More than a river in Egypt

Denial as political philosophy?

Present, not voting. Hal, Half Empty

Hopelessly outnumbered, because Texas Democrats forgot to go to the polls last November

That's one way of looking at it I guess. That Democrats were swept out of power in historic fashion in 2010 not because a majority of Texans disagreed with their message, but that the vast majority who do simply forgot to go out and cast a vote. It's not that Texans look at Democratic blather such as this and are turned off. It's that most Texans are so angry they didn't mark their calendars.

Not that all Democrats are like Mr. Cobarruvias, walking around angry all the time and using clunky humor to try and make their point, it's just that even the serial block-quoters slip up and forget politics is a marketing game from time to time. That's right Democrats, it's typically not a good idea to insult the values and dreams of those people you are trying to woo. Doesn't work out too well.


Nor does it play well to tell your remaining supporters that they're dense and forgot to vote. Certainly not when it's most likely that you're not giving them much to vote for in the first place. The reality is this, at its upper leadership level (in both practical and policy terms) the Democratic party (both State and Nationally) is a rich White-folks club. Ecomentalism doesn't spawn in the ghetto, neither do "smart-streets". Poor families of all races aren't sitting around contemplating farmer's markets and taxes on their sodas.

In short, it's not that Dem voters "forgot" to go to the polls, it's that the party failed to present them anything to vote for.


As a one-time, self-identifying Democrat, this makes me sad. As a one-time, self-identifying Republican, it makes me happy. As a current, self-identifying independent, it depresses me. Because I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that Government works best when there are two strong parties with different, honest ideals providing a policy back-and-forth that weeds out the worst ideas on both sides, providing a healthy amount of gridlock and letting the truly good ideas through the firewall to keep the State from running wild, it concerns me.

Farouk is on FIRE!!!!

Recently named to Rick Perry and David Dewhurst's 2011 Inaugural Committee.


We can only hope he's in charge of entertainment.

Just not this guy.

Root Cause Analysis

There are a lot of theories why Democrats did poorly in Texas during the recently completed 2010 election. Starting with a voter backlash to the Obama administration, continuing to low voter turnout amongst minority groups and ending with that old election stand by, the enthusiasm gap, every idea has merit, and is probably a contributing factor to the carnage.

However, at the base of it all, might I offer up a different theory: In today's most recent post-mortem focused on the historic losses experienced by the so-called "Yellow Dog" Democrats ChronBlog reporter R.G. Ratcliffe reported the following quote from losing Democratic incumbent candidate for Angelina County Justice of the Peace R.G. Bowers:

"They were so anti-Obama that they just pushed one button. I said they couldn't spell R.G., so they just spelled R," Bowers said.

It's hard to have people vote for you when you (and your State Party) are continually insulting their intelligence.

"You're all a bunch of dumb, stupid, mouth-breathing, inbred, illiterate rednecks....but vote for us" doesn't typically make for a good campaign strategy. Add to this a State party platform that's out of step with a majority of voters and you have a recipe for electoral disaster.

After the '08 election, when it seemed Democrats were on the verge of transforming back into a viable political party in Texas, I praised them for their move toward ideological purity within their ranks. To a large extent Republicans in Texas have mimicked that strategy to a victory in 2010. The Democrats problem is that, by and large, they have abandoned their working class roots in favor of a North East ruling class, condescending progressivism. Their current ideology is more of a mangled statism, far removed from the lean roots of liberalism that just wanted to ensure the little guy got a fair shake. All today's Texas Democrats seem to want is to take advantage of the little guy for votes, all while taxing the heck out of their employers and funnelling State money to trinket projects within urban cores. (Now with MORE world-classiness!!!)

Is it any wonder the rural areas have soundly rejected them?

In November....

Did Texas move further to the Right? Or were Republican voters just more motivated?


My opinion is it's just a little of both. Not only were Republicans more motivated to come out to the polls, but the political middle in Texas sided with their anti-National Democratic argument. Ironically, the best thing for State Republicans could be the Obama administration.

The thing they're forgetting.....

