Category Archives: Show Business for Ugly People

The Texas GOP has its convention this week in San Antonio. More than 17,000 people are expected to descend on the Convention Center beginning Thursday for three days of party-building through speeches, rallies and elections. Officials say it is the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s installment 3 of Bill Bishop’s series on the evolution of polarization in American society (noted previously here). This one is about how gerrymandered districts reflect the self-gerrymandered tastes of its constituents by producing more extreme winners in party primaries. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I know, it’s a silly little time-waster – then again, what on the Internet isn’t? – but I enjoyed the “Republican Survivor” trailer at DTripTV, and I signed up to watch the whole thing and participate in the voting. I’m … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Man, Julia really is something else when she gets on a roll, isn’t she? Marvelous. One thing to note, from this WhiteHouseForSale post that she quotes: The Associated Press reports that while Democratic-leaning 527 groups are receiving in large contributions, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ahem. “It’s extremely difficult to govern when you control all three branches of government.” — John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Any volunteers to give these poor fellas a hand? Via Political Wire. Continue reading →

Interesting article in Salon about the falling-out of Dick Armey and Tom DeLay. Hard to believe, but I almost feel a twinge of nostalgia for Armey, puffed-up bloviating ideologue that he is. One item that caught my eye in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Greg has a long excerpt from this Governing magazine article on the latest trends in outsourcing state government functions to the private sector. Texas is now on the leading edge of this, and if the program is declared a success … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s a brief update on once and possibly future candidate for statewide office Ron Kirk. Last summer Mr. Kirk gave $30,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and various Senate campaigns, and $5,000 to the Democratic National Committee. He says … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I highly recommend reading Arianna Huffington’s Contract for a Better America. Now is the time for big ideas, clearly and simply expressed, and Huffington has some good ones. And yes, her choice of title is deliberately reminiscent of 1994’s Contract … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, as Andrew D notes, State Rep. David Swinford is running for Ag Commissioner in hopes of replacing Susan Combs, who has announced that she’s running for Comptroller. The current Comptroller, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, has all but drooled over the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Who said this? “Gerrymandered congressional districts are an affront to democracy and an insult to the voters. We oppose that and any other attempt to rig the electoral process.” I’ll give you a hint: They’ve apparently changed their minds about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I believe it’s a natural law that whenever one discusses Ralph Nader, the subject of Instant Runoff Voting must be brought up (I believe a plague of frogs is the penalty for failure). Putting aside the fact that IRV will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The National Catholic Reporter has a very good editorial on the “controversy” of John Kerry’s Catholicism and what it means about his fitness to be President. Assume for the moment that John Kerry’s Catholic critics are correct. That a Catholic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Apparently, Tom DeLay supports repealing the 17th Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of Senators. During the House debate last week over reconstituting Congress in the event of a terrorist attack or natural catastrophe, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve been rather amused lately watching all of the dust that’s been kicked up over John Kerry’s Catholicism and the attempts by some people to reduce the entirity of Catholic dogma to a litmus test on abortion. Most amusing has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

For all the dumping that some of us smartass local bloggers do on Chron hotshot columnist Rick Casey, he is occasionally able to print something new and interesting. The shadow of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison already looms over Austin. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Via Kevin, I see that there’s yet another Republican name being tossed around as a potential challenger to Rick Perry in 2006: Karen Hughes: Following her impressive performance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” April 4, Bush adviser Karen Hughes’s friends … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So it looks the State House could become a more partisan place now that several Democratic legislators were ousted by primary voters for not adequately representing their views. I know, I didn’t think that was possible after the three-ring Special … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Whatever else Governor Perry may have going for him, he does have the full support of his party’s infrastructure, at least publicly. The head of the state Republican Party rushed to the defense of Gov. Rick Perry on Friday and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison continues to be coy about her future. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards don’t agree on much. But they both feel like it’s time to return to Texas and get a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Well, if he does ever get around to calling a special session, our Governor will certainly be tanned, rested and ready for it. Fresh from a jaunt to the Bahamas to discuss school finance, Gov. Rick Perry and his wife, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

And here’s the story of that Texas Poll that I alluded to yesterday. Controversial budget cuts and the bitter congressional redistricting battle apparently have turned Rick Perry into the most unpopular Texas governor in 14 years, according to a poll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

So now that the rumors of his infidelity and impending divorce have been discredited and mostly disappeared from the discourse, Governor Perry has gone to the effort of calling in the Statesman to work up a high dudgeon and deny … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I presume by now that everyone has heard the rumors about Gov. Perry and the Big News that was supposed to break about his personal life Any Day Now. I never wrote anything about it because I never really believed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve spoken about how blogs can benefit Democratic candidates, and while I firmly believe that this is and will continue to be true, it’s not a freebie. As Stephanie Herseth is surely learning, the blogreading public is very much in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Fred Lewis is one of the people behind Clean Up Texas Politics, a nonpartisan site that tracks and shines a light on the influence of big money in elections. There’s been a lot of activity to keep them busy lately, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

With the installation of a fulltime blogger on the Yellow Dog Blog, the Texas Democratic Party is now focusing on its main web page. They’re going to do a site redesign and are asking for contributions to help get there. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A little amusing Flash animation that pokes fun at everyone’s favorite exterminator, Tom DeLay. Continue reading →

Now this is a great idea: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has a fabulous-looking blog called From The Roots, which will apparently include posts from various Senators themselves as well as Kos-like diaries, for which anyone can create an … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m glad to see that the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has gotten themselves a webpage, since I criticized them for not having one awhile back. They’re doing a good job monitoring and raising a fuss over … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I agree with this post on TAPPED about the latest DLC/Howard Dean dustup so much, I’m going to quote most of it. [T]he DLC really hasn’t been offering a “Bush-lite” agenda for America. On the other hand, “Democratic centrists” really … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I think Roy and Jesse have the right idea, so from here on out whenever you hear me criticize the Republican Party or any one of its members, assume I’m speaking as a fellow Republican. In particular, I’m a Republican … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You know, nobody really appreciates how hard it is to govern when one party controls every branch of the government. As Republican lawmakers wrapped up the first year in a half-century in which they controlled the Senate, House and White … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Some 300 teachers protested outside Tom DeLay’s office in Sugar Land yesterday after he refused to bring a bill that would benefit them to a floor vote. About 300 public school employees from Houston, Fort Bend, Brazosport and other school … Continue reading → Continue reading →