The Noise Machine (02/07/10)

And me without my bloody Mary......


David Jennings weighs on on perennial candidate Roy Morales' meet n' greet in Baytown. I think Green was ripe for the taking, but it would've taken a top-notch, well-funded candidate. Morales is neither.


Evan on the new Gubernatorial ads. Hutchison is done. She made the mistake of trying to lower expectations on an opponent who has none, even from his base of supporters.


Also via Evan. Bill White is gearing up to face Perry. The question is: Can White stand up under what is sure to be a withering campaign attack from Perry's (very polished) machine.


Anne Linehan of BlogHouston also finds Metro's rap ad lacking. Your tax money at work.


The Austin American-Statesman offers a non-endorsement, endorsement of KBH. She's not beloved, not flashy, ant especially good (according to the Ed board) but she's mature. (Which, the reader is supposed to conclude, means that she's slightly above the bare minimum) Maybe liberal ed boards shouldn't do Republican primary endorsements? (It's sort-of similar to the Conservative Wall Street Journal Ed board offering up a weak endorsement of Democrats in their primary.)


ChronBlog Assistant Features Editor DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR/FEATURES* Kyrie O'Connor brings a knife to a gunfight in a battle of wits with Slampo. (The old saying used to be 'never pick a fight with a newspaper, they have tons of news stock and an endless supply of ink". What they're lacking today though is any sense of wit, or compelling argument as to why their sadly declining industry is taking the steps necessary to return to relevancy much less profitability.)


I know the Tea Party is big among many readers of this blog, but this emotionally charged, revolution-lite shtick bereft of serious policy discussion has less than zero appeal to me.


Two things about the CCTT's editorial on Texas rail funding shutout:

1. Why was the ed-board "surprised" by Texas' paltry funding award? Aren't they keeping up with State policy? (Almost everyone saw this disaster coming, it's telling that they didn't.)

2. Blaming Tom Delay. Really? (If you need to know how insipid that is, fringe political candidate, Delay critic and time-machine campaigner Michael Fjetland (the *snicker* Texas Viking) agreed whole-heartedly with the CCTT.)

A sensible HPD proposal to new Mayor Annise Parker. (Most of these suggestions are fairly non-controversial but, given the Republican leanings of the two authors**, will surely generate some from proponents of the other party.)


Former Astronaut Walter Cunningham isn't please with Obama's NASA budget proposal. In the end, his argument is basically a case of "mine's bigger" with China. Testosterone is a bad way to decide budget priorities. (So what if China's the 'next' to the moon, we've already been there.)


And finally.....


Yup, news "analysis" (read: Opinion) still sucks.



*Taking the warning from Mssr. Slampo in the comments, I've made a title change to avoid a tongue-lashing of my own.
**Full disclosure: I consider Stanley Burton a friend, and Jay Wall a friendly acquaintance. I also am aligned with them on this issue. Please consider that as my perspective.