.....is that many people view climate change as an economic issue.

(Why the election wasn’t a referendum on climate change (and why the press flubbed the story), Andrew Restuccia, American Independent)

Exit polls indicate that jobs and the economy were the top issues on the minds of voters on Tuesday when they trotted off to the polls. While climate change and energy issues played a role in a number of campaigns — with environmentalists running advertisements in key districts criticizing Republican candidates for their support of drilling, for example, and praising other candidates for their environmental records — at least one poll shows that it was not a key issue for voters.

This theory only works if you think most Americans separate Cap and Trade from the economy, since that question wasn't asked (Whether or not the respondent viewed Cap n' Trade as an economic or environmental issue) the results they're touting are useless.

Plus, 27% of respondents said they opposed "Nancy Pelosi's agenda" which includes (you guessed it) Cap and Trade legislation.

Just another of the many stories by news-ish organizations that masquerade as straight news while all the time being de-facto op-ed pieces for progressive issues. Anyone who's trying to separate Cap and Trade from the economy is either naive, intellectually dishonest, or a little of both. (In hindsight, like the Red Light camera supporters who assured us it "It wasn't about the money, it's all about safety." Sure it is....)

Class

When the subject is Rick Perry, the nuts come out to play:


All excerpts from the comments (and are produced as-written with no editing):

TheAllKnowningOne wrote:
LOL at anyone that would vote for this man for POTUS or Governor. He talks about fiscal issues yet we're in the hole billions and billions. Whose to blame for that? The hypocrites called republicans.

This person must be constantly laughing, 'cause 55% did vote for Perry.

kalki wrote:
His big driving point to conservatives is going to be on the decent economy here in Texas, but that is not his credit to claim when the state is set up to rough out economic downturns better than other states and Perry wasn't responsible for that. Perry is going to be an easy target on immigration because he will scream against the Feds and rage about our porous border...when in all the time as Texas Governor, he has come up with zilch to deal with immigration. He will defend that by saying it is up to the Federal government to enforce immigration and they failed...but...this from the same mouth that believes that states should be allowed to control immigration. Perry can't have it both ways...immigration can't be up to the federal government to manage while he wants states to be able to do it. If someone confronts Perry on that, his tiny brain inside all that skunk hair will implode.

Yup, an easy target, so easy that Bill White, the smartest man in the room, constantly missed him. (So...what does that say about White?)

Cort wrote:
Did you see Perry's acceptance speech? The strange bouncing on the balls of his feet, the long pauses between statements, the slightly paranoid glances, quite possibly the most forced acknowledgment of a political spouse since Al kissed Tipper: Rick was high. How else do you explain it?

His genius is for making irresponsible statements that appeal to a tiny, lizardy part of voters' brains. Seceede! Close the borders! Small Government! Down with Washington! It all sounds good, but it's all completely ridiculous.

That one was probably my favorite.

Lest you think Republicans are immune:

Why doesn't someone grill our idiot-in-chief obaaaaaaaaaaama regarding the outrageous spending for his India trip? This hasn't been covered anywhere in MSM and heaven forbid the Houston Komical would cover such a story.
.
$200 million PER DAY for this idiot to take 3,000 people with him on a state visit. Guess he has to pay back his dumb0crat cronies and the union thugs who support him.
.
With the economy in shambles and over 15% actual unemployment, it's a travesty for obaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaama to spend this kind of money for basically a vacation. He should be impeached for this. All the dumb0crats who support this idiot should be ashamed of yourselves. Where is your outrage? If this would have been GW Bush, the dumb0crat controlled media would have been screaming at the top of their lungs.

I point these out to note that you should tune them out. If the height of your political discourse is "idiot" or intentional mis-spellings of the other party's name.......

Oh, and it's secede.



ADDED: One more, because it's too funny to pass up:

D: as long as the woman that didn't realize what the second amendment said lost, I didn't really care one way or the other. My views are entirely too divided to be classified under either red or blue. :)

Posted by: Jessica at November 4, 2010 08:18 AM

My only comment is "heh".

What now for Texas Democrats?

Charles Kuffner, the dean of InterLeft blogging and "Houston's Sexiest Blogger"* made an interesting comment in his election review yesterday:

I don’t mean to be indelicate, but party chairs usually don’t survive results like these. I hope whoever succeeds Boyd Ritchie has a strategy in mind.

Like Mr. Kuffner, I assume Ritchie is gone. Unless you're Harris County Republicans (and Jared Woodfill) the idea that the person in charge of a political drubbing should hang around is probably not a winning strategy.**

I don't pretend to be an insider on Democratic State political wrangling so I've no idea who might be a suitable replacement. Were I a Democrat however I would think about picking someone from Dallas, because the Austin-centric model has not been working out very well. It will also be interesting to see if Gary Birnberg survives as the HCDP leader. As bad as it was Statewide, Harris County Democrats lost all of their hard-fought gains.

Another question that I have is this: What's going to happen to Matt Angle? If you're not familiar with Mr. Angle, and his influence in State Democratic politics, read this overview by Evan from Rick Perry vs. World.

In short, Angle was brought in to implement the Colorado Model, which (for now) failed. By failed I mean "didn't succeed in turning Texas Blue". Where they did succeed is in recruiting high-dollar donors, namely Steve Mostyn, who (by some accounts) spent upward of $10 Million in the current election cycle and now has nothing to show for it. Will this loss short-circuit fund-raising efforts in the future? Will big-time donors think twice before pouring personal fortunes into campaigns that are unlikely to break 40%? Tough questions for Democrats that will need answers in the future.

Another area of success is in the establishment of what I'm calling "news-ish" organizations. The Texas Independent, The Texas Observer and (most successfully) The Texas Tribune**** all were established to report progressive issues as "news" alongside a mix of straight stories which serve to drive the political narrative and provide fodder for InterLeft bloggers and commenters across the State. It was a Texas Tribune*** story that I linked to regarding the failure of the Texas Trust, a story that allowed Angle to put his own spin on the loss FWIW.


Going forward all of these questions will need hard answers if Texas Democrats are going to remain a serious player Texas Politics in the near future. They also must address issues relating to their appeal to moderates and reigning in, or reducing the importance of, some of their more extreme players. It's never a wise strategy to insult the electorate before asking for their vote.

For my part I hope the Democrats succeed. Right now Texas is dangerously lacking a strong counter voice to uber-corporatist politicians like Dan Patrick. There needs to be a strong voice that speaks up for the other side. One party wielding too much power is a recipe for disaster. It should be an interesting drama to watch unfold.



*Thanks to Slampo for the moniker

**You KNOW Woodfill is going to try and take credit for this win. Despite the fact that none of it is attributable to anything he did.

***Of all of those "news-ish" outlets, I consider the Trib to be closest to a legitimate news source. They have areas where they really excel in reporting. I was expecting more from their election coverage, but the fickleness of web-servers dealt them a bad hand. Their coverage of the Lege is typically second to none. Their biggest coup was their hour-long interviews with each Goober candidate. It singlehandedly rendered the newspaper editorial board interview moot and was the closest thing Texans got to a debate. For that reason alone they deserve to be taken seriously and their content is meaningful.

****It should be noted that these three media organizations are, by all appearances, not connected. Except in mission, which they all share. Right now I don't know who is donating to their operations (something I'm looking for) so I'll say they're not financially related at this time.

Election leftovers

Damage control.

If you listen to Texas Democrats, Obama did it. That's the story of Sylvia Garcia and Jim Dunnam and by golly they're sticking to it. Dunnam went so far as to say there's no Texas voter dissatisfaction with Democratic policies in Austin. I'm not sure if that's true (Bill White's anti-oil policies probably brought some blow-back for example), but Republican voters are a much more Nationally minded set then are their Democratic counterparts so it's probably 90% true. Of course, then Garcia went and ruined it by playing the race card. I don't see that as being a valid cause in her former precinct.



