"Other big names" may enter primary for Texas GOP governor

D-FW right-wing gasbag Lynn Woolley shares my concern -- expressed at the end of this post -- about the ridiculous state of the Republican gubernatorial tilt:

It is becoming apparent that there is a possibility that neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison may be the Republican nominee for governor of Texas. Both of them have issues that must be cleared up – and soon – or other big names are going to enter the race.

It is always instructive to observe the conservative mind as it attempts logic. Again, a primer: there's the Right, then the Far Right, then the Far Out Right. Woolley mostly occupies the middle ground of the extreme. First he deconstructs the governor's dilemma:

Perry is smack in the middle of a developing controversy over the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham – indeed a very bad man, but a man who may not have started the fire that killed his three children. The strange thing is that the question of Willingham's guilt is not central to the governor's problem. Of course, if Willingham did not set the fire – that's huge. But if Rick Perry interfered with the Texas Forensic Science Commission's investigation into the case – that's monumental.

Well, rise and shine the coffee's on; Rick Perry has a problem. And lookie here: so does Kay Bailey.

This sordid affair might prove very useful to Hutchison in her campaign to unseat the governor, except for the fact that she seems to have no fire in the belly to pursue the race. In a radio interview with WBAP's Mark Davis, she said she isn't sure when she will leave the Senate to pursue the governor's race full time. She isn't certain about what Congress will do with health care, and she wants to "stay and fight with every bone in my body against a government takeover."

And we all thought she wanted to be governor.

Pretty good slap, Lynn. There's a bit more.

So she's going to resign unless she doesn't, and she's going stay in the Senate to fight Obama's health care and energy bills unless she returns to Texas full time to run for governor. Are we confused yet?

I could get to liking this guy if he would keep using that cudgel on Kay. He really seems to believe that Perry is damaged goods, and that is a key concession from a Lone Star conservative talker.

Unfortunately Woolley leaves us hanging by not identifying any of the Republicans he suggests are interested in jumping into the race for governor. The moneyshot, though, is at the very end:

Perry needs to clean up his Willingham mess and Hutchison needs to make up her mind. The governor should stop talking about what a monster Willingham was and support a full investigation. And it had better prove Willingham was guilty.

Hutchison should resign soon and trust Dewhurst or someone else to take up the health care fight. If not, the governor's race could go to the Democrats for lack of a Republican candidate.

Well that would be the worst of all possible outcomes, wouldn't it? *snicker*

Anybody hearing any actual names of Republicans thinking about diving into the mosh pit?

Update: Oh hell, of course; Dan Patrick. The wart right in the middle of their face. How could I have missed it? *slap*

Kay Bailey: "Perry's actions give liberals argument to discredit death penalty"

It's just embarrassing watching her trying to squeeze herself into the space between Medina and Kilgore, on Perry's right:

"The only thing Rick Perry’s actions have accomplished is giving liberals an argument to discredit the death penalty. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a steadfast supporter of the death penalty, voted to reinstate it when she served in the Texas House and believes we should never do anything to create a cloud of controversy over it with actions that look like a cover-up."

So the greatest travesty here is not that an innocent man was executed, not even that Rick Perry is a wretched scumbag for allowing it to happen and then actively attempting to conceal it.

The most serious offense is the "cloud of controversy" the governor has created over the death penalty.

Who again are the Democrats who intend to vote for this harridan in the Republican primary in March, 2010?

Update: Medina, not surprisingly, makes considerably more sense than the senior senator. (Inquiring minds want to know: could Kay Bailey actually come in third in the GOP gubernatorial primary?)

Action for Climate Change

(This post is -- obviously -- part of today's Blog Action Day.)

If you're a conservative then you can keep on doing what you do best: deny, delay, obfuscate and avoid. If you're anyone else, you can help educate the ignorant.

Climate change in Google Earth

The human faces and stories of those who already confront climate change in their lives: Climate Orb

Kids vs. Global Warming

Pew Center for Global Climate Change's Facts and Figures (great for those who want the charts and graphics and clear explanations). Even more comprehensive data at their Climate Change 101 series.

Mother Nature Network's 15 Best Carbon (footprint) Calculators

CAP's Top 100 Effects of Global Warming includes “Say Goodbye to Pinot Noir”, “More Bear Attacks”, “Malaria Spreading in South America”, and “More Stray Kitties”.

You're more of the results-oriented type? 10 Solutions for Climate Change

Next week, on October 24, 350.org is organizing the International Day of Climate Action. You can visit their site and see what people all around the world are planning to do to demonstrate their commitment to stopping climate change.

U2 in H-Town last night

(We didn't go, but we can see Reliant Stadium from our house)

Perry's response? "Monster", "bad man" *update*

“Willingham was a monster,” Perry said. “Here's a guy who murdered his three children, who tried to beat his wife into an abortion so he wouldn't have those kids. Person after person has stood up and testified to facts of this case that, quite frankly, you all are not covering.”

