Man in the middle?
Pat McCrory is clearly trying to redefine himself and he’s using the General Assembly as his foil. He’s casting himself as the moderate force putting the brakes on a legislature veering too far to the right. His veto of two bills last week, and his promise of more to...
Walkin’ that tightrope
Pat McCrory vetoed the bill that would allow magistrates to opt out of marrying gay people. Or as Carolina Mercury publisher Kirk Ross said on Facebook, “McCrory announces re-election bid.” Like a lot that happens in Raleigh, McCrory’s veto was as much about politics...
Riding the short bus
One of the most annoying and damaging traits of the modern GOP is its attempt to treat everything like a business. We’ve long heard about running government like a business. Now, they’ve extended that to schools and universities. An article in Slate lays out the folly...
About that Democratic bench
A recent article in National Journal warned that, nationally, Democrats are running thin on talent below the presidential level. In their bid to take back the Senate, Democrats are looking to the past to rebuild its future. In states across the country, the party is...
Give the GOP keys to foreign policy again? Really?
In his Memorial Day address yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery, President Obama noted that this is the first Memorial Day in 14 years when the US did not have large numbers of troops engaged in a ground war. Most people see that as a positive turn of events. The...
Thoughts on Memorial Day
This post was originally posted on Memorial Day, 2015. Memorial Day has come to represent the unofficial beginning of summer, even if the solstice is still more than three weeks away. Shop owners and rental agents can finally begin to refill coffers that have been...
I got mine
The fight between the ideologues and pragmatists in the GOP is wide open. The current leader of the pragmatists is Speaker Tim Moore. Moore is a native North Carolinian who is the son of storekeepers. He knows the story of this state and the role education plays in...
What a fiasco
First the UNC Board of Governors couldn’t tell us why they fired UNC President Tom Ross. Now, they don’t even know what they want in a replacement. That’s what came out of a meeting of a BOG committee charged with finding Ross’ successor. As Board Chair John...
Pat McCrory 2.0
In the N&O this morning, state Sen. Bob Rucho said something nice about Pat McCrory. It wasn’t exactly a compliment, but Rucho didn’t criticize the governor, either. That’s a big difference from the way Massachusetts Bob usually talks about McCrory. Rucho now says...
Hagan moves?
It seems Kay Hagan is making some tentative moves. Last week, the North Carolina Senate Democrats sent out an invitation for a fundraiser with Hagan as the headliner. Political prognosticator Charlie Cook says that if she runs, the race will start out as toss up. And...