Don't look now, but the Republicans have gone and elected them a few minority representatives. Welcome to the early 20th century Republicans. Elect a few more and pretty soon you'll be caught up with the rest of us.



This is kind of a big deal. Now that the election is over those who won the job are looking down the barrell of huge budget shortfalls in almost every level of government. Yes, there's a structural debt problem but there's also a structural spending problem in State government. Both of those need to be addressed and addressed soon. I've no doubt the Republicans will try and put another band-aid on the spending problem, but I can't see them having the strength of will to approach the revenue issue with any seriousness. Let's hope I'm wrong.


As impressive as GOP gains were in Congress, they were even more impressive in Statehouses across the country. Texas was no different. Republicans picked up an unthought of 22 new seats Tuesday, still dominate every statewide office and have control of the Senate. Democrats in Texas have been reduced to a very small minority. All they have left is the filibuster, here's hoping that doesn't go away anytime soon for political expediency.


Speaking of the Texas House. You're ready for the next campaign for Speaker right? In the matter of Chisum vs. Straus I put Straus as a small favorite. I truly hope he wins because Chisum doesn't strike me as leadership material.


Last but not least....

I find little disagreeable in what Joel Kotkin said.

In the matter of California vs. Texas

California is making a lot of noise but Texas Is quietly winning all of the battles.

In real, measurable metrics (job growth, unemployment rate, cost of living) Texas is way ahead of California, forcing the Left coast to invent metrics (over most of which they have no control: climate, etc.) proving them to still have a chance.

Of course, if they were so great they wouldn't be bleeding jobs and citizens. Nice climate, nice place to visit, about to become impossible to live in.


I have to say I'm not real enamored with the idea of AG Abbott and other's filing a lawsuit (on behalf of big oil) against this law. If California wants to put worthless emissions caps (which will be ignored through the purchase of 'waivers', which will increase State revenue, which is what this is all about) on plants then so be it. Let California's residents pay 5 times the going rate for gas and gasoline. In other words: Let the market decide.


Related:


Some Californians are trying to make their votes out as wiser than the rest of the country. That works unless you consider that, in 2001, Cali Democrats pushed through the mother of all incumbent protection plans. The failure to understand where exactly the value of a vote was lost is not the height of intelligence. No matter how many times you try and convince yourself of such. Texas needs to guard against that in this next bout of re-districting. Republicans can do just as poorly as Democrats after all.

And no, I didn't vote yesterday...

Taking a peek at Nick Anderson's political cartoon from Monday I laughed because it offers up a rather simplistic view of voting, elections etc. It's easy to say "If you don't vote you can't gripe" etc. but sometimes it's not that black and white.

For example: Me.

I didn't vote yesterday for three reasons:

1. I already voted in the primary

2. I live outside the City limits and could not vote on the propositions

3. I live in the most conservative district in America. CD-7. There was no serious Democratic opposition to any candidate in my area. Once I voted in the primary, my selections had either won or lost.


So I did vote, and when it appeared that all of the races I was concerned with were well in hand (Lite Gov, Attorney General, Ag Commissioner, Land Commissioner etc.) there wasn't any reason to go vote a second time. Dan Patrick, my Texas State Senator, won with 88% of the vote. Eighty-eight percent. I would've skipped that race anyway because I'm unhappy with him, I wouldn't have voted for Culberson and I wouldn't have voted for TX Governor because I don't like either candidate.

In Cy-Fair, the school board fight was insider baseball and I don't have children....

Understand?


Such is the problem with "safe" districts. Once you vote in the primary the election is, for all intents and purposes, over. Had I lived inside the Houston City Limits, where things were much more up in the air, I would have been at the ballot box putting in my 1/2 cent. As it was I stayed home knowing that I had already won or lost the argument in the primary.

In many districts that's the most important election anyway.

Quick election night thought.....

The Republican "wave" was a tsunami in Texas.


Edwards, Rodriquez and Ortiz are all in serious trouble.

Oh yeah, predictions.....

Just read Evan's excellent post(s) on House and Senate election predictions and realized I forgot to make mine.


CAUTION: You will find these to be worth exactly what you paid for them...if you want accuracy, see Evan.


US House: Republican gain of 62. Why 62? It sounds better than 60. Seriously: I'm of the opinion this is a tidal wave election. The media has gotten the "anti-incumbency" thing wrong, ignoring that most of the current wave is an anti-Democratic wave, the same type of wave that Republicans rode into power in 1994 and which rode them out of power in 2008. When one party gets their clutches on too many levers at one time they inevitably overreach and the public slaps the system back into equilibrium. Remember: Gridlock is NOT a bad thing.


US Senate: Republican gain of 7, just short of a majority. Evan does a great job breaking it down race-by-race and I don't disagree with him except with Reid & Illinois. I think Reid survives and the Chicago union vote keeps that seat for the Dems.

Texas Goober: Rick Perry by 6 or 7. That feels low, but it's where I started back in February and it's where I'm staying. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a double digit win however.

The rest of the Statewide ballot: Republicans by a land-slide, and the world will be no poorer except in the case of Jeff Weems, who appears to be the superior candidate. Expect some screeching by Dems (and some closed-door soul-searching) after the carnage.


Texas House: Republicans pick up 10+ seats. After all, it's a tidal-wave election here as well.


Texas Senate: No change to speak of. This chamber likes to stay fairly static. It didn't react all that much to the Democratic wave and I don't think it will change much here. I expect the Dems to be 1 or 2 Senators above the quorum line putting a run to Oklahoma back on the table.


Harris County: I wouldn't be surprised if the Republicans won back just about everything. If the voting trends hold that is. If the Dems can bring the voting balance back to 53-50 outside/inside Beltway 8 then some incumbent Demos could survive.

Harris County judges: The Kevin Fine ad was brilliant. He's gone, and so are most of the other Democratic judges that were voted in back in '08.


Proposition 1: Fail. It will be close, but the tea-leaves I'm reading say it won't pass. That it shouldn't, being poorly conceived and a special-interest disaster waiting to happen, is another item all-together. (after the election it would be good if the media took a look at why local advocates take different stands on corporate welfare on a local and national level but I'm not holding my breath.)

Proposition 2: Pass. This will be close as well, but I think it squeaks through.

Proposition 3: Pass. The recent poll showing 60% of Houstonians being in favor of RLC's pretty much summed up what's going to happen here.


That's it. Anything else out there I haven't paid enough attention to to have a strong opinion one way or the other.


If you don't like these predictions, go vote and try and change them.

Take a Deep Breath America

Before all of this gets out of hand....


Fortunately, I guess, in the background it sounded like at least one Paul supporter (sorta) had a cool head, telling the stomper to stop. Thank goodness for that.

Locally we've seen party-bloggers calling for violence toward their political opposites so you wonder just how far we are from some group deciding they've had enough and a serious fight breaking out?


In lieu of that, here are some tips to remember courtesy of HCA:


1. Just because one of them is an idiot doesn't mean they all are. - Did you hear the guy telling the other guy to stop it? Yeah, that's what most people would do. Don't forget that.

2. Tune out the fringe - I'm not saying don't join a tea-party or don't get active with the Democratic Party, but when people start advocating violence or feel the need to use juvenile vulgarities when referencing the other party it's time to tell them to go to time out and re-evaluate where they are in life.

3. It's Politics - Really. No matter who wins we're all losers. American politics is like going to a carnival with a million barkers and no acts. All sound no substance.

4. There's always someone bigger. - Remember that, the next time you think you want to push down on that woman's head. She could have a husband or boyfriend or friend who's 6-2 250 and can beat the crap out of you.


Most importantly....be nice. Life's too short to get angry over politics. Save it for the important things like your football team imploding.

This is why bad politicians get re-elected.

On the one hand, you have Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, entangled in a nepotism scandal and generally considered to be at-risk despite the fact that her district is heavily Democratic.

On the other hand......


Today's candidate for the "dumbest politician of the year" award....

