A Few Thoughts on Democrats & the Texas Governor's Race

Mark Thompson wants to be governor... (4.00 / 2)

...and he calls us the "Democrat" party? That's what Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich and other Republicans call us because they don't respect us.  

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by: politicsforjim @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 21:10:21 PM CDT

140 char? (0.00 / 0)

Maybe he ran up against the twitter character count.

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by: Karl-Thomas Musselman @ Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 21:22:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's it? (0.00 / 0)

All you have to say about Thompson is to decry his understanding of the proper use of adjectives and nouns?  That's your whole basis for not liking him?  

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by: Dale Napier @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 11:58:07 AM CDT

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George W. Bush is a war criminal. (0.00 / 0)

He started an war of aggression on Iraq. Japanese and German people were hanged by the Allies after WWII for waging wars of aggression. Friends of George W. Bush should be hanging their heads in shame, not running for political office.

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by: ikoikoaustin @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 08:44:36 AM CDT

This is such an obtuse statement (2.00 / 1)

First, the President may not start a war, that is Congress' job, please see Article I section eight of the Constitution.  Second, how can you honestly compare the Iraq War with WWII?  The German and Japanese, who were hanged for this offense, were hell-bent on world domination and enslavement of the world.  If that describes President Bush, then why is he still not in office, ruling the world?  Before you make asinine comparisons, please take off your ultra-left wing hat, and cool down first.

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by: TexasReb @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 09:56:43 AM CDT

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International law (0.00 / 0)

forbids unprovoked invasions, which the Iraq invasion was.

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by: ikoikoaustin @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 14:11:03 PM CDT

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Congress' Job? (0.00 / 0)

Oh, and Bush just made some small suggestions like mentioning mushroom clouds and weapons of mass destruction on a daily basis and from his big bully pulpit?

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 00:37:37 AM CDT

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Guilt by association (0.00 / 0)

I'm still undecided in all this but I'm sick to death of the Thompson people coloring Schieffer with Bush at every term. The President of the United States asked him to serve and he did.

End of story.

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by: McBlogger @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 12:57:40 PM CDT

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8 Years? (3.00 / 1)

That's a novel. And we are known by the company we keep.

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 00:23:19 AM CDT

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Pretty irrelevant remarks (0.00 / 0)

It's going to be a long time until Election Day, with all the trivia you folks are focusing on.  It is entirely possible Schieffer is a much bigger man than you or I, and that is why he was able to work for Evil George.  A man who puts service ahead of ideology is a good man, perhaps even a great man.  Certainly a rare politician, perhaps one who should be savored.

But what made me laugh was your dissatisfaction with him not being exciting enough.  When are you going to learn that almost all the exciting leaders are would-be dictators?  Given Texas' track record with governors, I would think "inoffensive" would be more than enough for a vote.  How many inoffensive candidates do we ever have running for governor or senator?  Precious few.

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by: Dale Napier @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 12:07:52 PM CDT

inoffensive candidates for gov (0.00 / 0)

Chris Bell? I don't think many people found Bell offensive on any level.  

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by: Karl-Thomas Musselman @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 12:21:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I found Bell deeply offensive, like a silver-haired Dolph Briscoe (0.00 / 0)

And based on the election results on SD 17, where we know him best, I am not alone.  

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by: Dale Napier @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 13:35:13 PM CDT

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That must be (0.00 / 0)

a fun group.

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 20:17:46 PM CDT

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Texans like their candidates... (3.00 / 2)

to have a little sass and a little excitement. Like it or not, it's a necessity and one of the reasons we've had such lousy luck in recent years. We keep nominating boring people who know policy but not much else.

Gotta know policy and how to win. This is the world.

Man, if inoffensive could have done it, if quality of the person were enough, Richards never would have lost to Bush and Bell would be gearing up for re-elect:).

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by: McBlogger @ Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 13:04:03 PM CDT

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Richards did offend some people (5.00 / 1)

It's the reason she lost her re-election.  I worked long and hard for her in 1990 - she befriended me back in the 1970s while working for Sarah - but by 1994 she was so full of herself she practically forgot Texas existed.  She migrated to the national stage and made some big mistakes, like supporting the Brady Bill (numerous Democratic family members turned on her over this one, and I'm sure they were not alone).  And Ann's people were so arrogant that no one could stand to deal with her office.  I was sorry to see it happen, but it happens.  

The moral of the story is, just because an elected official is good in office for a while does not mean that person will forever be a good elected official.  It's the reason I did not support Bell for governor:  he was the Peter Principle in action, rising beyond his level of competence.  Once he left the Houston City Council, he was over his head.  I was offended that he was too dumb to know his extremely severe limitations.

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by: Dale Napier @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 13:41:52 PM CDT

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What good do you have to say (3.00 / 1)

about any Democrat? Slamming Bell and Richards in the same comment? I'm offended. So, does that mean you're dumb? Or maybe I'm dumb.

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 20:07:50 PM CDT

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Nobody is Dumb (0.00 / 0)

Dale and I both knew Richards in the 1970's before she achieved political god status. She was one of the smartest people I ever drank a beer with, as was Bob Bullock. I listened a lot to what both had to say and followed their leadership.

The fact of the matter is both Richards and Bullock were great progressive politicians with their own personal devils and faults. I do not know Chris Bell personally, but Dale and I went to UT at the same time, so I will take him as a credible source concerning Bell. He moved back to Houston and I stayed in Austin after graduation it appears.

