Friday Funnies (Rogue to the White House edition)

The latest on the mayor's race, and more statewide

-- Annise Parker and Gene Locke have made plenty of headlines as the Houston mayoral contest moves closer to the December runoff date. In the wake of an internal poll showing Parker at the cusp of victory, Locke continues to try to distance himself from the gay-baiting and is assembling a last-minute smear against Parker as soft on crime. The TeaBagger wing of the Harris County Republican party is going full-throttle as well, with master of disaster Allen Blakemore arranging meetings between Locke and Roy Morales as well as advising Locke informally. Miya Shay:

While Locke may not have spoken with Hotze or Blakemore much, it’s clear that Blakemore’s had semi-consistent contact with parts of Locke’s campaign. Blakemore’s told me that on several occasions. Blakemore says he’s Republican, and he won’t work for Democrats, even though Locke’s campaign staffers have asked him several times if he’s interested in working with Locke. Blakemore, though, is offering up free advice here and there. It’s clear that Blakemore is relishing his role as an uncommitted, unpaid player.

Update: Of course match-making and power-playing doesn't work well if one of the player-matches is demonstrably insolent.

-- Dick came to town, after a little dithering Kay made it in with him, they got on all the news channels locally, she asked him if he was running for president in 2012, he said 'no chance', she's running some radio ads now. She's had a good week pushing back with media. Rick Perry let another man die by the needle last night despite the Parole Board's recommendations that he halt the execution. So he is certainly maintaining his, ah, 'credibility'.

-- Farouk Shami declared for governor and Kinky Friedman had to issue denials that he was getting out of the race because of it.

-- Barbara Radnofsky was Keith Obermann's "Best Person in the World" on last night's 'Countdown'.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

-- Hank Gilbert and Tom Schieffer and Felix Alvarado discussed the issues at the TCU Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum in Fort Worth on Wednesday. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, thinks that the hair-pulling contest between the two cheerleaders makes it more difficult for the GOP to hold Austin in 2010.

-- And Bill White got the Texas Monthly spotlight treatment, but continues to be dogged by rumors that he will file for governor. I don't think he will (and I don't think he should).

Texas Democratic candidate updates

-- Farouk Shami is a candidate to dye for, according to the Texas Tribune. His recent political contributions are what stand out to me, however ...

Shami's (hair care products) business, founded in 1986, took off when he signed a distribution deal with Austin-based Armstrong McCall. John McCall is a part owner of Farouk Systems now, and the two men — particularly McCall — were the biggest contributors four years ago to Kinky Friedman's campaign for governor. Shami gave Friedman $24,400 for that run; McCall was in for $1.3 million and was listed, until last February, as Friedman's campaign treasurer.

Shami also contributed to former Rep. Martha Wong, R-Houston, who lost a 2006 race to Democrat Ellen Cohen. And in May of this year, he gave $5,000 to Republican Ted Cruz, who had his sights set on a run for attorney general. In federal races, he's contributed to candidates of all political stripes this decade, including Democrat Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, Houston Mayor Bill White (for the U.S. Senate race), Ralph Nader (in 2004 and 2008), Tennessee Democrat Graham Leonard, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (the same month he gave to Cruz), and the Republican National Committee (most recently in 2007).

My, it's just like Peter Brown all over again.

-- Elliot Shapleigh is still hem-hawing about a run for Austin ...

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, asked recently to respond to those who say Democrats can't win statewide, today poured forth a torrent of reasons Rick Perry can be beaten.

Is Shapleigh thinking of running for governor in the March Democratic primary? It sounds like it.

"The key is turnout," Shapleigh said in an email this morning. "If turnout matches March 2008, Rick Perry gets retired. When he leaves Austin, people not predators, polluters and paid lobbyists run the state. We believe that most Texans thirst for that message and that day."

LIEUTENANT Governor. Please. Kuffner has more on Shami and Shapleigh.

-- Hank Gilbert's campaign is really hustling:

How does an 8-cents-a-gallon increase in the gasoline tax to fund transportation sound? What about state recognition of same-sex civil unions with the same rights as traditional marriage, a $5,000 teacher pay raise, and bigger penalties for polluters?

They're certainly not all politically canny positions (who campaigns on new taxes?), but give Democratic candidate for governor Hank Gilbert this much: He's already offered detailed proposals in some half-dozen areas affecting Texans. That gives Gilbert something other gubernatorial candidates largely don't yet have less than four months before the primary.

“Serious candidates issue serious, comprehensive policy statements,” said Gilbert spokesman Vince Leibowitz. Gilbert hasn't yet proposed how he would pay for his education initiatives but plans to do so Nov. 24. There's little detail yet from most others hoping to oust GOP Gov. Rick Perry.

