Thursday, February 11, 2010

Charles Wilson 1933 -2010, and John Murtha 1932 - 2010

One week, two Congressional titans.

Former U.S. representative Charlie Wilson, a flamboyant 12-term East Texas Democrat who used his control of CIA purse strings to finance and arm an Afghan insurgency that drove out the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, died Feb. 10 at a hospital in Lufkin, Tex. He was 76 and had a history of heart ailments.

Wilson's epic overseas engagements outlive him. The power vacuum left in Afghanistan when the Soviets exited in 1989 contributed to the rise of the Taliban, and the weapons that Wilson helped bring to that country were probably in use when the United States went to war there in 2001.

Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania powerhouse in Congress for 36 years and an early ally for Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her rise to the top of the House, died Monday afternoon as a result of complications from recent surgery. ...

A Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, the 77-year-old Democrat won national fame for standing up against U.S. military involvement in Iraq. But in Congress itself, he also symbolized an old-school generation going back to Tip O’Neill and the Democratic heyday of the ’70s, when the House was less divided by partisan ideology than by often regional interests.

Wilson came and spoke in my high school gymnasium on a campaign trip in 1972, the first year he ran for Congress. He was of course tall and charismatic but especially so to this 15-year-old freshman. He was running to represent the Texas 2nd, replacing John V. Dowdy -- whom my older brother had served as a Congressional page a few years before, and who was forced into retirement from Congress earlier that year. Dowdy was under federal indictment for bribery, conspiracy, and perjury (he was later convicted and sent to prison on the perjury charge, but the other counts were overturned on appeal).

It's safe to say that Charlie Wilson was my first exposure to politics.

Much has already been written about Wilson's colorful legacy, personal as well as professional. Here's the best excerpt I found of stories I hadn't already heard:

Pretty much everyone else who ever met him developed a fondness for Charlie Wilson. They just couldn't help it. The columnist Molly Ivins once pondered how it was that a liberal feminist such as herself could love such an unreconstructed chauvinist so very, very much. "I've been worrying about my fitness to write for Ms. Magazine on account of I like Charlie Wilson," she wrote in that magazine in 1988. "Good Lord, that is embarrassing. Congressman Wilson is the Hunter Thompson of the House of Representatives; a gonzo politician. He's a sexist and has made war a spectator sport. By way of redeeming social value, he's funny, a good congressman for his district, and hasn't an ounce of hypocrisy. ... I called Wilson to ask him why we like him, thinking he might know. He said: `Feminists like me because I am an unapologetic sexist, chauvinist redneck ... who ... votes with 'em every time. I have proven that I can vote with 'em without kissing their ass. I try not to let 'em know I vote with 'em; it's more fun to have 'em mad at me.' "

Wilson and Murtha (and Dowdy, before and with them) served in Congress when business was conducted in a certain way, as you likely already know. Murtha replaced Clarence "Doc" Long (portrayed by Ned Beatty in "Charlie Wilson's War"), the chair of the subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the House Appropriations Committee when Long was defeated in his re-election bid in 1984. Murtha and Wilson thus were more tightly conjoined in the covert war-by-proxy on the USSR, of which Wilson famously said: "we f--ked up the endgame".

Earlier in their careers, Wilson had narrowly turned back an ethics charge against Murtha. Carl Hulse at the NYT relays:

As recounted in the book, “Charlie Wilson’s War”, then Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill asked the colorful Mr. Wilson to take a spot on the House ethics committee to help shut down an inquiry into Murtha, who had gotten caught up in the Abscam bribery investigation. Murtha wasn’t prosecuted for his role, but the internal watchdog committee was looking into whether he broke House rules by not reporting a bribery attempt.

In the book written with Wilson’s cooperation by investigative journalist George Crile, Wilson agreed to take the seat on the ethics panel in return for appointment to the board of the Kennedy Center, which would provide him with plenty of access to exclusive entertainment events. The inquiry was quickly derailed, leading the chief investigator to resign.

“It was the best deal I ever made,” Wilson told Crile. “I only had to be on Ethics for a year, and I get to stay on the Kennedy Center for life.”

Wilson and Murtha will be laid to rest in the heart of their mostly rural Congressional districts. Additional recommended reading:

The Hill's Pundits blog: John Murtha

Politico: Charlie Wilson's Way

Texas on the Potomac: Where are they now? -- Joanne Herring

Update: JR Behrman had this take, and sent it to me with these comments ...

Making “progressive” and “populist” coexist within anything as complex as a federal union with two written, overlapping constitutions which actually failed the challenges of (a) slavery and (b) segregation is hard, maybe impossible.

Nonetheless, Charlie Wilson and John Murtha are pretty much what I expect of representative democracy.

To be specific, I think they and a few other Democrats of their generation actually defeated the Soviet Union, where the GOP would have eventually taken us to something nuclear that they read about in the Book of Revelations.

... and Melissa Roddy at HuffPo added hers on Wilson, Herring, and another Houstonian who always seemed to have a hand in everything, James Baker III.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

The Snooze can't work out the Kinks in their endorsement

It is truly a remarkable day for the New Media when my friend Neil at Texas Liberal trumps the Dallas Morning News in the logic associated with their respective endorsements for Texas commissioner of agriculture.

But don't take my word for it...

In the contested Democratic primary for Agriculture Commissioner, the Dallas Morning News has endorsed Kinky Friedman over Hank Gilbert. Well, maybe we should say: The News has opposed Gilbert over Friedman, since the editorial is more of a knock on the former than an attaboy to the latter.

I don't know who over at the Kingdom of Belo wrote that endorsement, but they have lost their f'ing minds. Essentially the DMN doesn't care about details. They just like cigars.

The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board must be smoking crack for endorsing Kinky Friedman in the Democratic Primary for Agriculture Commissioner. One thing the DMN didn't remember is that Friedman is not a Democrat. Never has been. Never will be. You would think if you were going to endorse a Democrat, endorse one that is actually a Democrat and one that knows something about what he is running for.

Forget, for a moment, the mischaracterization of Hank's position on global trade (he's for FAIR not FREE trade... I think we can all agree that the effect of free trade has been detrimental on balance to this country as we've seen GDP go up and wage growth stagnate). The issue is Hank's opposition to impounding, under water, 72,000 acres of productive land in East Texas. And what the DMN failed to mention is that the water district that covers Dallas is the most wasteful in the state.

Hank's position, which he made clear, was to enhance conservation and begin building desalinization plants capable of producing the water that Texas needs. For one thing, desertification is becoming a problem in Texas and rainfall more and more erratic. In point of fact, reservoirs are just not going to cut it. We need a better solution and pressure exchange desalinization is very cheap and very easy. Who knows, maybe our good buddy on the Ed Board William McKenzie just hasn't been keeping up with changes in technology.

There's only one person who deserves to be the Democratic nominee for ag commissioner, and it's not Kinky Friedman.

Monday, February 08, 2010

White: no moratoria on death penalty, drilling in Barnett Shale

And for this Democratic primary voter (and soon-to-be precinct chair), that means 'no' on Bill White.
Asked whether there should be a moratorium imposed, Shami said, "Yes ma'am. We need to be 110 percent" certain that a person is guilty. "We can't be just executing people without being sure," Shami said. "We cannot be bragging how many people we execute."

"No," said White to the same question about a death-penalty moratorium, "not in all cases." White said an absolute moratorium would "disrespect" juries, victims and the justice system, but he said there should be extensive investigation in cases in which there are questions about guilt.

"I will never introduce politics into questions of life or death," added White, citing in an indirect slap at GOP Gov. Rick Perry the Forensic Science Commission. ... "By and large, this is a just system ... We also need to look after the rights of those victims."

"We need an immediate moratorium on drilling in the Barnett Shale until the natural gas companies can conclusively show their drilling will not have a negative impact on the public health of those people living in the area. We can always drill later, but you cannot cure the cancer these chemicals can cause."

... The Fort Worth Star Telegram Reported on January 19th that White said, "Companies ought to be able to conduct fracturing operations and completions of gas wells in responsible fashions that don't lead to emissions," he said. "If there are elevated levels of benzene, there ought to be actions taken at the wellhead ... and technology does allow that to be done."

Burnt Orange carried the liveblog again and duplicated the feed on the White site, while Shami's crew did the same.  (Watching both simultaneously was a dizzying experince in twin campaign spin from opposite directions.) The Texas Blue didn't try that again but did get their take up first.

More reactions as they roll in.

Update: Texas Cloverleaf ...

