Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
The Iraq Security Group led by former Secretary of State Jim Baker is about to release itâs report, and despite all the window dressing about finding a ânew way forwardâ it looks like the bottom line is simple: Letâs get out of Iraq. Of course the politicians and diplomats arenât putting it quite that bluntly,…
Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times recently that Iraqis can’t be having a civil war because they’re not sufficiently organized to have one. But I suspect my fellow Democrats are. And next year’s Raleigh elections may be the first battle of that war. There are two very different schools of thought in the…
Carter and I did a panel Sunday before a group of Southern journalists who are navigating their way through the brave new world of blogs and the Internet – and the impact on politics. One UNC professor asked this question: “Does the ‘new media’ make politics more negative and more superficial?” He cited the blog-…
Ethics are supposed to set standards for ‘virtuous’ behavior, so you wouldn’t expect ‘judicial ethics’ to result in an injustice. But that appears to have happened in the trial of two off duty Durham police officers charged with assaulting a short order cook at Blinco’s sports bar. Here’s what happened: When the prosecutor rested his…
North Carolina Democrats had a good year, but it could have been better. Talkingaboutpolitics.com has learned (now, doesn’t that sound pretentious?) that Rahm Emmanuel’s vaunted Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee missed a chance to take out Robin Hayes. A group of North Carolina Democrats were poised to raise last-minute money for Democrat Larry Kissell’s campaign, if…
People used to say, I don’t care which party straightens out our country as long as one does. But times have changed. The Charlotte Observer (11-13-06) reports “straight ticket voting” increased 20% in Mecklenburg County this election. Of course, it’s possible that every, say, Democratic candidate in every race was more qualified than his Republican…
We may be about to get another glimpse into “backstage politics.” Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed House Speaker Pro-Tem Richard Morgan to testify before the grand jury. What they want to ask Morgan about is a $100,000 donation “a small cigarette manufacturer” gave “a political group” he created in 2004 – a year after Morgan stopped…
Nothing starts a fight quicker in Congress than the scramble for power. It’s an old story and it’s just happened to Democrats. The election was barely over when they started fighting among themselves to see who will be the ‘powers’ in the new Congress. The big tussle – between Congressman Jack Murtha and Congressman Steny…
UNC President Erskine Bowles is going to ask the legislature to increase the UNC System’s budget 11%. But Bowles has done something unusual. He’s backed his request by cutting what amounts to $440 million in other university spending. For example, he’s cut his own staff 10%. It’s hard to recall anyone else, anywhere else, in…
Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…
Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany…