Michael Steele's greatest hits (and his real problem: the truth)

I'm so old I remember when conservatives would point and laugh at things Howard Dean said. Then he kicked their asses and they had to sit  down and shut up, of course.

GOP chair Michael Steele's words and deeds have been referred to as "screw-ups" and "gaffes" -- and some of them, like the expense report for the nights out at the lesbian bondage club, certainly are -- but the main reason the dude is in hot water is because he's the head of a political party based fundamentally upon hypocrisy. So he gets in trouble every time he lets slip a brutal truth.

For example, "Obama's war of choosing" is blindingly false and even ridiculous.  "Afghanistan is unwinnable", on the other hand, is quite true, yet it obviously contradicts the tough-guy facade the GOP has invested decades constructing, thus cannot be spoken aloud (by a Republican). More truth that penalizes Steele:

In a March 2009 interview with CNN, Steele was asked about the White House’s position that Rush Limbaugh was the leader of the GOP. He strongly denied that claim, insisting that he was the party’s top leader. “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment,” Steele said. And he trashed Limbaugh’s over-the-top remarks about Obama. “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly,” Steele said, prompting Limbaugh to declare Steele as unfit to lead the party. Steele later apologized to Limbaugh, insisting he did not want to “diminish his voice.” Later, he strangely suggested the Limbaugh flap had been “strategic” on his part. “It may look like a mistake, a gaffe. (But) there is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it,” he said.

And more, the kind that the hypocrites in the Republican party just cannot tolerate:

In an interview with GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, Steele said abortion is “absolutely … an individual choice” and said the question of legality should be settled by the states. The comments prompted criticism from several top social conservatives, including Gov. Mike Huckabee. Steele, who is pro-life, later said his words had been taken out of context.

And still more:

Perhaps the most important role of a party chairman is to be a cheerleader for candidates and their campaigns, even in the most dire circumstances. But in January, Steele told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that not only was he not sure if the GOP would regain control of Congress, he wasn’t sure if Republicans were ready to govern. “Are we ready? I don’t know,” Steele said. Candidates “looking to run” have to hew to the GOP's core principles, he added. “If they don’t, they’ll get to Washington, and they’ll start drinking that Potomac River water and they’ll get drunk with power.”

Beyond Steele, however, there is the simple cognitive dissonance associated with being an African-American Republican. Or a Hispanic Republican. Or a Log Cabin Republican.  These things exist in nature (as rare as they may be) and, stranger still, these creatures appear comfortable in their environment. They do not thrive, but they do survive.

A more current strain of this cerebral dichotomy can be found in the deficit hawks peacocks that spawned the Tea Party fringe movement of the GOP; "no" to all government spending -- even the extension of jobless benefits -- except for the wars and police actions around the globe.  Olbermann had a segment just last night on our now-unbelievable defense budget, the dawning pragmatism that it must be reduced coming from Ron Paul and a few more TeaBaggers -- and more carping about that, combined with a call to keep increasing it, from no less than the likes of Sarah Palin.

See? More truth larded up and turned rancid with conservative hypocrisy. Michael Steele just makes this mistake more often than the rest of the Republicans. They call that "lack of message discipline".

A beatdown

"Rick Perry will see how many times he can say 'Obama' and 'liberal' in slick T.V. commercials and see if that will get him by with 51 percent of the vote," (Bill) White said. "In prior elections, he attacks his opponents with negative campaigns, takes credit for what's good and accepts no responsibility for a lot of mismanagement."

White said Perry should not be allowed to avoid forums where the questions come from citizens in the audience. "If you don't have the guts to get up here on stage and answer to the taxpayers who pay your salary, then you shouldn't be re-elected governor," White said.

It wasn't just White who got in some shots, either.

(Libertarian Kathie) Glass, who opposes national healthcare and believes the state should block its implementation, was equally hard on Perry. She said Perry has talked a good game in opposing federal policies, but she said talk is all he is.

"Our governor may have said some things that sound comforting, but everyone knows ... he doesn't mean it, and he won't do it," Glass said. "You know you're voting for the man you wish he were."

It was vicious and kind of ugly on the MIA governor. I came close to feeling sorry for him once or twice. But that passed every time one of his minions in the chat sidebar to the video -- "defeattxlibs" or "liberalbill" were two of their handles -- would post some ridiculous Carney-inspired propaganda.

It reminded me of one of those UFC fights where the guy on the mat can't cover up the blows raining down on his head, but has a couple of ringside handlers yelling "You got him, Ace!" and "He's about to give out!"

Barbara Radnofsky and Jon Roland were no less relentless on Greg Abbott, either, in the second round on the card for attorney general candidates.

Burnt Orange has a live blog of the play-by-play.

Fourth on the Fifth Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes America a Happy 234th Birthday as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

TXsharon is not the only one who thinks CHK shareholders are getting drilled by the Shale Gas Shell Game. Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Off the Kuff talks about how to really put the unemployed back to work.

"You knew you were at the Texas Democratic Party Convention when ..." at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

The Texas Cloverleaf shows you the difference between good and evil in Texas.

South Texas Chisme sees a clear difference between the Democrats who want to solve problems and republicans who want to visit their idea of the 1700s.

Neil at Texas Liberal spent the week in Cincinnati, and offer a post with a picture of a retaining wall in a Cincinnati park that was built by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration in 1940. Sarah Palin can't serve a full term as governor, but the work of government-sponsored jobs programs lasts across the decades.

Left of College Station returns after a June hiatus, and Teddy writes about the mainstream media and the culture of underexposure, and also covers the week in headlines.

Gubernatorial debate tonight (without the guber)

The first debate in the Texas governor's race will be between a pair of Houstonians in the Hill Country on Monday, minus Gov. Rick Perry.

Democratic nominee Bill White and Libertarian Kathie Glass, both lawyers, are scheduled to face off in a Kerrville Area League of Women Voters debate at 7 p.m. at the Cailloux Theatre in Kerrville.

The debate will be carried live on Kerrville's KVHC-TV and will be streamed live on the station's website.

Kerrville Area League President Donna Robinson said Perry was invited to attend but turned it down. Robinson said Perry remains invited to show up Monday if he wishes.

The governor still has an unhealthy obsession with his challenger's tax returns.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the governor will not debate White until White releases his personal income tax returns for the years he was assistant U.S. secretary of energy and Texas Democratic Party chairman, a period covering the mid-to-late 1990s. White has released his returns for the years he was Houston's mayor.

"We will discuss debates when Bill White comes clean with the people of Texas and releases his tax returns for his years on public service," Miner said.

White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said Perry is just playing games to avoid a debate.

"Next he'll be asking for Bill's tax returns when he was running concession stands as a teenager, or saying he'll only debate if Glenn Beck is the moderator," Bacon said. "If he doesn't want to debate, he should just say so instead of playing games like a typical career politician."

Okay then. Let's turn our attention to the people who will be there.

Glass favors states' rights, nullification of federal laws by the states if they consider them unconstitutional, an elimination of the public school property tax and state payments for Medicaid. Glass said Perry talks about states' rights and less government spending, but "he really doesn't believe in it."

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson called White's decision to debate Glass a "mixed bag."

The debate gives White the opportunity to promote a candidate who may draw votes from Perry in the general election and highlight the fact that Perry will not debate. But Jillson said it also gives White's campaign an air of desperation.

"It caters to the idea that they are a little frantic and are taking the eye off the ball, which is Rick Perry," Jillson said.

Jillson vastly overstates the governor's only hope to get something out of a no-show. There is lots to be gained for both Glass and White, and it all comes at Perry's expense. He will again serve as a punching bag -- I prefer pinata -- and once the polls show him losing more ground, he'll get his summer attack ads campaign in gear.

I'll be watching to see if the two on stage this evening score much beyond but added name rec and a few style points, though. There's plenty of Debra Messina-ish crazy for the TeaBaggers and less sensible conservatives to like about Glass, and whatever she says tonight will raise her stock a bit. But the Republicans who stuck with Kay Bailey in March can find plenty to like about White as well, so it will be interesting to see if he makes an appeal directly to them.  I want to see if White gets asked about the Greens, and also about the Barnett Shale (scroll to nearly the end of Dave Mann's article in the Texas Observer and begin at the paragraph that starts with "In March" in bold if you need the backstory). Those would be the toughest questions he could get asked IMO, not the Perry-campaign-fed questions about BTEC nor the inevitable and tired "can Democrats win anything this year?" crap.

Update: Kuffner's take, this excerpt...

Perry’s spokesbot claimed (the reason the governor wasn't going to debate) was because White hasn’t yet released a detailed accounting of the allowance he received as a kid, but we all know the real reason.

Fourth Funnies

Greens get to go

As I predicted here, the Texas Green Party's candidates get a green a light from the Supremes...

The Texas Supreme Court today stayed a district judge's order blocking the Green Party of Texas from certifying its candidates for the general election ballot.

The order allows the Green Party to legally establish a list of candidates for the general election. But the court also set a series of deadlines for lawyers for the Texas Democratic Party and the Green Party to argue whether a ballot petition drive illegally used corporate money. The Supreme Court still could knock the party off the ballot.

Democratic Party lawyer Chad Dunn said he does not believe the fight is over.

"The effect of the order is to give the Supreme Court time before they open up an enormous loophole for potential election fraud," Dunn said.

Green Party lawyer David Rogers said, "We get to put our candidates on the ballot today. We don't know if we get to keep them there."

More from Burnt Orange, Texas Kaos, Texas Politics, Trail Blazers, Bay Area Houston, and shortly more, which when posted will be updated here. There's a debate between Bill White and Libertarian Kathie Glass coming up Monday; I wonder if the Green's Deb Shafto will get invited to future ones. Her name should be included in all future polling also in order to get a true reading of the governor's (and other statewide) races going forward.

Update: The TexTrib talks to Jeff Weems, the Democratic railroad commission candidate (my italic emphasis)...

Weems says he isn’t worried about the possibility of facing Art Browning, the Green Party candidate. He says he’s been expecting to face a Green Party candidate all along. Also, while he’s working on the Democratic vote, Weems says he’s more focused on picking up independent and Republican votes, which aren’t likely to break to the Green Party anyway.

“I heard that Art was throwing his hat in early, early on — heck, I think even before David Porter did,” Weems says. “I’m truly not concerned with it because, on the railroad commission race, if you look at past races with Green Party candidates you don’t see a draw down on the Democratic vote total.”

Weems has, without question, the smartest attitude about how to run a statewide race with a Green in it.

How many Libertarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None. The darkness will compel the light bulb to change itself.

As we wait for the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in -- or maybe not -- on the Green Party's GOP-financed ballot bid, let's enjoy some humor at the expense of the party which could be the Republicans' Trojan horse, if only conservatives weren't such low-information voters. And if the Libs weren't so ... ah ... self-righteous. Click on the pic (and then "full screen") for a more readable version. Or go to Ampersand.

TexTrib: state mulls more nukes

Are we fixin' to mull them with cider, or wine maybe? 'Cause Imo needa drink if we're fixin' to build more nukular reactors.

Seventeen years ago, Texas turned on its last nuclear reactor, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth. In another decade, several more reactors could get built here — if events in Washington go the power companies' way.

Nuclear power now accounts for 14 percent of Texas's electricity usage (below the national average, 20 percent). The case for adding more reactors rests on a rising appetite for electricity sparked by a growing population and ever-proliferating gadgetry. And proponents point out that nuclear power, unlike coal or natural gas, is virtually free of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with global warming during its operations, although environmentalists strongly dispute the merits of the plants.

The federal government is moving ahead with a program that provides loan guarantees for the plants — a crucial step to placate financiers nervous about the economic risk of building them. Earlier this month, the Department of Energy agreed to a $3.4 billion guarantee for the expansion of a nuclear facility in Georgia, and the Obama administration recently asked Congress for more funds to help out more plants. Two proposed nuclear projects in Texas are high on the list of potential recipients.

"We're very serious about moving ahead," says Jeff Simmons, who is leading the development efforts to add two new reactors to the Comanche Peak plant in Glen Rose, near Fort Worth. The project is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Luminant, a big Texas power generator, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The companies are hoping to get a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2012 — a crucial green light for the plant.

Like deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, all it takes is one (screw-up) and you're done. And so are the rest of us.

But hey, there's lotsa jobs that need creatin', and more braggin' by Governor KieYoat to be done about the wunnerful Texas economy ...

“Like all Jews, I was probably in a Chinese restaurant.”

You knew you were at the TDP convention when...

You get tagged in photos on Facebook and, in half of them, you look drunk (but weren't) and had your mouth open.

The Democrats with Disabilities Caucus was upstairs.

Boyd Ritchie's hair was so snowy white you know he had to have used some of that rinse old ladies use.

You sweated through your two best suits/dresses.

Some Republican morons were told to move a pickup truck parked at an event for press attention and the funniest thing about that is it was the most attention they got.

Faux coyote meat was served in a mobile home that was later given to charity.

Two political operatives who worked for Farouk Shami had to help some poor lady pick up her weight in coroplast Bill White signs off the ground after she dropped them and they went everywhere.

There were vegetarian sandwiches in the pressroom.

The TDP media advisory on convention parties included almost as many parties as caucuses.

The concession stands at the convention center ran out of everything except blue Gatorade and Frito pie, and you paid $9 for said combo and had immediate regrets.

Everywhere you turned, there was red-business-suited Molly Beth Malcolm (I swear to god, the only place I didn't run into her was in the bathroom, and I checked under the stall doors to make sure all 6' 5" of her wasn't hiding in there to tell me about how Bill White helped pay for conventions when he was party chair, or how you get a two-fer with Boyd and Betty Richie).

Police had to escort some nutjob from the Credentials Committee who was trying to unseat the entire Brazoria County delegation because they didn't pass some resolution he wanted -- and he calls YOU a tool of the party establishment.

Two prostitutes walked into the blogger's caucus and it was totally no big deal.

People laughed about Dick Cheney's heart attack openly and without reservation.

Your bags and purses were searched -- not to make sure you didn't have weapons, but to make sure you didn't bring in a cup of coffee or bottle of water you didn't pay $7 for at a concession stand.

You have that awkward moment where you have to ask one of the Castro brothers: "now which one are you?" (Note: San Antonio mayor Julian is to be on Stephen Colbert's Report tonight -- scroll halfway down. Or maybe it was last night.)

A candidate for justice of the peace from Coryelle County (or some damned place) goes up to everyone in a suit, hands them homemade, hand-lettered campaign literature and asks for a check.

Susan Criss tells you to stand still, snaps your photo unexpectedly, and posts it on Facebook.

The escalator briefly breaks down, someone asks you why, and you tell them it was the scooter someone tried to ride up it, and a crowd of people instantly believes you, and wants to make sure everyone is okay and someone says the legislature should mandate warning signs to prevent that before you have time to say you were joking.

David Van Os was running for something or nominating someone else to run for something, and no one involved in that equation is successful.

There were so many iPhones in one area it ground Corpus Christi's 3G network to a halt so badly you could not email the person standing next to you.

You walk up to a group of people having a conversation and within a minute realize it is two legislators and two transgendered individuals talking about the intricacies of gender reassignment surgery and how it plays into the voter ID debate -- and then stick around because it is one of the better public policy discussions you've heard all day -- and everyone laughs like hell when one of the non-legislators talks about asking John Carona if he wants to debate which bathroom the individual should use.

You walk into a bathroom, someone you don't know recognizes you, and before you have a chance to pee, they want you to blog about something, and you have no recognition of who they are except that you saw them at the previous two conventions.

As someone who is not Carl Whitmarsh walks by, people whisper and ask, "so is THAT Carl Whitmarsh?"

You finally meet Carl Whitmarsh, and mention it to someone in passing and everyone grows more interested than if you were talking about the latest Hollywood scandal -- and you are asked to describe Carl Whitmarsh down to hair color and what he is wearing because no one around you has met him before.

You witness someone who clearly has no business being at a TDP convention ask Leticia Van De Putte where the bathrooms are without realizing who she is. You consider calling security.

You hear Leticia Van De Putte introduce herself on nine separate and distinct occasions as the highest ranking Democrat in Texas.

There are people in your delegation who chastise you for leaving the floor because there might be important things to vote on coming up. Which may have been proper in the days before text messaging.

3 people running for Temporary Secretary of an unnamed ethnic issue caucus all talk about publishing a newsletter to keep members better informed, and a point of order is raised to ask the president to explain to the hapless candidates exactly what a temporary secretary is.

A CHI was raffled off at the meeting of the only caucus to have endorsed Farouk Shami.

Someone in your SD caucus runs for the Rules Committee on a platform of "I think it is important to follow the rules."  And when he loses 138 to 15, everyone feels so bad for him he is named Alternate to the Rules Committee in case the winner doesn't show up.

By the time the last of the statewide candidates speak, there is barely a quorum left to conduct business.

There is a choir of LaRouchites annoying everyone, and the LaRouchites get more mainstream media coverage than most candidates.

A candidate tells the Stonewall Democrats about an organization naming her an "Honorary Lesbian," and she gets massive applause, although you strongly suspect some people in the caucus want this proof in writing
just to make sure.

The most repeated comment is, "thank god there isn't as much confusion as there was in 2008," in nearly every caucus.

Someone refers to the LaKesha Rogers "booth" as the Starship Kesha and you laugh so hard you almost piss yourself. 

You start wondering if the LaRouchites really are different from a doomsday cult.

One lone old guy is protesting killing babies outside the convention center, and you really have to resist the urge to go out  and try to convert him just for fun.

You get buttons with sayings like, "Do I Look Like An Illegal," and "I like pro-choice girls" on them -- for FREE.

Someone mentions Fred Head's bus and you start feeling nauseated, but you aren't sure if it is the bus, the booze, or the $9 Frito pie that is making you sick.

You are at a bar and someone looks at your Obama shirt, uses the N-word, and you realize there is the real potential that person might not actually leave the bar alive whereas, at home, if you wore an Obama shirt into a bar YOU might be the one who doesn't come out alive.

Greens appeal to Texas Supremes

 All lawyered up with no place (yet) to go, the Greens plead for help from the highest (corporate) court in the state. Bold emphasis is not mine but Gary Scharrer's ...

The Green Party is asking the Texas Supreme Court to nullify a district court ruling prohibiting the party from certifying candidates for the November election ballot because of an "unauthorized illegal contribution."

A Republican front group - with help from Texas Republicans - raised the money to help the Green Party get enough signatures to make the ballot. But the money came from a corporation and anonymous donors, which violates Texas election code, claim Texas Democrats, who say Gov. Rick Perry's GOP friends want a Green Party gubernatorial candidate on the ballot to siphon votes from Democrat Bill White.

The court must rule by Friday, which is the deadline for parties to certify their candidates.

"This case matters because voters should have an alternative to entrenched career politicians. Despite the signatures of over 90,000 Texans, entrenched career politicians and their lawyers want to deny voters the right to choose in November," said David Rogers, one of the Green Party lawyers.

A trial has been scheduled for January.

"However the Texas Supreme Court rules, we're going to continue with this lawsuit, and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened," said Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party.

This appeal could work out well for the Greens, since the SCOTX is 100% GOP, they favor defendants 86% of the time, and the Citizens United case decided in the SCOTUS last month in favor of corporate campaign contributions could be cited as precedent. We shall see ...

Update: From Jason Embry, public comments from two attorneys associated with each side ...

Election lawyer Buck Wood, who often helps Democratic candidates, said Monday that the Green Party leaders who certify the ballot could be susceptible to criminal charges if the Supreme Court agrees with (state district judge John) Dietz that the money that got the Greens onto the ballot was an illegal corporate contribution. Or, more to the point, if they do not disagree with Dietz.

They would become vulnerable if they followed through with their plan to certify the candidates on the ballot, Wood said. The key is that they now know that it was a corporate contribution that came in from Take Initiative America, which paid for the petition drive that appeared to make the Greens eligible for the ballot.

“They’ve been told it’s illegal. They’ve got knowledge now,” Wood said. “If I were their lawyer, I’d say, ‘You go ahead and certify those names and hopefully the Travis County district attorney’s office won’t take an interest in you.’”

David Rogers, a lawyer for the Green Party, said, “With all due respect to Mr. Wood, who is a very fine election law attorney, I believe he is misreading the law in an attempt to gain an electoral advantage for the Democratic Party. He is a consultant for the Democrats in this matter, and all his comments regarding the law in this case need to be considered with that in mind. Texas allows corporate contributions for ‘normal operating expenses’ of a political party. If getting on the ballot isn’t a ‘normal’ expense of a political party, what is?”

My convention experience

I'll grade it a B minus. Here are some thoughts I jotted as the weekend went on ...