I just watched an utter disaster of a Democratic TX Governor's candidate debate between Bill White and Farouk Shami. It pretty much determined my vote will be for White, though be it with some reservations still. Shami may be a good guy and a good businessman, but he isn't ready to lead Texas. Although the Shami campaign already claimed a win, I think it was on Planet CHI that he won anything. That debate went hands down to Bill White for being prepared, knowing what the Governor does, and being able to answer the questions (though he didn't have to answer whether he would repeal the gay marriage ban or not- what's up with that??).

Harvey Kronberg:

Bill White and Farouk Shami shared a stage in Fort Worth tonight but, truth be told, the men weren’t in the same debate.

And that’s OK. They had different bars to clear and for the most part they cleared them.

As the Houston Chronicle’s Rick Casey pointed out in his column this morning, White won simply by having a debate at which to show up. An hour on statewide TV where he was sharp and hit his marks was probably worth millions that he otherwise would have had to spend on paid TV.

Texas Liberal:

I’ll offer two thoughts—

1. The person you see in the picture above is quite rude and condescending. Her name is Shelley Kofler and she was one of the panelists this evening for the debate.

She was abrasive and condescending to candidate Farouk Shami many times during the debate. Ms. Kofler appears to have an extensive resume in television reporting and I’m sure she is quite well-informed about Texas politics. Yet at the same time, she is abrasive for no clear reason.

2. The debate tonight was the second time I’ve heard Mr. Shami speak and I find him more coherent than I think he comes off to many voters. There is an underlying theme of decency and fair-play in his campaign message. Maybe it is all an act, but I’d be open to the guy if he’d not go on about stuff like jobs for all and free electricity. That kind of talk is simply not credible.

"Who Dat?" Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates the city of New Orleans for the Saints' stirring Super Bowl victory, and reminds them that the "hair of the dog" trick doesn't really help with the hangover.

The Texas Cloverleaf highlights the sentencing of GOP Denton County Constable Ken Jannereth. Probation, anger management, laying off the bottle, and maybe more to come for the disgraced lawman.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is watching two Texas Counties fight it out with their district attorneys over legal duties.

Bay Area Houston says Teabaggers claim illiterate Blacks elected Obama.

Is your gas wet or dry? Despite industry spin, it seems to not matter. TCEQ testing shows Barnett Shale "Dry Gas" health hazard. TXsharon thanks state representative Lon Burnam for wading through the recent TCEQ testing report to find the truth, in Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker connects Obama's big picture with our big picture in Obama's Problem is Our Problem In a Nutshell. Is our future Sarah Palin, Tea Baggers, and failure?

This week at Left of College Station, Teddy interviews several members of the GLBTcommunity at Texas A&M while investigating what it is like to be gay in Aggieland. LoCS also takes a look at American's ignorance of current events and the political process and has a report on the local campaign spending and donations. Left of College Station also covers the week in headlines.

McBlogger notes that the Nuge was campaigning for 39% over the weekend. Can't you just feel the greasy, smelly excitement?

WCNews at Eye On Williamson looks at how the legislature is already laying the groundwork for adding sales taxes to items currently excluded like bottled water, basic internet service, and coin operated services in House Ways and Means Committee to look at "Certain Sales Tax Exemptions & Exclusions.

Off the Kuff looks at the effect of the "Citizens United" ruling on judicial elections in Texas.

WhosPlayin is neck-deep in local issues in North Texas, having spent the weekend with the Lewisville City Council at their retreat, and noting that the local school district is discouraging candidates from running for school board.

This week at Texas Vox Citizen Sarah geeked out on the new energy generation plan presented to Austin City Council. May not sound too snazzy but there's enormous potential there to reduce carbon emissions, build up our local economy, and improve public health with this plan, so she thinks it is pretty cool.

Neil at Texas Liberal commented that office building janitors in Houston have set up a Facebook page as they prepare for a new round of contract negotiations in 2010. All work has merit and all people should be paid a living wage.

Yesterday was huge for New Orleans but it was also TeaBagger Rally Day in northwest Harris County, as PDiddie at Brains and Eggs recounted in "Rick and Ted's (and Sarah's) Excellent Super Bowl Sunday Venture".

Bill vs. Farouk

Tonight, live and in person, on your teevee. And lately also in the news and in the blogs.