“This is a bad man. This is a guy who in the death chamber in his last breath spews an obscenity-laced (tirade) against his wife.”

========

Referring to yesterday's report that former Texas Forensic Science Commission chair Samuel Bassett was replaced because he refused to yield to pressure from the governor's legal advisers to quell the investigation:

“If somebody felt like they got pressured, that's his call, not ours. My folks don't feel that way at all,” Perry said.

========

Back to Willingham and the case:

“He (Willingham's defense lawyer) will tell you that this man was a monster. He has come to clearly believe in his guilt,” Perry said. “He said that study that Mr. Beyler came forward with (that declared the fire was not arson) is nothing more than propaganda by the anti-death penalty people across this country.”

“How many courts looked at this? There were nine federal courts that looked at this case. Nine federal courts. It was before the Supreme Court of the United States four times. Now surely you're not saying the Supreme Court of the United States fouled up four times?”

“We have a system in this state that has followed the procedures and they found this man guilty at every step of the way. You have one piece of study that everyone is glomming onto and saying, ‘Ah-ha!.'”

========

Completely reprehensible, as we have all come to expect from Perry.

This is going to get much worse for the governor if his only defense continues to be to blame "libruls" and "the media".

Update: Glenn Smith at Dog Canyon broke the news earlier today that Perry's general counsel at the time was none other than current Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina -- who was himself indicted by a Harris County grand jury for arson.

Perry attorneys: Willingham arson probe "waste of money"

The old saw about "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up" means that the governor is desperate to hide the fact that he let an innocent man be executed.

Lawyers representing Gov. Rick Perry on two occasions grilled Austin lawyer Sam Bassett on the activities of his Texas Forensic Science Commission, telling him its probe into a controversial Corsicana arson case was inappropriate and opining that the hiring of a nationally known fire expert was a “waste of state money,” the ousted commission chairman said Tuesday.

Bassett, who served two two-year terms as commission chairman before Perry replaced him on Sept. 30, said he was so concerned about what he considered “pressure” from the lawyers that he conferred with an aide to state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who reassured him “the commission was doing what it's supposed to do.” ...

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle confirmed the lawyers met with Bassett, but only for routine, informational purposes. “They did not ask him to discontinue this review,” she said.

No, I'm sure they didn't. They just told him it was a "waste of state money". And made a few other 'suggestions' that left Bassett with the distinct impression that he was being "pressured" to drop the investigation.

Bassett said he was called to meet with then-General Counsel David Cabrales and Deputy General Counsel Mary Anne Wiley on Feb. 3. Bassett described the session as progressively confrontational.

As Bassett outlined the commission's investigations of the Willingham case and that of Brandon Lee Moon, an El Paso man wrongly convicted of sexual assault, Cabrales told the chairman “he didn't think those kinds of investigations were the kind contemplated by the statute,” Bassett said.

“I think he said something along the lines that we should be more forward-looking, more current rather than examining older cases,” Basset said. Later in the discussion, Bassett said, he was told the Moon investigation was appropriate, but the Willingham case was not.

Bassett later reviewed the statute, and, feeling vindicated, sent a copy to the governor's lawyers along with a copy of the complaint that prompted the Willingham investigation.

At one point, the lawyers asked Bassett how the panel chose Beyler to review the Willingham case. Bassett said he explained state regulations, requiring the soliciting of bids, were followed. When Wiley asked how much Beyler had been paid, Bassett said he responded, “$30,000, maybe a little more.”

Wiley then remarked, “That sounds like a waste of state money,” according to Bassett.

Bassett said he was a novice in the role of commission chairman and was uncertain how to interpret the lawyers' remarks.

“I was surprised at the level of involvement that they wanted to have in commission decision-making,” he said.

After the February meeting, a representative of the governor's office for the first time attended commission meetings.

Bassett was summoned to a second meeting with Wiley on March 19. That session seemed less confrontational, he said, although Wiley mentioned there was concern the Legislature might discontinue the commission's funding.

“She wanted the commission's focus to be more on liaisons with crime labs, oversight of existing facilities and so forth,” he said.

Nice prevarication, Ms. Castle.

The case continues to rise in national profile, but the travesty simply doesn't seem to be sticking to the governor among the Texas electorate. Attitudes about him appear to be hardened.

Can Kay Bailey make this an issue in the primary? Does she dare? It may take her months to decide whether criticizing the governor's decisions regarding the case is worth risking the flak she'll take from the pro-death penalty Republican base.

Furious polling is no doubt currently underway by all sides to determine their POV. Mike Baselice is staying up way too late trying to figure out a way to spin this to Perry's advantage.

Update: Via BOR, the report last night from "AC360"...