Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
So all the DHHS scandals are based on a report that was doctored to mislead legislators and taxpayers. The $87,000 salaries for young campaign aides, lucrative contracts for political allies, eyebrow-raising sudden exits by top department officials and sweet severance payouts. All that is based on the McCrory’s administration claim that it inherited a…
What if Obamacare flops? What if the public has sticker shock? What if voters blame both sides for the shutdown? From the White House down, Democrats seem awfully confident the shutdown-Obamacare standoff will end well for them. Plus, they say, Americans will love Obamacare once they get to know it. But suppose all…
Houston, we have a problem. Last weekend, in Asheville, Roy Cooper threw down the gauntlet. He’s running for Governor. This isn’t quite a tsunami or earthquake. But Democrats now have a bona-fide candidate (with name identification and money) standing eyeball to eyeball with Governor McCrory – pouring gas on the fire of the…
I wish the N&O had endorsed Randy Stagner for City Council. It would be bad to lose a good council member because of what looks like a failure to communicate. Like the N&O, I was bothered at first by the flap involving City Manager Russell Allen and City Council parking places. I even wrote a…
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…
The 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…
Look 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,…
I 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…
The 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.…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…