-- We arrived Friday at the Omni Bayfront at lunchtime in 3 hours and change. Google Maps had left me with the distinct impression that it was a four-hour drive from Houston. Garmin had us getting there an hour early; which I did not believe until we were nearly there. That was a nice surprise.

-- We ate lunch at a table next to David Leibowitz, whom I was meeting for the first time. Afterwards I shuttled over to the convention hall and got my two credentials but missed the one caucus I thought I could make, "Democrats Against the Death Penalty". I heard that it was as good as I thought it would be. Update: The Texas Moratorium Network has an excellent post about the caucus, including video of death row survivor Juan Melendez and a photo slideshow of convention activities.

I had short and sweet visits with Garnet Coleman at the lobby elevators and Richard Raymond at the convention hall, Dinah Weems (wife of Jeff) at his booth, BAR and Katie Floyd as I picked up my creds, and Borris Miles at my senate district caucus.

-- Speaking of that, the SD-17 caucus was contentious; it was a face-off between Harris county and the others (Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson). The others mostly got their people elected while the Harris county contingent got mostly shut out. There needs to be some intra-party fence mending by my two SDEC committee members Alan Blakley and Carol Wright. We ran right up to and slightly past the 5:00 deadline so I barely had time to change my shirt and catch the shuttle back to the American Bank Center for the opening session at 6 pm.

This is my only serious down-rating for the weekend (though you may remember that I also complained about the media accommodations) : the shuttle buses running between the convention hotels and the convention center weren't a good situation. I boarded the bus at 5:45 but didn't arrive at the ABC until 6:20. It's about six blocks between the Omni Bayfront and the ABC, but the bus runs in the opposite direction and makes two stops. I walked the rest of the time, yes in the blazing humid heat. It was worth the sweating.

This was also, as you might imagine, a tremendous burden on the not-quite-so-ambulatory delegates; the long queues, the slow boarding, and the climate conditions made it tough on everyone but especially those with canes and walkers, in wheelchairs and scooters, and on oxygen. It pointed out to me that Corpus wasn't well-equipped to handle a convention of our size, even as downsized as we were this year.

-- The highlight of the evening session was, of course, Bill White using Rick Perry as a pinata. The convention ran so smoothly that he got onstage 45 minutes early, and we were done before 7:30. So we went to dinner at Blackbeard's (the one on the beach) at 8:30 with Tom and Sylvia Gederberg -- the shrimp and oysters were scrumptious -- and then the Blogger's Caucus around 10:30 until almost 1 am.

-- I slept a little late and dawdled around getting back for the Saturday session which started at 11 am, and when I finally got there at 12:30 pm after the magnificent lunch buffet at the Omni, I had missed Linda Chavez-Thompson's speech and the chair's election. The vote totals were announced a few minutes after I sat down in the SD-17 section, with Boyd Richie of course elected to another term. Then the remaining statewides had their turn on stage: Barbara Radnofsky, Jeff Weems, and Hector Uribe. Senfronia Thompson spoke for Hank Gilbert, who was lost his mother the day before the convention opened and wasn't able to attend. There were the various Democratic legislative delegations appearing as a group onstage: the statehouse reps, the state senators, and the Congressional delegation. Back to business after that and the previously reported Texas Two-Step unpleasantries. Then the judicials spoke: Jim Sharp, Bill Moody, Blake Bailey, and Keith Hampton. Having ground enough sausage for one day, I blew out around 4 pm as the resolution, platform, and other committees were beginning to report.

-- Saturday dinner was at Landry's by the bay -- a magnificent meal as always from one of Tilman's places -- and after ordering dessert we joined Stan and Julie Merriman, Amy Manuel, JR Behrman, the Gederbergs and David and Rachel Van Os, who had come in about an hour behind us. The conversation was lively.

-- Sunday we slept a little late and had breakfast at 10:30, visiting with Bob Slagle (he's fit as a fiddle, by the way, unlike two years ago) and Gene Green and Behrman again. Then it was off to the USS Lexington for a couple of hours touring the magnificent old aircraft carrier, then home via Port Aransas and Port Lavaca.

A great meeting of Democratic minds, united for a common purpose, in a relaxing coastal setting. Hard to beat this past weekend.