Archive for October 2014
Irony or Hypocrisy?
An African-American minister proclaimed that a gay person should not be a judge. He also joined Rep. Skip Stam-and apparently 27 other House Republicans-in proclaiming that magistrates, who are officers of the court, should not have to carry out laws and court decisions they don’t like. Forty years ago, several magistrates in North Carolina…
Read MoreAsleep at the Switch
As bleak as Governor McCrory’s job approval numbers were in the WRAL poll, that wasn’t the worst news. Consider how Republicans, Democrats and Independents feel about the General Assembly. Republican Voters Approve 35% Disapprove 38% Conservative Voters Approve 33% Disapprove 37% Independent Voters Approve…
Read MoreVoter App
The Republican effort to suppress votes at Appalachian State University may have backfired. More than 700 people voted yesterday at the Student Union polling place that the State Board of Elections tried to shut down. Now we know why the board didn’t want it. An App student said, “It sends a clear message…
Read MoreDisapproving of Pat
36% Approve 46% Disapprove The WRAL Poll painted a bleak picture of a Governor caught between a rock and a hard place. As Mark Binker wrote, only a little over a third of the voters approve of the job Governor McCrory is doing. But worse news lurked beneath the surface. …
Read MoreBeneath the Headlines
Headline (two weeks ago): Thom Tillis on Life Support. Campaign Dying. Headline (this week): Tillis Makes Miraculous Recovery. Campaign Surging. Now, as a storyline, that’s just about unbeatable. It’s like Lazarus rising from the dead. The problem is two months ago, two weeks ago, and today (in WRAL’s latest poll), Thom Tillis…
Read MoreAn Empty Chair
I watched the ‘empty chair’ debate too (see Gary’s blog below). And it brought back old memories. Of old foibles. Years ago, in 1980, when John East ran against Robert Morgan he challenged Senator Morgan to a debate. And challenged Morgan to debate. And challenged Morgan to debate. And Morgan said No,…
Read MoreThom Warner Cable?
Time Warner Cable News made more news than it intended with the “empty chair” debate. One media critic said TWC “orchestrated a phony scandal and boosted Thom Tillis’s North Carolina Senate campaign by placing an empty chair for his opponent, Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, at an event it billed as a ‘debate’ — though…
Read MoreTV Ads and Truth
My last blog raised the possibility that big money and negative TV ads increase voter turnout. Now let’s consider the radical idea that the same two evils have another happy effect: increasing the level of voter information. Denouncing the money and the ads, an N&O editorial said, “The ‘assault ads’ that bombard the viewer…
Read MoreTV and Turnout
As good citizens, we all know that these two truths are self-evident in politics. First, as both editorial writers and Walmart moms agreed in the paper today, big money and “assault ads” are bad. Second, (as everybody but the Republican legislature, Governor McCrory and the State Board of Elections apparently think) higher voter turnout is…
Read MoreThe TV Mirror
Here’s the worst thing about all those negative political ads on TV: They mirror our national psyche right now. You can blame the politicians and their consultants. But they’re giving you what they know works on you: fear and anger. On both sides. Democrats are angry about the North Carolina legislature for…
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