Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Talk about strange things happening: Up in Washington two tribes of politicians have been pummeling each other night and day over who deserve the blame for shutting down the government. Then, unexpectedly, one tribe changed directions. First the House Republicans voted to fund national parks and monuments, then they voted to fund part…
Read MoreThe government is shut down, so Congressman George Holding got some shuteye. On camera. At the moment one of his Republican colleagues declaimed, “It’s about time to do what’s right for the whole country,” the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina was catching a few winks. CSPAN’s camera caught him. Unfortunately for Holding, he was…
Read MoreLook at the news this week, and you see that Republicans made a classic PR mistake: They stepped on their story. For them, the best story would be problems, questions, concerns and online glitches with Obamacare. Instead, that story is competing with shutdown fallout: national monuments closed, WWII veterans turned away, school tours cancelled,…
Read MoreI opened the newspaper yesterday morning and stared at a picture of a lonely fellow standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, putting up a sign that said: Closed. The headline above the picture said: “Government starts shutting down” – and the story explained Social Security checks will be late, parks shuttered, and 800,000…
Read MoreThe story in the Onion summed it up: “Man Who Understands 8% Of Obamacare Vigorously Defends It From Man Who Understands 5%.” How you feel about Obamacare probably correlates about 100 percent with how you voted in the 2012 election. Unless you already found out you pay more or less for insurance. I’m double-sold.…
Read MoreThe politicians, when you get down to the short rows, are the varmints who decided to hang a ‘Not Open for Business’ sign on the federal government – but, in an odd way, it wasn’t the politicians who were pouring gas on the fire. In the age of the twenty-four hour news cycle and…
Read MoreAfter Democrats ran an ad in State House Districts, something akin to a shockwave rippled down the hallways of the General Assembly, unsettling the less stouthearted Republican legislators. Last fall, after the last election House Republicans, riding high, assumed, We won. People love us. We can do what we want. They did. Then their…
Read MoreSometimes writing this blog is easy. Like today. Below is a reprint – in full, with no cuts or comments – of yesterday’s news release from the Governor’s Communications Office: Press Release: Governor McCrory visits North Carolina Zoo Raleigh, NC – Governor Pat McCrory visited the North Carolina Zoo this morning, stopping by Asheboro…
Read MoreThe shutdown showdown shows how much worse politics is today than in the 1990s. And it was bad then. Back then, Newt Gingrich shut down the government because…well, nobody can remember why. Except he was mad that President Clinton made him sit in the back of Air Force One. And Newt wanted to show…
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Watching a troupe of politicians sitting in line side by side behind an ornate wooden dais…
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This week was quite a week: Biden pardoned his brother, sister, other brother, a general who…
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One bleak visual at the inauguration summed up Joe Biden’s presidency: Biden sat silently – seething…
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