Sorry Beto – you don’t have Texas values

It hasn’t been the best of times for the Beto O’Rourke campaign lately. First, Ted Cruz had Beto on the defensive in their first debate, crushing the image that Beto is trying to project of a super, duper nice guy that wants to work with Republicans. Then on Tuesday, Beto voted against the Family Savings Act of 2018. On Wednesday, the Washington Post praised Beto for wanting to ban semi-automatic weapons. Finally, yesterday, Beto voted against the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018. You know, the cuts that stimulated the economy and made it go BOOM!

Now, I’m sure that the Democratic base is happy with everything Beto did. And that might be a good strategy in California. After all, that state  just raised the age to buy any type of gun. But in Texas? I don’t think that is going to play well.

From the Ted Cruz campaign:

HOUSTON, Texas — Rep. Beto O’Rourke this week voted again to raise taxes on Texans. On Thursday, he voted against the Family Savings Act of 2018 (H.R.6757), which would expand access to new and existing savings vehicles and help businesses provide retirement plans for workers. And on Friday, he voted against the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018, which would make the individual and small business tax cuts permanent.

“Beto O’Rourke claims to fight for Texas families, yet casts votes to deny them tax relief that allows them to keep more of their hard-earned money,” said Catherine Frazier, Cruz campaign spokeswoman. “This week alone he voted against making tax cuts permanent and against measures that would expand access to savings vehicles and provide worker retirement plans. Beto’s record proves he thinks the government knows better how to spend Texans’ money than they do. That is not the Texas way.”

Rep. Beto O’Rourke has a long and troubling record of supporting new and higher taxes. As a U.S. Representative, he:

• Voted against the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which doubled the child tax credit, provided rate cuts for individual taxpayers in all brackets, repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate, and now allows Texans to deduct up to $10,000 in their property taxes.

• Voted against repealing the Death Tax

• Voted against child Tax Credit Expansion

From the Washington Post article by Max Boot (bold emphasis mine):

Win or lose, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.) has some serious cojones. He is running against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and running strongly, in a state where guns are regarded by many as a birthright — and he is advocating not just minor gun controls but a complete ban on the sale of semiautomatic assault rifles such as the AR-15. His sensible stance has been predictably attacked by Texas Republicans, who will use it to paint him as out of step with “Texas values.”

Well, yes, I just did say that Beto is out of step with Texas values. Because, well, he is! Here are a few Remington semi-automatic rifles:

Continuing on:

There is, on the surface, nothing surprising about the GOP tactics, since Republicans have long been known as the gun-rights party. But it wasn’t always thus. Republicans made the same transition on gun control as on environmentalism, civil rights, immigration, taxes and other issues — from moderate conservatism to far-right fanaticism. Therein lies a tragedy for the Republican Party — and for the republic.

What a load of tripe. Most of the positions of the Republican Party on those issues are only far-right in the minds on numb-skulled progressives. They have shifted the Democratic Party so far to the left that any opposition to their policies is called far-right by the press. If the ideas of Republicans on those issues would actually be made into law, it would be awesome for the republic.

And finally:

But on gun control, as on so many other issues, Republicans today are immune to reason and at odds with their own history of moderation, because they regard an absolutist position as a political necessity. If O’Rourke manages to win — improbable but not impossible — his success could call that destructive assumption into question.

I admit that Beto does have momentum here in Harris County. It’s scary to think what that momentum could do to our county if sane voters stay home. But it is going to be very difficult for him to win on his high tax, gun control, sanctuary city platform statewide. Let’s hope that the Ted Cruz campaign and the other statewide candidates press the case that Dan Patrick made – don’t let Beto and friends turn Texas into California.

Get out and VOTE!