(GOP Candidate: I can't rule out violence, Melanie Mason, Dallas Morning News via Chronblog)

Republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden stunned his party Thursday, saying he would not rule out violent overthrow of the government if elections did not produce a change in leadership.

In a rambling exchange during a TV interview, Broden, a South Dallas pastor, said a violent uprising "is not the first option," but it is "on the table." That drew a quick denunciation from the head of the Dallas County GOP, who called the remarks "inappropriate."

Broden, a first-time candidate, is challenging veteran incumbent Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas' heavily Democratic 30th Congressional District. Johnson's campaign declined to comment on Broden.

In the interview, Brad Watson, political reporter for WFAA-TV (Channel 8), asked Broden about a tea party event last year in Fort Worth in which he described the nation's government as tyrannical.

"We have a constitutional remedy," Broden said then. "And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."

I would think it is pretty hard to run a losing campaign against an incumbent with so much high-profile baggage. Broden is, amazingly, succeeding at this.

Campaign 101: It's typically not wise to call for the violent overthrow of the government you're asking voters to elect you to.


Tomorrow's class: Holding up a baby is a good photo op, holding the mother of the baby is not, unless it's your baby that is.

Three Things (Obama T-shirt edition)

(Obama T-Shirt serves as voting "dress code" reminder, Kevin Reece, KHOU)

1. It's amazing how many people are willfully ignorant of the law. To the point that they dispute it (for them) even after it's been read out loud.

2. I'm glad to see that Tea Party shirts are banned as well. Electioneering is electioneering no matter the ideology.




3. Good Gawd that was an ugly T-shirt. Were I to wear an Obama shirt I'd wear one of the Warhol looking ones or something.


My favorite line:

"That’s not going to roll with me. Is it going to roll with you?”

I don't know about you but "the law" typically rolls pretty OK with me. Obviously not for these two.

So much for that voter Intimidation

(Harris Co. officials find no evidence of voter intimidation; co. attorney Ryan mediating election spat, says no conflict in donation to Houston Votes; feds not investigating tea party group, Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog*)


I'm going to reproduce part of this story here:

And all accusations of intimidation were looked into by the Harris County Clerk’s Office, which found no proof of any malfeasance, said Hector DeLeon, a spokesman for the office.

“We processed 26,031 votes, we had 14 complaints, all from Democrats, of intimidation,” DeLeon said. "We had no complaints on Tuesday or [Wednesday]."

Representatives from his office went to each site of a complaint, spoke with officials there and found nothing to uphold any allegation of trouble, he said.

Still, Ryan called for a monitor from the U.S. Department of Justice, although reports that the DOJ was looking into any particular group – including declarations that some tea party members were involved in the intimidation accusations -- were incorrect.

DOJ: No investigation into any specific political organization, tea party

“The department is looking into allegations of misconduct in polling places that occurred in Harris County during the first day of early voting,” DOJ spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said via e-mail. “There is no investigation into any specific political organization, including the tea party, at this time regarding this matter.”

Birnberg, the Democratic party chair, insists there was intimidation and that it has continued.

"The complaints the clerk's office deals with are different from the complaints we are receiving," he said. "We get the documented stories of intimidation, from credible sources. One was on the board of trustees at Houston Community College. One worked for a Texas senator."

The fracas, which involves investigations, lawsuits, ethics complaints and allegations of intimidation and improper activity at polling sites, stems from Vasquez' assertion in August that Houston Votes had turned in thousands of faulty voter registrations. The lame-duck Republican compared the work of Houston Votes to that of the much-maligned ACORN in a press conference.

The King Street Patriots is a conservative group that has taken up squelching voter fraud as a key issue, through its True the Vote arm. It provided Vasquez research of its findings before that press conference.

It’s too early for the King Street Patriots to file a tax form 990, which would shed light on the scope of its operation.

So much for that. It's good to see that the Department of Justice is still going to be out there just in case. We don't want voter intimidation occurring on either side.



Also: This Texas Watchdog story, about City produced videos for City bonds in Austin is worth reading as well.





