The Texas Republican Party held their convention in Dallas a couple of weeks ago. Generally a Party emerges unified and energized for the general election, but that couldn't be farther from the case for the Texas GOP as tensions between extremists and moderates has boiled over into the public.
Republican Leo Berman, the representative of the extreme wing of the Texas GOP, announced his candidacy today to challenge Republican Joe Straus for Speaker of the House. Republican Berman promises a "my way or the highway" approach to leadership should he be successful in knocking off Straus--or simply a reversion to the strong-armed, autocratic style Tom Craddick offered before.
Republican Berman went so far as to say this past Sunday as a guest on WFAA's Inside Politics that the Republican's were only united at the close of their convention(11:50 in):
"...to the extent that Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rick Perry kissed and made up. It's not unified to the extent that the House of Representatives is not unified. It was taken over by 11 RINO's, or Republicans In Name Only."
The ascent of Straus to the position of Speaker, according to Berman, was a "sham" based on promises made to House Democrats and vowed that he would offer the opposing party no leeway if elected Speaker next session.
The airing of Texas Republican dirty laundry brings forward evidence that internal bickering between moderates and extreme conservatives has boiled over into the public domain. A chasm in the Party heading into an important general election is not a good political position to be in. If the Texas GOP can't keep their own house in order how can mainstream Texans feel confident they are capable of keeping the Texas House in order? With an $18 billion dollar budget shortfall, crippling utility costs, and escalating education tabs, all under more than a decade of Republican leadership, can Texans really trust the GOP to move us forward? I suppose the answer is as emphatic as Republican Berman's response to supporting Republican Straus:
The Texas GOP held its convention in Dallas on Friday and as we suspected, the Party continues to be pathetically bereft of fresh ideas and viable and concrete solutions for the challenges that face the state. Rick Perry beat on the same tiresome, unproductive and worn out drums of anti-Washington everything, anti-tax, anti-immigration and pro-states rights rhetoric. The tea party secessionist faction continued to call for secession. It seems that states rights and secession are the only concepts that Republicans are for. The tea party wing of the GOP showed up in full force with all of its John Birch paraphernalia, too. Lovely. What viable solutions do Birchers have to offer other than burning everyone who does not agree with them at the stake?
The conservative wing of the GOP demands a new era of fiscal responsibility, according to the attendees. Aside from uttering the words "fiscal" "conservative" and "responsibility" no one said how Rick Perry should make up his $18 billion budget shortfall. How will he do it? Apparently no one brought it up and on one asked. What are Perry's plans to make up the shortfall? Does he have one at all? Maybe he intends to rob a few banks to deal with the issue. Perry would likely rather do that instead of increasing taxes, as long as someone else is doing the actual robbing of course.
Maybe Rick Perry's highly paid PR strategists and spin doctors forgot to include a major talking point in his fired up hate talk rhetoric. Like, people need well paying jobs and benefits.
How will Rick Perry create new jobs in Texas? How will Governor Rick Perry cover his $18 billion budget shortfall?
Why do crickets continue to chirp all of the time in Rick Perry's Texas?
Rick Perry and the Texas Republican Party will find every opportunity possible in an effort to bash and vilify the big bad federal government whenever opportunity knocks. This imperative becomes especially loud and shrill during an election cycle.
But when no one is paying much attention Rick Perry and the Texas GOP will predictably grovel, beg and crawl all the way to Washington on their knees, if necessary, in a desperate effort to find bucks to cover up Perry Co.'s fiscal incompetence, its aversion to taxes, its tax scheming and history of ignoring the interests and needs of the people of Texas.
The self-serving, pocket stuffing and desperate Texas state officials and politicians, called upon their loathed Big Daddy the Fed to pay for a project that Perry's busted and broke state cannot possibly fund.
The effort to fix a dangerous and congested rail intersection near downtown Fort Worth known as Tower 55 may finally be on track.
Texas Department of Transportation officials said Thursday that they will formally endorse an application for federal funding for the Tower 55 project, a $93.7 million proposal to modernize crossings often used by children on the way to school.
