SD-22 Democrat Cullar withdraws

Via Harvey's Buzz this morning, Friday evening's development ...

August 20, 2010 9:04 PM

DEMOCRAT JOHN CULLAR WITHDRAWS FROM SD22 RACE AGAINST BRIAN BIRDWELL

TDP: “The Republicans have done everything in their means to game the system and protect an ineligible Republican officeholder. In this race, the playing field is not level and the fight is not fair."

And this, dateline Saturday morning ...

August 21, 2010      10:57 AM

REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS REACTS TO CULLAR WITHDRAWAL FROM SD 22 RACE

RPT: "Cullar’s actions today tell us what we already knew, that he was not a viable candidate. The Democrats put him up in the hopes they could steal this office. They filed a frivolous lawsuit to that end. And it blew up in their faces. So now their straw candidate turned tail and ran."

Calmer rhetoric here from Evan Smith at the TexTrib (and Cullar himself).

John Cullar, the attorney and former McLennan County Democratic Party chair chosen to run in the November general election against state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, notified state election officials (Friday) that he is withdrawing from the race — one day after the 5th Court of Appeals ruled that Birdwell could remain on the ballot despite questions raised by the Democrats about his residency.

In a press release announcing his withdrawal, Cullar continued to maintain that Birdwell's residency is specious:

My decision to accept the candidacy for Senate District 22 a little over two weeks ago was not about right versus left. It was about right versus wrong. I was — and am — convinced that the Republican nominee for Senate District 22 is not qualified under the Texas Constitution to serve in the Texas Senate.

But in the end, Cullar said, money and time were not his side, particularly in a senate district whose residents are overwhelmingly Republican and during a difficult year for Democrats in general.

With little time for me to organize, raise money, and introduce myself to the voters of this District, an already uphill fight against an incumbent Senator became a cause where the odds of winning did not outweigh the odds that my candidacy could divert resources from other Democrats in each of the ten counties of the 22nd District.

Say what you like about this matter as it relates to whichever party you identify with: we are ruled by one political party -- and it's conservative and Republican -- here in Texas, from the governor's ($10,000-monthly rental) mansion to the legislature to the courts. Whether you like that or not makes no difference.

Whether it gets weakened or strengthened in November is still to be determined (despite Evan Smith's -- and many others' -- presumption of loss).

The first-day-of-class Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance welcomes everyone back to school as it brings you the best of the blogs for the week.

This past week Off the Kuff did three interviews with State House candidates -- Joe Montemayor, Rick Molina, and Silvia Mintz.

Bay Area Houston wonders why the Texas Federation of Pecker Heads have have endorsed Rick Perry.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out all Republicans clamoring for 'small government'. Why do Republicans want more tainted food and another BP disaster?

Libby Shaw is fed up with the Party O' No. She gives us chapter and verse as to why in Bereft of Solutions and Ideas, The GOP Gins Up Controversy. Check it out at TexasKaos.

WhosPlayin posted documents obtained by the Hank Gilbert campaign showing alarming gaps in Texas food safety and a Texas Department of Agriculture that seems more concerned about appearances than anything else. On the lighter side, local governments are struggling for cash and seeking corporate sponsorships on public facilities. Hopefully someone will pull the plug on this deal.

PDiddie posts about the hysteria and hyperbole surrounding the Manhattan Islamic center in Mosquerade, at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at Texas Liberal offered up a picture of the excellent new wheelchair ramp on the beach in Galveston. This ramp was paid for with our taxpayer dollars and was built by government, for the good of all people of Galveston and for the good of all people who visit Galveston. Without government, we would live like barbarians to an even far greater extent than we do at current.

Another right-wing blogging lunatic breaks out

Stoking the flames of hatred and division just like Breitbart, she has kicked in the door of an exclusive club occupied by Coulter, Malkin, and Schlessinger. What an accomplishment.

Pamela Geller, the once-obscure right-wing blogger known for peddling hateful, wildly over-the-top rhetoric (she once claimed that Barack Obama was the bastard stepchild of Malcom X) and for pulling stunts like taping a harangue against Muslims while clad in a bikini, has parlayed the anti-mosque hysteria sweeping across America into mainstream media attention just in time to promote her new book, The Post-American Presidency.

Geller and co-author Robert Spencer have been relentlessly promoting the “nontroversy” over the Park 51 project. According to a profile in the Guardian, the pair have “been at the forefront of drumming up opposition to the center, two blocks from Ground Zero, through an array” of organizations like the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamisation of America (SIOA). The groups “have become increasingly influential as conservative politicians exploit anti-Muslim sentiment before November's congressional and state elections.” 

