Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
We lost the Vietnam War, Reagan stepped forward, ran for President, and Establishment Republicans – who then ruled the GOP – beat him. Then Jimmy Carter beat them. Four years passed, Reagan ran again, whipped the Establishment Republicans, whipped Jimmy Carter, and we won the Cold War. The Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed,…
The “Parents’ Bill of Rights” should be renamed the “Bullying Bill of Rights.” Yes, parents should be involved in their children’s schools. But any good in the bill the North Carolina Senate passed last week is outweighed by the harm to LGBTQ+ students. Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, (pictured) said, “no matter the intent, the consequence…
The best thing about blogging again is reconnecting with old friends. Like Erskine Bowles, who emailed to welcome Carter and me back. In 2004, I worked in Erskine’s unsuccessful race against Richard Burr for Senate. Erskine and I had a rocky relationship then. I pushed him to do things he wasn’t comfortable with, like running…
As North Carolina Democrats elect a state chair this weekend, three divides emerge: young/old, rural/Raleigh and grassroots/headquarters. Two contrasting candidates are 73-year-old incumbent chair Bobbie Richardson, who defends the party’s 2022 performance, and 25-year-old Anderson Clayton (pictured), who says the party should do more at the grassroots and in rural areas. One young Democrat texted…
Gary, on Talking About Politics, made a good point about Joe Biden’s State of the Union Speech: ‘Biden got the last laugh.’ Old-fashioned politeness – when you’re disagreeing with someone on the other side of the aisle – is a virtue. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anger, jeering, offended people – and helped Biden. Political disagreements are…
It’s an old story. In the Bible. Tribes battling in the Holy Land. Today, in our Holy Land, in Washington, three tribes rule: Democratic Politicians, their cousins Republican Politicians, and Showmen. Joe Biden’s the face of the first tribe; Kevin McCarthy’s the face of the second; Trump’s the face of the third. The first two…
Returning to reality after a week off, I was struck by this from The New York Times report on President Biden’s State of the Union speech: “Republican lawmakers shouted both ‘liar’ and ‘bullshit’ at parts of Mr. Biden’s speech, and no one appeared shocked.” No one was shocked? Has the Republican Party gone off the…
An old-fashioned conservative, seven years ago in the Republican primary John cheered for Ted Cruz, scowled at Donald Trump; then a quirky thing happened: That fall, staring at Trump and Hillary on a debate stage, having to choose between two evils he picked Trump and, in the next breath, in his eyes Trump was no…
Narrow face, scar running down his nose, ending in a huge bulbous bump, living on Park Avenue Roy Cohn dodged the draft at the end of World War II; political gamesman, finagling, after he got a law degree he cut a deal, got a patronage job as Assistant US Attorney, landed in ‘The Trial of…
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…
A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants…