Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Both were part of the Vietnam generation. One served; the other didn’t. One was shot down over North Vietnam, imprisoned for over five years and tortured so brutally he couldn’t even comb his hair. The other had five draft deferments and bone spurs. And spends a lot of time combing his hair. One dedicated his…
Read MoreThe first time I ever laid eyes on a ‘blue-moon’ election was thirty-six years ago, after Ronald Reagan was elected. What’s a blue moon election? It’s the first election after a new President takes office, when there’s not a Senator or Governor on the ballot running statewide. Back in 1982, Jesse Helms’ political organization had…
Read MoreDemocrats: Don’t impeach Trump. Don’t talk about it. Don’t even think about it. Think this through. We want every Republican officeholder and candidate to spend every day of the next 27 months, all the way through Election Day 2020, defending, rationalizing, apologizing for, agonizing over and tiptoeing around Trump. When a Democrat in Congress gets…
Read MoreDo Republicans realize how big a club they’re giving Governor Cooper to beat them with this fall? Here is the most telling sentence in Tuesday’s decision by two members of the three-judge panel who reviewed the proposed constitutional amendments on separation of powers and judicial appointments: “…A majority of this panel concludes beyond a reasonable…
Read MoreNo, Colin Campbell, “both sides” do not “share in the blame” over “the last-minute legal tussle between Gov. Roy Cooper and the legislature over proposed constitutional amendments.” And the N&O fails its readers and its history by running Campbell’s “both sides” column where the newspaper’s editorial voice once rang clear, loud and true. No, both…
Read MoreSunday’s Nonfiction Best Seller list in The New York Times was disturbing reading. Three – count ‘em, three – of the top four best-sellers were written by Fox News commentators. And Number 10 on the list was by Dinesh D’Souza, who may or may not be on Fox (I wouldn’t know). What does this tell…
Read More“It’s the economy, stupid.” (Sign in the 1992 Clinton war room.) For Trump, it’s always about Trump. For his acolytes, it’s all about Trump. For Steve Bannon, 2018 is all about Trump (so he can get back into the game, the news and the money). Democrats, don’t take the bait. Voters, real people, have strong…
Read MorePolitics is volatile and unpredictable, but one iron law prevails: The pendulum always swings back the other way. The last big swing was 2010. That was the first mid-term after the stunning election of a new kind of President whose first two years in office drove his opponents bonkers – and to the polls. 2018…
Read MoreA sharp-eyed TAPster noticed a big difference between two potential 2020 opponents: Governor Cooper is rewriting the book on how to lead and strengthen a party, helping raise nearly $6 million into NCDP through Break the Majority to support legislative candidates statewide and break the Republican supermajority. Break the Majority is giving Democrats the financial…
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If you seek political asylum the next four years, try Iceland. We went there last week…
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The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…
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Bert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…
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