In Texas, a showdown at GOP corral

AUSTIN, Texas - Rick Perry, the state’s swashbuckling Republican governor, says his opponent spends tax dollars too freely. She’s too liberal. She’s too Washington. She doesn’t get what he calls “Texas values.”

One might imagine Perry’s opponent to be a Democrat, but she is Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican born, bred and elected, serving her third term casting reliably conservative votes as a U.S. senator.

Hutchison’s decision to chase her long-held dream of becoming governor, and Perry’s refusal to yield, have created a messy battle for Republican votes in a state where GOP primaries were generally considered tea parties in the era before “tea party” took on a different meaning.

Perry is leading in the polls as Hutchison, often pinned in Washington because of the health-care debate, struggles to find a clear message and a compelling purpose for her campaign. With the primary scheduled March 2, she has money and history but only about 11 weeks to make her case.

Full Story Here:
In Texas, a showdown at GOP corral

Reliably conservative votes? Uh, lets take a look at that before it’s taken as the truth…

The 1st piece of evidence I am going to post is this: Kay Bailey Hutchison admits to mistake supporting bank bailout. Hutchison DID vote for the 1st bailout, the BUSH Bailout, and she has been soundly taken to task over it. So, what does she do? Political spin and deflection, oh, and blame HER vote on Rick Perry.

Then there was this little gem: Hutchison irks right by including gay judge as U.S. attorney pick. Kay, can you really say that was a Conservative move? A homosexual judge? For crying out loud, that’s a play right out of the DNC playbook!

And who can forget this one? Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is CAGW’s October Porker of the Month. I know Kay may want us to forget it, but it’s just NOT going to happen. I made a vow to blast Kay *Bailout* Hutchison at every opportunity, this is one OF those opportunities!

Kay gets accused of being too Washington and it’s said that she just doesn’t get “Texas values.”? Well, how about this? Hutchison ‘pleased’ to have Cheney endorsement. Kay IS a Washington insider, by every definition of the word. She knows that even if she weren’t coming home to run for Texas Governor, she was going to face some serious threats in 2010 because of her less than stellar performance of late.

“But how can you say Miss Kay has been ‘less than stellar’ TexasFred?” you ask. “This article says she is serving her third term casting reliably conservative votes as a U.S. senator.”

Well, if the above isn’t enough to convince you that Kay isn’t all that she’s cracked up to be, hang on to your Stetson, I have more for you!

Miss Kay bailed out on the vote to defund ACORN. Sen. Kay *Bailout* Hutchison bails out on defunding ACORN. In all fairness, her vote wasn’t needed for this to pass, it carried by a huge majority, but it would have been nice for her to take a HARD stand against ACORN and it’s #1 supporter, Barack Hussein Obama!

Check it out. This link goes back to the Bush Bailout, and Kay was all over it. Congress OKs historic bailout bill

« Read the rest of this post HERE! »

Opposing the president doesn’t make you a racist

Michael Williams, TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION
Wednesday, September 23, 2009

As an African American son of the South, I grew up in a time and place where you didn’t have to divine intent or deconstruct code words to find racism. When it raised its ugly head, it was like a blunt instrument waved in your face to keep you in your place. It was as unmistakable as it was demeaning.

Unfortunately, with political waters getting rough for the first time for our president, his supporters are quick to latch on to the actions of a fringe element and ignore the racial transformation this country has made to take us back to an era in which opposition to a black man was about the color of his skin and not the content of his ideas.

Former President Jimmy Carter recently asserted that there is a “belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.” Absurd on its face — after all, Obama wouldn’t have been elected without tremendous support from white voters — this statement is not damaging because it is a false observation, but it stigmatizes the discussion about race relations.

When someone of public prominence carelessly and callously demeans the motives of millions of honest Americans as racists when they are simply concerned about policy ramifications of the president’s agenda, we stop hearing each other.

How can the president win over critics when critics are so unfairly stigmatized by such a personal attack on their character? You can hear the conversation around dinner tables and social gatherings: “If we disagree with Obama, the liberals think we are a bunch of racists.” This truly hampers the effort to find common ground.

Furthermore, stigmatizing honest opposition as racist appears to be a way of not answering legitimate questions about policy reform. I oppose the president’s health care plan because it will explode the deficit, allow further government intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship and continue to insulate health care consumers from the true cost of their care.

The president and his allies should explain why my concerns are misplaced. But by attacking the character of their critics, they don’t have to answer their charges or win the debate over policy differences, because the charge of “racist” is the nuclear option. Once it is launched, there is no need for conventional warfare in the political sense: winning and losing on the merit of policy.

What grieves me most, however, is not that false cries of racism short-circuit our debate, but that it makes legitimate concern about pockets of racism impossible to hear among the majority of Americans where it truly exists. Racism still exists in America today — on both sides of the political spectrum. Now it will be that much harder to expose because the real cry will be impossible to distinguish from the false one, much like the boy who cried wolf. Racism exists, but so does opportunity, and I can personally attest to the fact that there is far more opportunity than racism.

We have rid our institutions of government of the practice of discrimination. If only we could rid our political discourse of the ugliness that ensues when we ascribe discriminatory motive to statements with no obvious discriminatory aspect. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd couldn’t help hearing a missing word in U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during Obama’s speech to Congress. The congressman yelled, “You lie.” Dowd couldn’t help hearing, “You lie, boy.”

Though Wilson started a fire, Dowd poured fuel on it. The greater ugliness is not the inappropriate outburst, but Dowd intentionally injecting a word loaded with a history of racial condescension to label a whole movement of opposition.

I have a suggestion for future discourse. Let’s leave race out of the debate unless someone clearly raises it as the rationale for their position on an issue. Instead, let’s stick to the substance of the argument for the good of the American people.

The fact is, I can disagree with my president based on the politics of ideas instead of the politics of identity, and so can millions of Americans. When liberals seek to change the debate from the content of reforms to the character of their opposition, it smacks of desperation. And it makes me wonder if they have forgotten what real racism is like.

I appreciate Obama’s response to this controversy, but he has missed an opportunity to disavow his supporters. They are taking this country back to an uglier time and place when so many of us want to move forward.

Williams is a member of the Texas Railroad Commission and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

SOURCE:
Opposing the president doesn’t make you a racist

« Read the rest of this post HERE! »