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Entries for the 'General' Category
Gary Pearce posted on March 19, 2010 07:23
John Edwards hasn’t asked for my advice in 10 years. If he did now, I’d tell him: Keep your mouth shut.
The more the players in this tragedy/drama/farce talk, the worse it gets.
First came Edwards’ admission – through a spokesman – of paternity. Then came the dishing in Game Change. Then came Andrew Young’s tawdry tale, repeated endlessly on talk shows and interviews. Next, a movie?
Now comes Rielle Hunter revealing all – in words and pictures. (At least she had the good taste to go with GQ instead of Playboy.)
Next, apparently, Elizabeth Edwards fires back in People.
The more you hear from those three, the more you sympathize with John Edwards.
Staying mute goes against the grain of a man who made millions talking to juries, then almost talked himself into the White House before screwing himself out of it.
But take my word for it, John: Just shut up.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 17, 2010 14:22
A reader commented that it would be “whining” for Obama to blame Republicans for the country’s economic mess, as I had suggested.
Question: Was Ronald Reagan “whining” all those years?
Through the 1984 campaign – four years after he unseated Jimmy Carter – Reagan’s basic message was that he inherited a mess, it would take time to dig out and “why would we want to go back?”
If that’s whining, Obama needs to do more of it.
If I was in charge of message at the White House, every speech would start with that whine.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 17, 2010 10:24
Public Policy Polling says that – on health care reform – Democratic Congressmen Bob Etheridge and Health Shuler “both have to decide between voting the way that folks in their party would like them to, or voting the way voters in their district as a whole would like them to.”
But I’m not convinced that voting for reform will hurt them this fall.
For one thing, PPP also finds that, nationally, support for reform is rising.
For another, the picture is likely to be very different in November.
People don’t like reform now – in part – because they don’t know what’s in it. Fear trumps facts.
If a bill passes, Democrats will be able to talk about specific benefits.
If it doesn’t pass, they’ll be able to blame Republicans for everything wrong in health care.
Regardless, once the fight is over, Republicans will face the same challenge Democrats face now: how to get people interested in health-care reform when they’re mostly worried about the economy.
Health-care reform may be old news in November.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 16, 2010 15:07
Karl Rove is still playing mind games with Democrats.
Pay no attention.
Rove claims that, if Congress passes health-care reform, Democrats will lose Congress.
Bunk.
In truth, Rove fears that Democrats will pass reform, Obama will have a victory and Democrats will have something positive to run on this fall.
If the bill passes, nobody will know whether it made health-care better or worse.
But Democrats will get a boost of confidence. And Obama will be able to focus on fixing the economy – and explaining how Republicans got us in this mess.
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Carter Wrenn posted on March 11, 2010 12:41
Governor Perdue’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Lanier Cansler has out done himself.
Here in North Carolina we’ve got a State Ethics Commission, a House Ethics Committee, a Senate Ethics Committees, dozens of watch-dog groups and a free press all ferreting out chicanery by the politicians in state government – and all of them put together can’t keep up with Lanier.
Back before he decided he wanted to be a state official Lanier worked as a lobbyist for CSC Corporation which, back then, was bidding on the state’s massive $265 million computer services contract – which was about to be awarded by the department Lanier had his eyes set on heading.
All worked out ‘according to hoyle.’ Lanier’s client got the contract. And a week later Lanier got his new job heading the department.
Later, after his swearing in, Cansler said – as he always does – that he’d cut all his ties with his old lobbying firm and as Secretary he wouldn’t get near the CSC contract. That smokescreen worked like a charm for over a year until Cansler, testifying in a deposition, was asked, Secretary Cansler, do you receive any payments from your old firm?
Cansler’s answer: Yes. Monthly.
Which brings us back to CSC Corporation.
In CSC’s state contract – according to the News and Observer – Cansler’s old firm is identified as a “permanent hire.” Which more or less means exactly what it says: Lanier’s old firm is still working for CSC as a consultant or subcontractor on the $265 million contract.
So Cansler’s done it again – pulled off another circular money flow. Just like the one he managed to put together last fall with another corporation (which was also one of his former clients) and his lobbying firm.
Lanier’s Department pays CSC.
CSC pays Lanier’s old firm.
And Lanier’s old firm pays Lanier. Monthly.
Even Mike Easley couldn’t match that.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 10, 2010 09:08
The worst injuries in politics are often self-inflicted. Two examples are in the news today.
Then there’s old political veteran Jack Hawke distancing himself from 8th District GOP candidate Tim D'Annunzio over the candidate’s blog, “Christ’s War."
Politicians just can’t help themselves. They fall in love with the sound of their voices.
Barber won’t be hurt so much, but Margiotta and D’Annunzio did real damage to themselves.
If D’Annunzio is too far out for fellow Republicans, he’s destined for a brief run as a political sideshow.
As for Margiotta, he’s about to blow the political advantage the election gave him and his allies.
He was already accused of racism, and he bears an unfortunate resemblance to Archie Bunker.
