Park the Hypocrisy

Carter has written some hard-hitting pieces lately against the Goodyear-Bridgestone incentives. All the Republican candidates for Governor agree that incentives are bad. So do conservative groups like the John Locke Society. It looks like all good Republican conservatives are against subsidizing private companies. Or maybe not. The biggest subsidy boondoggle bubbling today is from North…

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Veto Shifts the Balance of Power

The media focused on how Governor Easley avoided suffering his first veto override on the tiremaker-incentive bill. But the real story is how fundamentally the veto has changed the balance of power in Raleigh. I blogged before that the veto, which Jim Hunt got passed in 1996, was Hunt’s gift to Easley. Both Jack Betts…

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The New News Cycle

Another sign of the Net times: A long-time Raleigh lobbyist told me how much the brave new world of blogs has changed his world. “I used to be afraid to look at Under the Dome every morning,” he said. “Now I have to look at it every 15 minutes. It’s done nothing but raise my…

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Moore’s Health Care Offensive

One of our loyal blogger/readers passed along a link to Richard Moore’s website about George Bush denying health care to kids. He also noted that Moore ran a banner ad on the N&O’s webpage drawing visitors to the site. And he observes: “This is a hard-hitting site about denying healthcare to kids. Looks like Moore…

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Up Or Out in Iraq

Just like the military surge in Iraq, the Democrats’ political surge against the war is falling short. This week, Democrats in Congress found that it’s hard to argue with a man as obviously brave, patriotic and dedicated as General Petraeus. It’s a lot easier to argue with the cowardly bumbler who sent Petraeus to Iraq…

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Russ at Risk

The most vulnerable member of the Raleigh City Council this year may be Russ Stephenson. He’s facing a tough challenge in the at-large race. A lot of his old supporters are disaffected. And he carries a whiff of the elitism that is the Council’s biggest Achilles heel. Exhibit A: The debate in the Council last…

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Forward, March on the City Council

One of the odder commentaries I’ve seen on the Raleigh City Council race came recently in the Independent Weekly. That’s not normally a pro-military rag, but the article seemed mighty impressed with the military records of the two candidates, one a Republican, running against Jessie Taliaferro. I suspect the attraction wasn’t the uniforms. In fact,…

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Change This Channel

The images are depressingly familiar, six years after 9/11: Replays of the terrorist attacks on America Osama bin Laden, now mysteriously dark-bearded, on our TV screens again, threatening and taunting us still An impressively bemedaled and beribboned general warning Congress against a quick withdrawal from Iraq. Once again, we’re reminded of George Bush’s folly and…

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Beverly Lake’s Revenge

What is it about Wake Forest and the public schools? Fifty years ago, the town north of Raleigh (then home of Wake Forest College) gave rise to Dr. I. Beverly Lake, the segregationist who ran against Terry Sanford for Governor in 1960. (When Lake was introduced at rallies, the speaker would say: “I don’t know…

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Thompson Dramatized GOP Weakness

Fred Thompson is a big, imposing guy with a big, authoritative voice. Too bad he doesn’t have anything to say. All his voice is booming so far is empty platitudes. If he’s the Republicans’ next Ronald Reagan, they are in more trouble than I thought. Reagan had a message: Strengthen America. Tear down this wall.…

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