Texas Republican Party Elects Cathie Adams Chair Yet Tries to Hide Intraparty Issues

by: Michael Hurta

Sat Oct 24, 2009 at 03:11 PM CDT

Interestingly, the Republican Executive Committee decided to vote without debate.  Why?

There was no debate because members agreed not to hold a general discussion before voting. Member Rebecca Williamson of Hunt told colleagues before the agreement to restrict discussion that an initially contemplated 30-minute debate might lead to controversy and personal attacks.

"After all, the press is here," Williamson said.

Earlier this week, John Cornyn pushed away a reporter's camera.  Kay Bailey Hutchison abruptly cut off her own press conference.  We see today, though, that a pattern exists among Texas Republicans.  They wish to hide their thinking, and they wish to hide the problems that they are having.

But in this game of Hide and Seek, we can find what we want to know, anyways.  Even without debate, we now definitely see three truths about the Texas Republican Party.

1. The Texas Republican Party is split into two groups.  The first group is the one of crazies.  The crazies move forward gun-ho and follow their leader, the Reverend Rick Perry.
2. The second group is one of confused and/or unorganized non-crazies.  There is no leader here, but Kay Bailey Hutchison is the highest ranking among them.  
3. The crazies are winning.  Adams was just elected today, and she's already taking shots at Kay.  It's amazing how the crazies can stay on attack even when Rick Perry misses a step or two, as he definitely has with the Cameron Todd Willingham case.  And in response, the other Republicans are dithering more than anyone else in the country.

But Republicans don't want you to know this.  The dithering hide from the press because, well, they are dithering on how to play the game of politics effectively.  And the crazies sometimes have to hide just because their crazy.

Just as a reminder, these people hold an absolute majority in every section of Texas state government.  Ditherers.  Crazies.  Really.

An Open Letter to the Texas Republican House Committee: Your Rally Was Pathetic

by: Phillip Martin

Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 10:39 AM CDT

Dear Staff of the Texas Republican House Committee,

Your insurance company rally on Saturday was pretty pathetic.

That shouldn't be surprising -- you're rallying to maintain the status quo and let big insurance companies increase the premiums and unfairly deny people their health care based on pre-existing conditions, which is only one of the least popular ideas anywhere right now.

I was the only person (other than Glenn Smith) to attend both the BOR event last Thursday night and your crappy event on Saturday. Let's compare your rain-soaked event with the one BOR had:

I have video from the event  -- lots of it, in fact  -- but I may hold off on posting that for a little bit. In the mean time, let me ask some basic questions about how you define a "success" -- I mean, even from a purely political perspective, it was an abject failure:

• This was co-hosted by the Republican Party of Texas, with Tina Benkiser in attendance; you created a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and you only got 75-100 people there -- that's what you define as success?

• You are the Texas Republican House Committee.....the supposed counter to the proven and successful House Democratic Camaign Committee.....and not a single House Republican shows up to speak at your rally -- that's what you define as success?
  
  
• Speaking of Tina Benkiser, this is really the position of your party?
  

  The purpose of the rally was to tell those in town for a meeting of the Democratic National Committee to, as Texas Republican Party Chairwoman Tina Benkiser put it, "crawl back to the left-wing socialist pit they came from and keep their hands off Texas."

That's it? I stood in the rain for two-and-a-half hours to hear several dozen supporters chant "Hands Off Texas" -- and the best speaker you had was former State Rep. (and certified Looney Tune) Suzanna Hupp??!?!! Come on. This isn't even a fair fight! You're the supposed answer to the House Democratic Campaign Committee, not the Student Council of Paint Creek High School.

We're not joking around here, y'all. Texas Democrats are going to take back the State House. We have a proven record of success. Each and every year, you convince people like Paul Burka that Republicans are going to have a good year, and each and every time -- in 2004, 2006, 2008, and the special elections in between -- Democrats keep winning. At some point, the press will remember that clear history of victory, and they'll look at how promising and effective the HDCC is and how pathetic and embarrassing you are, and they'll understand why Texas Democrats are going to take back the House in 2010.

For now, though, keep convincing yourself of your own success. Talk a great game. Talk about fascism and socialism. Rally against the President telling your kids to stay in school. Stand up and defend the status quo of big insurance companies denying health care to Texans based on pre-existing conditions.

Just next time, try to stay out of the rain -- and remember that using the excuse of rain and flash flood warnings is a good way to get out of a pathetic attempt at political organization.

Royal Masset Dreaming of "Brighter Days Ahead for Repubs"

by: David Kobierowski

Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 07:35 AM CST

Masset is visioning that 2010 will be a great election year for Texas Repubs.

Below is Masset's statement from yesterday's (11-11-08) Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report:

Why Republicans will dominate the 2010 election in Texas  

1) The coattails of Obama will not be around in 2010. Even if he is a popular president, he will not be on the ballot. Coattails are not created by one candidate's popularity. They are the result of a strong Get Out The Vote machine, and the Democrats will not have one.

My Take - when all else fails, dream.  Does Masset have any idea what he's talking about?  What evidence does he have?  Why would he say something so silly?  Looking at this realistically, I must laugh at Masset's statement "the Democrats will not have (a strong Get Out The Vote Machine)" in 2010.  

In fact, I predict the TX Democratic Party will do across TX over the next 8 years what was done in Travis County in the past 8 years.  Repubs will take another heavy beating in 2010, turning the House Blue and closer to turning the TX Senate blue.  As Sylvester Turner said last week at a UT Austin panel discussion "a cool blue breeze is coming into TX".

Great comic relief Royal.

Best,
David Kobierowski

Republican Party Announce Texas Straw-Poll

by: Matt Glazer

Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 11:31 AM CST

The Party anticipates 15,000-20,000 activists attending the straw poll with a possibility of even more. People permitted to vote in the straw poll must have been elected as a delegate to one of the last four state conventions or one of the last two national conventions.

Time would be set aside for each candidate to speak to those in attendance. At the end of the second day, credentialed delegates and alternates would be permitted to vote. Procedures will be in place to assure the integrity of the ballot and the winner will be announced by the end of the day.

While Texas Democrats are working to elect the next president, Republican's are set to talk about it.  This is the same party who has not figured out what the grassroots or netroots are, so it is not surprising that they would hold an exclusive event to discuss who best represents the evangelical wing of the Texas Republican party.

Not sure what this does for the Republican Party, except milk more money out of its supposed base.  Now instead of people giving to candidates they like, they will be required to take time off, get to Fort Worth (strikingly far away from the Hispanic communities in El Paso, San Antonio, and the Valley), and likely pay for the privilege to hear candidates speak. All so the Republican Party of Texas can maintain some sort of relevancy after the unpopular George W. Bush is term-limited out.

While they are all meeting in DFW, I will be calling voters, registering new voters, and organizing for Democratic Party. That way, whoever I endorse, wins February 5 or whenever our primary is.

Harris County GOP: Screw the poor

by: PDiddie

Sat Nov 04, 2006 at 09:55 AM CST

One of the vile local conservative blogs -- this is the only hint I'm giving -- quoted Jesus out of context from Matthew 26:11: "the poor be with ye always".

This rankles me on several levels:

1. I could simply note that the Harris County branch of US Hezbollah, also known as the Republican Party, is as sorry as Satan regarding this matter and leave it at that, but I won't.

2. Bill White is a bigger coward than John Kerry for rolling over on this. I hereby declare my support for whomever happens to be White's Democratic primary opponent when he runs for higher office.

3. The biblical quotation is not only out of context but incomplete as well. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the Holy Scriptures -- that barely describes me, incidentally -- can easily figure out that Jesus wasn't contradicting his many statements about the poor being blessed, the meek inheriting the Earth, that people should not covet earthly possessions and in fact should sell them, that the moneychangers were sinful, that the wealthy have almost no chance of entering heaven, and so on. Michael Dawson does a much better job of dissembling this atrocious rationale.

I don't go to church, I hardly even believe in a higher authority, but I sure know an Elmer Gantry when I hear him.

What the Harris County Republican Party managed to pull off this week is absolutely NOT what Jesus would have done. But that won't stop them from wallowing happily in the stench of their hypocrisy like pigs in s***.

Republican Party of Texas: Defending the Faith - Worshipping the Flag

by: jelyon

Sat Jul 22, 2006 at 09:50 PM CDT

Can't you just hear her thinking "I promise to do my duty in love and loyalty to the President and our Flag"?

It reminds me of other classic propaganda...

The true colors of the Texas Republican Party

by: M. Eddie Rodriguez

Fri Jun 02, 2006 at 11:06 AM CDT

I guess you can file this under "I told you so."

With the Texas Republican Party in the former pueblo San Antonio de Padua, party officials have set our their positions. Their positions are hateful, racist and disrespectful of human dignity.

Texas Republicans want to:

• build a wall between the U.S. and our neighbor Mexico (similar to the wall Reagan asked Gorbachev to tear down),
• hunt down the 12 million undocumented workers in the this country and return them to country of origin (if this administration couldn't evacuate New Orleans, how are they going to expel 12 million people?),
• pull the National Guard from fighting the war on terrorism and make them Border Patrol,
• "not violate the constitutional rights of citizens of the United States" but purposefully say nothing about the rights of the undocumented, those here on work visas or anyone other than a citizen (FYI: The Constitution of the U.S. extends its protection to more than just U.S. citizens),
• prevent those who have become citizens of the U.S. from bringing in their families thus destroying the fabric of society: familial relationships (they believe in family values but only if you not an immigrant),
• deny earned citizenship for immigrants,
• deny the natural right to be a citizen if you are born on U.S. soil (guess no one will check your papers if you are white),
• make local police an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency causing distrust of the police and prevent the reporting of crime against undocumented persons.
• remove day labor centers, and
• deny medical treatment to undocumented persons (does every get asked for papers or just the brown people).

There you have folks! That is what the Texas Republican Party stands for.... fear, hate, racism, classism and general disdain for basic human rights.

You are in San Antonio this weekend. So say it loud and say it proud because us Latinos are listening and we will remember.

RPT Fails With 1st Howard Attack Ad

by: Phillip Martin

Mon Feb 06, 2006 at 06:46 PM CST

Why is this ad such a failure? Because when the second high school proposal came out, Karl Rove, Maragaret LaMontagne (now Maragret Spellings, President Bush's Secretary of Education), and Karen Hughes all agreed with Howard. In fact, it was Jerry Hughes (Karen's husband) that made a motion to build a second Eanes high school in the first place. Not only did those three Republican leaders agree with Howard, they signed a letter of support (PDF) for a second high school.

What does all this mean? It's politics as usual for the Republican Party of Texas, which means pulling out dirty smear campaigns to try and taint the only candidate in the HD 48 race that will put people ahead of politics.

Be sure to visit Donna Howard's website to support a candidate that wants to stop playing politics as usual and start delivering real improvements to our public schools.