Some postings I have offered on Blogs the last several days have engendered intense discussion and debate. Some of the discussion and debate has concerned how best to judge the credibility of candidates and campaigns.
The best answer to the question is one that hardly any of the comments touched upon. That is, the people themselves, acting democratically through the ballot box, are always the best judge. The people themselves acting through the ballot box are in fact the only legitimate judge. We all do still believe in democracy, don't we?
(A great summary of everything in the extended entry! - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The Austin American-Statesman reports on Greg Abbott's misuse of state resources with an appropriately misleading headline. They manage to get the story right, however (bold emphasis mine throughout):
Open letter to Greg Abbott, the press and the public
Signed original transmitted by fax to Abbott campaign office on 10-29-06
Dear Mr. Abbott:
Throughout this election year you’ve wrapped yourself in your self-image and refused to respond to or debate me in public. It is time you come out and answer my challenge.
Your defense to using state video equipment, salaries, and resources for your campaign commercials is, “I made an open records request to myself.” How gullible do you think people are?
The “good guy” image of himself that Greg Abbott is spending millions of dollars to promote is phonier than a three-dollar bill. Beneath the glossy campaign ads, he’s a thief and a hypocrite, and his claim to be such a nice guy is a pack of lies.
Abbott has been caught red-handed using film produced by state employees on state equipment and on state time in his campaign commercials and in his campaign website. WFAA-TV laid out the undeniable evidence in its 10:00 news on October 27. Anyone with an Internet connection can view the story at wfaa.com.
Greg Abbott is using his millions of dollars of corporate special interest money to blitz the airwaves with a slick package of lies that shamefully uses children as stage props to try to buy this election.
It is a flat lie for Abbott to claim he's protecting the children of Texas when he has done nothing in four years to protect them and their parents from insurance rip-offs, homebuilder deception, Big Oil robbery, utility rate piracy, and all the other products of greed run wild.
This year we've been a little more selective than usual. Rather than endorsing in all contested races – since many of these are frankly walkovers without major party opposition – we've endorsed only in those races that either appear actually competitive, or that we believe have sufficient local interest to merit specific attention.
In the interest of supporting the return of the two-party (at least) system in Texas – and a more than usual necessity to "throw the bums out" – we briefly considered endorsing a straight-ticket Democratic vote, something we generally avoid. The overwhelming dominance of the Republican Party in Texas politics over the last several years, like its overwhelmingly Democratic predecessors, has been largely a disaster for public policy.
Upon reflection, however, in service to our readers we decided to address individually all the competitive races, to give a fuller sense of the relevant issues, as well as our logic in making these endorsements.
Honestly, we almost always endorse Democrats, so that's not exactly an innovation. Never in the past, however, have we been so tempted to make a blanket-ticket endorsement as we were this time – which reflects far more on the fanatical partisan rigidity of the current dominant party than on us. Traditionally, we have had as many concerns over Democrats as Republicans, including any number of lesser-of-two-evils election endorsements. But the current GOP wrongheadedness and destructiveness to the very structures of our country – Constitutional, social, economic, and diplomatic – demands a redress, if only for the good of the country.
I find it especially refreshing for an editorial board to tell folks upfront that they are naturally slanted to one side. Instead most present very slanted endorsements and pretend to be unbiased!
Attorney General: David Van Os
The race for attorney general's office hasn't garnered one-umpteenth the attention of the tragi-comic governor's draw, despite the Texas-sized personality fighting for the public interest. With an omnipresent Stetson and bolo tie, Van Os is a striking figure, even before he opens his mouth. A specialist in constitutional and labor law, Van Os has targeted Texas oil barons and insurance and pharmaceutical giants, in his populist, anti-corporate, whistlestop campaign. The implicit contrast is that incumbent Greg Abbott has let such corporate wrongdoers run roughshod over the state – as indeed he has. Despite several splashy "cyber crime" initiatives (remember getting tough on MySpace?), Abbott has done little to make Texans safer, especially from the pollutant-spewing, scofflaw conglomerations drawing Van Os' ire. Abbott has also been a complicit servant to Tom Delay and Gov. Perry in the disastrous redistricting saga, never hesitant to defend another gerrymandered map on behalf of his bosses. Partisanship and hoary headline-hogging have defined Abbott's tenure, and we'd be happy to see him go; we're even happier his challenger is as strongly spined as David Van Os.
At Van Os's Tarrant County Whistle Stop Monday, Oct. 16th, truckers passing the venue and seeing the Van Os signs (and him on the court house steps) honked their horns in agreement with this endorsement. Aproximately 65 supporters from all spectrums of the usually divided Tarrant County Democratic party joined Van Os on the steps. It was incredible to see arch rivals (even enemies) standing together in unity with David Van Os and enjoying it! About every five or ten minutes another trucker would turn the corner, see the gathering, recognize Van Os's "BIG OIL I'M COMING AFTER YOU" and honk their horns. This message, is splattered all over the state on billboards financied by local contributors. Sometimes candidates spend money on polls. This year the entire budget has gone to reaching the people. In Tarrant County, at Van Os's Whistle Stop, we were able to tell that the message has reached folks who aren't just activists. His other bill board message is: "Insurance Gougers, I'm Coming After You!"
(David Van Os -- what more can we say? - promoted by Phillip Martin)
David Van Os is sprinting to the finish line on his 254-county Whistlestop Tour. This week he'll visit Fredericksburg (Gillespie) and Georgetown (Williamson) and next week he'll be at the courthouses in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, completing the tour.
