I’ll say this for the Republican Hispanic Citizens in Action group and their founder/cheerleader Bernadette McLeroy – they sure have grown since they moved their monthly meetings from the inner loop Casa Grande to the outer loop Cafe Adobe. This was my first visit since they moved locations and the upstairs room was packed. I’ll also say this: the food at Cafe Adobe is a heckuva lot better than Casa Grande. Casa Grande certainly has a more “authentic” feel to it but better food is better food, you know?
There were tons of candidates on hand, way too many for me to note them all. It was good to see Donna Detamore again, she has decided to run for Harris County Civil Court at Law 2. And my friend Leif Olson, who is the “clear, consistent, conservative choice” in the race for the 151st Civil District court. Kristin Guiney was out trying to convince people that she is the best choice for the 179th Criminal District Court. And it was the second night in a row for me to see candidate for DA Mike Anderson, so all of his supporters can relax because he’s out doing the job you refuse to do, campaigning. And Don Sumners was there – actually, he was the reason I made the 40 mile drive in the first place, I wanted to get clued in on the Tax Assessor/Collector race. And a whole bunch of other folks were out campaigning. If you like politics, this is your time of year.
Like I said, I went to see Don but when I saw Ted Cruz being handed the microphone, I figured that I’d have to catch Don some other time. Ted does like the stage, I’ll give him that. But really, it was okay because his staff has stopped responding to my inquires, so this is all you get now, recaps of the same old stump speeches we’ve been hearing for about 33 years now while he runs for office. Yeah, that was just a wee bit sarcastic but it is true that his staff has stopped responding to me and it is true that he has been running forever for the Senate. I was going to raise my hand and ask him if the rumors about his staff not getting paid at the end of the year so that they could report more cash on hand were true but decided to be civil.
Let’s see. Ted told his Dad’s story and for Bob Garrett’s sake, he did include the year 1957 but he did not mention that his dad was fighting alongside of Fidel Castro. He talked about the momentum of his campaign and the great awakening of conservatives across Texas and the nation. He reiterated that voters want two things, a strong conservative and a fighter, and that he is the only “major” candidate in the race that fits that bill. I put major in quotes because he is now using that term to say that he was won every straw poll in Texas that involved “major” candidates – that way he doesn’t have to say that Glenn Addison beat him a few times.
After mentioning his 12 point plan for job growth, Cruz listed three things for which he would take immediate action if he is elected: (1) Repeal Obamacare, (2) Overturn the moratorium on drilling offshore, and (3) make himself a fine pair of boots out of the endangered species of lizard that is causing havoc in West Texas. And another thing about that lizard, Congress doesn’t have authority to regulate any toad that doesn’t cross state lines. Take that EPA.
Obviously he attacked Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, listing these three things as problems that must be overcome to defeat him: (1) 90{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}+ name id among Texas Republican Primary voters, (2) unlimited personal cash, and (3) as a sitting Lt. Gov., every lobbyist in the state has been reminded of that and coerced into donating. I thought it was interesting that he made fun of Dewhurst for being rich, saying that even John Kerry would point to Dewhurst and say “that guy’s rich”. Interesting because just a few moments earlier he had pointed to Bob Borochoff, the owner of Cafe Adobe, and praised him for his success. Perhaps there should be a limit to riches?
If you’ve seen one of Ted’s stump speeches, you know most of this already. But he did say something when attacking/contrasting Dewhurst that made me uneasy. He asked why Texas would want to elect a 67 year old moderate with a decade of compromising under his belt. Now, it is one thing to say that Dewhurst is a moderate – he isn’t but at least that is a political attack. But his age? I wouldn’t go there if I were Ted. Not only because the majority of Republican Primary voters are not so young and so it isn’t a great political strategy, but because it is a display of arrogance. So what if Dewhurst is 67? He isn’t exactly some invalid waiting out the end of his days in a nursing home. It just didn’t sit well with me.
And I had to laugh when he criticized Dewhurst for forming a “Super PAC” – this coming from a guy that is on record hundreds of times saying that three out of state Super PAC’s are going to help him win this race. The aforementioned Bob Garrett wrote about this same issue today. It’s enough to make you shake your head.
It was getting pretty late and Ted was still answering questions, so I decided to cut my losses and catch up with Mr. Sumners another time. Bernadette and her club officers should be very happy with the growth of that club. Here are a few pictures from the evening: