The Weekly Wrangle

Time for this week's Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up, compiled by TXsharon from Bluedaze.


Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News urges Texans to NOT give to veterans by mail -- at least not without some investigation. Read about the fake veteran's charities scam supported by Republicans in Cheating Charitable Givers and Veterans.

Mayor McSleaze at McBlogger takes some time out of his busy schedule to ask a few important questions of Michael Moore and our friends at MoveOn.Org.

What is Congress to do?! The Texas Cloverleaf looks at how the Bush administration continues to ignore the US House and hurt Texas, in its blatant disregard of the Congressional order to end the DOT's plan for Mexican trucks in America.

Plastic bags are now extinct in Ireland. TXsharon at Bluedaze wants to know why the U.S. can't do the same.

How much was the Katy Freeway expansion in Houston supposed to cost? Off the Kuff digs through some story archives to show that what TxDOT is saying now about initial cost estimates is not what it was saying then.

Open Source Dem at Brains and Eggs comments on the possibility of brokered conventions in both Austin and Denver this summer, and how the March 4 primary in Texas will clarify -- or muddy -- the outlook.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme cautions reasonable people to be wary about arguing over that d*mn fence! Republicans are building a monument to racism and fear, not trying to solve any problems with a coherent policy.

Hal has a a couple of postings this week at Half Empty; this one is a new theory on whether there is a new canary about to sing to the feds about Tom DeLay's past indiscretions, and this one is about some motivation for that.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has the wrap-up from last week's hearings on TxDOT at the Capitol: Without Williamson, TxDOT Becomes Scapegoat.

Phillip Martin at Burnt Orange Report has done an exhaustingly comprehensive analysis of how the Texas hybrid primary/caucus system works, as well as a look at some of the politics of each of Texas' 31 Senate Districts that will award delegates on March 4. Read the two-part series here: Part 1 (caucus explanation) and Part 2 (delegate analysis).

BossKitty at BlueBloggin posts Customs: “Hand Over That Cell Phone, iPod & Laptop” and takes a look at just how intrusive the government has become, putting travelers and their company's private information at risk.

As we get closer to the most important Texas primary in recent memory, The Texas Blue thinks potential prognosticators should keep five things in mind when it comes to making predictions.

In addition to a ton of Texas presidential race coverage, Vince at Capitol Annex reveals that state rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) has taken an illegal contribution from an energy lobbyist.

Sunday Funnies (Democratic skewers on the barbie edition)

Disclaimer: I am not nearly as angry and bitter as some of these might suggest. And be sure to click on the image for the largest, most readable view.

Sunday Funnies (GOP quandary edition)

By the time I got to Southmore

yesterday morning, it was a street party:

More anecdotal evidence

that something huge is happening.

Yesterday my wife and I had lunch with her co-worker (born in China, now naturalized citizen) and her husband, of German/Pennsylvania Dutch descent. They have lived in Kingwood for several years (an 80% Republican suburb for those unfamiliar). My wife was uncertain about their level of political interest, much less affiliation, so I just wore my River Oaks Area Democratic Women logo polo shirt, which always manages to be a good conversation starter.

We had dim sum at Kim Son in Stafford and then went to the Lunar (Chinese) New Year Festival on the far west side of Houston. Over lunch -- while the girls were in the powder room -- he started asking me questions like "Well, it's a foregone conclusion that the Republicans will carry Texas ... right?" I replied that while that has certainly been the case in the recent past, the tide was turning and this year that likelihood IMHO depended on whether the Democrats picked Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama.

He remarked that his candidate HAD been Ron Paul, but that after researching the white supremacist thing, as well as the claim by Dr. No the constitutional expert that there was no separation of church and state in the document, he was now --with a scowl -- "undecided".

Our conversation continued along this very casual vein until he finally said, "I think that's a good idea; I'll vote in the Democratic primary for Obama and see what happens."

Folks, anything is officially possible. My advice would be to strike up a political conversation with your Republican friends and family in advance of March 4.

And don't forget to invite them to attend the precinct convention.

Sunday Funnies (Stimulant edition)

Top ten reasons conservatives hate McCain

Via the Chron, Libby Quaid of the AP counts 'em down:

1. Campaign finance reform. McCain tried to limit the role of money in politics with measures that, critics say, stomp on the constitutional right to free speech.

2. Immigration. McCain has been a vocal supporter of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, although he now says he understands the border between the U.S. and Mexico must be sealed first.

3. Tax cuts. McCain twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts, saying in 2001 they helped the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and in 2003 that there should be no tax relief until the cost of the Iraq war was known. But he now wants to extend the tax cuts.

4. Gay marriage. McCain refuses to support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

5. Stem cell research. McCain would relax restrictions on federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, which critics consider tantamount to abortion.

6. Global warming. Among the loudest voices in Congress for aggressive action against global warming and a frequent critic of the Bush administration on the issue.

7. "Gang of 14" member. One of seven Republicans and seven Democrats who averted a Senate showdown over whether filibusters could be used against Bush judicial nominees.

8. Kerry veep. McCain was approached by the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, about being his running mate. McCain talked with Kerry but rejected the offer.