Now he has broken the first rule of You Tube politics: Everything you say in public is public.
He gave his opponents a sword. If they’re smart, they can thwart him the way Republicans in Washington have blocked President Obama.
Margiotta & Co. already have half the county mad at them. How long will it take to make the other half mad?
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Carter Wrenn posted on March 09, 2010 18:07
As far as political shenanigans go this isn’t in the league with John Edwards’ goings on but it’s pretty strange. Down in Onslow County, after twenty-four years in the State House my old friend Robert Grady decided not to seek re-election and to run for Clerk of Court instead.
Now what you have to understand – to see the brilliance of what the Democrats are doing to win Robert’s House seat – is this: There are safe Republican seats and safe Republican seats – but Robert’s is about as safe as they come. He hasn’t had an opponent in years. This year no Democrat even bothered to file.
But a group of Onslow County Democrats came up with a unique solution to how to win a Republican seat: They’re running a candidate of their own in the Republican Primary.
And they found a Republican willing to oblige them in Phil ‘The Voice of Onslow County’ Shepard.
Phil Shepard’s political activism goes back about a decade to when he served a stint on the Onslow County Republican Committee – then was removed from the committee for helping elect a Democratic State Representative, Russell Tucker, over a Republican candidate.
Now he’s back in politics, running himself, with the support of some of the biggest Easley/Perdue supporters in the state.
How big? Louis Sewell contributed $76,000 to Governor Perdue and other Democrats, raised $125,000 for Mike Easley, got himself appointed to the State Transportation Board, then had to resign after he paved $375,000 worth of roads past his own property.
Billy Sewell – who’s also supporting Shepard – has given $39,000 to Democrats and was subpoenaed to testify at the State Board of Elections hearings into Governor Easley’s campaign finances.
John Pierce gave Democrats $90,000, and John Warlick, Garland Tuton, Mike Tuton, Steve Wangerin, Randolph Thomas (Shepard’s Treasurer) and Tony Padgett (who has run five times for County Commissioner as a Democrat) who are all Perdue/Easley supporters – are all supporting Reverend Shepard.
By a quick count this group of Perdue/Easley supporters have given $250,000 to Democrats – and now they’re supporting Phil Shepard in a Republican Primary.
We’ve had a Governor getting his wife a job at NC State University, a Democrat Speaker of the House stacking the Lottery Commission, environmental permits swapped for campaign donations, sweetheart land deals with developers and free airplane flights and vacations for politicians but never, until now, have we seen Democrat moneybags bankrolling a candidate in a Republican Primary to win a safe Republican seat.
Phil ‘The Voice of Onslow County’ Shepard is a first – if he pulls this one off he’ll go down in history.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 09, 2010 10:21
Those four words – scrawled by James Carville in the Clinton 92 war room – may be the smartest ever uttered in politics.
And they say more than the river of words unleashed lately about What’s Wrong With Obama.
Washington is awash in the debate. Is it Rahm’s fault? Or Axelrod’s? Why has Obama lost control of the “narrative”?
Obama’s problem is simple: The economy sucks.
And he appears to be investing everything in health-care reform – not fixing the economy.
If the economy gets better, he will look better – regardless of what Rahm, Axelrod and the “narrative” do.
Reagan beat Carter in 1980 because of the economy. Clinton beat Bush in 1992 because of the economy. Obama beat McCain because of the economy.
I don’t know how much a President can affect the economy. But the economy sure affects the President. And a President has to convince people he’s fixated on fixing the economy.
That’s where Obama is failing.
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Gary Pearce posted on March 08, 2010 08:51
The Tea Party crowd is in a frenzy over rising deficits and the national debt.
In Asheville Friday, Republican candidates fell all over themselves at a Tea Party meeting that featured a clock tracking the debt.
Do these people have any memory cells whatsoever?
Obviously not, so let me remind them that, just 10 years ago, the budget deficit was heading toward zero. The debate in Washington was whether to spend the coming surplus on Social Security, tax cuts or paying down the debt.
That’s right: paying down the debt.
That was during the administration of a Democratic President named Bill Clinton. Before George Bush and a Republican Congress wrecked the budget.
And the Tea Party wants to return that crowd to power?
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Gary Pearce posted on March 05, 2010 08:30
Jerry Brown is one of those idiot-savant politicians who can be both a genius and a self-destructive fool.
Years ago, he was California’s youngest governor ever, and he succeeded an actor (Ronald Reagan). Now he’s trying to be the state’s oldest governor ever, and he would succeed another actor.
Brown’s own roles have included Governor Moonbeam, Linda Ronstadt’s boyfriend, Zen Buddhist, Mother Theresa acolyte, presidential candidate, talk show host, state party chairman, mayor of Oakland and attorney general of California.
He may self-destruct, or he may be the one Democrat agile enough to navigate this treacherous year.
He says he has “insider experience and an outsider mindset.”
Brown got the “Moonbeam” moniker back when he suggested that California launch a weather satellite. Now the sky is full of weather satellites.
It’ll be fun watching the Moonbeam shine again.
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