Gilbert's team has also appointed an Asian-American senior staffer. Be sure and note Kinky Friedman's response.

-- Speaking of gay marriage, that constitutional amendment banning it in Texas that was passed in 2005 may have a little problem in the wording ...

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Texas Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by Texas voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the trouble-making phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively "eliminates marriage in Texas," including common-law marriages.

She calls it a "massive mistake" and blames the current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, for allowing the language to become part of the Texas Constitution. Radnofsky called on Abbott to acknowledge the wording as an error and consider an apology. She also said that another constitutional amendment may be necessary to reverse the problem.

Abbott and his Army of God respond with the usual sniffing disdain but in the wake of a Dallas civil court's decision last month that the state's ban of gay marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause, the issue of codifying discrimination in Texas should warm up nicely as a 2010 election talking point.

-- We have a candidate for the Texas Court of Appeals, and his name is Keith Hampton. More on Hampton and the CCA from the Austin Chronicle.

Welcome back to Houston, Dick

No Kay tonight with you, it looks like ...

Few events have been more important to (Hutchison's gubernatorial) campaign than Cheney's endorsement. And while there were indications Monday that a Senate vote that would cause her to miss the Houston event would be delayed, her campaign won't risk that she would miss a major health care vote just days after making it such a big priority.

"If there's even a 10 percent chance" of a procedural vote in the Senate on Tuesday, "she won't get on the airplane" and fly to Texas to join Cheney, said campaign manager Terry Sullivan.

Here's hoping all the attendees have government-run health care from having served in the previous administration, or lots and lots of money, just in case you get crazy with the shotgun again.

Come to think of it, that ought to cover everybody at tonight's event.

Update: Look at that, she made it back.

The contest may yet shape up as a classic Republican vs. TeaBagger, Washington D.C. versus crazy-talk conservative donnybrook.

Update II: Wayne Slater at the DMN's Trail Blazers blog has video from the Hobby airport rally portion of the event. And don't miss Big Jolly's glowing, fawning account.

Radnofsky for Attorney General announcement tour

BAR gets ready to crank up her campaign ...

Barbara Radnofsky will formally announce her candidacy for Texas Attorney General and her December 3 filing for the March 2010 primary election in a five-city tour.

The kick-off event will be a meet and greet for Republicans, independents and Democrats at the home of Ed and Marie Malouf in Dallas on Tuesday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. On Wednesday, November 18, Barbara Ann will attend and make a short announcement prior to the Democratic Gubernatorial Forum at Texas Christian University. To conclude her week-long trip and meetings in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Barbara Ann will announce at the Mid-Cities Democrats Birthday Bash on Friday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m.

The announcement tour continues in Austin on December 1, 2009 and will conclude in her home city of Houston (December 4, 2009). She will file for election the first day on December 3, 2009. Details regarding the Houston and Austin announcements will follow.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6:00 p.m.
Home of Ed and Marie Malouf
Dallas, Texas

Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Tarrant County Young Democrats Gubernatorial Forum
Texas Christian University, Student Center
The Horned Frog Ballroom, 3rd Floor
2901 Stadium Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76129

Friday, November 20, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Mid-Cities Democrats Birthday Bash
Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall
1020 South Industrial Blvd
Euless, Texas 76040

Radnofsky -- assuming the Democratic primary for AG remains uncontested -- will square off against incumbent Greg Abbott, one of the lousiest Republicans ever to hold office in this state. Radnofsky has detailed his positions against women, as well the legal cover he provided to Tom Delay's mid-'90's redistricting escapade. The Lone Star Project has archived the dozens and dozens of abuses of power foisted on Texans by his hyper-partisan, fundamentalist, demagogic interpretations.

Abbott wants to be lieutenant governor but is stalled from seeking higher office -- just like incumbent LtG David Dewhurst and several other aspiring Texas Republican politicos -- by Kay Bailey Hutchison's dithering. Radnofsky, like the rest of us, has observed the kabuki dance and notes: "Texas Republicans in disarray show they are more concerned about their political ambitions than the people of Texas."

Radnofsky previously took on the Kay Bailey monolith in 2006 and understands the uphill battle she has, facing off against a well-funded and entrenched Republican incumbent where a statewide Democrat hasn't been elected in the past 16 years. She also understands that the Texas GOP is at a tipping point, fearing intra-party assaults from their right flank and losing Texas voters who self-identify as Republicans.

Radnofsky will have to be a warrior, and a lot of things outside her control have to break her way in order to win. One thing I know about Barbara from personal experience: she has the intestinal fortitude for the fight.

She said it

"She is not here. She is campaigning all over Texas. But she is taking her pay from the taxpayers ... I don’t consider that integrity, and I don’t consider it leadership."

-- Kay Bailey Hutchison, about her opponent, Harris County treasurer Nikki Van Hightower, in their 1990 run for state treasurer

==========

In her book "Going Rogue", Sara Palin says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers".

Fact-check: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.

==========

"I went to sleep, and when I woke up people were mad at Obama. And I thought, 'Did I miss something? Did Obama start an illegal war? Did he fly over a flood zone and just wave? Did he torture detainees in a secret prison? Did he start illegally tapping phones? Did he alienate the world and squander a surplus? Because if he did any of that, we need to impeach that jackass.' ...

Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California, made a triple-X movie of herself. So now we know why she was stripped of her title --not for being anti-gay, but for being pro-stupid. She actually thought it wouldn’t get out? C'mon! It always gets out. That's the first 'Law of Pornodynamics': A pair of fake boobs in motion stays in motion."

"I hereby appoint myself the president's Tell-People-Where-to-Go-and-What-to-Kiss Czar. Fox News, if you want an exclusive: pucker up!"

-- Wanda Sykes

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is starting to feel an odd craving for can-shaped servings of cranberry sauce as it brings you this week's highlights from the blogs.

TXsharon continues to follow the abuses of Aruba Petroleum in a Barnett Shale backyard and Wednesday the Wise County Messenger picked up the story. It's all on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is really p*ssed that some South Texas Democrats voted against women's health care.

WhosPlayin posted an interview with Neil Durrance, the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat Michael Burgess in Congressional District 26.

A guest post from the ReEnergize Texas blog is the pick of the week over at Texas Vox, where we were quite disappointed that the Georgetown city council snubbed students over nuclear power.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on some of the talk this past week about raising the statewide gas tax. All that being said there are only two options to pay for transportation in Texas. Which will we choose: taxes or tolls?.

McBlogger takes a look at Sen. Hutchison's decision not to resign from her Senate seat.

Off the Kuff looks at a threatened outbreak of homophobic behavior in the Houston mayor's race.

The War on Christmas starts early at The Texas Cloverleaf, complete with a beach landing at Walmart.

Sue Schechter announced for Harris County Clerk last week and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs caught the press release.

With Thanksgiving almost here, Neil at Texas Liberal ran a picture of a sultry pilgrim holding a turkey, and included in this post information about the status of women in colonial New England.

Sunday Not Very Funnies

Pacquiao - Cotto not quite one for the ages

Thrilling but one-sided.

(Manny) Pacquiao knocked (Miguel) Cotto down once in the third round and again in the fourth, pummeled him repeatedly and easily lifted the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt from the Puerto Rican with a 12th-round stoppage. The time was 55 seconds into the final round, as referee Kenny Bayless leaped between the fighters to save Cotto a more savage beating and ignominious end.

Some observers thought Cotto would defeat Pac-man late because of his size advantage (10 pounds), reach, and equivalent quickness and defenses.

Not so much.

My friend Waterman was quite a bit closer ...

Still, although no outcome will surprise me, I tend to favor Manny by TKO somewhere around the 8th or 9th round. The biggest factor, in my opinion, will be his advantage in hand speed. Pacquiao is a crisp puncher at welterweight, and Cotto’s eyebrows will not hold up. The reduction in his field of vision will make it easier for Pacquiao to deliver punches that Miguel does not see coming. And Cotto has a history of being hurt by fast punches that he doesn’t see coming – not only in the Ricardo Torres fight, but more importantly, even against Malignaggi.

Pacquiao owned Cotto from about the thrid round on and the fight was nearly stopped at the end of the ninth by Cotto's corner. It should have been. I have prepared tenderized skirt steaks that weren't as rough as Cotto's face by the twelfth, when it finally and mercifully was.

I followed the fight on Twitter and blow-by-blow online at Yahoo and ESPN simultaneously. Twitter was by far the lousiest way to do this; besides there being fifteen morons feeding the stream -- some calling action in Round 6 at the same time others were giving the Round 4 decision -- a couple of comedians would post lame jokes like "I beat Manny at Pac-Man" and such. The stream being too full, too slow, and too many repetitive tweets occurring out of chronological sequence makes this medium impossible for me to enjoy. (This same stew of fact, conjecture and rumor rushes out like a firehouse at times like the Ft. Hood shooting and the "Balloon Boy" caper. I would rather be locked in a room with fifty people all talking at me at once. Twitter is excellent for a blogger or two reporting details from a meeting, speech, dinner or some such, but not at all for breaking news.)

The Yahoo guys live-chatting the fight were way too slow on the uptake. Minutes behind the action most of the time, and that's useless when you're "live-blogging" three-minute fight rounds and one minute in-between. ESPN was by far the best. Their punch-by-punch updates were right on time, and they snapped out good summaries between the rounds.

