Sunday Funnies

HGLBT Caucus endorses Sylvester Turner for mayor of Houston

The largest attendance remembered caused nearly an hour-long delay in getting started.

290 members here at the @HGLBTCaucus endorsement meeting, where the group just officially endorsed #HERO, as expected #houvote

— Rebecca Elliott (@rfelliott) August 8, 2015

In an early (1 p.m.) surprise, Adrian Garcia got the recommendation from the board despite Steve Costello getting higher scores overall.  Sylvester Turner, the apparent crowd favorite, came in a close third.

But the official vote is still a ways off.

The steering committee got a lot of intense questioning about the Garcia recommendation.  They were split 2-2 so the decision came down to...

Viability, LGBT knowledge, knowledge of city issues and the screening were the factors in recommendations #thecaucusendorses @HGLBTCaucus

— Shelby Hansen (@ShelbyAHansen) August 8, 2015

After a couple of hours of wrangling, the Caucus finally voted to endorse Turner for mayor in the 3 pm hour.  They followed with Chris Brown for city controller, Lane Lewis for AL1 and Doug Peterson for AL3.  I'll have more and link to their full slate later.

Scattershooting the unblogged after a very busy week

(More post-debate Trump developments below.)

-- Thanks to Kuff for plugging the petition to the NFL's powers that be to relocate the 2017 Super Bowl if HERO can't clear the bar in November.  World class cities aren't run by bigots and homophobes.  And when an offensive lineman clips a linebacker, or a defensive back commits pass interference, the whole team gets penalized, not just the infractor.  Sign it and share it.  It's already making waves.

The effort to recruit Beyonce' Knowles to the cause also continues to gain momentum.

-- The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) will hold its 2016 presidential nominating convention in Houston next August.  This is kind of a big deal.  Jill Stein, the most recent and also presumptive nominee (though she has competition) has visited Houston twice previously, in 2012 and earlier this year.  Both times she had a full itinerary and full houses at scheduled stops, and raised a lot of money (okay, a little money, but a lot by GP standards).  And both Stein and Bernie Sanders are clearly aware of the value of going into the lion's den of the South to break the stranglehold of the conservative populists.  And it also helps people lose their fear of the S-word.



-- Donald Trump spent most of yesterday feuding on Twitter and teevee with debate moderator Megyn Kelly, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, and RedState proprietor Erick Erickson, whose annual convention of the freakiest of the freak right wing is taking place this weekend.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he can't recall using words such as "dog," ''fat" and "disgusting" to insult women he believes have slighted him, but such language litters his Twitter feed and other public comments he's made for years.

The issue took center stage at the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign for president, when Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Trump about his use of such language and whether it reflected the "temperament of a man we should elect as president."

Trump largely dismissed Kelly's question at the debate, but on Friday he went directly after her.

Before dawn, he had retweeted a post calling Kelly a "bimbo." The post was later deleted, but on Friday evening Trump called Kelly a "lightweight."

"She's not very tough and not very sharp," Trump said during a phone interview on CNN. "I don't respect her as a journalist."

Referring to Kelly's questions during the debate, Trump said, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever."

Citing that remark, conservative commentator Erick Erickson said he was withdrawing his invitation for Trump to appear at his RedState Gathering in Atlanta on Saturday. "I just don't want someone on stage who gets a hostile question from a lady and his first inclination is to imply it was hormonal," Erickson wrote on the RedState website Friday night. "It just was wrong."

Erickson knows misogyny; he's the guy who coined the term "Abortion Barbie".  Update: Trump "clarifies" that he meant her nose, and calls everyone who thought he was referring to another part of her anatomy "deviants".

Trump's campaign responded: "This is just another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all of the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader."

Besides what's obvious about these tirades of his, the fact remains that he can say them and Tweet them and pay no political price for doing so, unlike any other Republican running for president.  What Erickson is trying to do by shutting him out is to assert some control over Trump, a contest of wills that I wouldn't bet on just yet.  Reince Priebus is a eunuch at this point; the GOP establishment is Erickson now.  Even Rush Limbaugh is on Trump's side.  If the insiders don't do something now to slow his roll, the attacks just might make him stronger, and more difficult to defeat later.

This is what civil war looks like.

Make no mistake; The Donald is uniquely qualified to tear the Republican Party down to the bedrock under its foundation.  No matter whether he emerges as its nominee or runs as a third party independent, the GOP is already cooked for 2016 as it relates to the presidency.

And this may be the long-awaited earthquake fault line along which the Republicans crack in two.  It's the same fissure I'm trying to drive a wedge in with my HERO/Super Bowl petition.  Moderate, pro-business Republicans who are socially tolerant are continually being cleaved away from the radical Tea Party extremists.  Look at what's happening in the Texas Legislature for more clues to the future.

Except for Trump, there just wasn't all that much stupid and crazy going on last Thursday night.  Most of the ten-member varsity debaters looked weak, with Marco Rubio a notable exception (and the same for Carly Fiorina during the Happy Hour).  If the GOP nominated those two -- or to use another formidable example, John Kasich and Condoleeza Rice -- then Hillary Clinton and Julian Castro might be in real electoral trouble.

Don't worry; neither of those is happening.  And even if they did, Donald Trump as an indy would swamp their kayaks.

Update: More on the Trumpenstein Monster from No More Mister Nice and Oliver Willis.

KHOU on the HERO petition to relocate the Super Bowl

Some unnamed blogger started it, you know.

 

Boosters of big sporting events in Houston are nervous about the fight over the equal rights ordinance.

Opponents of the ordinance have succeeded in putting the issue on the November ballot. Now, some HERO supporters are calling upon the NFL to move the 2017 Super Bowl out of Houston if the ordinance is repealed. The online petition was launched by a blogger and it has dozens of signatures.

"Well, I think if Houston is ever perceived as an intolerant, bigoted place, it will greatly diminish our opportunities to bring sporting events to town," admitted Sports Authority Chairman J. Kent Friedman.

Houston's Super Bowl Committee had no comment.

Scared haters got something new to be scared of and hate.

The NFL reportedly considered moving a Super Bowl out of Arizona over legislation that would've offered legal protections to businesses that discriminated against gays. That never happened, because the governor vetoed the bill.

HERO opponents say it'll never happen here either.

"That's simply a red herring. That's simply what they tried to do in Indiana and Arkansas and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," said ordinance opponent Jared Woodfill. "It basically shows that they are going to do anything and everything they can to skew the issue."

"I think it's a real threat," said KHOU 11 Political Analyst Bob Stein. "Now, how it plays with the voters is very interesting. It could conceivably become one in which voters have a backlash against it, see it as a -- how can I say this? -- a threat."

Houston voters will go to the polls in a little less than three months, but it's already game on for the equal rights ordinance.

Sign the petition, and if you already have, then share it.  Let's keep the momentum going.  Because when Houston's worst conservatives reveal they're worried, it means everybody else is winning.

Nobody wins GOP food fight

Trump met high expectations for bombast and blather, Rubio and Kasich got good marks for steady demeanors and answers, the rest failed to stand out (even Paul and Christie's nasty exchange wasn't all that).  Bush underwhelmed.

The Donald chokes on his own saliva.

What's wrong with this picture below, besides the obvious fact that there is only one demographic represented (as always at GOP debates)?  Like an NBAer who hits a clutch three, they're all looking for Godot after that "Jesus" question.

There were a lot of "I caught a fish once, and it was THIS big', Jesus-on-the-cross poses.

And they ran long, so everybody switched over to Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" finale.

Some photos from the JV Happy Hour kid's table debate

Courtesy NYT live-blog.  Click on 'em for bigger views.

Yes, that's the live audience, about 30 minutes in.

From both the Twitter feed and the Times' coverage, it seems that Carly Fiorina did herself the most good.  The rest, not so much.  George Will is currently spinning it out for Fox viewers as it just concluded, so I changed the channel.  The main event begins in about 2.5 hours.

A 2016 roundup, just in time for the debate tonight

From my days as a newspaper advertising salesman, I always appreciated the "Just In Time For Christmas!" taglines that stores would use in their Yuletide spots.  (Usually all inappropriately capitalized, just like that.)  So here we go with an aggre-update on all that's been going on with the prezidenchuls during that time of year when the media likes to say that no one is paying attention (thanks to Bernie Goldberg for a blast from the past).

Some teasers, links, and an excerpt or two.

-- Megyn Kelly of Fox, one of tonight's debate moderators, got trolled intensely on Twitter yesterday and it was glorious.  Want to join in the fun?  Here you go.

-- Sorry Hillary fans, those email server questions just aren't going away.  And her polling numbers are sliding like a kid in a cardboard box downhill on ice.  You're going to have to start dealing with that.

In the past month, Hillary Clinton’s key voter support (such as white women) is plummeting. Even her key supporters are now having difficulty justifying her political and corporate lifestyle.

According to a recent WSJ poll, Hillary’s favorability rating among white women has fallen from 44% in June to 34% in July. Her unfavorable rating increased from 43% in June to 53% in July. In the first three months of this year, suburban women had a positive view of Hillary by a margin of 18 points. In July, these same women have a negative view of Hillary by a 5 point margin.

The trend can also be seen among independents. In the first quarter of the year, independents were about evenly split in their perception of Hillary. By July, 27% had a positive opinion, compared to 52% who had a negative opinion.

Even Hillary’s perception among African Americans is beginning to falter. In June, 81% of blacks had a positive opinion of Hillary. In July, this number fell to 66%.

In June Hillary’s lead over Bernie Sanders was 75% to 15%. In July her lead was down to 59% to 25%.

There is a reason Joe Biden will enter this race, and it’s because the Democratic Party knows Hillary is in trouble.

Whether Biden gets in or stays out, Clinton still has a problem.  It's one of yin and yang.  Here's the good news: the Daily Kos not-a-scientific poll has her closing a 15-point gap between her and the front-runner, Bernie Sanders.  So don't give up hope just yet.

-- While Clinton won't say whether she supports or opposes Keystone XL, Sanders will go to Liberty University (that's where Ted Cruz kicked off his campaign). This is another example of the vast differences between the two campaigns: one runs not to lose, while the other runs with nothing to lose.  People see and understand that difference.

Of all the tough questions he might get, immigration issues might be the toughest.  Read both Dos Centavos and Vox for more on this.

-- Bill Clinton pulled a Frank Underwood, quietly encouraging Donald Trump to enter the race for the GOP nomination two months ago.  Just not in those exact words.

Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men.

[...]

Trump took the call from his office in Trump Tower in New York, according to the four allies, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. The call came as Trump was making a final decision about whether to run, and he was candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk, these allies said.

The 42nd president listened intently and then analyzed Trump’s prospects and his desire to rouse the GOP base, the Trump allies said.

The tone of the call was informal, and Clinton never urged Trump to run, the four people said. Rather, they said, Clinton sounded curious about Trump’s moves toward a presidential bid and told Trump that he was striking a chord with frustrated conservatives and was a rising force on the right.

One person with knowledge of Clinton’s end of the call said the former president was upbeat and encouraging during the conversation, which occurred as Trump was speaking out about GOP politics and his prescriptions for the nation.

Give the Big Dog his props: he saw the potential of what we are now calling the Trump phenomenon, and stoked it.  If you think the Republicans have a chance at the White House next year, you're as delusional as a Republican comes.

-- Speaking of delusional Republicans, their first debate is finally here, on your teevee this evening.  Rand Paul is fading, Ted Cruz is (or isn't) cooking bacon with a machine gun, Trump is Trump, Mike Huckabee's working diligently to come up with some wildly inappropriate statements to add to his list, and then there's Fat Bastard Christie.  How do low-talkers Rubio, Bush, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, and John Kasich actually break through the sure-to-come lunacy of those five with some rotten red meat for the base?  The nation will be tuning in to see, that's for sure.

Poor Rick Perry, stuck at the kid's table in the early matinee with Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Gilmore.  The glasses just aren't resonating with GOP primary voters.  Looking intelligent ain't all it's cracked up to be with this crowd.

-- Last, the fact-checkers tonight will be going into overtime.  You can count on lies, dissembling, obfuscation, and prevarication.  And that's when we're not forced to listen to the racism, bigotry, misogyny, and screeching about Planned Parenthood and "baby-killing".

Here are five of the worst things some of the debaters have said and done so far, and here's five myths about taxes we are certain to hear repeated.