What would the Republican lawmakers do were it not for Big Daddy the Fed? Who would bail them out of their self-imposed messes?
It seems that we voters need to hold or obtain doctorate degrees in psychology or medical degrees in psychiatry to understand the twisted and dysfunctional behavior emanating from our fearless Republican leaders in Washington and Austin.
Both Senators Cornyn and Hutchison have trashed the stimulus bill (The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act,) railing against its waste and its abysmal failure to deliver cash infusions to our state while they extol the bill's virtues at the very same time. Maybe a little bird told the Senators that the recovery act they've been attacking for all kinds of reasons is actually a success.
To further complicate the Senators' stand on the stimulus package that both hate but love, John Cornyn has begged the EPA to deliver bucks for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston.
Kay Bailey Hutchison praised the Port of Houston for its clean air strategy. Residents of the area may have a different definition of "clean air."
Gov. Rick Perry must be worried that the citizens of Texas are going to lose their minds and turn state government over to the Democrats.
This week on the campaign stump, he proposed two state constitutional amendments based on the notion that we can't afford democracy.
One is that any state tax increase would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.
Functionally this is already the case in the Senate, where everything but voter ID bills needs a two-thirds majority, but apparently Perry is concerned because Texas two years ago elected an uncomfortable number of Democrats and tossed autocratic Speaker Tom Craddick in favor of a speaker who will actually work with said Democrats.
Maybe Perry has become a great admirer of California, where a two-thirds requirement for passing a budget led to the state paying its bills with IOUs while the Legislature bickered and showboated.
Casey is spot on where California's woes are concerned. I have family members who have lived there for over 20 years. The state requires a two-thirds majority in order to pass tax increases. Of course since Republicans have an unholy aversion to taxes it is all but impossible to implement tax increases. Consequently schools go without funding and teachers lose their jobs. Class sizes increase and the quality of education thereby decreases. College professors in the University of California system had to take 8% cuts in salaries. Tuition and fees have increased to the point that it is very difficult for working and middle class students to afford a four year college education. There is no money to fix roads and bridges. The state's infrastructure will take a serious nose dive.
In a political turnabout that may indicate what lies ahead, Cornyn abandoned his long-standing support of federal spending for NASA and for the Johnson Space Center.
In the pre-Christmas legislative rush, he joined Senate Republicans, with fellow Texan and NASA champion Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison among them, in opposing a government-wide, $448 billion spending package that included $18.7 billion for the space agency.
Toughest part to come
"Clearly because you end up voting against a bill because it has excessive spending doesn't mean you don't support a lot of the underlying components of it," Cornyn explained. "But there needs to be a little restraint - particularly during the time of high deficits and runaway debt."
Where were the Senators fiscal restraint when they voted to fight a completely unnecessary war? Where was their fiscal restraint when they voted for huge tax cuts for the wealthy during a time in which our nation waged war on two fronts? Where was their so-called fiscal constraint in 2003 when Republicans voted for an expansion of Medicare, putting all of the above on the nation's credit card?
Democrats are troubled by the inconsistency of Republican lawmakers who approved a major Medicare expansion six years ago that has added tens of billions of dollars to federal deficits, but oppose current health overhaul plans.
All current GOP senators, including the 24 who voted for the 2003 Medicare expansion, oppose the health care bill that's backed by President Barack Obama and most congressional Democrats.
The Democrats claim that their plan moving through Congress now will pay for itself with higher taxes and spending cuts and they cite the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for support.
By contrast, when Republicans controlled the House, Senate and White House in 2003, they overcame Democratic opposition to add a deficit-financed prescription drug benefit to Medicare. The program will cost a half-trillion dollars over 10 years, or more by some estimates.
With no new taxes or spending offsets accompanying the Medicare drug program, the cost has been added to the federal debt.
Some Republicans say they don't believe the CBO's projections that the health care overhaul will pay for itself. As for their newfound worries about big government health expansions, they essentially say: That was then, this is now.
Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "We were concerned about it, because it certainly added to the deficit, no question." His 2003 vote has been vindicated, Hatch said, because the prescription drug benefit "has done a lot of good."
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said those who see hypocrisy "can legitimately raise that issue."
You betcha we can and you betcha we are.
Senators Hutchison and Cornyn have been standing on hypocrisy and bringing home lumps of coal to Texas for far too long.
Once again, let's raise our glasses to a new decade of change, more change, hope and recovery.
Yesterday I received an electronic newsletter from John Cornyn that rather surprised me. In his letter to his so-called constituents, Senator Cornyn informed us that he agrees with the uber liberal/progressive former chair of the DNC and governor of Vermont on the health care reform bill.
Wow. This is a new and interesting twist in right/left politics.
In what way, Senator? Please do explain.
My colleagues and I picked up an unlikely ally in our quest to stop the Reid health care bill. Gov. Howard Dean pleaded for his fellow Democrats to "kill this bill" in a Washington Post op-ed on Thursday morning, saying that it "will do more harm than good to the future of America." Despite the vocal protests from Liberals, Conservatives, and Independents, Democrats remain determined to force the bill through by Christmas. I assure you that my fellow Republicans and I remain resolute in stopping the Reid bill dead in its tracks.
As usual, Cornyn is full hot air. The Republicans are screaming about expanded government, as usual, and a health care program that will be affordable and will include millions of uninsured Americans. Republicans are obviously perfectly pleased with the status quo of nearly 50 million uninsured folks who use emergency rooms for their primary care needs. When this happens, the expense is passed along to taxpayers. As W. said during his Administration, everyone has access to health care. Everyone can go to the emergency rooms. Taxpayers shoulder this burden as we do W.'s war in Iraq and his tax cuts to the wealthy. Republicans hate taxation except when it comes to sticking the middle class with taxes.
Progressive Democrats are very unhappy about the lack of a government run public option that would introduce competition into the health insurance market. Many are also worried about the mandates if there is no real competition in the insurance market. Folks have every right to fear that the insurance sharks will take advantage of them if there are no checks and balances. They would do it in a New York nanosecond. Cornyn and the Republicans, by the way, have been enabling these sharks for decades.
If Cornyn had paid attention to the news yesterday he would have known that Dr. Dean now believes the bill should pass. Are you still on board with Dr. Dean, Sir?
I didn't think so.
If John Cornyn and his Republican Party were so concerned about their constituents they would have engaged in this debate a long time ago. They failed to. And now the spineless cowards are trying to align themselves with Dr. Dean and other Progressives who are rightfully upset about the absence of a public option.
Cornyn also writes:
As Texans are well aware by now, the Senate is coming to the end of its third straight week in the debate over health care reform. I think many of you have seen that as this debate progresses, we've learned two important things. First, with each passing day we have more questions than answers about the Reid bill, and secondly, the more the American public learns about it, the more they don't like it. The most recent Washington Post / ABC News Poll says that a solid majority of Americans are opposed to the Reid bill, with a CNN estimate pegging opposition as high as 61% among Americans. I met recently with a group of San Antonio firefighters in my Washington office who echoed this sentiment to me, telling me they could not afford the new taxes they would be saddled with should the bill pass. The President's own chief cost analyst recently became the latest expert to sound alarms over the Reid bill. The Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Rick Foster, issued a report last week concluding that the Reid bill would increase health care costs, threaten access to care for seniors, and force people off of their current coverage. In other words, the Administration's own expert conclusively demonstrated that the Democrats' rhetoric does not match the reality of their bill and that passing the legislation would be worse than doing nothing. You can read the CMS report for yourself here.
Dude, the public is against a health care reform bill that lacks a public option.
Reform with public option or medicare expansion won 59% to 31% support.
Now tell me Sir, are you going to embrace a public option if it is present in the final bill?
I didn't think so.
Folks might be interested to know that John Cornyn has accepted millions of dollars in donations from the insurance, health professionals and pharma sectors. He has received:
$576,878 from insurance, $1,371,928 from health professionals and $288,165 from pharma.
