Politics

Politics

There are 1,058 posts filed in Politics (this is page 96 of 106).

Easley’s fist bumps

Mike Easley attempts a fist bump with Barack ObamaBarack Obama made a visit to Raleigh yesterday, kicking off a nationwide series of talks on the economy. The Progressive Pulse blog taunted Mike Easley for jumping on the Obama bandwagon late. I don’t think we should be so tough on him, however. You see, Easley was on the Obama bandwagon all along.

See that fist bump in the photo above? As evidenced by this poor display of fist bumpiness, Easley knew that whatever candidate he threw his support behind in the primary would become instantly unhip, consequently dooming Hillary Clinton. Fortunately, Obama has plenty of extra hipness to make up for Easley’s deficit.

Brilliantly played, Governor!

Raleigh Neighborhood College graduation

My Raleigh Neighborhood College graduation was on Thursday. If being elected valedictorian wasn’t enough, the flattering comments my classmates made about me were enough to make my head not fit through the door. I’m starting to think that might I have what it takes to play this game.

My speech was two pages, double-spaced and it was nothing special. I speak much better when I have a few points to make and can improvise how to move from one to another. When I’ve got a script to follow I’m hopeless. Ah, well, everything’s a learning experience.

As I said in my speech, its inevitable that I’ll be getting more involved with Raleigh. To what extent, we’ll see.

Ty-ed up in red tape

My officemates and I were out on an afternoon walk around the city when I ran into N.C. Rep. Ty Harrell. Almost literally ran into him: he was walking out of the municipal building with a cellphone to his ear just as we were walking by.

Once he got through with his call he told us about his odyssey to get the appropriate ABC permits for his fundraiser tonight at Artspace. He apparently had to go to at least four different agencies to get approval – including one where he needed a background check!

“I had to prove I’m a state legislator,” he said.

Unbelievable. Who knew what kind of red tape would be involved in hosting a party?

If you’re looking for something to do tonight (and you’ve got a little cash to contribute to his campaign), stop by Artspace tonight for Ty’s fundraiser. We’re lucky to have guys like him serving the state.

Tabloidism

Today the News and Observer put this story at the top of its front page. Its a story crowing about how mental hospital director Patsy Christian now won’t be able to hang a portrait of herself in the new Butner mental hospital thanks to an N&O story.

Of the legions of problems our state’s mental health system needing to be solved, this is what the N&O is most proud of? Getting a damn portrait removed? Is that how our fabled fourth branch of government is protecting our interests? Since when did the N&O become the paper equivalent of talk radio?

Is it any wonder that the newspaper business is in trouble?

PBS documentary on FDR

Kelly was out at a volunteer function last night, so for the first time in probably years I plopped down in front of the TV and channel-surfed. I was appalled at the crap that was on television: it was all just so dumb. Until I landed on PBS, that is.

The American Experience program The Presidents [self-playing Flash] was on and last night it featured Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For two hours I was captivated learning about his life from the time of his birth up to his becoming President.

I knew he was a great man but had no idea just how great he was until this documentary showed me. America was lucky to have a man like him during such troubling times in America.

Election night

It was an exciting evening last night as the results came in from yesterday’s primary election. As I predicted, Barack Obama rolled in North Carolina, 56% to Hillary Clinton’s 42%. Perdue won her race against Richard Moore as Democratic gubernatorial candidate, 56% to 40%. I was not happy with either campaign, but wound up not liking Moore more than Perdue. So I’m glad she won.
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Commercial debut

The Janet Cowell campaign commercial I mentioned is now available on YouTube. The first few times I watched I actually missed our scene. Then I realized we’re on the bottom of a split-screen part. Its not much screen time, but considering how Travis was making faces and our nerves were getting a bit shot, the scene is better than I expected. Regardless, it was a lot of fun!

Look for us 19 seconds into the commercial across the bottom of the screen when the announcer says “improving our schools.” Blink and you might miss it: we’re there for less than half a second!