Although after following many of the Republican Party of Texas State Executive Committee members over the past couple of weeks on social media and knowing what the outcome of last night’s vote regarding the upcoming convention would be, I still watched much of the “emergency meeting” to listen to the debate. It was as predictable as it was sad to watch a once great political body descend into the dark abyss of conspiracy, chest thumping about patriotism, and making a mockery of public health and freedom.
As reported by SREC member Mark Ramsey:
This comes at a time when Harris County is the epicenter of the second wave of Covid-19 infections and on the same day that Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring face masks to be worn in public. Notice that Mark says masks are not going to be required by the party.
Want to know why Republicans will soon be extinct in Texas? This is example 1,503 with many more to come I’m certain. My favorite comment from the viewers was this one:
Heh. Diluted acid showers to kill the virus. Now that was funny.
What isn’t funny is the destruction of the Republican Party of Texas as it continues to be taken over by libertarians and populists. Gone are the Ed Emmett’s and Joe Straus’ of the world, replaced by AR15 wearing “patriots”. Gone are the days of small government or fiscal responsibility. Gone are the days of “the best government is the smallest government closest to the people”. Three decades of solid gains wiped out.
Jonathan Tilove has more over at the Statesman, pointing out this statement by SREC member Leslie Thomas:
It’s interesting how people use the Bible to justify whatever it is they want to do. I would submit that “putting on the armor of God” wasn’t written so that people could ignore science, common sense or a virus. But that might just be me.
It even happens here on BJP. As you know, I don’t censor writers, I let them write what they wish. And I’m not going to change that. Their words, their responsibility. I’m hopeful that sanity prevails among the readers when one of our writers says that the governor and county judge need to grow up and act like adults while said writer goes around in public wearing a cow head mask to mock health care professionals and elected officials that are doing their best to protect both the health of the public and the economy. But who knows?
The more disconcerting thing to me about Greg’s post with the cow head was his use of rhetorical terms to inflame racism, in my opinion. He continually used the phrase “Floyd riots” to claim causation for the increase in COVID-19 cases in Harris County. Fact is there were no “riots”. There were a few very isolated issues with property destruction but to say those were “riots” does’t pass the “smell test”. But it certainly inflames the passions of those that are afraid of black folk having an equal opportunity to take to the streets and protest. Also, correlation does not equal causation. There are any number of correlations for the increased hospitalizations – Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, full moon, high tide, pollen count, etc. So please use common sense when reading anything, including this post.
FWIW, I think that County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia have done a very good job in this very difficult situation. Judge Hidalgo issued mask orders only to have them shot down by the governor. Now that the virus is out of control in Texas, Republican Gov. Abbott has finally issued his own order, although in typical Abbott fashion, it is more of a riddle than an executive order.
Every person in Texas shall wear a face covering over the nose and mouth when inside a commercial entity or other building or space open to the public, or when in an outdoor public space, wherever it is not feasible to maintain six feet of social distancing from another person not in the same household;
Care to explain what that means, exactly?
I’ll leave you with this. Many of the commenters on last night’s meeting encouraged having the in-person convention in Houston so that attendees could gather at the largest Planned Parenthood crematorium in the world and protest or pray in front of the building.
Think about the irony of that. The “pro-life” Republican Party of Texas is literally supporting bringing death to the residents of Harris County so that they can protest the death of unborn children.