Bell was every bit as boring in his Governor's race in both the fall and general election as Sen. Bob Kruger was in losing to KBH in the 1993 special election for US Senate. I supported Bob Gammage in the Governor's race over Bell that spring.

Richard's Austin centric agenda cost her dearly in the 1994 election with "W". I was at the Capital press conference when she opposed concealed weapons permits, backing Ann up (cops in uniforms standing behind her during the press conference). I thought at the time this would cost Texas Democrats in the long run, and it did.

Ann was a great person and politician, but one should be able to criticize her without being labeled as dumb or some kind of a heretic. That said, a strong progressive Democrat is needed to run for Governor in 2010. "R Lite" is not going to work.

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by: ssuits @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 22:26:14 PM CDT

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I didn't bring (0.00 / 0)

up "the dumb." Dale Napier said this about Chris Bell:

I was offended that he was too dumb to know his extremely severe limitations.

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 22:58:22 PM CDT

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I stand by that remark (0.00 / 0)

I know Chris personally, used to live a few blocks from him, in the same precinct.  As recently as last year we attended all the same conventions.  On at least one occasion he only made it to the state convention because I, being on the Nominations Committee at district, put him there.  

Bell's ambition greatly exceeds his intelligence or ability.  He clearly enjoyed neither his career as a reporter or an attorney.  As his wife Allison said to me after he entered Congress and got redistricted out, "just when he finally found a job he liked".

I came to these negative conclusions about him slowly, but he supported Bush's invasion of Iraq from the moment he entered Congress.  By his own admission (to me and other party leaders) his only source of information was Pentagon press briefings.  I began to realize that none of my political compadres would go near him.  At one anti-war rally I organized and invited Chris to, so many people were angry with him over the war that a huge number vowed to vote Green Party instead of him.  Bell's people blamed those people's attitudes on me, but I didn't tell them what to say; they thought of it themselves.  I learned from them.

So if you think Bell's political instincts were ever any good at all, I suggest you look more closely.  He is, as one progressive friend said, "an empty suit".

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by: Dale Napier @ Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 17:23:40 PM CDT

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Wow (0.00 / 0)

I never said anything about Bell's political instincts. But he did play an important role in the eventual downfall of Tom DeLay. I think that's worth something. Maybe he couldn't have done it without you:

15 Jun 2004 // Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ("CREW") called Texas Congressman Chris Bell "a hero," after Bell filed an ethics complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct against Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The filing of the complaint officially breaks the seven year "truce" preventing Members from either party from filing complaints against their colleagues.

CREW, has been part of a coalition of good government groups - including Judicial Watch, the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, Public Citizen, Common Cause, the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Campaign -- that have collectively called for an end to the ethics truce.

CREW assisted Congressman Bell in drafting the complaint because, as CREW's Executive Director Melanie Sloan stated, "no other member of the House has consistently shown this much disrespect for the rule of law and the honor of Congress and the country should thank Congressman Bell for his courage."

The complaint covers three areas: 1) DeLay's soliciting a bribe from Westar Energy in return for an amendment to the energy bill that would have resulted in millions of dollars in savings for the company; 2) DeLay's use of his PAC, Texans for a Republican Majority to launder corporate money, converting such funds into hard dollars that were donated directly to candidates for the Texas State Legislature; and 3) DeLay's use of the Federal Aviation Administration to track down a plane carrying Texas legislators who had left the State to avoid voting on DeLay's partisan redistricting plan. [emphasis added.]

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by: Elsbeth @ Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 21:32:27 PM CDT

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So (0.00 / 0)

Ann Richards' loss to Bush had to do with her opposition to concealed weapons permits?

Some of Rove's darker tactics cut even closer to the bone. One constant throughout his career is the prevalence of whisper campaigns against opponents. The 2000 primary campaign, for example, featured a widely disseminated rumor that John McCain, tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, had betrayed his country under interrogation and been rendered mentally unfit for office. More often a Rove campaign questions an opponent's sexual orientation. Bush's 1994 race against Ann Richards featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record-when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for "appointing avowed homosexual activists" to state jobs. [emphasis mine.]

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by: Elsbeth @ Fri Jun 26, 2009 at 23:10:23 PM CDT

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Thanks for that, Stacy (0.00 / 0)

Anyone in Austin progressive politics in the 1970s and 1980s knows there were big schisms.  Krueger, for instance, was the good guy against KBH, but before that he was the bad guy who sold out to the oil companies in 1978 (remember the first big deregulation bill he almost got passed as a first-term Congressman?) and who fought nasty against Doggett in the 1984 special U.S. Senate election.  One progressive buddy I knew voted for John Tower against Krueger in one Senate race because Tower never passed legislation and so was less dangerous -- and would be easier to get rid of.

See how complicated it gets?  When I moved to Austin in 1972, liberals voted for Republicans, sometimes, for state rep because liberals had no chance at getting the Democratic nomination - and practically anyone who wanted a Republican nomination could get one.  That changed when we elected Sarah Weddington and Ronnie Earle to the House.

So Stacy is right about everyone having devils.  By the same token, our opponents are not 100% pure evil.  History helps put things into perspective.  When anyone gets too caught up in the politics of the moment, they lose all perspective.

I'm keeping my perspective by waiting to see who the final candidates are, and by listening to what they have to say.  Is there something wrong with that?

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by: Dale Napier @ Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 17:35:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]