Kay Bailey dithers on being with Dick next week

The woman just has not made a promise she can keep. Never made a commitment she hasn't waffled on.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said in Galveston today that she hasn’t yet determined whether she’ll be able to make a Tuesday appearance and fundraiser in Houston with former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The full Senate’s first major procedural vote on health-care legislation could come Tuesday.

Hutchison has made the fight against health care the main rationale behind her decision not to resign from the Senate before her March primary against Gov. Rick Perry. At the same time, the Cheney appearance is one of the most important events of her campaign.

“We’re working on it,” Hutchison said this morning in her first interview since her campaign announced she would not resign the Senate seat before the primary. “That’s going to be a tough situation. But again, I’ll make the judgment call.”

No you won't, Kay. Next Tuesday morning, you'll take your makeup out of the refridgerator, spackle your mug, hand your purse to one of the boys whose sole job is to carry it for you, adjust your wretched-looking coiffure, prance over to the Capitol, hope a TV reporter asks you for a comment, then hang out all day in your office waiting for something to happen, someone to call you. A purse boy will bring you a salad for lunch and you'll make a few phone calls to your lickspittles here -- just to be meddlesome and overbearing -- who are organizing the Dick event.

You'll get the post-event cash wrangle report by phone on your way home, have a martini and pass out at ten p.m. (Eastern time).

This is how you get Dick's help without having to pose for a picture with him. That, naturally, might help maintain the "Democratic cross-over vote" sham you hold as your last fading hope for defeating the worst governor in the history of the state of Texas.

Good luck with both the vote and the fund-raiser, you loser.

Gene Locke plays the hate card

I told you he wasn't a Democrat.

A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the December mayoral runoff because she is a lesbian, according to multiple ministers and conservatives involved in the effort.

The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman.

Another primary concern is that Parker or other elected officials would seek to overturn a 2001 city charter amendment that prohibits the city from providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees.

"The bottom line is that we didn't pick the battle, she did, when she made her agenda and sexual preference a central part of her campaign,” said Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council, numbering more than 200 senior pastors in the Greater Houston area. “National gay and lesbian activists see this as a historic opportunity. The reality is that's because they're promoting an agenda which we believe to be contrary to the concerns of the community and destructive to the family.”

So at this point you may be wondering, what does a good Democrat (sic) like Gene Locke have to do with this slime?

(Locke) strongly distanced himself from a previous anti-gay attack against her that ultimately proved to have been a hoax. But he has made recent efforts to court some of the staunch social conservatives who are either actively planning on attacking Parker's sexuality or strongly considering it.

He appeared at the Pastor Council's annual gala last Friday and was encouraged several times by State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a featured speaker, to stand for conservative values.

Locke has also met with and sought the endorsement of Dr. Steven Hotze, a longtime local kingmaker in conservative politics and author of the Straight Slate in 1985, a coterie of eight City Council candidates he recruited who ran on an anti-gay platform. ...

Republican consultant Allen Blakemore, a longtime Hotze associate who spoke on his behalf, said he is considering mailing out a slate of endorsed runoff candidates, and Parker's sexuality is a “key factor” in his decision.

Ah, the exquisite stench emanating from Harris County's freak right: Stephen Hotze, Dan Patrick, Allen Blakemore. And all of their minions. Did I forget to mention Paul Bettencourt? Although he thinks Locke isn't coming out forcefully enough against gay rights.

Former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt, another Republican close to Hotze, said that if Locke wishes to unite a strong African-American base with social conservatives, they will need his assurance that he will not seek to overturn the charter amendment.

Responding to the same debate question as Parker last month, Locke said same-sex benefits allow governments and businesses “a competitive advantage” and said he “would favor that,” although it would not be the first thing on his plate.

“That's not going to motivate us to come out and vote for somebody,” Bettencourt said of social conservatives. “You cannot get the positive good conservative turnout if you're trying to undo charter amendments. It's a line drawn in the sand. You just can't have it both ways.”

Kuffner and Muse have more to say about this development. Locke's campaign is also doing something funny with Democratic precinct chairs' e-mail addresses, which is a far cry from gay-baiting the electorate but in keeping with a organization so desperate to win that they will do whatever it takes -- lie, cheat, steal, misinform, obfuscate, smear, and fear-monger.

Epic fail.

Crazy talk good for ten points in the past month

Secession, "Willingham was a monster", Washington DC is a disaster, we have a senator who is AWOL, Ill Eagles, blah blah blah.

And he's added ten points to his polling in the past thirty days among GOP primary voters.


Who is it that's drinking Kool-Aid?