No, not Ted Cruz or Greg Abbott or Rick Perry or even Dan Patrick. Not Louie Gohmert or Steve Stockman. Not Randy Noogie Boogie. Not David Dewhurst or Todd Staples or even Jerry Patterson.
This guy. And the millions of Texans just like him.
When John Cornyn is considered to be on the left flank of the GOP, the sickness becomes more apparent. There are actually some Republicans who can finally admit they are embarrassed to be Republican, but Dale Huls is never going to be one of them.
As Jimmy Kimmel observed... "I want the names of the idiots who elected these people."
There just aren't the proper words to describe how pathetic this disconnect is. We've all known for a long time that empathy wasn't any Republicans' strong suit, but Dale Huls and Pedro Rivera take it to a new and much lower level.
Clear Lake, the other Houston suburbs, and certainly the remaining exurban and rural parts of the state are full of people like Dale. Except that most of them don't have a good job and two months of savings like him. Most of them are broke, without health insurance, and if they vote at all, they vote GOP.
The biggest obstacle to Wendy Davis being elected governor is Dale Huls and every other Texan who has his mindset. You can't change it, and it takes too long to wait for them to die. Battleground Texas (and other organizations and campaigns with shared interests) must simply go out and find the millions of Texans who aren't voting, and then change that habit.
There are dozens and dozens of reasons why Davis -- and other Texas Democrats on the ballot in 2014 -- can win. Not accomplishing that one very tall order is, as far as I am concerned, the only reason why she cannot win, and why so many people, even Democrats, think that she cannot.
We'll just have to watch and see how that plays out.
This guy. And the millions of Texans just like him.
Thanks to Texas' new senator, Dale Huls is out of a job -- at least for now. Yet Huls has never been prouder that he voted for him.
"Without Ted Cruz this doesn't happen," said Huls, a NASA systems engineer who was among roughly 3,000 federal employees furloughed from Houston's Johnson Space Center after tea party Republicans triggered the partial government shutdown.
"This is something Americans have to get used to," said Huls. "Even if it affects your livelihood, you've got to stand up."
When John Cornyn is considered to be on the left flank of the GOP, the sickness becomes more apparent. There are actually some Republicans who can finally admit they are embarrassed to be Republican, but Dale Huls is never going to be one of them.
Huls said he has enough savings to tide him over for at least two months without a paycheck. But he's worried about not making up money he borrowed from his retirement plan and says he may eventually have to talk to other creditors about extensions.
"But I don't consider myself a victim," Huls said. "I'm in this fight too and this is my role."
Pedro Rivera, a space center programs specialist who is working on the Orion capsule the U.S. hopes to send to Mars, said he too is willing to accept being furloughed even if the shutdown means a delay in Orion's scheduled test launch next year.
"I think it's a small price to pay for the future generations," said Rivera, who says he considers the new health care law un-American.
As Jimmy Kimmel observed... "I want the names of the idiots who elected these people."
There just aren't the proper words to describe how pathetic this disconnect is. We've all known for a long time that empathy wasn't any Republicans' strong suit, but Dale Huls and Pedro Rivera take it to a new and much lower level.
Clear Lake, the other Houston suburbs, and certainly the remaining exurban and rural parts of the state are full of people like Dale. Except that most of them don't have a good job and two months of savings like him. Most of them are broke, without health insurance, and if they vote at all, they vote GOP.
The biggest obstacle to Wendy Davis being elected governor is Dale Huls and every other Texan who has his mindset. You can't change it, and it takes too long to wait for them to die. Battleground Texas (and other organizations and campaigns with shared interests) must simply go out and find the millions of Texans who aren't voting, and then change that habit.
There are dozens and dozens of reasons why Davis -- and other Texas Democrats on the ballot in 2014 -- can win. Not accomplishing that one very tall order is, as far as I am concerned, the only reason why she cannot win, and why so many people, even Democrats, think that she cannot.
We'll just have to watch and see how that plays out.
