Rick Perry vs World

19 September 2006

Tuesday Morning Quarterback

If you don't read Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, then you're really missing out. It's the most enjoyable writing around bout the NFL. It is cynical about conventional wisdom, adulating of cheerleaders, perpetually full of tangential digressions, and idiosyncratic to the max.

His most recent book The Progress Paradox was a favorite of mine too, although you should ignore the second half when he tries to prescribe policy. The first half is provocative though.

Posted by Evan @ 09/19/06 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

Media reviews

In high school, I wrote a regular column reviewing albums I liked. I even won first place in the state for my column. [That state has less people than Harris County -- ed. Yeah, well.] Once upon a time, I wanted to be a rock critic for the NME, but then I realized I don't particularly like listening to or reviewing music that I don't like. Also, working for the NME would involve living in London, and I'm not talking about London, TX.

Pat Green: Cannonball
Is Pat Green trying to hard? Is the pressure of going Nashville getting to him? This album just smacks of trying too hard for a certain sound, and it just doesn't work as a cohesive whole or as individual parts. And I'm not one of those people who thinks Pat Green lost it when he signed with a major label: his first two -- Three Days and Wave on Wave -- were fantastic. But this album and Lucky Ones just fall flat, even as much as I want them to succeed. Not that there aren't some redeeming moments. "Missing Me" and "Lost Without You", among others, both work, except that they don't sound like Pat Green and I feel like I've heard them before. That's an odd combination.

I've had this album for about a month, and I kept thinking I might get it. Nope. 4/10

Randy Rogers Band: Just A Matter of Time
Until now, the Randy Rogers Band was a rarity for me: a band I enjoyed more live than on record. They've always had great songs, but something wasn't fully captured on record.

Every track could feels like it could be a single, but not in a bad way. So it was a little bit of a surprise when I heard that the first single was "Kiss Me In the Dark." While, a great track, it sounded a little familiar, until I realized: Radney Foster co-wrote and producted it. It has the feel of a Foster track. That's a good thing. In fact, Foster does a spectacular job producing the album: polished but never overdone. The occasional genius extra touches (see, eg, the whisper on Kiss Me in The Dark).

With Foster at the helm steering the sound, the album probably emphasizes the "alt" a little more than the "country," and guitarist Geoffrey Hill is all over this record. But the fiddle is ever present, and the country roots remain, particularly i "You Start Over Your Way" and "If Anyone Asks."

For a major label debut, they managed to knock it out of the park. I'm predicting big things for them and for this album. As tough as it is to give out a 10, this one deserves it. 10/10

The Killers: When You Were Young (single)
Listening to The Killers is like drinking cheap sweet champagne. On first blush, it's quite enjoyable. It's cool, easy on the tastebuds, and leaves you with a warm glow. But it lacks complexity, and eventually you realize that...well, you're just drinking cheap champagne.

But I love cheap sweet champagne. [Although like any good Republican, I actually drink sparkling wine. Heh.] And it's no surprise that I love the Killers: they're from Las Vegas, but they sound like they are straight out of England. Even better, they're using Alan Moulder, one of my favorite producers, for their forthcoming album.

Thus are The Killers. Fun pop music, addicting to listen to for a little while, but I won't be listening to them in 10 years. In the meantime, I'll have "When You Were Young" cranked at max volume on repeat as I drive down the highway.

The Wire
I may be a little late to this show, but this HBO series is amazing. The show focuses on a special detail of Baltimore cops who are focused on some westside Baltimore drug kingpins and traffickers. I've been describing it to friends as The Sopranos, only set in Baltimore and focused on the police and their investigation. In other words, nothing like the Sopranos, except that it's an edgy HBO show about organized crime.

And it is edgy. Every other word is mf, or the n word (we're a family blog here). It's not as violent as the Sopranos, but it's...um, edgier in other ways. The first season is great (9/10), whereas the second season drags in more than one place(6ish/10). I'm starting the third season now, and hope to catch up soon, because the fourth season is airing on HBO right now. Interestingly, Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich has a cameo as a cop, while his election opponent Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley declined a cameo offer. Perhaps that's because the series counteracts O'Malley's claim that he's changed Baltimore.

