Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

Nice article on the founders of ActBlue, the online clearinghouse for donating to Democratic candidates, even if they do somehow manage not to mention the Texas Tuesdays ActBlue page. I want to touch on something in this paragraph: After originally … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Greg notes that the Chron is running op-eds with ridiculously underinformative bylines. Again. The piece in question touts the “success” of Prop 12, the ridiculous tort “reform” measure passed last year, and was written by the Chairman of the State … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Chron reports on the five people with a Houston connection who made Capitol Inside’s list of top political donors in Texas. I’m not sure what Capitol Inside’s algorithm was, but I really don’t see why they bothered with Linda … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I got a good laugh out of Hotshot Casey’s column today, in which he imagines a future Swift Boat-style smear against State Rep. Rick Noriega, who is currently on active duty in Afghanistan. Best line in the piece: “All of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I join with Hope in unreservedly endorsing State Sen. Jeff Wentworth’s to-be-filed proposal to force the official recording all legislative votes. It’s appalling that bills can be passed or rejected by voice vote alone, and it’s long past time someone … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It was rumor and now it’s reality. Mike Toomey, a former lawmaker and lobbyist who had served as Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff for nearly two years and served as a chief architect of Perry’s legislative initiatives, announced today … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The GOP may be putting on its best moderate face at the convention, but apparently someone forgot to tell that to Sheri Dew, the woman who will be giving the opening invocation and who apparently believes that people who don’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Bob Perry, that is. Byron has the scoop. Check out the pictures. Continue reading →

Mike Toomey, Rick Perry’s chief of staff, is set to leave soon, according to Dave McNeely. Rumors continue to fly around the Capitol that are not about whether Mike Toomey will be leaving as Gov. Rick Perry’s chief of staff, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The only thing I can imagine that would be better than Britney Spears at the national GOP convention would be the national “family values” crowd throwing a hissy fit over the Britster’s appearance. No excuse for poor TV ratings here! Continue reading →

Karl-T and Redpeg give their thoughts on Chairman Soechting’s objection to the DNC’s money-exporting practice. Karl-T’s bit about the State Party’s relationship with county parties is especially worth reading. Check it out. UPDATE: Lasso promises a relevant Statesman article for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Texas Democratic Party Chair Charles Soechting has thrown down the gauntlet. State Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting said Monday that he is disgusted that his national party has written Texas off as Republican and is urging financial donors from here to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Would you believe the falling out between Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Governor Rick Perry all started over funding for community colleges? [Strayhorn’s] claim: Perry torpedoed funding for her TexasNextStep proposal last year, even though he had earlier voiced support … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Awhile back, I posted about a proposed change to copyright laws (HR 4586) and an apparent contradiction it led to in GOP philosophy as espoused in their platform. That generated some really good comments, including one today by Bill Aho, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Republican Congressional delegation here in Texas sure does seem hell-bent on providing campaign fodder for their opponents. Look at the slapdown handed out by the Abiliene Reporter-News. Before its summer recess, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed and sent to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Behold the power of The Hammer. Sandwich chain Subway Restaurants today said it was ending a promotion at its German franchises that used an image of a fat Statue of Liberty. The promotion sparked outrage from a leader in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Clay Robison piles on Tom DeLay for being unclear on the concept of “parody”, and makes a suggestion that I think needs a little blog publicity: Fortunately, I am not in the corporate or political consulting business, but Democrats who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Say what you want about Texas, our perennial candidates are a non-stop laff riot. A federal judge has fined John WorldPeace, a local lawyer and perennial candidate for high office, $25,000 for using the names of two Houston-area car dealerships … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via the Quorum Report, Alma Allen asks the kid of question that I think needs to get asked more often. Alma Allen (D-Houston) wanted to know one thing from her State Board of Education colleagues: If board members planned to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What can you say about an editorial from a Republican-stronghold newspaper that calls Governor Perry dumb and mean? Not mincing words, I guess. The political behavior exhibited by Governor Rick Perry has been perplexing to many people. He often seems … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Excellent piece by Ben Rahn of ActBlue on how Democratic candidates can and should reach out to the online community. I pretty much agree with all of it – I’ve advocated quite a bit of it myself – and the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Karl-T brings us a very interesting perspective on the state of the Texas Democratic Party from Gary Polland, former chair of the Harris County GOP and current editor of the Texas Conservative Review. Here are a couple of key excerpts, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I love all this back-and-forth stuff. Here’s Philip Klinkner’s response to Bill Bishop and Bob Cushing, who responded earlier to Klinkner’s article on their Great Divide series. Got all that? Actually, as Klinkner noted in my comments, this is a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Center for Public Policy Priorities is criticizing a recently-passed bill that would allow the state of Texas and other states with no income tax to deduct sales taxes from their federal income tax. Deductibility is merely a political sleight-of-hand … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison may have to make up her mind quickly if she wants to run for Governor in 2006. As things stand right now, it’s not clear if she’ll be able to use any of her Senate campaign … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And the Rick ‘n Carole Chronicles continue: Strayhorn says Perry behind audit of office. The sniping between Comptroller Carole Strayhorn and fellow Republican Gov. Rick Perry heated up today when she accused Perry of directly orchestrating a “political witch hunt” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From the “Core Principles” of the 2004 Texas Republican Platform: The family is responsible for its own welfare, education, moral training, conduct, and property From today’s LA Times: Over Hollywood’s long-standing objections, some members of Congress are endorsing legislation that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I haven’t written anything yet about the state GOP’s 2004 platform (PDF), partly because other people like Kevin Drum and the Burnt Orange Report guys were on top of it, and partly because some things just defy parody. There are … Continue reading → Continue reading →

One of the buzzworthy items that came out of the state convention was the news that UH political science professor Richard Murray was circulating a memo in which he proposed “to set up a Democratic Party think tank that will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s another reason why we may continue to have special sessions, regardless of their actual legislative utility: Campaign fundraisers held during special sessions are very lucrative, at least for some people. Three top state officeholders together collected more than $1 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sometimes, connections aren’t everything: The estranged brother of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is negotiating a $1.2 million lobbying contract with Nueces County officials who want to protect the area’s military installations from a new round of base … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Governor speaks. Gov. Rick Perry assured Republican Party activists on Thursday that he is a conservative after their own hearts and, in a campaign-style speech kicking off the GOP state convention, he sidestepped a controversy over gambling that could … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Some days there’s so much stuff you just have to do a little linkdumping… Tom DeLay makes a modest proposal to Nancy Pelosi. A staffer for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), trying to whip up television bookings for his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Public service announcement for those in the Houston area: I’ve been asked to pass along an invitation to a fundraiser for a new documentary called “Voting in America”, a work in progress that has room for you in the final … Continue reading → Continue reading →