Cornyn has also taken $362,390 from lobbyists. Banking and oil & gas are his biggest contributors.
What is it with Republican Party? Does it utterly despise hard working and desperate Americans?
Is the GOP too stubborn, lazy or too dumb to wrap its head around a very complex bill? Or maybe reading is a very tedious and beyond boring act that takes time that could be otherwise spent playing golf or sipping martinis with health insurance lobbyists.
Hundreds of Americans die every month because they lack health care insurance. Do Republicans, including the self-serving,vindictive and tool for the health insurance companies, Joe Lieberman care?
Can obese pigs fly?
I did not think so.
Everyone is entitled to one's opinion but not to making up the facts.
Whether it is health care reform or the economic meltdown, Republicans refuse to realistically acknowledge the domestic disasters that confront us whether it has to do with thousands upon thousands of Americans who die because of lack of access to health insurance. Republicans are also unmoved by the thousands upon thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs, homes and everything they have worked so hard to achieve.
Check out how the Republican tools for health insurance lobbyists operate.
Witness a work in narcissism.
Oh, so, Republicans want to improve the bill? For whom? The insurance health care industry?
You betcha.
Oh, Joe, come on, be brave and come out of your Republican closet. Admit that you are a tool for the fat cat health insurance lobbyist. And so is your wife. Come on Joe, admit this is all about you and you don't give a rat's derriere about your constituents who will die sooner than they should because you care about your ego more than you do about the people who elected you.
Last Sunday, on Meet the Press, Kay Bailey Hutchison spewed one whopper after another about the recently passed Senate health care reform bill. KBH spouted the same fear mongering myths as had John Cornyn in his recent newsletter to his so-called constituents. Kay and John's grotesquely misleading talking points are also a clone of what John Culberson (TX7-TeabaggerR) stated in his pricey and slick brochure.
This week alone I have been bombarded by snail mail and electronic mail from my Texas lawmakers mentioned above. Sadly and outrageously, all of the letters and brochures are filled with nothing but fear mongering tactics and blatant lies.
From Hutchison:
After hearing from constituents over the last several months, some members of Congress have now learned that using the term "government plan" elicits a strong negative from voters (because you have been scaring voters about government for years.) so they have now latched onto a new way to describe the same thing: a co-op. Texans should not be confused by this new packaging of the same idea. The co-op is a back door to a government takeover of our health care. (Really? According to whom? You?) The co-op would be started with federal funds, and it remains unclear whether or not taxpayer dollars would be used if the co-ops begin to fail. The Administration has tried to bail out the banking, housing and auto-industry. Would the co-ops be next?
Wow. Let's talk about an exercise in deceitful fear mongering. This is the first time I have heard about a co-op that would replace the public option and would ultimately become single payer health care. This would be a true dream come true for the American people.
But it ain't going to happen.
Because if a single payer, universal health care reform bill had been introduced there is no way in hell that Republican enabling Lieberman and the three sell-out Democrats known as Blue Dogs would have ever in their dreams voted for the Senate HCR Bill. Like Cornyn and Hutchison, Lieberman and the Blue Dogs serve as major pimps and go to bitches for the insurance industry.
Kay Bailey Hutchison should also remind herself that banking, housing and the auto-industry collapsed under her and her Party's watch. Like most Republicans Kay Bailey has always been in favor of dismantling every living regulatory legislation and she has never supported government oversight, transparency nor checks and balances of any sort.
Based on the mail I have read from Senators Hutchison, Cornyn and my U.S. House Rep. John Culberson, it is obvious that the Republicans are repeating the same lies over and over. The cover of Culberson's brochure reads:
HEALTH CARE TAKEOVER
.
The brochure shows a stethoscope lying on a flag draped on top of a building called:
INSURANCE
A couple of Culberson's bullet pointed lies:
2.5% tax on all individuals who do not purchase government run health care.
8% tax on businesses who cannot afford to purchase government run health care.
