Archive for June 2010
Clueless
Editorial writers are sometimes accused of occupying an ivory tower. This one from the Greensboro News & Record must live in a soundproof padded cell. Here’s what he or she wrote yesterday about Bob Etheridge’s video: “For now, his relatively unknown opponent, Renee Ellmers of Dunn, says she’s not going to take advantage…
Read MoreNuts
Republicans are determined to save Democrats from electoral disaster this year. With any luck, the GOP will nominate Tea Partier Bill Randall to run against Brad Miller. Randall distinguished himself this week by speculating that the Gulf Oil spill is a conspiracy between Washington and BP. Did anybody ask him if 9/11 was…
Read MoreNo Governor
President Obama rolled out his biggest weapon yet in his battle to get on top of his spreading oil-slick political crisis: his own oratorical power – and the Oval Office. He’s making progress, but he’s still in catch-up mode. Things might have been different if Obama had been a governor instead of a…
Read MoreDirty Tricksters
While President Obama struggles with a gush of oil, Bob Etheridge struggles with a gush of videos. It’s the worst close-up since Helen Thomas. Team Etheridge has to push back. And the best defense is a good offense. No, there’s no excuse for Etheridge touching – let alone grabbing – the obnoxious,…
Read MoreBlow-up
The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted. And Bob Etheridge has delivered himself a doozie of a boo-boo. Getting caught on tape looking like a bully is not helpful in an election year that already looks toxic for incumbents. But Etheridge can survive this. He made a good start by apologizing on…
Read MoreEmoter-in-Chief
What’s with this mania about whether President Obama has shown enough anger over the BP oil spill? Is this the legacy of Bill Clinton, who so famously felt our pain? Or that old actor Ronald Reagan, who could muster a catch in the throat and a flash of anger at the drop of…
Read MoreBev at War
I would have missed this one but for Seth Effron’s Quick Clips: “Perdue declares ‘war’ against school resegregation”(The Wilmington Journal). The Journal reported: Declaring that the state was ”in a war,” Governor Beverly Perdue told members of the NC Legislative Black Caucus last weekend that she, as a citizen, fully supported the efforts…
Read MoreOld Guvs Rule
Tuesday’s primaries across the county were good for women candidates. And old governors didn’t do too badly. California Democrats nominated Jerry Brown for governor again. Brown, 72, served as governor from 1975-1983. Iowa Republicans nominated Terry Branstad for a return engagement. Branstad, 63, was governor from 1983-1999. Both were fellow governors with…
Read MoreDoes He or Doesn’t He?
Here’s a mystery: Bill Randall says he has an MBA from National Louis University, but National Louis University says he doesn’t. Bernie Reeves’ friend, who runs a company that recruits and screens executives for businesses, contacted National Louis University (in Illinois) to verify Randall’s MBA degree. The college instructed him to contact the National Student…
Read MoreGolden Oldie
Cal Cunningham may be a young gun, but he’s firing an old Democratic bullet: Social Security. Cunningham’s campaign is battering Elaine Marshall because she “suggested raising the current retirement age of 67 to receive full Social Security benefits.” Cunningham sent an email this week proclaiming, “I went on the record to commit to…
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