Archive for July 2016
Hillary steps in
Hillary Clinton has the greatest gift in politics: a flawed, unpopular opponent. Still, she should use the Democratic convention to fix four big problems. First, she’s a status quo candidate in a change year. She and Bill have been on the stage for 25 years. And she is something of a third Obama term. The…
Read MoreWe’re on radio
Carter and I talked with WUNC Radio’s Jeff Tiberii on “what North Carolinians should expect from presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the battleground state.” You can listen here.
Read MoreWrapping up the Republicans
Today, some random notes from the GOP convention: There’s a new Republican slogan. “Make America Hate Again.” Republicans deeply admire Michelle Obama. When her lines are mouthed by a Slovenian swimsuit model. It’s okay to plagiarize. Joe Biden had to drop out of the 1988 presidential race when he got caught plagiarizing a British politician.…
Read MoreThat Old Time Religion
We haven’t heard this said before – not during this convention. And not during Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s campaign against one another. We have heard, from Donald Trump: ‘I will make America great again.’ And ‘I will make great trade deals.’ And we’ve heard how ‘Donald Trump can do the impossible.’ We’ve heard…
Read MoreThe looming Republican disaster
North Carolina Republicans this year will get to experience what we Democrats went through in so many presidential elections: how to avoid going down with the Titanic. Because the S.S. Trump is going down, and it will be hard to avoid getting sucked into the vortex. The Republican convention is officially a disaster. It didn’t…
Read MoreTrump and Tricky Dick
You might not expect a presidential candidate to compare himself to America’s most crooked and disgraced President, but Donald Trump and his campaign chairman did just that this week. Trump and Chairman Paul Manafort said that, just as with Richard Nixon in 1968, Americans want a strong “law and order” leader at a time when…
Read MoreOut of the Myst
Rudy Giuliani nailed the key to the election, saying Obama’s inability to speak two words – Islamic Extremists – has consequences; that it already had consequences in San Bernadino and at Fort Hood with Major Nidal. He was yelling ‘Allah Akbar,’ Guilani said. The only person who couldn’t figure out that was an Islamic terrorist…
Read MoreTrump vs. GOP
The last two Republican Presidents aren’t there. The last two Republican presidential candidates aren’t there. The Republican Governor of the state hosting the convention isn’t there. Pat McCrory isn’t there. And former Republican N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr says he can’t vote for Trump for the nomination or election because “I think he’s singularly…
Read MoreThe Salesman and the Politician
Governor’s wife, First Lady, United States Senator, Cabinet Secretary – for four decades Hillary’s breathed the air of politics. She’s the Politician in the race for President. Donald Trump will tell you in the blink of an eye he’s a Dealmaker. A great Dealmaker. But he could have named his book The Art of ‘Selling’…
Read MoreLone star
As you watch the Republican convention, you see why Donald Trump picked Mike Pence as his running mate: There’s no chance Pence will steal the spotlight from the star. There’s only one star in this show, and it’s Donald Trump. And all the co-stars, like all his products and possessions, are also named Trump (Melania,…
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