Ted at jobsanger did a much better job of covering the just-concluded Texas Democratic Party convention than anybody. He's promising some more. Noah's post got eaten by the WordPress dog (sorry about that, dude). I managed just a couple of posts about the race for chair. The corporate media had a few accounts of the sparring between Ds and Rs, including the skirmish over the mean names they were calling each other. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins made the biggest news. And Leticia Van de Putte's home video was indeed the highlight of the weekend.
Overall I found the convention to be the fairly stereotypical mashup of pep rally tempered by electoral reality, with a dollop of patron politics and plenty of irony. If these folks are left-wing, much less a conspiracy of anything except how deep their throats are for the Democratic establishment, then my political dictionary has lost all meaning. That may demonstrate more hypocrisy on their part than it does irony, but hey, I'm trying to be nice here.
And with the exception of a few Tweets about lip-syncing, Marco Rubio comparisons, fat jokes, and sage-burning, the winners -- those outside the convention floor of the SD caucuses, where Hinojosa backers twisted arms and intimidated their neighbors in order to lower RBVO's vote tally to the most miniscule level possible -- were gracious enough... if still passive-aggressive in their disrespect of the challenger. Even this from Juanita Jean wasn't as gloatworthy as it might have been. There's not anything particularly positive in dwelling on that small amount of negativity, though.
We had a couple of great evening meals as we always do, at Deep Sushi in Deep Ellum and at Bob's inside the Omni. We spent some of Thursday afternoon after we hit town at the Sixth Floor Museum, well worth our time. And I used three transportation services in Dallas; two cabs -- one Yellow, one blue (Executive), and one Uber X. Those experiences reinforced the views I already held about the advantages and disadvantages of the competing services, and brightly illustrated the challenges both outfits have, especially in the days to come in H-Town as Council gets ready to hold that vote in one month.
We couldn't get a reservation at a decent hour three weeks in advance at Wolfgang Puck's, and we couldn't squeeze in a visit to W's library. Alas, maybe next time.
We did Dallas, and Dallas did us, and it makes me more thankful that I live in Houston.
Update: Texpate's piece is up now, and Noah has several takes. In order but not in total, the Thursday afternoon SDEC meeting (with which I wholeheartedly concur and upon which he elaborates further here), the race for the chair (with which I most certainly do not), and the party's platform plank on immigration and a concurrent opinion of Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's enforcement of Secure Communities (which I am also in long and complete agreement with). He's also dead on about David Alameel's and Mike Collier's Saturday convention speeches.
Overall I found the convention to be the fairly stereotypical mashup of pep rally tempered by electoral reality, with a dollop of patron politics and plenty of irony. If these folks are left-wing, much less a conspiracy of anything except how deep their throats are for the Democratic establishment, then my political dictionary has lost all meaning. That may demonstrate more hypocrisy on their part than it does irony, but hey, I'm trying to be nice here.
And with the exception of a few Tweets about lip-syncing, Marco Rubio comparisons, fat jokes, and sage-burning, the winners -- those outside the convention floor of the SD caucuses, where Hinojosa backers twisted arms and intimidated their neighbors in order to lower RBVO's vote tally to the most miniscule level possible -- were gracious enough... if still passive-aggressive in their disrespect of the challenger. Even this from Juanita Jean wasn't as gloatworthy as it might have been. There's not anything particularly positive in dwelling on that small amount of negativity, though.
We had a couple of great evening meals as we always do, at Deep Sushi in Deep Ellum and at Bob's inside the Omni. We spent some of Thursday afternoon after we hit town at the Sixth Floor Museum, well worth our time. And I used three transportation services in Dallas; two cabs -- one Yellow, one blue (Executive), and one Uber X. Those experiences reinforced the views I already held about the advantages and disadvantages of the competing services, and brightly illustrated the challenges both outfits have, especially in the days to come in H-Town as Council gets ready to hold that vote in one month.
We couldn't get a reservation at a decent hour three weeks in advance at Wolfgang Puck's, and we couldn't squeeze in a visit to W's library. Alas, maybe next time.
We did Dallas, and Dallas did us, and it makes me more thankful that I live in Houston.
Update: Texpate's piece is up now, and Noah has several takes. In order but not in total, the Thursday afternoon SDEC meeting (with which I wholeheartedly concur and upon which he elaborates further here), the race for the chair (with which I most certainly do not), and the party's platform plank on immigration and a concurrent opinion of Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's enforcement of Secure Communities (which I am also in long and complete agreement with). He's also dead on about David Alameel's and Mike Collier's Saturday convention speeches.