The groups’ ideology is reminiscent of the reckless demagoguery of Joe McCarthy. According to the Guardian, AFDI “says it is fighting ‘specific Islamic supremacist initiatives in American cities’ and hunting down ‘infiltrators of our federal agencies'." SIOA, which bills itself as a human rights organization "is tied to a similar group, Stop Islamisation of Europe, which goes by the motto: ‘Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense.’"

'Islamophobia is the height of common sense'. This is the mindset that rational people have to contend with.

According to the Guardian, Geller’s blog, Atlas Shrugs, “lays bare her sympathies with extremist groups across the globe.” Geller “vigorously defended Slobodan Milosevic” when he was convicted of war crimes at the Hague, denying that the Serbs committed atrocities during the 1990s. She has “allied herself with racist extremists in South Africa in promoting a claim that the black population is carrying out a ‘genocide’ of whites,” and says that she “shares the goals” of the far-right English Defense League (EDL). "We need to encourage rational, reasonable groups [like the EDL] that oppose the Islamisation of the West,” she wrote. Geller has also embraced Geert Wilders, the far-right Dutch politician who advocates banning the Qu'ran. 

The world is chock full of nuts, I see.

According to Charles Johnson, a right-wing blogger who had a noisy falling out with Geller when the latter appeared at a conference organized by European fascists (apparently that was a bridge too far even for Johnson, who was described by Gawker as a “hysterical right-wing Muslim-hating blogger”), Geller founded AFDI with attorney David Yerushalmi, who, according to journalist Bruce Wilson, advocated “legislation that would effectively outlaw Islam in the United States by imposing 20 year jail sentences on practicing Muslims.”   

If I excerpt any more of this report, I will never get the stains out of this blog. Go and read it at Alternet because it carries several warnings for our future, including this one...

These are some of the people the Guardian describes as the “leading force in a growing and ever more alarmist campaign against the supposed threat of an Islamic takeover at home and global jihad abroad.” Their views are as extreme as one might imagine, yet they've come to be embraced by politicians like former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, and far too many angry, fearful Americans.

Sunday Funnies

Our lesser-publicized Texas Conservative Kooks

Their stupid continues to flow like water over Niagara Falls.

-- State representative Joe Driver double-billed his expense report and then pretended he thought nothing was wrong with that. Really.

-- Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business, tried to compare Bill White's plan for transportation to California. He got McBloggered for that.

-- Former chair of the Texas State Board of Education Don McLeroy, defeated in the Republican primary for re-election (because apparently even the GOP can occasionally be embarrassed), continues to shame the entire state.

-- The Texas Supreme Court bravely upholds Sharon "Killer" Keller's slap on the wrist.

-- Greg Abbott, who has waded into every single federal law issued or proposed of late with his popguns blazing -- from comprehensive healthcare reform to cap-and-trade to the offshore drilling ban  -- declines to offer an opinion on whether transgender marriage might be "legal" in Texas.

His base is going to be very unhappy about that.

-- Bill Birdwell, the Republican running for SD-22 who happens to be as residency-challenged as ol' Tom DeLay, might still be removed from the ballot (just as The Hammer was forced to stay on it). That development would be a good thing for the newly-selected Democratic candidate, John Cullar.  

Update: The (GOP) three-judge panel approved Birdwell's ballot eligibility. The TDP may appeal to the (GOP) state Supremes. Today is the deadline. Charles Kuffner delves deeper into the matter.

-- Lastly, the Teen Lit Festival sponsored by the Humble ISD chose to un-invite an author over what appears to be semi-sorta-controversial subject matter for teens, and as a result other authors are dropping out.

“What is important is that a handful of people – the superintendent, the one (one!) librarian, and “several” (three? five?) parents – took it upon themselves to overrule the vast majority of teachers and librarians and students who had chosen one of the most popular YA authors in America to be their headliner,” wrote Hautman in a blog post. “That is a form of censorship as damaging and inexcusable as setting fire to a library.” And on her blog, de la Cruz wrote, “I believe that as a writer, we have to stick up for each other, and against censorship, and against people who want to tell everyone else what to think, what to read, what to watch.”

Censorship? At a Houston-area high school? Tell me no.

Thursday Toons: a Cornucopia of Self-Delusion

"And that's why I'm voting Tea Party"

Two new polls released this morning reveal that the number of Americans who believe that President Obama is Muslim is on the rise.

Americans increasingly are convinced — incorrectly — that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion.


Nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released Thursday. The proportion who correctly say he is a Christian is down to just 34 percent.

The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion, an increase from the 34 percent who said that in early 2009.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.

In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.

In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.

The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama's fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.

Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim — up from 10 percent last year.

Every single person who believes Obama is Muslim needs to go buy one of these t-shirts. Right now.

(h/t for the link to Mean Rachel)

Mosquerade

It isn't a mosque, it's a community center. And an actual mosque has been closer to Ground Zero since 1970 ... three years before the World Trade Center opened.



