Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Earlier this year there was a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth about the terrible Sequester spending cuts – listening to the politicians up in Washington you’d have thought the government was teetering on its last legs, on the brink of financial Armageddon, staring doom in the face. President Obama even said the…
Read MoreLooking at the Great Republican Rollback, Democrats are tempted to attack on every front: taxes, Medicaid, teacher pay, jetty ban, Jordan Lake, Child Fatality Task Force, Rural Center, Racial Justice, voter ID, jobless benefits, campaign financing, etc., etc. Focus, people. In politics, to say 10 things – or even two things – is…
Read MoreThe newspaper set out to land a Democratic shark. And landed a Republican whale instead. The roots of the News and Observer story run back 26 years – to when Jim Martin was Governor. Back then the Democrats in the legislature decided, instead of letting Martin pass out what’s euphemistically called ‘Economic Development Grants,’…
Read MoreThey don’t make Republicans like Jim Holshouser anymore. Big pay raises for teachers? Statewide kindergartens? Coastal Management Act? Rural health centers? Expansion of the state park system? More African-Americans and women in government? Help for black business enterprises? They’d throw him out of the party today. Actually, they did in 1976. As Rob…
Read MoreThe Democrats have gotten plenty fired up about the ‘Moral Monday’ protests down at the state legislature – even an old war horse like Gary, catching a whiff of grapeshot in the air, rode to the sound of the guns, defending the protestors from a broadside by Governor McCrory. But, in another way, all…
Read MoreIt took the critics no time to pounce on the news that John Edwards is opening a new law firm. A Republican friend e-mailed: “Is it a coincidence that Edwards reactivated his license, set up a speaking engagement, and leaked the idea of a new firm all within weeks of Mark Sanford’s return to…
Read MoreRight now there’re three great powers in Republican politics in Raleigh: The Governor, the House, and the Senate. Now the Governor’s pretty easygoing – the kind of fellow who, when he can, will go out of his way to avoid a fight. Even when he disagrees with folks, he’s not inclined to say much…
Read MoreThe other day the News & Observer wrote a long report comparing the State House and State Senate budgets – but who, other than a certified budget expert with a PhD, could figure out the welter of numbers? The newspaper wrote – in great detail – about who spent money on what: How the…
Read MoreWhen Joyce brought up Edward Snowden and NSA spying, table talk veered from the McCrory Ballgate story, Moral Mondays and legislative lunacy. Snowden is a 29-year-old high school dropout, former Elizabeth City resident and computer nerd who was making $200,000 a year until he started an international furor over U.S. government surveillance. Snowden…
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When the smoke cleared – after Jesse Helms’ second campaign – we’d raised more money than…
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Tim Waltz posted a photo of himself standing outside in a snowstorm wearing a flannel shirt…
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Some Trump supporters are surprised to find out they’re Trump victims. Farmers at the American Farm…
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