Posted by Evan @ 09/19/06 01:35 PM | Comments (4)

Nah, nah, nah, Ney, Ney, Ney...goodbye

Now that Ohio Congressman Bob Ney has agreed to plea guilty to two felonies for bribes, is there a good reason he is still a Congressman?

The House came back in session today. First order of business should be to expel Ney.

Posted by Evan @ 09/19/06 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

14 September 2006

Quick thought

I just put these last three quick bits up today because traffic goes down if I don't post. I've been too busy with various projects, and during my free time I've been choosing to read books instead of pay attention to the news cycle. [That doesn't make me a good blogger, does it?] I'm reading _The Gentleman from Georgia_ (Newt Gingrich bio. I picked it up because I thought it was on the late Sen. Richard Russell) and _Power Plays_ by John Barry, who wrote the seminal _The Ambition and the Power_. I may get to blogging late tonight after I get back home, but no guarantees.

Anyway, my quick thought was prompted by Lena Guerrero's endorsement of Perry. The only thing I know about Commissioner Guerrero is the degree scandal. I don't even know the story. Just seems like a shame that the only thing anyone might know about you would be...that.

Posted by Evan @ 09/14/06 08:38 PM | Comments (1)

Write nothing, traffic goes up

Yesterday and today (until just now) I haven't written anything. My traffic has gone up those two days.

Are y'all trying to tell me something?

Posted by Evan @ 09/14/06 08:31 PM | Comments (2)

Prediction

Perry 44%
Bell 31%
Friedman 13%
Strayhorn 10%
Werner 2%

That's my intuition right now. I'll write more when I get a chance.

Posted by Evan @ 09/14/06 08:30 PM | Comments (6)

12 September 2006

Lena Guerrero endorses Perry; tangentially related thoughts

Former Railroad Commissioner Lena Guerrero and her husband Leo Aguirre endorsed Guv Perry late last week.

"I can think of no better person to continue leading this state than Rick Perry," stated Lena Guerrero. "For the 22 years I've known Rick, he has always been a decent, compassionate leader, and even when we may have disagreed on the issues, we did so with an attitude of civility."

Guerrero and Perry served together in the House back in the 80s as Democrats. Guerrero stayed a Democrat.

Put this together with the 12 Valley mayors who endorsed Perry for re-election. I haven't checked, but I assume that most of them are Hispanic Democrats (although municipal elections are non-partisan in Texas). I'm reminded by what Rep. Pena said on that occasion:

Certainly worth discussion, the legacy of the Texas Democratic Party and it's failure to adequately address South Texas, the borderlands and emerging demographics.

Which reminded me of something Paul Burka wrote:

Perry seemed to have a lot of Hispanic contributors. I didn't count them, but they showed up frequently enough to be noticed as a group. This reminds me of something Dick Murray, the Houston pollster and analyst, told me about the 2002 election race: that a lot of upwardly mobile Hispanics in the Houston area had moved into the eastern suburbs, and that they voted Republican/Anglo (Perry) for governor and Democrat/Hispanic (Sylvia Garcia) for county commissioner.

I'm also reminded of the time that I debated Tony Sanchez III. It was a few days before the 2002 election, and HACER (a Hispanic student group at Rice) had a gubernatorial debate. As a former chair of the College Republicans, I represented Rick Perry. The Democrats brought Tony Sanchez III to represent...Tony Sanchez. Now, consider how I felt: I was debating the candidate's son -- trying to help his father become the first Latino governor of Texas -- in front of a Latino group. I knew a decent portion of the group (Rice is very small), and so I knew a few of them were Republicans. But I rather figured that I wasn't going to swing too many votes.

After the debate, I was pleasantly surprised at the reception I received. Quite a few folks indicated that the debate had made them likely to vote for Perry over Sanchez.

Democrats in Texas have pinned their hopes on an emerging Latino majority voting monolithically for Democrats. However, as immigrant groups assimilate, generally they begin to vote increasingly more Republican. In part, that's why I'm pretty optimistic that Latinos in Texas will eventually vote more for Republicans. Bush and Perry have been pretty careful to help this process along.

If I had to bet on who will have the first Latino governor or senator, I'd bet on the elephants. In terms of the farm team, Democrats have more Hispanic officeholders. They've got mayors in the Valley, Congressman, and state legislators. Republicans have Railroad Commish Victor Carrillo, Congressman Henry Bonilla, Mexico Ambassador Tony Garza, Solicitor General Ted Cruz, and of course George P. Bush. So Democrats have more in number, but it seems that Republicans have more in terms of the stature necessary to win a premier statewide race. However, there's a bunch of GOPers waiting in line to run for statewide office in Texas, so any of those Republicans would have to get through a primary. So I'd say we're still a few cycles away...although Bonilla definitely wants to run for any open Senate seat.

Posted by Evan @ 09/12/06 03:28 PM | Comments (0)

11 September 2006

I ain't sayin', I'm just sayin'

Gardner Selby writes up Chris Bell's Kerry-esque hunting photo-op:

Like the last silver-haired candidate to face a front-running West Texan for governor, Chris Bell hunted birds Sunday.

But the former Houston U.S. House member and current Democratic nominee for governor didn't fire a shot during his twilight walk through green goat weed and yellow field daisies near what his guide described as the largest cottonwood tree in the nation.

Bell's borrowed shotgun was in the safety position when he attempted to squeeze the trigger on a flitting dove then shot by his guide, Tony Timmons.

"He about broke his finger trying to pull the trigger," Timmons told a hunting pal afterward.

Bell said he hasn't found many opportunities to hunt near Houston and hadn't hunted since a 1988 venture in the Panhandle. Before his Sunday jaunt, he said, "I'm certainly trying not to be anything I'm not.

"A lot of what you do in a campaign is symbolic. Plus, I think I'll have some fun."

Bell never even fired a shot. Yikes.

I ain't sayin, I'm just sayin.

If you haven't been hunting in almost 20 years, and you've never taken your two sons hunting, then why on earth would you try this photo-op? Seems pretty Kerry-esque to me.

Posted by Evan @ 09/11/06 04:49 PM | Comments (2)

Two more data points

Rasmussen, 500 Likely voters; MoE 4.5%. (last month's numbers in parentheses)

Perry 33% (35%)
Strayhorn 22% (18%)
Bell 18% (18%)
Friedman 16% (18%)

Zogby's sketchy and questionable online poll:

8/29-9/05
Governor
Perry 30.7% (34.8%)
Bell 25.3% (23.1%)
Friedman 22.4% (22.7%)
Strayhorn 11.1% (9.6%).

Senate
Hutchison 47.8%
Radnofsky 39%

I'm supposed to believe that Hutchison only leads by 9%? It might not be a favorable environment right now, but there's no way I'm buying that. This "poll" must be undersampling Republicans.

I don't know when the Rasmussen poll was in the field. The TV ads started on Labor Day, so the Zogby poll wouldn't reflect any movement from the TV ads. I'm guessing the Rasmussen poll was more or less pre-Labor Day as well.

Posted by Evan @ 09/11/06 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

10 September 2006

One more data point

I know I'm the last to this poll, but I'll mark it down:

Perry 41%
Undecided 20%
Strayhorn 14%
Bell 13%
Friedman 13%

The poll was done by Texans for Insurance Reform, an arm of Texas Trial Lawyers. Most of them had been supporting Strayhorn, but a few have donated to Chris Bell recently. 600 respondents; pollster Opinion Analysts. The poll was done pre-Labor Day, so I assume it was in the field at the end of August. That means the TV ads wouldn't affect the poll.

When asked who their second choice would be:

Strayhorn 20%
Bell 14%
Perry 10%
Friedman 10%

I don't have the wording for that one, so it's tough to know how much importance to place on it.

I'd write more, but i'm just too busy.

Posted by Evan @ 09/10/06 10:27 PM | Comments (0)

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