9. Works with Democrats. See all of the above.

10. Belligerence. McCain can be acerbic toward his critics, such as when he labeled televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance." He reconciled with Falwell in 2006. Conservative James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement on the morning of the Super Tuesday primaries that he would not vote for McCain, citing among other things his "legendary temper" and that he "often uses foul and obscene language."

I posted a comment at the story site that I'll repeat here: The Republicans remind me of a mortally wounded marriage, where two people -- not necessarily a man and a woman -- cannot reconcile because they've said too many things they can never take back.

The chattering class of conservative commentators have spewed so much acidic bile about McCain -- and Pastor Huckabee too, for that matter -- that they cannot flip-flop now and support either man without sacrificing whatever is left of their integrity.

Fortunately for them, integrity does not appear to be highly valued within the modern conservative movement.

Mitt surrenders

As predicted here yesterday, the terror of $40 million of his personal fortune squandered and the fear of even more of it wasted in the continuance of a fool's errand forces Willard Romney to submit to the will of his children's inheritance:

"... (I)n this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

"So therefore I am cutting and running from the global war for the Republican nomination, and am graciously letting the terrorists -- err, the liberal John McCain, win. God help us all."

Audience members were heard screaming "No!", moaning and rending their garments. Seriously:

There were shouts of astonishment, with some moans and others yelling, "No, No."

And on their way out of the conference, as the PA announced the next speaker would be McCain, a chorus of boos greeted the presumptive GOP nominee.

Senor Juan McCain -- that's actually what they are calling him because he's not a xenophobe regarding undocumented immigration -- has earned the enmity of a diverse group of right-wing freaks, including Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Richard Viguerie. The locals are whining loudly. But it's not all bad: Senator Lapdog Corndog flip-flopped and endorsed the Maverick today.

That might actually hurt Cornyn in the current conservative environment. LMAO

Texas in Play

*I, combined with currents events, am slowly turning Open Source Dem into a regular contributor...

==========================

Forget Boyd RICHIE’s attempt to collaborate with the GOP to move up the primary date and deliver Texas for Fred BARON -- err, John EDWARDS. It failed, and it was lame in the first place. Now he will try to deliver for Garry MAURO -- umm, Hillary CLINTON.

That is pathetic and no more a favor for CLINTON than it was for EDWARDS.

The best interests of our state and, interestingly, of John EDWARDS -- still the potential kingmaker -- are best served today and every day by plain old republican democracy, specifically by contested state and national conventions … exactly what is shaping up.

Here are Josh MARSHALL and PDiddie on that likelihood.

Already OBAMA is moving his crack South Carolina team to Texas. Both he and CLINTON will be in Houston on 28 February for the Greater Houston Partnership/Sierra Club debate on energy, environment, economy, and security issues (E3+S). Policy wise, John EDWARDS still dominates this race. So ...

“We are the Deciders!”

Not just our votes, but our voices -- and they are many and diverse -- can be heard, if and only if we stop attempts by the state party establishment to “lock down” the state convention and to perpetuate themselves at the risk of losing the general elections -- the one thing, other than wasting money, they are certainly proficient at.

The state and national party hierarchies -- a patronage/daisy chain -- are describing brokered conventions as “chaos theory”. That is just a cute phrase. They no more understand that math than “queuing theory”.

Literati, not technorati, run this party. And they are now in panic mode. We have been in convention planning mode and now need to move towards execution. That needs to be calm and deliberate. This is the populist moment, our moment.

We are prepared. We need to be urgent but not frantic. We are not in danger of losing careers, retirement sinecures, or millions on bad bets; that would be the state party overlords. As Ed Kilgore notes, neither the state nor the national party establishment actually know how to run an orderly convention, as distinct from a beauty pageant. In his own way, that is exactly what Peck Young told us. Ed confirms at the national level what will happen in Austin on June 4: the state party machine will try to turn the convention over to Garry MAURO, less to deliver for Hillary CLINTON than to maintain their own death grip on the party.

So what a caucus of progressive populists can and should do is clear: as we are the party-building caucus, we should take the lead in providing all Texas Democrats with an orderly, productive, and fair convention process.

We do not have to create chaos. The party establishment is doing that for us on their own.

Oh, and the national party of bi-partisan collaborators proves once again they cannot design or proof-read a ballot, this time in Los Angeles. Their “counter-vote suppression theory” of racism hides simple incompetence and legalistic self-deception. Watch this story. The legal particulars of yet another “butterfly ballot” are peculiar to California.

But the general pervasiveness of bi-partisan and non-partisan administrative failure is certainly true of Texas. Yup, the party does not know how to run orderly conventions or even elections. Manipulation and obfuscation come naturally. Republican democracy are mysteries. People are fed up, if not fired up.

Take your Dramamine

...because it's all spin all the time.

Clinton won.

Expectations can be a bitch. The recent polls showing Obama moving up (especially in Clinton country i.e. CA & NJ) plus those early exit polls today certainly created some expectations for tonight that simply weren't met ...

No wait; Obama won.

I don't see how Clinton can win the nomination now. I think she still has a chance...she didn't get knocked out...but it's now Obama's race to lose. He's got more money, he's got more mojo, and Clinton doesn't have any more Arkansas or New Yorks left on the schedule.

As previously snarked, it depends on what the definition of "win" is.

Oh, and while you were watching the piefight, the recession got here. You better have saved the good meds.