Notice how the Republicans frequently use the term government run. They do this to attach a negative and fearful meaning of government. The intended message? The evil government will take over one's life and control one's destiny. The Republican Party has spent years demonizing government run anything b/c they'd rather have the sharks, i.e. their cash cow donors, on Wall St.,in corporate America and the insurance industry to remain permanently in the driver seats.
Let's take a peek at Republican and other pimped out lawmakers willingness to enable corporate greed and corruption.
First up, Culberson's lies. His are only the tip of the iceberg.
Hey dude, I am one of your constituents and quite frankly you are full of stupid nonsense. It is stunning to me that you would include me and other progressives in your district among your special interest groups and deluded teabaggers. I'd venture to suggest that you will have an election challenge in the very near future.
According to Culberson's brochure.
The uninsured should 1. don't get sick or 2. if you do, die quickly.
The Democratic leadership bill, H.R. 3962 costs over $1.2 trillion; contains $729.5 billion in new taxes, adds 111 new offices to the government (jobs anyone?); and creates, expands and extends 43 entitlement programs. (There they go again with their entitlement obsession. Apparently the only ones who are entitled to be entitled are Republicans.) Now here is a really huge whopper: The bill also prohibits the sale of private insurance after 2013; cuts more than $150 billion from Medicare; and exempts members of Congress from the public options but no one else.
If Culberson had really read the bill instead of dancing with teabaggers he would have known that his claim about prohibiting private insurance is a bald faced lie. It is outrageous for Culberson to think he can willfully insult the intelligence of so many of his constituents with such stupid nonsense.
What Republicans are not telling us is the fact that HCR will cut the deficit by $127 billion, coverage will be extended to 94% Americans, 31 million more than have coverage today.
What the heck is wrong with that?
Remember those evil doing non-existent WMDs in Iraq? And Iraq's non-existent ties to Al-Qaeda?
The GOP is promoting health care reform as if it is a WMD. It is one that exists only in their heads.
This morning when I unfolded the front page of the Houston Chronicle the headline
GOP begins to show signs of resurgence
hit me in the face.
Really? A Republican resurgence?
I guess the fact that much of his N.J. constituency viewed Corzine as arrogant, corrupt and the dude who saddled his constituents with high property taxes while at the same time has strong ties to the thieves of all thieves, Goldman Sachs, had nothing to do with his loss.
And let's ignore the fact that Wall. St. and the financial sector is among the largest employer in the NYC and northern NJ area. Many mid to lower level employees in the financial sector received pink slips when Wall St. crashed. I guess these folks are not in the least bit angry at those who are or were part of the Wall St. establishment.
Earth to GOP obstructionists: incumbents even remotely tied to the Wall St. melt down and the thieving banks are going to get the boot unless Congress does something to regulate and demand transparency from the financial industry.
The once popular New York's former Democrat and now Republican billionaire mayor Bloomberg had to spend millions upon millions of his own money, outspending his opponents 10 to 1 to barely squeak by a win.
And a lackluster candidate in purple Virginia who ran a lackluster campaign in which he fled from a progressive agenda in a state that traditionally votes for a Governor who is not in the same Party as the President, is a sign of a GOP insurgence?
Voters don't vote if candidates fail to excite them. And no matter the party, voters will vote against corrupted and/or lying incumbents. Nor will they vote for a candidate who calls him or herself a progressive or conservative but whose words and deeds show they are anything but. Some Republicans may be able to fool the teabagging crowd and old white Independents with double talk and spin, but this crowd is a mere tiny minority. Just wait until Independents in Va. realize the newly elected governor, who pretended to be a centrist, is really a hard core conservative. Welcome to teabagger land, Indies. Maybe next time you won't be fooled by self-serving liars.
John Cornyn, of course, is gloating all over the place about two the Democratic gubernatorial losses.
These Republican victories clearly demonstrate a strong wave for our candidates in the 2010 midterm elections," said Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And predictably, good ol' Taliban Pete Sessions is also salivating over the Democratic gubernatorial losses. Check out Matt Glazer's piece over at The Burnt Orange Report.
