
Carter Wrenn

Gary Pearce
Well, all the smarty-pants pundits got the Supreme Court decision wrong. So I’ll wait until somebody smart and level-headed explains it. Meanwhile, politics must go on. Obama had been looking at a big defeat and stories about a “failed Presidency.” Now Romney and Republicans are trying to make chicken salad out of chickenshit.…
Read MoreWhen you get political power, you feel important. When you feel important, you throw your weight around. When you throw your weight around, you look like a bully. Like Senators Tom Apodaca and Buck Newton. Whatever the outcome of their Lettergate “witch hunt,” the lasting image will be that of Vicki Stanley, executive assistant…
Read MoreOver in the General Assembly the legislators want to pass a law that says folks can tote pistols in bars because, they say, whether a customer can take his pistol into the ‘Twist and Shout’ ought to be up to the bar’s owner not the government. Which sounds fine except… …the same legislators…
Read MoreWalter Dalton’s strategy at the first gubernatorial debate tells you two things: He thinks Pat McCrory can’t take a punch. And he has to dramatically change the contour of the race to win. Attacking might work. A big reason McCrory lost in 2008 was that he failed to answer the Perdue campaign’s late attack…
Read MoreThe Good Lord gave everyone their own way of seeing things but he also gave them the ability to stand in another person’s shoes (or at least to get close enough to where another person’s standing to see what he’s seeing). But there are exceptions. For instance, when people get into politics. And join…
Read MoreSenator Tom Apodaca, the last of the old-fashioned Bull Moose in the State Senate, has tree’d Prior Gibson. Just before the General Assembly voted on the budget a letter landed on legislators’ desks from the Secretary of Transportation saying it was urgent to spend $63 million to build a parkway in Gaston County. Only…
Read MoreRight now President Obama is like a patient waiting for the doctor to bring back the test results. And the signs aren’t good. In fact, it looks like the Supreme Court is going to give his health-care reform a death sentence on Thursday. Talk about “death panels.” There are three ways this will…
Read MoreA TAPster who apparently is a Frequent (Unhappy) Flier writes: “Critics of the Raleigh-Durham Airport and its management rolled their eyes last week when the airport authority voted to name a road after the long-time airport director who is finally retiring. “It will be a fitting tribute if the gentleman’s namesake road is torn…
Read MoreAfter two terms in the State House Thom Tillis soared to being the second most powerful politician in Raleigh after the Governor and the oohing and aahing that followed probably wasn’t as lethal (or as likely to turn a fellow’s head) as a blonde whispering in his ear but, still, all that adulation had to…
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