Here's Red White and Blue's video interview with Shami (it goes 26 minutes plus). And the TexTrib has compiled several links and video in "The More You Know ... About Bill White". Charles Kuffner has audio interviews with both men.

The Texas Observer's The Mayor and The Mogul has some good Q&A. Here's a bit from both fellows ...

TO: Can you elaborate a little on your plans for stimulating the economy? you said you want to start at the bottom. What does that mean?

Shami: I’ve been to El Paso, and I visited the colonias. I understand there are thousands of these. In Houston, I see the Fifth Ward, Third Ward, Sunnyside, Acres Homes. Such poor people. As long as those people are poor and having no jobs ... so my concept is to start with these people and create jobs. Bring factories to these communities.

I’ve been working for the last few months with engineers and experts on solar panels. Soon we will be building the first solar panels in El Paso and hiring hundreds of people and working there with the community for people to do installing of those solar panels. [Shami has been a major investor in a solar panel project in El Paso.] I’m hoping we can do that in all poor communities and create approximately 150,000 jobs in the next couple of years.

So that’s where I say stimulate the economy starting from the bottom. Those people, when they get a check, they spend it the next day. It goes back to the economy. And that keeps the money in the state. That’s how you stimulate the economy.
We need green jobs. They would serve many purposes—working with the solar panels, using the sun, which is the cheapest form of energy and the cleanest form of energy, and it’s creating jobs.

TO: We’re in a time when there’s a lot of anti-Obama backlash and a lot of antigovernment sentiment. Clearly you are running on a good-government message, which hasn’t always worked in Texas, to say the least. How are you going to sell people on competent governance?

White: You know, Texas will be a poorer state without an economic future that’s as much as it can be. We lead the nation in the percentage of adults without a high school diploma. Texas is unusual among American states and countries on Earth of having the younger generations having a lower percentage of college degrees than older Texans. We will not have a solid economic future unless we invest in the people of this state and have people who are productive, that can save and invest in small businesses, that can purchase consumer goods. And I think Texans understand this.

We need to move our state forward. We’ve had too much of the wedge politics issues in the past. And I think that most Texans are ready for somebody just to work for the people of Texas on solutions.

I think what you’re seeing a backlash against is what people consider to be a lot of political theater in Washington. There’s a lot of hype and rhetoric. When you have two wars going on, when you’re in a global and economic recession, and we’re in a state that is last in a lot of things we ought to be first in, then people are ready for some new leadership.

Despite being the house organ for the Texas Democratic establishment, Burnt Orange Report breaks with the party line in their aggregate of the Austin Statesman's reporting. The AAS's PolitiFact breaks down Shami's racism allegations against White. And Dr. Richard Murray of the University of Houston and ABC13 predicts that White will get 60% of the primary vote on March 2 (a contention I dispute in the comments there and in this post as well).

Hal levels a critique on the Shami campaign and specifically campaign manager Vince Leibowitz, who is the president of the Texas Progressive Alliance, in which the three of us of are members. Muse posted about Shami's "beefy aides", and compared statements between White and Kay Bailey (personally, I can't tell the difference).

I posted about the exclusion of the other five candidates for governor from tonight's debate here, an entreaty that fell on completely deaf ears. I also had a compilation of news and blog articles on Shami last month, and my 2007 meeting on e-Slate issues with White, before and after.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Hank versus Kinky

Lots and lots of news about the Democratic primary contest for commissioner of agriculture. What follows is a selection of excerpts and links to the source, which I recommended following and reading entirely.

Democratic agriculture commissioner candidates Kinky Friedman and Hank Gilbert met for their first, and likely only, editorial board meeting together late Friday afternoon at The Dallas Morning News.

Friedman balked when he arrived and heard Gilbert was attending. He said he had not been told of the joint session. Editorial board staff told him it was written in a letter he had received.

But Friedman need not have worried. His counterpart showed up half an hour late. This left Friedman time to talk about following the "Hightower model," throw in some jabs at Gov. Rick Perry and use his latest line, "putting the culture back in agriculture." ...

Gilbert talked about his agricultural background and his desire to build reservoirs and develop desalination plants across the state.

At one point, Friedman looked over at Gilbert and said, "Taken together, we'd probably make up an adequate human being."

He got a smirk from Gilbert who responded, "I'm gonna have to dispute that."

More from Trail Blazers, including these ...

