What a day yesterday. It started to go awry (for me, anyway) when I received an email from the Young Conservatives of Texas saying that they had joined the fight for a new speaker. Okay, that is fair enough. I’ve criticized Speaker Straus at least as much as anyone for not getting Voter ID through last session. If we can find a better conservative speaker, all is fair in love, war, and politics.
And then I read the letter and the names attached to it.
Holy cow.
I was utterly dismayed to see Felicia Cravens, Greg Holloway, Jennifer Heiden, and Suzanne Guggenheim’s names (note: this morning they added Catherine Englebrecht) alongside those of Rick Scarborough, Dave Welch, Margaret Hotze, and Peter Morrison. If you don’t know, the former are lead organizers of various Tea Party groups; the latter are hard core social issues only religious right activists. The letter they signed was full of the usual code words to let you know what was happening here, if you bothered to read it.
- a clarion call for conservative leadership in the Texas House
- leadership that has been absent the past two years
- represent their conservative values
- meaningful change for their businesses and families
- what kind of person they want serving as the state’s third-ranking constitutional officer
As Cory Crow at Harris County Almanac says this morning:
It’s official, The Tea Party has been co-opted by the Republican Party. Specifically, they’ve become a new branch of the values voters. What a shame.
A shame indeed. All of that work, only to see it washed down the tubes. Let me remind people of what TEA started out to mean:
Taxed Enough Already
And yet, these guys have decided to throw that mantra out the door. Why? Who knows. A chance to be on the inside, as Kevin Whited suggested? I don’t know, I wish I did.
Speaker Straus is a fiscal conservative. He replaced Warren Chisum as head of the Appropriations Committee because under Chisum’s leadership, the state budget grew from $138.2 billion for the 2006-2007 biennium to $167..8 billion for the 2008-2009 biennium, a whopping 21.4% increase. Speaker Straus limited it to an 8.6% increase for the 2010-2011 biennium, less than population growth inflation and with an actual reduction in general revenue spending of $1.6 billion.
And TEA party “leaders” want to put Warren Chisum in charge.
Wow.
Regardless of what anyone says, that is what this letter is about. Think about the code language used. Think about the 2007 session in which then-Speaker Tom Craddick and his bff Warren Chisum ruled with an iron fist so tight it would make Nancy Pelosi cringe. As they increased the budget. But by golly, big jolly, they managed to get a hearing on their social issues. Remember this memo that Chisum sent out during that session?
All of that can now be changed! Indisputable evidence — long hidden but now available to everyone — demonstrates conclusively that so-called “secular evolution science” is the Big-Bang 15-billion-year alternate “creation scenario” of the Pharisee Religion. This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic “holy book” Kabbala dating back at least two millennia.
Indisputable evidence. Indisputable. Oh, and the sun also revolves around the earth if you believe Mr. Chisum and friends.
Criminey dutch.
Like I said, if there was another fiscal Republican challenging Straus, fair game. But not this, people, not this.
When I think back to all the battle cries I heard during TEA rallies about Obama, Reid, and Pelosi being heavy handed and then try to match that up with TEA leaders now asking for a House leader to do the same, I get dizzy. Texas had a divided House and Straus ran it in such a way that it reflected the will of the people. Now that the people have spoken loudly, the House is not divided and Voter ID will pass, assuming that the Senate passes it again.
Think twice before trying to oust a fiscal conservative for a social one.
I knew this thing was in full tilt when I tuned in to the D_n Patrick show on KSEV and a guest host was sitting in for him. I had no idea who the guy was (I’ve since learned he’s an out of work talk show host from San Antonio) but I knew something was up when he introduced his “busy” show by saying:
At 4:15, we’ll have Peter from Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, at 4:30 we’ll have Concerned Women for America on with the truth about abortion, at 5:00 we’ll have a guy from Tea Party Nation, and at 5:30, we’ll have Warren Chisum, who is running for Speaker of the Texas House against pro-abortion liberal Joe Straus.
Like I said, Criminey Dutch!
Truth about ho-mo-sex-u-al-ity? What the heck is that? Most of us learned that before we were out of sixth grade if not earlier.
Here is Joe Straus’ position on abortion (via the Houston Chronicle):
As you know I believe in the sanctity of life. I am consistent with existing restrictions on abortion including parental notification/parental consent. I believe exceptions should exist for rape, incest and harm to the life of the Mother. That said, I fervently hope abortion is the rarest medical procedure conducted in 2009 and beyond.
Do we really, truly, want someone in that position that thinks no exceptions should exist for any reason? Seriously? Will D_nnie introduce legislation that tells a rape victim that she MUST carry to term? Or that 13 year old that was impregnated by her uncle? Seriously?
I’ll stop for now because I’m getting pissed off again. We’ll pick up later.