Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Back during the Korean War, when the Marines were surrounded by the Chinese at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, a reporter asked Major General Oliver P. Smith if he was retreating and Smith said, “Retreat, hell! We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction.” That was tough leadership. Back in the 1990’s…
The Republican powers-that-be in Raleigh – the House, Senate and Governor – locked horns last week in a three-way tug-of-war, each offering their own road to economic salvation. In a matter of hours the conflagration (over tax reform and whose loopholes to close or not close) spawned a welter of statistics and charts even…
Having bullied their foes all session, legislative Republicans now have turned to bullying each other. And Governor McCrory did what he does best: he left town. As legislatures often do at the end of session, this one has deteriorated into disagreement, dissension and mutual disgust. Chief Senate Bully Tom Apodaca took all House…
So John Kerry flies all the way to Qatar to meet with the Taliban and the Afghan government for three-way peace talks. But, when he gets there he finds the Taliban’s opened an office with its flag flying on top of the building like it’s an embassy, and the moment the Afghan government negotiators lay…
Gary is taking a break from blogging. Our guest blogger filling in for Gary is a Tapster. The recent dustup about so-called ‘outside’ agitators spear-heading the Moral Monday protests has spotlighted a significant trend in North Carolina: the state actually is being run by outsiders. Each of the last two Gov’s were born in other states, and…
About two weeks ago one of the cable TV channels ran old Elvis movies every night which was a happy event until the night my wife walked into the room, saw Elvis singing “Return to Sender,” and asked diplomatically if, since I’d seen four Elvis movies that week, I’d like to watch the Billboard…
All last year Democrats hammered away at Pat McCrory saying, Disclose, disclose, disclose – demanding McCrory disclose the clients he worked with at the Charlotte law firm of Moore and Van Allen. Apparently, no one gave a toot and, after the election, the Governor may well have thought and he’d heard the word disclose…
The word that keeps popping up when people describe the atmosphere at the legislature is “mean.” “Everybody you pass in the halls is either somebody who screwed you or somebody you hate,” said one aide to a Republican leader. “It’s all about revenge, Republicans getting even for all those years out of power,” said…
Carter and I will be guests on WUNC radio’s “State of Things” at noon Friday. We’re told the topics are “Jim Holshouser’s legacy and the changing Republican Party/state politics.” Of course, we’ll talk about whatever crosses our minds.
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…