Kinky: Longhorns to Haiti

Gilbert: Campaign cash for clothes

Kinky: Jason Stanford and Chris Bell (and a dog)

And from the DMN a couple of weeks ago ...Friedman, Gibert butt hat brims in tense stand-off:

When Friedman took a break, during the speeches, Gilbert followed him. The showdown took place outside the conference room, the brim of Gilbert's white cowboy hat up against Friedman's black one.

"There is no reason to bring up things that are not relevant to this campaign," Gilbert said. "That's old-time politics that have long passed by."

Friedman pulled his trademark cigar out of his mouth and denied leaking any information.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, shaking his head. Gilbert backed off, and Friedman suggested to his campaign manager that they go outside to defuse the situation.

As you might imagine, the Texas left blogosphere has been lively about all of this.

The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.:

Juanita Jean likes cowboys. So, when Hank Gilbert decided to re-enter politics, she was pleased. But then Hank couldn’t decide what horse to ride, who was in charge of paying the band, or who his dance partner is. It was a goat rodeo. ...

“It’s gonna take a faith healer, a voodoo doll, and a 20 car prayer meeting to get this guy’s campaign back on track ...”

“He’s throwing us into Kinky Friedman’s arms,” Juanita moans, “and, Honey, there have been some things in Kinky’s arms that require an environmental impact study just to move across the room. I’m not overly anxious to be there, but at least he seems to know what he’s doing most the time.” I suspect she heard me snort. “I said MOST!” she reiterated.

jobsanger:

A few days ago, the campaign again blundered. After meeting with National Farmer's Union president Roger Johnson, Gilbert announced that Johnson had endorsed him to be Texas Agriculture Commissioner. The only problem with that is Mr. Johnson said he had NOT made any endorsement in the race.

Again the campaign came up with a rather weak excuse for the error. They said they'd been getting so many endorsements that they just made a mistake. That sounds like a pretty egregious mistake. Is the campaign so disorganized that it can't even keep something as simple as an endorsement straight?

Gilbert ran a pretty good campaign in 2006. Even though he didn't win, he actually got more votes than the Democratic candidate for governor did. But his 2010 campaign seems to be a comedy of errors.

McBlogger:

The interview was little more than a careening mess with Friedman clearly not cognizant that the position really involves more than just name dropping and asking Hightower what he'd do. And, of course, it gave Friedman a chance to misrepresent the DMN for calling him the safe, sane choice (which they did, but only when it comes to driving habits) ...

But what really got me what was him dropping out there that he'll increase Democratic vote by 7%, according to a good pollster. Which is cool except for one thing... now one knows how much of the Democratic electorate, made up of a large number of the same racial minorities Kinky has used for his insipid comedy routine for years, will decide to come out because he's on the ballot.

On the other side is Hank Gilbert. He can actually say he's done what Kinky claims he can do. He pulled 7% over the Democratic base vote in 2006 and he's only gotten stronger with Independents and moderate Republicans since through his work to kill the TTC. And, as an added bonus, he doesn't anger the Democratic base.

Texas Cloverleaf:

Both Hank and Kinky do have good ideas. They both hate toll roads. They both like ranches. Both really like animals. But what bothers me the most is the character of the man that we are about to elect. Sure, the recent news on Hank not wearing his seatbelt or driving on a revoked license is not the best thing out there, but it sure doesn't beat nigger eggs. Oh, you are wondering why I used that term? Well, it is because the Kinkster did, so it must be cool, right? No, it isn't cool. ...

We can not have an "entertainer" who has spent more time on a tour selling books, cigars, and salsa running a serious commission in the state. Remember the last slew of actors we elected to office? Ronald Reagan. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jesse Ventura. Jerry Springer. How did those work out? I would rather have the guy who was a school teacher and a rancher deciding how our agriculture is promoted in Texas. That would be Hank Gilbert.

Super Sunday Funnies





Saturday, February 06, 2010

NFL = socialism

As we all prepare -- well, most of us; well ... a lot of us -- to spend another late-winter Sunday afternoon sharing in a little social networking experiment called the Super Bowl, let's be reminded that the National Football League is not only the most wildly successful but also the most socialistic of all professional sports organizations. Let's count the ways ...

