Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Once upon a time, there was a great and powerful newspaper: The News & Observer. Everybody from the Governor on down read it every morning. It covered everything that moved in state government and politics. Its investigations took down crooks, incompetents and corrupt politicians. Its editorial pages stood up for the little guy and stuck…
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The shouting, sign-waving and cane-wielding by congressional Democrats at the State of the Union isn’t a winning strategy. Senator Elissa Slotkin’s serious, substantive and straightforward response is. Put her on the list for President in 2028. Democrats need to be disciplined in our messaging. We need to put forward our best messengers, not the loudest…
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Curmudgeonly Cajun James Carville says Democrats just need to “roll over and play dead” and wait for Trump’s inevitable collapse in the polls. Curmudgeonly Senator Bernie Sanders vehemently disagrees: “Democrats have been playing dead for too many years.” He’s waging war on “the oligarchy.” Curmudgeonly me thinks Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh has a better way:…
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Trump raised tariffs. Said tariffs are beautiful. The next day, about facing, said automakers didn’t have to pay the tariffs. A day after that suspended tariffs on Mexico and Canada for a month. If those tariffs are beautiful – why do that? And if those tariffs are not beautiful, why didn’t Trump know that in…
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A legend in politics, with a sneaky streak but a kind heart, Paddy sat down in my office – clear-eyed, practical, thinning black hair, he sees Trump’s flaws but the moment he hears Trump’s voice a kind of supernatural power grips his heart and values he’s cherished for years fly out the window. Poking him,…
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Trump growled Zelensky started the Ukraine war. John Bolton said Trump was wrong. Angry, my friend Ken told me, ‘Ukraine doesn’t matter to us.’ Ken knew Zelensky hadn’t started the war. But Trump spinning a tale didn’t matter to him. After the Soviet Union collapsed, for 30 years America was the world’s dominant power. No…
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Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin Wall and stood up to what he called the “Evil Empire.” Trump and Vance sat in the Oval Office, set up Ukraine’s President Zelensky and sucked up to Evil Emperor Putin. Reagan demanded, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Trump and Vance complained that Zelensky was “disrespectful” and didn’t…
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Back when Rod Blagojevich ran for governor of Illinois, Obama endorsed him and Trump gave his campaign money. After Obama got elected president, Governor Blagojevich got caught on tape trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. He got impeached, booted out of office. Then got indicted. Before his trial he starred on…
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Does a message about “workers,” “working families” and “working-class voters” really work for Democrats? Or does it heighten the perception that we see Americans as identity groups, instead of individuals? Ken Martin (photo), the new national Democratic Party chairman, obviously thinks “working class” works. This week, he sent a 2,000-plus-word memo that used some form…
Read MoreYou can’t help but be intrigued – if by nothing else – by the irrationality of…
Read MoreSince Claude Sitton retired from The News & Observer, North Carolina editors have been an invisible…
Read MoreThe New York Times, conservative pundits are arguing, duplicitously helped John McCain win Republican primaries then…
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