Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
When folks lose elections they go into paroxysms of contrition – usually confessing to the wrong sins. And when they win, there’s a parallel temptation – they attribute victory to virtues that had little to do with their success. Now, mi amigo Gary surely has a point when he says Republicans are in danger of…
Read MoreHere’s one way to look at the 2008 election: The Old White Guys who were running things got fired. There’s George Bush, the MBA Presidency and all his OWGs running the war and the economy. There’s Mike Easley. Bev Perdue spent the final weeks of her campaign promising “change orders” on day one to put…
Read MoreBarack Obama is going to fill his Cabinet with a “Team of Rivals?” Like Lincoln. This is going to be one big mistake. Let me get this right: Obama is going to appoint people who disagree with his policies (which they will promptly torpedo) and, when they do, he can’t fire them because he’s established…
Read MoreBev Perdue’s gone back to being Miss Positive, setting up the Endowment for Positive Gubernatorial Campaigns – a $50 million trust fund – to pay for her next campaign for governor. But there’s one catch: To get his share of her fund Perdue’s Republican opponent must pledge not to criticize her: No negative ads. Now…
Read MoreRichard Nixon and Strom Thurmond ginned up the Southern Strategy in 1968. For 40 years, Dixie gave the Republicans an almost insurmountable edge in the Electoral College. The GOP won seven of the next 10 presidential elections. Now Republicans are trapped by their history. The only counties where Republicans gained in 2008 were in Appalachia…
Read MoreJohn Drescher’s column in the N&O Saturday – “The fair sex? Not in politics” – was on the money. His money shot: “…based on the recent campaigns, it’s hard to claim that women are more ethical and fair than men.” He cited Liddy Dole’s “godless” ad – “the national cheap shot of the year.” He…
Read MoreLast week I had dinner with Paul the theologian and Willie, who is a rosary-thumping Catholic and, for a moment, I thought the Reformation and the Seven Years War were about to start all over again. Oddly, what started the conflagration was Willie saying he’d just read Pat Buchanan’s new book; then he leaned across…
Read MoreBack in Jesse Helms’ campaign in 1990 when we made the ‘infamous White Hands’ ad one of the handful of people sitting in the studio was Alex Castellanos; lately Alex has been spending time on CNN and the other night he was asked how the Republican Party could save itself politically – after Barack Obama…
Read MoreHorror of horrors, John Edwards is back in the newspaper the second day in a row. This time he has flown all the way to San Francisco to find a safe haven to debate Karl Rove. One thing Edwards is not doing is taking any risks by talking to the press. (I guess the National…
Read More
After Rodrigo Borgia died, soft-spoken but cunning Leo de Medici became pope, after bribing cardinals ended…
Read More
It was a time, Tom Hanks wrote describing the end of the Middle Ages, when dukes…
Read More
Planned Parenthood’s spending a ton of money – $10 million – to elect pro-abortion candidates in…
Read More