*Texas Watchdog has very nicely made this story available for reproduction through a creative commons license, however, I'm too crunched for time to replicate all of the code. I encourage you to head over and read the whole thing.

A Question of Politicking.

Here's one....


One of the main complaints against King Street Patriots by the Harris County Democratic Party is that they're "using a non-profit corporation to conduct a de-facto political operation on behalf of Republicans".

I point this out because, today, Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas Inc. released their 2010 Election Endorsements and the endorsed candidates are *gasp* ALL DEMOCRATS.


They even missed the obvious by endorsing Gordon Quan over Ed Emmett.


Which raises the obvious questions: Is Planned Parenthood conducting de-facto political activity for the Democratic Party while operating as a non-profit?

If so, will this be reported with the same vigor by Texas' lazy political media as the KSP/HCDP story?





One thing I know for sure, the echo chamber of the InterLeft won't have the same outrage over PP as they are mustering up over KSP, although the right's echo chamber might. They LOVE a good anti-PP story dontcha know. Despite their silence I'm going to use a closer from the sexiest* member of the InterLeft:


Stay tuned.....








*You can come back whenever Slampo....just sayin.

Afternoon Election stuff

If campaigns were bad 80's movie sequals......


Desperately Seeking Scandals Nevermind that there's evidence this is a settled matter in which the charges were found to be wanting.



Dirty Rotten Tea-Partiers - It's convenient that all of this anti-Mexican Tea Party stuff takes place off-camera and is only witnessed by Democrtic representatives is it not?



The Paper Chase II: Nepotism At least this time it was done the old-fashined way....with family


UHF II: Still more unwatchable crap. Some time, after this election, we're going to need to have a serious discussion about the sorry state of campaign ads.


All the Democrat's Men...er....& Women. Good question by Evan, bad reporting by Benton. The state of State political reporting is dire.

Harris County Democrats sue King Street Patriots (UPDATED)

...offer up amateurish word document as proof of case.

I'm sure they have more than this, and they might even have a case, but if candidates 'attending' KSP events is grounds for a lawsuit then every church headed by a member of the Black Pastor's Association had better hold on to their pews....

Instead of going after King Street, what I think the HCDP is doing here is laying the groundwork for a series of legal challenges to the many races in which they are now expecting to come up short. The new Democratic plan (Post W vs. Gore) has been "sue, sue, sue" then the voters lean the opposite way and work hard to dissolve trust in the voting system.

I'm not sure just yet what the end game is here, but systemic attacks against our democratic system are not rare in history. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

(UPDATE)

It's interesting to note that, on the same day the HCDP added KSP to their lawsuit the George Soros/Matt Angle backed Texans for Public Justice filed an ethics complaint against KSP based almost entirely on reporting found in another Colorado Model media outlet, The American Independent, which was then dutifully carried by another Colorado Model "news" outlet The Texas Tribune which conveniently forgot to disclose TPJ's funding ties to Texas Democratic king-maker Matt Angle.*


So we have several (allegedly) Democratic partisan groups suing and filing ethics complaints against an (allegedly) Republican partisan group for (allegedly) performing the exact same actions they're (allegedly) involved in.









*Thanks to Kevin Whited for helping me connect the dots on this issue

Down the stretch they come.....

As early voting spools up the typical last-minute hilarity is running along at full speed, trailing candidates are throwing a bunch of mud at the wall in hope something sticks and the poor, old, overlooked (in their mind) media, is getting creative in their desire to have something that resembles a time when they actually mattered in elections. The big winner? Evan Smith of the Bill White Texas Tribune, a Colorado model organization that's doing a commendable job of framing the issues in the current election. More and more it seems as if the Trib and Harvey Kronberg of the Quorum Report are defining the narrative, while traditional pulp media outlets are following along in their wake.

This is a big deal, a very big deal if you're wondering what the future of Texas elections could look like going forward. More and more it's looking like the decision by the Perry campaign to bypass newspaper editorial boards and to not agree to a traditional debate is going to be a winning one, and that not receiving a single recommendation from them is going to be inconsequential. Think about that for a bit, and then think about why that's a big deal.