It takes a few days for the truth to be researched and revealed and broadcast, but by that time the Right has moved on to the next diversionary smear.

These people are masters at this sort of thing. How can they be so totally incompetent at actual governing?

John Cornyn and "terror baby" killers Louie Gohmert and Debbie Riddle are the Texas Three Mosque-eteers, but merchants of fear and hate like them are rife throughout the nation. Newt Gingrich succumbed to Godwin's Law yesterday, stupidly playing the Nazi card.

Remember their names. They are the real enemies of freedom, democracy, and America.

Update: Joe Klein...

Those who would mess with those rights now may win some short-term political victories, they might shave some more points off the President's poll ratings, but they will not succeed in the long run -- because this is America and the forces of tolerance always prevail over those of bigotry.  And if the bigots do succeed in the long run, this won't be America anymore.

...and John Cole:

This is why I simply have no respect for anyone who remains with the GOP. Period. This is the modern Republican party in a nutshell, whether it be death panels, the MONSTER MOSQUE, terror babies, or Obama’s birth certificate. The crazy people are running the show, and folks who remain in the GOP but tepidly speak out against it aid and abet the lunacy. We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are -- accomplices. It’s Malkin and Gellar and Louis Gohmert and Palin and Bachmann’s party now, and they’re just providing them cover.

DeLay "Cleared"

The Abramoff business is concluded; the TRMPAC matter continues (hearing 8/24, in fact).

From Rudyard Kipling's "Cleared":

"Cleared," honorable gentlemen. Be thankful it's no more:
The widow's curse is on your house, the dead are at your door.
On you the shame of open shame, on you from North to South
The band of every honest man flat-heeled across your mouth.

[...]

My soul! I'd sooner lie in jail for murder plain and straight,
Pure crime I'd done with my own hand for money, lust, or hate,
Than take a seat in Parliament by fellow-felons cheered,
While one of those "not provens" proved me cleared
as you are cleared.

The last-week-of-summer-vacation Wrangle

Despite the oppressive heat, the Texas Progressive Alliance is enjoying the final week before school begins as it brings you this week's blog roundup.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is amazed at how much Republicans like John Cornyn hate our Constitution and the freedoms it accords us.

Off the Kuff continued the 2010 interview series with conversations with state representatives Scott Hochberg, Sylvester Turner, and Jessica Farrar.

Neil at Texas Liberal noted that you can register to vote in three languages in Harris County. No matter what the Republicans and the Tea Party folks hope for, we live in a diverse city, county, state, nation and world.

Bad news for Barnett Shale residents: methane + sunlight + oxygen = formaldehyde. Considering the constant, massive fugitive emissions, it's no wonder we have "astounding" high levels of formaldehyde. Brought to you by TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

The latest broadside from the Back to Basics PAC, "Hands OFF our land!" is a wedge issue for Bill White. It's effectively separating Rick Perry from rural (mostly Caucasian) Texans. Read it -- and watch it -- at PDiddie's Brains and Eggs.

Over at TexasKaos, libby shaw chronicles the latest embarrassment from Louie Gohmert in Gohmert Has Meltdown on CNN. With no evidence to support him, Louie did what he does best -- spew and sputters. Check it out....

This week at McBlogger, we start our long-awaited transfer to WordPress and a new design. Come by, check it out and see what Sleazy Todd Staples is up to now.

Hot Damn! More Funnies

John Cornyn: Mosque-eteer

Add Senator Box Turtle to the ever-growing pile of TeaBaggers for Freedom*.

"With emotions so high on the issue do you think this becomes an election issue 79 days to go before the mid terms?" asked (FOX News' Bret) Baier. "Will you be telling your candidates to make sure what the Democratic opponents how they stand on the particular issue?"

"I think it does speak to the lack of connection between the administration and Washington and folks inside the Beltway and mainstream America, and I think this is what aggravates people so much," answered Cornyn. "I agree with [Sen. Jack Reed], this is going to be a local decision. I would like to hear what the elected officials in New York, the two United States senators and other local officials think about this and the American people will render their verdict."

"So yes, it becomes an election issue?" prompted Baier.

"Whether you are connected to people or listening or lecturing to them, this is sort of the dichotomy that people sense that they are being lectured to and not listened to and that is why people are upset about Washington and to that extent, yes," said Cornyn.

The Republicans have opened a new front in the War on the Parts of the Constitution We Don't Like, adding the First Amendment to the Fourteenth and the Tenth.

Remember: the terrorists -- like John Cornyn and his ilk -- hate us for our freedoms. America can only truly be free if we curtail our constitutional rights.

*does not apply to women, brown people, non-Christians, forriners, and libruls

South Texas Chisme has a similar take, and Hal at Half Empty examines the repeal of the Bill of Rights.