National Republicans
Ten Years After
The Tea Party crowd is in a frenzy over rising deficits and the national debt. In Asheville Friday, Republican candidates fell all over themselves at a Tea Party meeting that featured a clock tracking the debt. Do these people have any memory cells whatsoever? Obviously not, so let me remind them that,…
Read MoreElections Matter
A supporter of the new Wake school board held up a sign at this week’s hearing: “Elections matter.” At the health-care summit President Obama told John McCain: “The election is over.” They’re right. And Obama should ram through health-care reform just like the new school board majority is ramming through its new policies.…
Read MoreA New Day in the Senate?
Up in Washington last weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference every time Scott Brown’s name was mentioned the conservative hordes let out a bellow of approval – but, then, two days later Brown voted with the Democrats in the Senate to end a filibuster against President Obama’s latest ‘Stimulus Bill’ and Democratic leader Harry…
Read MoreOpen Wide
President Obama may be setting up Republicans for a classic one-two punch. First, the left jab: an open, public “discussion” where he challenges Republicans to put their ideas on the table. That’s what they said they wanted, isn’t it? Then, the right uppercut: ramming a health-care bill through using something called “reconciliation.” …
Read MoreMessage Misery
The best message in politics is always: “It’s Time for a Change.” That worked like a charm for Democrats in 2006 and 2008. Voters were anxious, angry and ready to throw out the bums in power in Washington. Nothing has changed this year – except Democrats are now the bums in power. …
Read MoreDem’s Blues
Politico has an excellent overview of what’s happening to once-Republican states that went Democratic in 2008 – including North Carolina. One reason it’s excellent, of course, is that it quotes me. Click here to read the analysis.
Read MoreErskine to the Rescue
Can Erskine Bowles save America? Can history repeat itself? I was about halfway through the book The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President, by Taylor Branch, when I heard that President Obama will name Erskine and another Great Compromiser, former Senator Alan Simpson, to lead a national commission on the budget deficit. …
Read MoreObama Up Again
Several readers pounced on my blog about Obama’s favorable ratings in North Carolina: “Hope that kool-aid tastes good,” one posted. Another: “Wow. Keep spinning, Gary.” OK. How about the latest New York Times/CBS poll: “At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Obama enjoys an edge…
Read MoreRead Her Hand
Sarah Palin is an unending source of entertainment. She’s nearly as funny as Tina Fey’s impression of her. There’s the scrambled syntax – a sure sign of a scrambled mind. The brassy denial of reality. Reading a speech ridiculing President Obama for reading a speech. Attacking the bailout that she and John McCain supported…
Read MoreElection 2010
Republicans have reason to be confident as filing opens for the 2010 elections. But I’m yet to be convinced this will be another 1994. That year, Democrats – in Raleigh and Washington – were supremely overconfident, all the way to Election Day. Not a problem this time. Still, the cycle favors Republicans.…
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