| Republicans
The GOP Senate showdown came to Fort Worth this week for the the Republican Party of Texas convention. With the runoff six weeks away, Cruz and Dewhurst continued pretending the runoff choice is between a "true conservative" and a "fake conservative". The truth is that they're both true conservatives by their party's definition; e.g., completely insane ideologues who would work diligently to destroy any chance for progress.
Cruz gave a fiery speech on the last day of the convention which put on display his indisputable skill at public speaking. He's elegant where Dewhurst is forced, even when he's saying unbelievably stupid things (Dewhurst does this too, of course). "Just about every conservative leader nationally has united behind this campaign from Sarah Palin to Rick Santorum to Sean Hannity," said Cruz. As conservatives are wont to do, he painted himself as a victim who needed Texans to come to his aid in the runoff: "We faced in this race over $10 million in nasty false attack ads, trying to convince every Texan that I'm a red Chinese Communist who wants to eat your children," Cruz told the audience. "I ask for the support of each and every one of you on July 31. Come out and vote in the runoff and bring 10 of your friends. If conservatives come together we will win this race," he said.
Dewhurst followed Cruz with a more tempered but equally calculated speech. "Washington is a disaster," he said. "I won't ever give up fighting. To me, being conservative isn't a theory, it's my life," Dewhurst said. Fluffy bluster at its finest.
Democrats
At the Texas Democratic Convention this weekend, Paul Sadler gave his deft analysis of the Republican race to reporters: "The reason they attack each other personally is because they don't separate on the issues." Sadler also told the Hispanic Caucus at the TDC that his runoff opponent, Grady Yarbrough, has run twice statewide as a Republican. PolitiFact rated this claim as true...because it is. |
