Winning is Good

There hasn’t been a scene like it since LBJ in 1965: Democratic congressional leaders beaming and clapping as a Democratic President signs a big expansion of the social safety net.   The question is whether today’s White House ceremony celebrating health-care reform was the last gasp of the Great Society – or a reprise of…

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Political Courage

People always say they want politicians to do what’s right, even if it’s unpopular. Of course, they mean: unpopular with somebody else.   Still, by that standard, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi showed a rare level of political guts and perseverance in pushing through health-care reform.   Remember two months ago? Scott Brown had just…

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Shut Up

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…

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Muzzling Margiotta

It is becoming clear how to fight back against Ron (Archie Bunker) Margiotta over the future of WakeCounty schools.   Let him talk.   Fresh after calling people at a public hearing “animals,” Ron/Archie opined recently – at a Republican Party meeting, no less – than the Wake schools should be split into smaller districts.…

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Was Reagan ‘Whining’?

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…

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An Unhealthy Vote?

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…

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Healthy Politics

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.  …

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Money Flowing Flowing in Circles

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…

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Wounding Words

The worst injuries in politics are often self-inflicted. Two examples are in the news today.   First, the war of words between Ron Margiotta and William Barber. Margiotta called his opponents at a WakeCounty school board “animals.” Barber took offense, then compared the board majority to the Mafia. Margiotta and John Tedesco took offense. Then…

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‘The Voice of Onslow County’

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…

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