Revenue sharing (all money from the television contracts signed with the networks and cable stations gets split evenly among teams) guarantees that the Pittsburghs and Green Bays can compete with the New Yorks and Chicagos. In comparison, major league baseball owners have long eschewed the revenue-sharing model, enabling teams like the Yankees to earn and spend higher mountains of cash than their relatively poverty-stricken counterparts in Tampa Bay and Seattle.

Name me any other industry in this country where the franchisees share equally in the largest stream of revenue.

The taxpayers in each city subsidize the initial construction cost of the respective team owners' largest manufacturing facility (stadiums). The municipalities share in the expense but not in the income, unless you count tax revenue collected from the restaurants and sports bars near the stadium on game days.

When it comes to selecting the most talented and experienced workers -- the draft --  the worst is always first and the champion last. Even the scheduling takes into effect that the lousiest teams get to play one another the following season, while the best ones get to beat up on each other.

"Parity", and not 'just winning', to paraphrase Oakland-then-Los Angeles-and-back-to-Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, is the name of the NFL game, baby.

And then there's the player salary cap, where each team's payroll is frozen at an equal sum across the league, as well as the fact that the NFL has never had any investment in a minor league farm system like baseball and basketball (the colleges and universities take care of that expense for them).

This quasi-socialist business model has paid off handsomely; billions of dollars (almost $7B in 2008 alone) for its 32 owners, making the NFL far and away one of the most profitable operations ever invented. The brand is so strong that the Houston Texans secured the second largest debt-refinance contract in team sports history (through 2003, that is) and that was before they ever played their first game. Professional football is in fact so lucrative that American multi-millionaires -- and billionaires -- have to make their millions and billions in other industries before they can get accepted into the exclusive private club of NFL ownership.

There's just one place where these titans of commerce show their true colors: like most other capitalist pigs, they blame the "fact" that they still aren't making enough money on their employees.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Rick and Ted's (and Sarah's) Excellent Super Bowl Sunday Venture

It won't be retarded, but it will be crazy ... because you couldn't pile the nuts any higher if you used a steamshovel:

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is coming to Texas on Sunday, February 7, 2010 to headline a rally for Governor Perry's re-election campaign. We invite you to join Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and your fellow conservatives in Houston for this exciting event. ...


Due to the enthusiastic response and to ensure everyone has a chance to see Governor Palin, Ted Nugent, Governor Perry and others, they have agreed to have two events at the Berry complex, and both will be simulcast together.

Lock up the women and children, get your dogs inside the house, tie down your valuables and stay the hell away from 290 at Barker-Cypress at all cost

This is a private event. No trespassing is allowed, it is for Perry supporters. No signs, sticks, or glass bottles or cans allowed. Please bring your cameras, cell phones, and PDA’s, your voices, your enthusiasm, your patience and your conservative spirit. This is going to be a liberty-lovin, freedom-singin', blow the doors down, good ole' fashioned rally. 

They didn't say nuttin' about no guns, though. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.

Nuge is doin' the Anthem. Ain't that great? A brave American who defecated on himself and wore the pants for several days before showing up at his Vietnam draft board hearing.

They didn't take Ted into the US Army, but that's OK; now he's Rick Perry's boy all day long.

Obama suggests healthcare reform is nearly dead

After insisting for a year that failure was not an option, President Barack Obama is now acknowledging his health care overhaul may die in Congress.

His remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday night sounded contradictory at times, complicating congressional leaders' effort to revive health care legislation as Democrats hunger for guidance from the White House. Even while saying he still wanted to get the job done, Obama counseled going slow, and bowed to new political realities. Democrats no longer command a filibuster-proof Senate majority, and voters and lawmakers are far more concerned with jobs and the economy than with enacting sweeping and expensive changes to the health system.

Not exactly bold leadership on the issue.

Sweeping health legislation to extend medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans passed both chambers of Congress last year and was on the verge of completion before Republican Scott Brown's upset victory in a Massachusetts special U.S. Senate election last month. Brown was sworn in Thursday, giving Republicans 41 votes, enough to block the initiatives of the Democratic majority.

Now the health legislation hangs in limbo. Lawmakers are looking to Obama for a path forward, but he has not publicly offered specifics. His signals have been mixed. At the DNC event he said Republicans should be part of the process — something they've shown little interest in and that would doubtlessly drag out a legislative effort that many rank-and-file Democrats want to end quickly. The health care bill has become unpopular with the public and a political drag for lawmakers.

As usual he's not tipping his hand, again so as to avoid catching the blame:

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns one way or the other during election time."

Don't let the moment pass, but be deliberate. Move forward to a vote while at the same time have meetings, listen to the Republicans' ideas (sic), take your time, make a decision.

Remember when this was going to be done by Christmas?

I was a proponent some time ago of letting HCR pass away, but it should have been done so that its death was clearly the fault of the GOP. Responsibility for the failure -- whether the inept Dems could make it so, or not -- belongs squarely at their feet.

But once again the president has managed to kowtow to the intransigent minority and piss off his base while looking weak, all at the same time. That's an award-winning recipe for failure.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

39% and Kay Bailey headed to run-off

As I previously predicted, Rasmussen shows the GOP goobers primary as a MoFo's to lose:

Incumbent Rick Perry's lead over Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has grown a little bigger in the race for this year's Republican gubernatorial nomination in Texas. Tea Party activist Debra Medina also has gained ground, and her gains appear to come at the expense of Hutchison.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey of likely Republican Primary voters in Texas finds Perry leading Hutchison 44% to 29%, with Medina at 16%.

Medina has gained four points since the previous survey while Hutchison has lost four points. Perry's support is little changed from a month ago.

Harvey observes that this is the first time Kay Bailey has polled below 30%.

Now that first link above -- here it is again -- also contains my prediction for the Democratic primary, a prediction I reposted today on Dr. Richard Murray's blog... where he thinks Bill White is going to get 60% on March 2.

I will certainly look forward to comparing the outcomes with our predictions on Election Night.

Monday, February 01, 2010

The Weekly Wrangle

Dr. Stephen L. Klineberg of Rice University and the Houston Area Survey notes:

In 2009, 25% of the respondents said that "buying the groceries to feed their family" was either a "very serious" or " somewhat serious" problem for them during the past year, up from 19% in 2002.

Other highlights from the 2009 survey at the link (in .pdf form).

The Texas Progressive Alliance brings you the following blog highlights from the past week.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme thinks that the Houston Chronicle caught the essence of the GOP with this headline: 'Many attacks, but few suggestions'.

WhosPlayin is tired of hearing obstructionist Republicans whining about not having a seat at the table for health care insurance reform, after they make it clear they'll vote against any attempt to harm their Big Pharma and Big Insurance benefactors.

Off the Kuff notes that the Texas ParentPAC has endorsed Thomas Ratliff in his GOP primary fight against uber-SBOE wingnut Don McLeroy.

Bay Area Houston watched as the Texas Association of Builders got kicked in the nuts at a hearing in Austin over the abuse of mandatory binding arbitration.

It's been such an amazing news week in the Barnett Shale that it's hard to pick one topic for the round-up. One item that should be of interest to anyone in the DFW area who drinks water: Argyle Disposal Well in Denton Creek Flood Plain. No kidding! It's for real on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the taxing TAKS becoming the pretty STAAR that school children will have to shoot past in order to graduate.

Has the so-called nuclear renaissance been dealt a blow by the South Texas Project's troubles? Learn more at Texas Vox.

If you missed the GOP governor's debate, check out McBlogger's rather insightful analysis of the three players' performances, along with a mercifully brief comment on the sexual desirability of Rep. Louie Gohmert.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the latest Texans for Public Justice "Watching Your Assets" report, this one about the Texas Enterprise Fund: Perry's corporate welfare not paying off for Texas.

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw puts a local spin on young James O'Keefe's foiled attempt to tamper with Mary Landrieu's phones. The roll call of Texas Republican admirers is quite long. Of equal interest was the discussion that followed the outing of these Republicans. See it all at Texas Republican Lawmakers Honor James O'Keefe.

It's a travesty that only Bill White and Farouk Shami are participating in the Texas Democratic gubernatorial debate on February 8 because the other five candidates don't meet the "standards". PDiddie at Brains and Eggs believes it's impossible to reconcile that KERA, a public broadcasting station, together with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Univision and other corporate and media industry sponsors, would conspire to preclude candidates for the state's highest public office.

Neil at Texas Liberal is glad that Houston city councilmember Jarvis Johnson is talking about poverty in his 18th U.S. House District primary fight with incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee. However, it will take some solid ideas and not just talk to feel that Mr. Johnson is really serious about the issue.