Rick Perry vs World

16 February 2014

We are under invasion

Dannie Goeb was born up in Nancy Pelosi country -- in fact, Pelosi's father was mayor when Goeb/Patrick was born. So I am entirely in agreement with Dan Patrick that we Texans are under invasion.

But then again, shock jocks gonna shock jock. They'll call Ted Cruz a liar, "endorse" Cruz's opponent and then do a Wendy Davis-style flip-flop a few months later and proclaim that Cruz should be president.

Is that who we want to be one heartbeat away from 1010 Colorado?

Posted by Evan @ 02/16/14 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

12 February 2014

Now we know why Wendy Davis has been shutting out Texas media

Remember how the Wendy Davis campaign tried to deal with the fallout of her exaggerated bio in late January by cancelling interviews with reporters and shutting off press access while stage-managing awkward photo ops and throwing up political Hail Mary desperation plays?

Now we know why! The Davis campaign was running to the New York Times to try to change the narrative:

One sunny Friday morning in late January, Wendy Davis took me on a two-hour tour of the life she led just a decade or so ago, back when she was a city councilwoman and the world knew nothing of her. . .

Robert Draper wrote a favorable article about Wendy (!) Davis a few months ago, laying out the most favorable case that Wendy Davis in fact had some semblance of a chance to win as a liberal in Texas.

Since Davis's campaign was so pleased with Draper's previous article, they went back to the well. And they'll like what they got: hagiography that repeats all of Matt Angle's talking points with barely a whisper of criticism.

Early on Draper suggests that Wendy Davis exaggerations and distortions of her biography are a story because...she's female.

But [the controversy over falsities in Davis's bio] was also very much the story of a female politician -- and was thus fraught with choices for which male candidates are seldom second-guessed by either voters or pundits.

And yet, despite getting former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm on the record to cry sexism...

As former Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, a Democrat, told me: "Politics is so far behind the other sectors, I guess because in a democracy you have to appeal to the broadest spectrum in order to get elected. People still expect a more traditional thing from female politicians. Calling a man ambitious is seen as a positive thing. With a woman, it's a negative."

...the best quote Draper can get from a Republican is from frequent GOP critic Christie Todd Whitman:

Former Gov. Christie Whitman of New Jersey, a Republican, put it this way: "It's not that the questions about the accuracy of her narrative are illegitimate. It's the intensity of the questioning that's so disheartening."

Even Whitman acknowledges the legitimacy but questions the...intensity. I recall Whitman very intensely bashing Jim Florio's record back in the day, so this must be a newfound concern for her.

Later on, Draper tells us that:

To this end, Davis makes for an intriguing warrior. Even her political enemies concede her toughness.

The only support offered for that assertion comes from quotes by her fellow liberal Democrats in the Texas Senate, Kirk Watson and Rodney Ellis.

Posted by Evan @ 02/12/14 08:59 PM | Comments (0)

09 February 2014

Que bronca! Van de Putte is running because of Dewhurst

I listened to the rest of Leticia Van de Putte's interview with Evan Smith and one thing jumped out at me: the repeated shots at David Dewhurst, even when they were completely off topic.

The repetition made it seem like she is motivated to run by personal pique over Dewhurst's removal of Van de Putte from the chair of higher education. That's a bit strange when Dewhurst is reasonably likely to not even be in office next session.

There were oblique references to Buddy Barfield embezzling Dewhurst's campaign cash, Dewhurst's penthouse apartment, Dewhurst's business skills, Dewhurst not picking the right committee chairs (wonder who she was referring to?), and Dewhurst not understanding the Texas Senate. Honestly if I went back and took notes I would probably find a few more. It was bizarre how often she returned to the subject.

Van de Putte was never going to win. But if she were to have had any possibilities of winning, those would have been hurt by an interview that didn't really even feature any particularly difficult questions.

Posted by Evan @ 02/09/14 11:46 PM | Comments (0)

08 February 2014

Wendy Davis's running mate reacts to Wendy Davis's pandering

On Thursday, Evan Smith asked Leticia Van de Putte whether she agreed with her running mate Wendy Davis on open carry.

Leticia Van de Putte is flummoxed by Wendy Davis's pandering

Leticia Van de Putte looked flummoxed. I counted 9 seconds of uncomfortable silence where all she could say was "Well..." And this despite Evan Smith giving her a long lead-in to the question.

She looked upwards, darted her eyes back and forth, pursed her lips, said "Well...", got a pained look, pondered awkwardly a few seconds more, and then finally came up with a 2nd Amendment platitude.

Posted by Evan @ 02/08/14 09:09 PM | Comments (0)

07 February 2014

Wendy Davis logo looks like a sinking ship

If you are friends on Facebook with any Texan who is a Republican, then you've probably seen this at least a few times over the past few days.

Wendy Davis logo sinking ship

You'd think that the campaign would want to draw attention to Wendy, instead it's shoved awkwardly into a slanted position. It looks slightly better in the original blue/red/white color scheme, to be fair.

Campaign logos don't win or lose you elections. But for a campaign taking on friendly fire that increasingly looks befuddled, that is a very curious logo choice.

Posted by Evan @ 02/07/14 08:20 PM | Comments (0)

06 February 2014

Wendy Davis is throwing the Hail Mary in February

Wendy Davis's campaign decision to support open-carry will likely be one of the strangest decisions of the entire 2014 campaign cycle.

Wendy Davis has a long history of being anti-gun. As a city councilwoman in 2000, she proposed banning gun shows from the Fort Worth Convention Center and wanted the federal government to pass more gun control. During her first term in the Texas legislature, she voted against campus carry. The Texas State Rifle Association gives her a D grade, and the NRA gives her an F.

But Wendy Davis's campaign has been flailing about for weeks now, having alienated the press in her attempt to change the topic of conversation away from her many biographical exaggerations. Plus she faces the grim reality that she is a left-winger running in a right-of-center state.

What to do?

Apparently the best thing they could come up with on short notice was open carry. Anything to change the conversation, even at the very substantial risk of alienating her base.

You'd think they would have tried to find something that a swing voter could find believable. Nobody thinks that Wendy Davis actually supports open carry, given her record.

'Davis position is pragmatic. GovAnnRichards, vetoed concealed handgun, but George W. Bush made it major issue & defeated her.' #UniteBlue
— Turn Texas Blue (@UniteBlueTX) February 6, 2014

Will grassroots liberals will lose their enthusiasm? If you check Twitter, you can find people asking for their campaign donations back and other "progressives" saying that Wendy has lost their vote.

@WendyDavisTexas you just lost my support with your #opencarry stance. I want my donation back! #disappointed #gunsense
— courtney baron (@ernestthedog) February 6, 2014

Furthermore, are the rich liberals in San Francisco and New York City going to continue to fund a campaign that looks rudderless AND supports open carry? I'll wager she lost the possibility of any multi-million dollar Bloomberg ad blitz on her behalf.

This is a very strange decision from the Wendy Davis campaign. Not many campaigns feel like they have to throw a Hail Mary in February. And Wendy Davis sure doesn't look like Doug Flutie.

Posted by Evan @ 02/06/14 09:08 PM | Comments (0)

03 February 2014

Down with pay to play

More Mark Jones:

While a candidate's list of supporters provides valuable information about what type of executive, legislator or judge he or she would be if elected, Houston-area Republican primary voters would be wise to treat the multi-candidate "slate" endorsement lists arriving in their mailboxes with a healthy dose of skepticism. These endorsements frequently have less to do with a candidate's qualifications and "conservative credentials" and more to do with the candidate's willingness to "pay to play" and/or to their personal and professional relationships with the lists' proprietors.

What is unfortunate is that these work. To date, enough people don't realize that the LinkLetter is a bought endorsement.

Down with pay to play.

Posted by Evan @ 02/03/14 09:11 AM | Comments (0)

02 February 2014

Is it tougher for #txlege to lie to constituents?

Rice University's Mark Jones wrote a solid op-ed:

Opinion polls reveal that in recent years, a large majority of the Texans who vote in the GOP primary elections are very conservative. At the same time, many of the most conservative advocacy organizations have become increasingly sophisticated in monitoring and evaluating politicians and aggressive in backing candidates they support and in attacking those they oppose. For better or worse, the days of some elected officials being able to successfully maintain separate and distinct Austin and district personas appear to be numbered. (italics mine)

We'll see over the next few months. By and large the Joe Straus wing of the party has spent lots of time trying to blur the difference and appear to be less corporatist than it is actually is. There have been shadow groups created to try to confuse voters (eg, Texans for Fiscal Accountability) and scorecards that give left-wing Democrats more conservative marks than some right-wing Republicans.

Mark Jones has probably been one of the biggest reasons why it has been tougher to blur the differences. His scorecard is unimpeachable and lays bare the voting record of our representatives in Austin. This is a valuable public service.

Of course, in many races, to uncover these differences, you have to wipe away the near-identical "strong conservative" body paint the candidates have covered themselves with. But once you review each candidate's record, the individuals and groups supporting them and their platform, you will find in most instances that they are not all peas from the same pod.

Indeed they are not. But largely the ones trying to conceal their true beliefs are allied with Joe Straus. It is a shame that the Straus wing isn't a bit more honest in presenting their vision for Texas.

Given how the campaigns are playing out, their polling must show that to be a bad idea.

Posted by Evan @ 02/02/14 11:09 PM | Comments (0)

22 January 2014

Wendy Davis is Jack Ryan?

In late 2003, Republicans thought they had found the perfect candidate to win an open seat Senate race in blue state Illinois. Not only did the Democrats have a weak field full of infighting (a milquetoast rich guy, a union stooge, and the a guy with a funny name who was the most left-wing member of the Illinois state legislature), but Jack Ryan looked like a hero out of a novel.

The handsome Ryan could self-fund his campaign due to his partnership at GoldmanSachs. A Catholic, he went from public school to Dartmouth, and then got a JD/MBA from Harvard. Before becoming an investment banker he'd worked at a refugee camp for Central Americans escaping wars. He quit Goldman to teach at a Southside Chicago Catholic school in a tough neighborhood.

Over the early months of 2004, David Axelrod destroyed the milquetoast rich guy (Blair Hull) by getting his divorce records unsealed. There were some nasty allegations, Hull plummeted and that guy with the funny name picked up Hull's support.

Axelrod pulled the same trick on Jack Ryan. Despite the fact that his ex-wife supported his campaign, during the divorce she had alleged that they had been to sex clubs. There was no substantiation, just her allegation during a messy divorce. In fact, Ryan's ex-wife never even alleged infidelity and confirmed as such during the campaign.

Unlike Wendy Davis temporary restraining order, Jack Ryan never had a judge tell him that he needed to refrain from drugs and alcohol around his kids. He had one simple allegation against him, not the litany of things that a judge had to order Wendy Davis not to do.

Jack Ryan ended up withdrawing. Texas divorces often get TROs issued, but I sure wouldn't want to be running the campaign of someone who had one issued against them.

Oh...and Axelrod's client ended up in the White House.

Posted by Evan @ 01/22/14 09:38 PM | Comments (0)

03 January 2014

#MakeDCListen was Frank Luntz's "best political soundbite of 2013"

There is a problem in Washington, and the problem is bigger than a continuing resolution. It is bigger than ObamaCare. It is even bigger than the budget. The most fundamental problem and the frustration is that the men and women in Washington aren't listening. If you talk to the man and woman on the street, that is the message you hear over and over again: Why don't they listen to me? Why don't they hear what we have to say? They aren't listening to the millions of people, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, across the spectrum who say our elected officials get to Washington and they stop listening to the people.

FRANK LUNTZ: That was the best political soundbite of 2013. Regardless of whether you support or oppose his tactics and his techniques that language about Washington not listening did better than anything we tested from any senator, any congressman or the president. That is the number one rhetoric, and I'll tell you something: Congress and the White House need to pay attention to those words and listen.

If you watch the clip, 95% of Republicans reacted favorably and 75% of Democrats also reacted favorably.

Posted by Evan @ 01/03/14 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

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