15 January 2009
TX Senate GOP: What damaged brand?
Senate Republicans put the GOP first, not issues that matter (Austin American Statesman)
Forget the $9.1 billion drop in projected state revenues and the state's slowing economy.
Never mind the scandals in the Texas Youth Commission and state schools for Texans with mental retardation. Or that the Texas Department of Transportation made a $1 billion budget error, and not in the state's favor.
No, for Republicans in the Texas Senate, the most important crisis facing the State of Texas is: voter fraud. That's the first issue the Senate GOP majority addressed Wednesday — the second day of the 81st legislative session.
You'll find a similarly critical refrain (although perhaps more heated) on just about any lefty political blog in the state.
And they are right.
The Texas GOP could be focused on conservative solutions to the problems facing Texans, and making those solutions a priority. Voter ID could be on that list (but not at the top of it), and so could Ike relief (not a concern for the Austin newspaper or many lefty bloggers, for whatever reason).
Instead, the Senate GOP just set a horrible precedent in casting aside a great conservative institutional rule (the so-called Blocker Bill that frustrates passage of all legislation, a tradition that's almost too good to be true for conservative/libertarian types who like it to be difficult to pass legislation) -- and did so in order to move forward on an issue (Voter ID) that probably has majority support but arouses no great passions in anyone but hardcore party activists. If they were going to toss (conservative) tradition aside, at least do it to move forward more stringent appraisal caps, something that voters might remember once a year when it comes time to pay taxes.
On top of that, this news completely overshadowed the lovefest around the new House speaker, which is unfortunate for the GOP, because the GOP-led House hasn't been generating many lovefests since... well, pretty much taking power.
The Texas GOP brand is damaged. Giving ammo to your political opponents only damages the brand further (not to mention making it easier for them to pass legislation when they eventually regain the majority -- because no majority is permanent in politics).
At some point, one can't really blame voters who get fed up with it and look elsewhere for solutions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/15/09 22:31 | Texas | Technorati |
03 October 2008
Huh?
Callie had the best reaction to this odd ad from Big Bad John: Why is he impersonating Ansel Adams?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/08 08:39 | Texas | Technorati |
25 March 2008
A big blunder for a Texas pol
Noriega goofs words to “Deep in the Heart…” (W. Gardner Selby, Austin American Statesman)
A video taped March 13-15 by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, promoting Rick Noriega for the U.S. Senate, yields two memorable factoids, and a singing gaffe.
Noriega, a Houston state representative, is the first Democrat to win his party’s Senate nomination in a multi-candidate primary without a runoff since 1976. And he eats his barbecue (brisket and ribs) with a napkin tucked in his shirt.
In seriousness, Noriega tells a group: “Are we going to have the resources to compete?” With whom? With Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, it goes unsaid. “I’m telling you, it’s getting ready to get tough.”
The video opens with Noriega singing what seems to be a verse of “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” though I was alerted by Cornyn’s camp that he gets the words wrong. Noriega sings: “The stars are bright and big at night.” The actual lyrics? “The stars at night are big and bright…”
Nicely done.
You'd think they might have budgeted some money to FIX the gaffe in the video. That they did not is probably reflective of just how little money the national party intends to spend on a race it's unlikely to win.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/08 23:31 | Texas | Technorati |
Endorsing Rev. Wright
First, irritation (Letters, Houston Chronicle)
All of the hoopla about the comments of Pastor Jeremiah Wright recalls the old adage that the truth will set you free — but it will first piss you off.
STATE REP. HAROLD V. DUTTON JR.
Houston
It's surprising to see any pol endorsing "Reverend" Wright's extremism as "truth." Wow.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/08 23:06 | Texas | Technorati |
21 March 2007
Fun Time
Rich Connelly notes in the Houston Press that license renewals are about to become FUN in Texas:
The federal Real ID act requires everyone renewing a license after May 11, 2008, to present a passport or birth certificate and a valid Social Security card. (After doing it once, you can then go back to online renewals.)
That's 16 million Texans who will have to be processed over a five-year period.
"It's going to be a little slice of heaven," Mange says.
For the first year alone, DPS is budgeting $160 million for increased personnel, extended office hours and possibly new locations to handle the crush.
States can opt out of the Real ID program -- there are bills before the legislature calling for Texas to do so -- but then those states are considered "non-compliant" by the feds. And that means you wouldn't be able to use your driver's license to board a plane or get in any federal building.
Some dozen states have already opted out. The hope among some folks is that if enough states do so, the feds will have to adjust their plans.
If that doesn't happen, though, you can look forward to waiting with millions of your fellow Texans as a state bureaucracy tries to handle a flood of new transactions in an untested process.
I feel safer, don't you?
Especially since a library card and social security card can be used as forms of identification to get on plane.
Yep. Definitely safer.
Asininity.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/07 22:46 | Texas | Technorati |
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