What’s it Gonna Take Texas Democrats?

I’m tired of watching the Texas Democratic Party get steam rolled, time after time, after time. After 1994, I lost interest in Texas politics because that’s how long it’s been since a Democrat has won a state-wide election. I know it’s an upward climb because the gerrymandered districts look like a snake trail to favor white Republican candidates. I also understand elections matter because the winner gets to draw the congressional districts. Whining is not the answer, so we must follow the examples of the 2012 voters, who fought the voter suppression laws by standing in lines for hours; in defiance.

I don’t think Governor Rick Perry will run for governor this time around, so Senator Wendy Davis would probably run against Atty. General Greg Abbott, who is to the right of the governor we have now. I think she needs to paint Abbott as the right-wing extremist he is, early in the campaign. Ordinarily, Senator Davis would have a funding disadvantage but her recent notoriety gained her a check from Moveon.org for $240,000.Some might say that money from Moveon.Org, and Hollywood liberals will hurt her chances in Texas, but I think she can overcome that, besides, I doubt she would get votes from that crowd anyway. Texas is a red state and not a bastion for independents. The only negative is giving up that important Senate seat.

The new voter ID law will certainly hurt since 600,000 voter eligible people do not have a valid picture ID. Student IDs will not be accepted and over 80% of the 600,000 without pictured IDS are Hispanic. The rest are elderly who normally don’t have a need for a picture ID.

Texas Democrats have a problem with name recognition and a weak bench but after Wendy’s filibuster, which was seen nationally by 200,000 folks, more and more networks are asking Texas Democrats to appear on their shows. Rick Perry doesn’t realize how damaging his condescending words towards Senator Davis were. He’s the 2013 version of Clayton Williams. A Wendy Davis/Julian Castro gives the Democrats a one/two punch as governor and lieutenant governor and name recognition. They won’t take over the House and the Senate anytime soon, but it puts their foot in the front door.

Wendy certainly has a lot of ammunition that she can use because she can point to GOP controlled states where they all have overreached. She can stick with education, health care, and a living wage, as their part of her platform. She can let the Republicans talk all they want to about small businesses because most people are wage earners. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hillary Clinton made Texas one of her frequent stops. Her opponent can demonize Hillary at their own peril. When Clinton ran in the Texas Democratic primary against Barack Obama in 2008 - about 3 million voters showed up – that’s double the number who turned out in the 2012 GOP primary when Mitt Romney was the Republican nominee.

I continue to think local elections don’t have much to do with party affiliation and people at that level  will change parties depending on which way the wind blows.

Nationally, I’m very optimistic because of the make-up of today’s GOP. We have a local longtime Republican who thinks climate change is about fluctuating temperatures. No, we already know that the planet is hot and we are now discussing the rising sea levels and the more destructive storms due to the heat. We have another local poster who thinks Republican men should tell women about their health care choices. I can tell you the result of the first Republican who runs on a platform of supporting an amendment to ban gay- marriage. House Republicans representing very conservative districts will always vote against a comprehensive immigration reform bill, and the federal party will suffer the consequences. The national GOP is just now waking up to the fact that most voters are wage earners not business people. Let them keep supporting coal fired plants,banning the EPA,getting rid of the IRS and more tax cuts for rich people. The Democrats need to continue to support the ACA,background checks,students,the poor and tax reform and they will continue to win national elections. North Carolina under their new Republican governor just eliminated unemployment insurance.

It’s up to us, do we want to continue to be door mats or do we take advantage of the everyday gifts the GOP hands us? It’s in our hands but there are 1.2 million unregistered voters in Texas and at least that many who don’t vote. We have the numbers;it’s getting them to the polls where we have a huge problem.

Unruly Mob?

I thought it was a bad idea for Mayor Polasek to be addressing posters on our on-line forum. I thought that the posters would be disrespectful, but that wasn’t the case yesterday. I thought yesterday’s comments led to an informative civil discussion, and I hope it continues. I wish I could only say that for state and national politics.

I guess it depends on what side of the fence you are on, when it comes to defining a mob. Three years ago, those of us interested in passing health care,may have thought that the tea partiers were unruly mobs at their town-hall meetings and on the steps of the capital, the day health care was passed. The other day the people rooting for Senator Wendy Davis were called an unruly mob. This morning Joe Scarborough said that if pro-lifers were shouting from the capital gallery, they would be called a disorderly mob.

Governor Rick Perry allowed the recent loss of the GOP’s very restrictive abortion measure, to get the best of him. The governor made a very condescending remark about Texas Senator Wendy Davis.. Perry said “Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can’t lead successful lives?” Perry asked in a speech at a convention held by the National Right to Life organization. “Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances. She’s the daughter of as single woman, she was a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School and serve in the Texas Senate. It’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example: that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential, and that every life matters.” The issue was much more than that and he knows it. Those remarks don’t dignify the office he holds especially since he knows that he called a special session in which he has a good chance of passing the abortion bill he wants.

This morning I heard Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst tell a Fox anchor, Bill Hemmer, in an interview, after he said "You put out a statement, I think yesterday, that said you were furious". Dewhurst responded, "Absolutely. I've always been a strong protector of women's health and the rights of the pre-born, but Bill, I'm really mad. The will of the people of Texas is not going to be thwarted by Obama-style mob tactics. We can't permit that in the state of Texas."

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/dewhurst-brings-obama-into-abortion-debate-9497.shtml

The strongest words I heard from a Democrat after the strike down of the enforcement mechanism of the Voting Right Act came from John Lewis. He said it stuck a dagger into the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The president said he strongly disagreed with ruling, but he did not resort to language that is beneath his office.

Senator Rand Paul told Glenn Beck that the Supreme Court Ruling for same-sex marriage opened the door to bestiality, but then he remembered about his presidential aspirations and cleaned up his statement before going on CNN where he backtracked those words.

There’s A Difference Between Boasting and Bragging

There’s nothing wrong with having a lot of Texas  pride, and I do but make sure that your statements are based, in fact, and can be verified. Otherwise, you will be characterized as being a political hack  like Governor Rick Perry was in the Republican presidential primaries.

I talking to you, Mack Simons, of Wharton, Texas because your recent letter- to- the -letter was loaded with inaccuracies either by intent or ignorance. I say ignorance because I’m assuming you researched the statements in your letter before you submitted it. It starts with the title “ Washington needs budget advice from Texas.” Are you kidding me? We had to address a $27 billion shortfall in the last budget. You may have liked the idea that taxes were not raised but education and health care were cut in our never-ending  race to the bottom in funding those programs.

I know Governor Perry made a big stink about not taking those evil government stimulus funds, but in reality our governor took those funds to help balance 97% of the 2010 shortfall and had billions left over for Texas’s rainy-day fund. You see we had a $6.6 billion shortfall in 2010, but that was paid for with the $6.4 billion Recovery Act funds.I won’t even mention all the military bases and NASA money, but you can read it for yourself here.

You stated that President Obama rewarded the union stooges when the administration continued the auto bailout started by President George W. Bush. As I the remember the story, no other American industry stepped up to help the auto industry, and our country was about to lose another million jobs from the auto companies and the industries connected to it. I also remember that the union workers took concessions  where eye coverage and dental coverage were lost, and their wages went from an average of $29 to $17 an hour. It only took me a couple of minutes to pull up that information from an old Washington Post article (reprinted by the Huffington Post)to refresh my memory but don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself here. It’s funny how free market conservatives have a problem with those making good union wages.

I’m not even going to try to contradict your concept that Governor Perry was a financial genius. In fact, I don’t understand  his ten-year plan of expanding our criminal-justice  system and then laying off the ones in the Texas Department of Criminal-Justice  Inmate Construction Group to make good a pledge of giving teachers a pay raise. I’ll have to look it up but based on the contents of your letter;I bet there’s more than meet –the- eye to your account of the facts. I guess you know that employed public employee's money consumes just as much as those in private industries. I understand the goal in your mind is zero public and union employees.

Recently only 49 Republicans voted for the  $50 billion relief for the victims of Sandy and 179 Republicans voted against it. The so-called fiscal hawks said there was too much pork in the bill and the others wanted off-sets. Hypocrites, disaster funds have always been bipartisan  but Sandy hit areas where the voters usually vote for Democrats ,so now it’s mostly pork, or it needs to be off-set. No;the fiscal cliff was not about pork, Mr. Simons;it was a bill that didn’t allow higher taxes on 99% of Americans but like Sandy relief, it took the Democrats to see to it that it passed. It’s pretty obvious that only one party is governing, and the other party is always protesting.

I agree that we need to get our fiscal house in order but let's bring all the proposals to the table. Let's not be fixated on ways to cut programs to the poor,Planned Parenthood, austerity measures only because I'm pretty sure conservatives don't think it's right that multi- millionaire hedge fund mangers get to pay their carried interest at capital gains rate of 15%. That's a start and we could go from there and most people agree where the three biggest items in our budget are. Concentrating on the little things like waste and handouts is like trying to balance the family budget by giving up coffee and beer but forgetting the mortgage and car payment or finding ways to work overtime.  

It’s about time democrats

Democrats are finally taking charge and controlling the message. It wasn't that long ago when the republicans made the debt and the deficit the number one problem. The democrats have stuck with their job's message, and it's working,now all they have to do is hold it for dear life, for the next fifteen months.

I don't know whether President Obama intentionally upstaged the GOP's September 7th debate by asking for a televised joint session speech on jobs and the economy on the same night of their debate.. The president's spokesman said we only have one president, and the GOP will have about 20 debates, besides, they can schedule the debate after the president's speech. Yes, the GOP debate was scheduled a long time ago, but it's not easy to get national air time for a presidential speech. The Republican presidential candidates all have a chance to rebut the president's speech, and tell the country how they would create jobs. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have job's plans, but they are the same republican boilerplates plans; cut corporate taxes, zero taxes on dividends and capital gains, and repeal EPA regulations and Dodd-Frank. I still don't know how those plans will make consumers spend more because we have a housing crisis and a demand problem.

This August recess republican town hall meetings have been disrupted by people announcing their displeasure over Social Security and Medicare cuts while not asking for the top 2% to contribute more. A couple of nights ago one constituent stood up and asked a prominent republican to lift the cap on the Social Security wage tax on the employee and employer, in contrast to cutting benefits or raising the retirement age. Constituents all over the country are making their views known to the representatives, especially those that will serve on the super committee.

Most of the president's supporters want him to go for it all, knowing that the republicans won't pass his proposal, but it will give them an issue they can campaign on. The republicans will deny anything short of tax and spending cuts. The democrats will make their case that you can't lower the deficit and create the environment for more jobs at the same time. They will make the case that more jobs will create the tax revenues necessary to lower the deficit. The democrats will answer the demand problem by putting more people to work so they can afford to buy the big-ticket items, like cars and homes.

This morning Joe Scarborough was talking about in FDR's social programs, infrastructure projects, and a message of caring brought us back to prosperity. He said while not as severe, Ronald Reagan's policies brought us back from financial ruins of the 1980s by lowering taxes. That leads me to believe that economics' is not really a science because human beings can be manipulated. It's certainly not proof that Keynesian economics' does not work because a good percentage of the stimulus package was tax cuts. It may not be popular to say, but I think America is a hybrid nation with the basis being capitalism mixed in with a little of socialism. Since we have a central banking system, we will never have a true capitalist society because we like our VA medical care, Social Security and Medicare, we just don't like to take the steps to pay for them.

It's still early but the pundits are already saying Rick Perry is running away with the nomination because the Tea Party will never back Mitt Romney. Governor Perry cannot run away from what he wrote in his book 10 months ago; he took a pretty radical stand by calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. I don't know what caused Ron Paul's fall to fifth place, but I suspect his interview with Anderson Cooper might have had something to do with it. They both argued over the role of FEMA where Ron Paul finally had to admit that government does have a role to play in rescue efforts. It didn't surprise me that kinky Friedman is now supporting Rick Perry; I listened to his message and knew instantly that he was not a Democrat.

It's still early in the whacky world of national politics.

Things aren’t always as they seem

I probably shouldn't be so judgmental but the Rick Perry "Day of Prayer" threw me for loop, so much that I started laughing. It went from being unconstitutional, a separation of church and state event, the usual battle between Christians and non-Christians and even took a little detour to Tripoli. The threads and blogs have a life of their own, but this one took the cake for now. I think that I made one comment to point out some of the controversial pastors and their views.

I didn't see anything wrong with the governor having his Day of Prayer even thou it excluded Muslims and homosexuals, and I didn't see anything wrong with posters pointing that out. The Houston Chronicle and the Victoria Advocate gave the event a front-page status, and I thought it was proper; since 30,000, people attended the event and its national prominence warranted front page status. It is my opinion that the governor had a political motive. I also think that wearing his religion on his sleeve will help him with the base in Iowa. He will get the evangelical vote over Michelle Bachmann, but that's not saying much. I think the independents want to hear his economic views not his religious ones. While I'm on Rick Perry, I wonder if his budget prowess will surface. According to an article from Sunday's Houston Chronicle written by Patricia Kilday Hart, the attendees to the prayer vigil, organized by the governor were treated to 12,000 tons of air conditioning. That's great, but many of our state's poor and elderly will not benefit as well because the republican legislators dipped into the $650 million fund set aside to help the poor elderly and disabled citizens, to balance the state budget. This was done to keep the “no tax pledge." The System Benefit Fund was created by Representative Sylvester Turner. The bill tacked a small monthly fee onto everyone's utility bills to provide aid to the needy. About 500,000, Texans receive this aid. The Public Utilities Commission reduced the percentage of assistance offered each consumer from 17% of a monthly bill to 10%. Using, accounting tricks like these, was how the governors balance their budget. There are times legislators will not give their employees a cost to living raise but instead will offer them a pension or benefit increases. When hard times hit, it's easy to convince the public that their excessive benefits are putting a strain on the state's budget. They won't tell you that the employees did not get their cost of living wage increases.

I find it utterly useless to argue with some posters that are stuck on stuff they hear on talk radio. I found it amusing that a poster thought 1400 millionaires who didn't pay any taxes was not so bad because it only represented 1% of the millionaires. If two millionaires didn't pay their taxes, it's a crying shame because he's the first one to point out welfare fraud. A blogger thought it was fitting that welfare recipients be drug tested. I think discretion should be used and not just hold their predicament to standards you wouldn't put on other human beings. The poor and the middle class don't have a lobby, but I can never understand how people one paycheck away from being on unemployment; can vilify those that aren't so fortunate.

I can never understand how someone can take a position of superiority just because they have a different opinion or ideology. I don't think being a liberal democrat automatically makes me dumber than the person I'm having a discussion with. I've often praised conservatives who have a different opinion. The other night I almost stood up and applauded with MSNBC's liberal host Lawrence O'Donnell and his staff as they stood up and applauded the actions of a conservative governor of New Jersey, Chris Christi. I have my differences with Governor Chris Christie, because I think, he's an egotistical bully but on this occasion, he was a leader. Christie called the critics of Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who he appointed to a judgeship in New Jersey, "crazy" and "ignorant" and saying he was tired of hearing "crap" about Sharia law spreading in the United States."

We are just one cog in the wheel

It was very self satisfying to see an original poster (Pilot) spank a new poster named jasonbourne (with an "e") down to size. The poster, jasonbourne, did not like the idea of a Tejano Monument being erected at the statehouse to honor their descendants. He (jasonbourne) is entitled to his own opinion, but he let it be known that he had an agenda when he posted "They don't need a monument. They have an entire STATE!!!." People like to call Victorians" country hicks" but that does not keep us from reading between the lines. Pilot quickly picked up on this and dressed down the poster with some well chosen words .I've always said " you better have your ducks in a row, if you're going to do battle with a wordsmith."

I know I don't get out much but when I do I don't see all this political bickering that we do in our forum. I bet that I can still walk downtown nod, smile, and say hello to 20 people and 19 will respond accordingly. That other person was too busy texting. I know some individuals develop new personalities when they get behind a keyboard, but it doesn't have to be that way. I'm obviously opinionated or I wouldn't be writing a couple of blogs, but I'm the same person away from my keyboard. My religion has this ritual of shaking hands with people around you and saying the words" may peace be with you" but I've always suspected the sincerity of that message. I've always wondered if we would express the same feelings if I encountered the person who shook my hand at a different time and place. Would they shake my hand if they knew I was pro-choice and thought Governor Rick Perry's "Day of Prayer" coincided with his run for the presidency? If ideology can divide us, do we really mean" may peace be with you" or is it just, for the moment, and the remainder of the mass? It sounds cynical but I'm a person that hates superficial. Oops. That's an opening for Kyle..:-)

I think John Kennedy inspired Democrats and Republicans alike, but I didn't really get interested in politics until I heard a young Bill Clinton in Houston. We didn't intend to go to his political rally, but we were in downtown Houston, saw the crowd and decided to check it out. That silver tongue devil immediately got my wife's vote, but I really liked what he said about the economy and his plans to revive it. It was that Monday when I got to work and shared my experience with my coworkers that I found out how divided we were. I wasn't interested in politics until the 1992 election year and probably voted for George H.W. Bush over Michael Dukakis. I was already in my mid forties, but I was more interested in sports, music and other types of entertainment. If my coworkers hadn't been so adamant about their dislike for Bill Clinton,liberals and democrats, I probably would have never become a political junkie. I thank them for that and after my wife saw Obama getting kicked around by the right, she became more political astute. She now sits down and watches a few political shows but she still would rather watch “One Life to Live" and “Dancing with the Stars.

It's funny because it shows just how much the media plays in our lives. I was surprised at a poll that showed only 18% thought we should raise the debt limit. After two weeks of “debt ceiling" bombardment, the general public became educated, and now it's up to 38% that think we should raise the debt limit and 55% think we will suffer a serious economic impact if we don't. It's the media's job to educate, and it's ours to absorb that education because we're only one cog in the wheel.

Rick Perry for Prez ????

Run Rick run......Texans remember this is what he is capable of at the state level.

Governor Rick Perry said he would consider running for president now that he has been inspired by Rush Limbaugh. Governor Perry has been a governor of Texas since the year 2000, and he does have an impressive resume but that is not enough to beat president Obama. I can see him wooing the evangelicals in Iowa and South Carolina plus the libertarians in New Hampshire, so he could be up and running with the first three states in his pocket. His competition for the evangelicals could be Michelle Bachmann, but I’m sure they know that she's unelectable. It's the same in New Hampshire where Ron Paul would be his competition but the electorate knows that Ron Paul is not capable of going all the way. Those first three states might give in the momentum, money, and the press he needs. He will have to get two new political aides because his two top aides are in the Newt Gingrich campaign. If Perry waits for a couple of weeks they should be available after Newt Gingrich bows out of his campaign that's running on life-support.

All these years he served as governor, I don't really know what Rick Perry knows. He refused to campaign against his democratic opponent and Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina didn't challenge him. The governor will be able to brag about our low unemployment and business climate in the republican primaries. If he gets to the big time, president Obama will rake him over the coals on education and Health Care. President Obama might have a question of two about his 10th amendment stance and secession. I don't see an opportunity for him to get out his message being in a field of 10 presidential candidates. He will have to get at least 5% in the polls to be heard in the debates.

Who knows, I never gave it much thought until Edith Ann mentioned it a few days ago because the pundits haven't mentioned him....I still don't think he is running but I've been wrong before.

Just a few minutes ago his spokesman emailed this:

Shortly after reports surfaced suggesting that Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is considering a potential presidential bid in 2012, his spokesman said he's not.
"Nothing has changed," Mark Miner told National Journal in an e-mail. "The governor has no intention of running for president."