast, two of the guys were bemoaning the challenges of life. Tom, a generous contributor to political candidates, sighed, “Having a politician for a friend is worse than having a child in college.” A while later, Phil looked up from his paper. “You need new glasses when you’re drawn to a headline…
They’re not highway numbers, or ages. They are the two big numbers driving North Carolina’s education debate this year. When you take an eight-miles-high view of the legislature, setting aside the partisan debates and vitriol, the most striking thing is that Republicans are arguing this year over whether to raise teacher pay 5-6 per…
New Yorker magazine, as I recall, once had a department called: “Which newspaper do you read?” It juxtaposed totally opposite headlines about the same story. To wit this week: “Clay Aiken outpaces GOP candidate in 2nd quarter fundraising” (Sandhills Tribune). “Rep. Ellmers ahead of Aiken in fundraising in 2nd Congressional District” (Fayetteville Observer).…
Some progressives groaned when Governor Josh Stein announced a bipartisan “Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education”…
North Carolina voters don’t like either the Democratic or Republican parties. But Independent voters – who…
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary…