Rick Perry vs World

11 August 2007

Reasons to be governor

Coach Dennis Franchione said his team deserved an "A" for what he called "an awesome practice" Thursday morning after a difficult practice Wednesday afternoon.

Gov. Rick Perry was in attendance and visited with the players, Franchione said.

"It's always nice to have the leader of our state here to visit with the guys," Franchione said.

If I were a big Aggie fan, I'd want to get a pre-season look every year. How'd the slimmed down Jorvorskie Lane look, Governor?

Posted by Evan @ 08/11/07 11:25 PM | Comments (1)

Ames Straw Poll

It's awfully hard to take seriously results where the order of finish is 1) Romney, 2) Huckabee, 3) Brownback, 4) Tancredo, and 5) Paul.

Sucks for Tommy Thompson. People once thought he was presidential material. He has an impressive background and a history of getting results. But his time has passed.

I'd note that Fred beat both Giuliani and McCain. But as my friend notes, "it's kinda hard to take that seriously when you're talking tens of votes." Touche.

Posted by Evan @ 08/11/07 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

Gamboa, AP:

On the ethics bill, Cornyn joined 13 other senators who voted against the bill.

Cornyn had voted for the Senate ethics and lobbying reform bill passed early this year. But he complained the final bill fell short on earmark reform.

The approved bill requires lawmakers to publicize plans to seek earmarks 48 hours before a vote and certify they have no direct financial interest in the funding they seek.

But the bill also allows the majority leader and Appropriations Committee chairman to certify that legislation meets the rule without earmarks being disclosed to the public, Cornyn said.

"The principle we are standing for here today makes it clear I am on the side of reforming the system, not the status quo," Cornyn said at a news conference.

"John Cornyn had a chance to show leadership on a bipartisan issue today, but instead he sided with a tiny fringe that opposes ethics and lobbying reform," said Matthew Miller, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman.

Cornyn dismissed his critics on ethics, pointing to an open government bill he has pushed for years. The Senate passed it just before the summer break.

The bill sets time limits on agencies for responding to Freedom of Information Act requests and requires agencies to provide tracking numbers and status updates for requests, among other things. The House has not considered the bill.

"I just always wondered why conservatives weren't more at the vanguard of this fight (for open government) because it is to me the most conservative of all principles and that is the people have the right to know and the legitimacy of government flows from their consent," Cornyn said.

I love the DSCC quote. Cornyn wanted a stronger ethics bill...so clearly he must be vulnerable on ethics, according to the DSCC. Orwell would approve: up is down.

Cornyn has had a longtime interest in FOIA. Which happens to be near and dear to my heart, since the first political campaign I ever worked for was for a local candidate with a penchant for filing lots of FOIA requests against the city council she was a part of. Oh...and the local establishment media types hated her. Good times, that campaign.

Posted by Evan @ 08/11/07 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

Gamboa, AP:

"The resurgence of Democrats in Texas is not dependent on winning this Senate race, but winning it will give it a huge boost," said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, formed to try to rebuild the Democratic Party in Texas.

Prevaricate much?

That's not the sort of nuance normally seen in press release soundbites!

Posted by Evan @ 08/11/07 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Keep the dream/marketing alive.

Selby, Statesman:

Kinky Friedman might run again for governor in 2010, conceivably as a Democrat.

"I'm open to running," Friedman said Wednesday before cautioning that he won't settle plans until after the 2008 elections.

"Had I run as a Democrat last time, I think (Gov.) Rick Perry would already be (out of office as) a lobbyist for a cigar company," he said.

Serious rumination? Marketing ploy?

Probably both!

Posted by Evan @ 08/11/07 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

10 August 2007

Stop Hillary Clinton!

But probably not for the reason you think.

Am I the only one a little freaked out by the idea of our presidency going Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton? Americans have this tendency to act as if our Republic has been around forever, and will be around forever. Let's hope it's so; but there's little historical support for the idea. I'm just a kid and I've been alive for more than 10% of the days of the USA. We're still a very young nation in the grand scheme of history.

This is not a jeremiad; I'm an optimist. And it's not even really about Hillary Clinton. It's about avoiding bad precedents which lead to slippery slopes.

So yes, I think electing Hillary is a risk to our democracy in the long-run (much more so than the short-run). Were I a Democrat, there's no way I'd even consider supporting Hillary.* And let's be honest -- if liberals are so concerned about our standing in the world, looking like a oligarchical alternating dynasty is hardly the message we want to send.

* In case you're wondering, I've also never thought that Jeb Bush should be considered as a presidential or vice presidential candidate. If you read between the lines of Jeb's public statements, it sounds like he's realized it too. Now that's a statesman.

Posted by Evan @ 08/10/07 05:47 PM | Comments (0)

09 August 2007

AG decision

Lots of people seem to think that Attorney General Greg Abbott should avoid opining on the propriety of Speaker Craddick's refusal to recognize.

I'm not quite sure why. Hasn't Craddick asserted a constitutional defense? Doesn't the Attorney General issue advisory opinions about the Texas Constitution? My understanding is that the answer to both questions is yes, thus it seems quite proper that the Attorney General should address the constitutional question alone -- whether the Texas Constitution prohibits removal of the Speaker. It doesn't seem proper to address issues pertaining to House rules.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Abbott decided to pass. Why insert himself into the matter? Let them re-write the House rules next session. Democracies are messy things after all, despite what newspaper editorial boards would have us believe.

Posted by Evan @ 08/09/07 10:09 AM | Comments (1)

Somehow, you knew this was coming...

Christy Hoppe, DMN:

[Kinky Friedman, t]he author, musician and failed independent gubernatorial candidate, who was never without his trusty, albeit smelly stogie, unfurled his new line of handmade cigars Wednesday.

"These are the first non-Cuban cigars that I've smoked in over 25 years," Mr. Friedman said.

...

Mr. Friedman will be rolling out his new cigars at shops across Texas over the next month and promises to sign cigar boxes while discussing "fine cigars, politics and virtually anything else."

I've spent a few minutes trying to come up with something witty to say, but I already said it in the title.

Posted by Evan @ 08/09/07 01:49 AM | Comments (0)

The former House speaker from Georgia said he will decide whether to enter the GOP presidential field in October. But in a wide-ranging speech at the National Press Club in Washington, he ridiculed campaign consultants and spin doctors who he said are extending the 2008 campaign. He said presidential debates have become "almost unendurable."

"These aren't debates," the former Georgia congressman said. "This is a cross between [TV shows] 'The Bachelor,' 'American Idol' and 'Who's Smarter than a Fifth-Grader.'"

...

"You begin to trap people," Gingrich said. "As the campaigns get longer, you're asking a person who's going to be sworn in in January of 2009 to tell you what they'll do in January of 2007, when they haven't got a clue -- because they don't know what the world will be like, and you're suggesting they won't learn anything through the two years of campaigning."

"For the most powerful nation on Earth to have an election in which Swift Boat veterans versus National Guard papers becomes a major theme verges on insane," said Gingrich, referring to 2004 campaign controversies that targeted Kerry and President Bush. "I mean, it's just -- and to watch those debates, I found painful -- for both people. They're both smarter than the debates."

He blamed the pressures of sound-bite campaigning for the recent controversy over Sen. Barack Obama's declaration that he would dispatch U.S. troops to Pakistan to attack leaders of the al Qaeda terrorist network if Pakistani authorities fail to get them.

Gingrich said the Illinois Democrat, one of his party's leading presidential candidates, "said a very insightful thing in a very dangerous way." But the response, he said, "was to attack Senator Obama, not to explore the underlying kernel of what he said."

Gingrich's answer to the problems would be to get rid of limits on campaign financing, which he said have made the problems worse by requiring more individual donations to meet the same goals, and to stage a series of "dialogues" among the major-party candidates -- once a week, for 90 minutes, for nine weeks before the elections.

Gingrich is one of the few people willing to speak up and say the obvious. Maybe he'll eventually realize that he's never going to be president.

Posted by Evan @ 08/09/07 01:17 AM | Comments (0)

Will Perry run again?

After raising almost $1 million, the Perry camp is spreading word that the Guv may run again in 2010.

I don't buy it. But they know that raising that kind of money begets the perception of power. And Perry isn't willing to be a lame duck.

Posted by Evan @ 08/09/07 01:06 AM | Comments (0)

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