He's morphed from an upstart longshot right into a presidential wet dream for swooning Donkeys in the span of a couple of weeks.
When Jon Tilove at the Austin Statesman featured 'Beto 2020' in his column/First Reading blog last week, I rolled my eyes.
That was the first I had read about this (like I've said before, I quit Facebook weeks ago; I'm no longer privy to the hive mind of Democratic activists ... and feel much healthier as a result). Tilove, who normally has something valuable to contribute to the political discussion, had gone off the rails with this prognosticating. Or so I thought.
On Monday, I led the Wrangle with my premise about a brightening forecast for O'Rourke's chances against Poop Cruz. Then Beto's remarks about NFL players taking a knee, video posted by Real News (over 15,000 views and 28,000 reTweets), blew up the Internet. Then the latest poll broke, from NBC News/Marist, showing a scant four-point lead for the Zodiac Killer.
That poll -- look at Kuffner! On it! And look who his first commenter is! -- does not reflect the impact of the viral 'kneeling' video or his recent teevee ad buy, as RG Ratcliffe at Texas Monthly pointed out yesterday. (And still no mention of the one poll that had Beto just a nose ahead. Very odd.)
So then I start seeing all kinds of fawning comments and Tweets about Beto, from locals to statewides to "Hollywood liberals" (as Rafael puts it) to the chattering political consultant class, all dreamily fantasizing not about Senator O'Rourke ... but President -- or Vice President -- O'Rourke. Just as Tilove above speculated.
Also this, thoroughly refudiated by Gadfly. And this. And this. And way too much more.
It's a shame nobody read the Texas Monthly piece I excerpted in this January post (the original at TM is currently offline) that enlightened me about O'Rourke, and led me to the conclusion that I could not ever vote for him. It's also a shame no journalist has thought to probe a little deeper -- here on the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey -- about why he was one of four Texas Democrats who voted against tax relief for victims of the storm. His answer to this point has been his usual superficial BS.
But the real burning question for me is: how does Julian Castro feel about being Pipped by Beto?
Beyond that, the TexTrib via Progrexas sees the 'kneeling' comments on the video as maybe not helping Beto too much here in Deep In the Hearta. They may, sadly, be right about that.
No. Just no.
When Jon Tilove at the Austin Statesman featured 'Beto 2020' in his column/First Reading blog last week, I rolled my eyes.
If you like Cruz-O’Rourke 2018, you’ll love Cruz-O’Rourke 2020. https://t.co/c7oGdhkDDD 🙄#LetsNotGetAheadofOurselves— PDiddie (@PDiddie) August 16, 2018
That was the first I had read about this (like I've said before, I quit Facebook weeks ago; I'm no longer privy to the hive mind of Democratic activists ... and feel much healthier as a result). Tilove, who normally has something valuable to contribute to the political discussion, had gone off the rails with this prognosticating. Or so I thought.
On Monday, I led the Wrangle with my premise about a brightening forecast for O'Rourke's chances against Poop Cruz. Then Beto's remarks about NFL players taking a knee, video posted by Real News (over 15,000 views and 28,000 reTweets), blew up the Internet. Then the latest poll broke, from NBC News/Marist, showing a scant four-point lead for the Zodiac Killer.
That poll -- look at Kuffner! On it! And look who his first commenter is! -- does not reflect the impact of the viral 'kneeling' video or his recent teevee ad buy, as RG Ratcliffe at Texas Monthly pointed out yesterday. (And still no mention of the one poll that had Beto just a nose ahead. Very odd.)
So then I start seeing all kinds of fawning comments and Tweets about Beto, from locals to statewides to "Hollywood liberals" (as Rafael puts it) to the chattering political consultant class, all dreamily fantasizing not about Senator O'Rourke ... but President -- or Vice President -- O'Rourke. Just as Tilove above speculated.
The next superstar in the Democratic Party is @BetoORourke. I predict he’ll defeat Ted Cruz this November and be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2020. And he’s not just what our party’s been looking for, he’s what America desperately needs.— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) August 23, 2018
Also this, thoroughly refudiated by Gadfly. And this. And this. And way too much more.
It's a shame nobody read the Texas Monthly piece I excerpted in this January post (the original at TM is currently offline) that enlightened me about O'Rourke, and led me to the conclusion that I could not ever vote for him. It's also a shame no journalist has thought to probe a little deeper -- here on the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey -- about why he was one of four Texas Democrats who voted against tax relief for victims of the storm. His answer to this point has been his usual superficial BS.
But the real burning question for me is: how does Julian Castro feel about being Pipped by Beto?
Beyond that, the TexTrib via Progrexas sees the 'kneeling' comments on the video as maybe not helping Beto too much here in Deep In the Hearta. They may, sadly, be right about that.
