Archive for June 2015
The Obamacare Subsidy
When a fellow goes on the Obamacare Exchange to sign up for health insurance he’s asked: Do you qualify for a subsidy? Click here. 515,000 lower-income North Carolinians clicked and qualified but any day now the Supreme Court may decide – in the King vs Burwell case – those subsidies are illegal. And, if it…
Read MoreHow Are McCrory and Obama Alike?
Both ended last week looking weak and ineffective, even within their own parties. The President was abandoned by Democrats on a big trade vote, and the Governor was run over again by Republicans on a big veto. McCrory looked strong and savvy when he vetoed the misnamed “ag gag” law and the law that lets…
Read MoreThe Real Biden
If you want to see a politician who’s a real human being, take a long look at Joe Biden. You may never ever see another one like him. Tragedy has bookended Biden’s long public life. Just weeks after he was elected Senator at age 29 in 1972, his wife and daughter were killed in a…
Read MoreA Mistake
Despite being heavily outnumbered by the Iraqi Army ISIS rolled right into Ramadi and after the Iraqis skedaddled the Secretary of Defense told CNN it sure looked like our allies had lost the “will to fight.” Then Baghdad announced it had stopped retreating and was counter-attacking – then Baghdad announced it had Ramadi surrounded –…
Read MoreWake Commissioners Split
Democrats may have 7-0 control of the Wake County Commissioners, but they are far from unanimous on school funding. In fact, they are engaged in a classic political debate: Do you move fast when you’re in control, at the risk of losing the next election? Or do you play a long game, moving slower now…
Read MoreA Quagmire
The Senate Bull Mooses have locked horns with the Opossum Drop Caucus over in the State House;—for years the Bull Mooses have hollered Medicaid spending was out of control and soaring but that turned out not to be so – that the Bull Mooses were simply spinning a yarn to accommodate their friends the MCOs…
Read MoreStraightening Out the Mess?
Former Ambassador John Bolton said the state of Iraq no longer exists and Chris Wallace shot back , One, what does that mean? Two, what are the ramifications? You could go back four thousand years and not unscramble all the knots in what used to be Mesopotamia – the Sumerians were conquered by the Assyrians…
Read MoreThrillary
It’s coming. Watch for it. Don’t be surprised. Sometime before next summer, Hillary Clinton’s coronation procession will stumble. Some Democrat will catch fire, get momentum and give her a scare. We Democrats are just made that way. We want drama. We always want a new face, a new name, something new, new, new. Most of…
Read MoreDangerous Places to Stand
There are patches of ground that are innately dangerous: Edges of cliffs. Rivers of ice. Railroad tracks. No man’s land. After the State House passed its budget at 1am in the morning, eight hours later up popped an ad on Facebook lambasting Chief House Budget Writer Nelson Dollar for raising spending a billion dollars. Those…
Read MoreA Dust Up
It’s unusual to see a dust up in front of the TV cameras on NC Spin but when Brad Crone said Medicaid spending has been stable for three years the usually soft-spoken John Hood shot back, Brad’s incorrect. Crone leaned back, told Hood he needed to look at the audit reports that showed Medicaid spending…
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