GOP Geniuses Goosing Robert Morrow's Name ID (all over again)

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

Galatians 6:7

Back in March, we wrote the following about Robert Morrow's surprisingly strong primary showing:

In a race where one candidate was getting tons of earned media, and the other candidate only raised $17 grand, the geniuses at the GOP decided to...help the candidate they didn't want to win get even more earned media.

Way to go geniuses.

Imagine an alternative world where, rather than spending the last six weeks helping Robert Morrow build name id, the GOP had poured $100 grand into helping Robert Morrow's strongest opponent build his or her own positive name ID.

You'd probably be looking at a different reality this morning.

Having seen their anti-Morrow strategy backfire spectacularly, one would think the GOP might try something different. But one would be wrong. How pathetic.

To be fair, we have seen some effort to build positive name ID for whatshername, the chick running against Morrow. But those efforts have been super half assed scattershot at best. Instead, we've mostly gotten mailers like the one pictured above. And don't get us started on this dumpster fire of a website.

The great, raging, irony in all of this is that whatshername is a compelling candidate. Had the powers that be chosen to do so, they could have made a strong positive case for her. Had they combined that positive case with saturation level advertising, the powers that be in the GOP could have been sitting pretty. But that ship has sailed and the GOP missed the boat.

Honestly, at this point, we don't care. Our only interest in this race is that we find Robert Morrow's ability to torment the Texas GOP to be really, really, funny. Our only regret is that nobody got Morrow asking Karl Rove about Jeff Gannon on video.

Bottom Line: What is it they say about trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result?!?

#TXLEGE: Rove and Straus weaseling into redistricting

"The king establishes the land by justice,
But he who receives bribes overthrows it."
Proverbs 29:4

PushJunction yesterday:

JOE STRAUS (former Speaker of the Texas House) and Karl Rove (former top-tier strategist) got some love yesterday as they weasel their way back into Texas politics ahead of 2022.

The two appear to be manufacturing energy; they can parlay into more control of the GOP in 2021 (redistricting) as they plot a liberal Republican renaissance.

This is both interesting...AND something into which it's easy to read faaar too much.

It's interesting because it shows Rove and Straus returning to an old playbook.  In 2011, Joe Straus' Texas house drew a redistricting map that, while it favored Republicans, boosted liberal R's at the expense of conservatives.  Wayne Christian and Ken Paxton were the primary targets.  Many of the challenges conservatives have faced in that chamber this decade are rooted in the fact that the last redistricting map elevated rural school board members.

That being said, let's not build this effort up unnecessarily.  It's true that current district boundaries favor rural school board members.  But it's truer still that there have been a long list of failures and missed opportunities since.  While this reality deserves consideration, it's an excuse for nothing.

Bottom Line: How big of a role they play remains to be seen.  They're still has-been's.  Nevertheless, it's worth keeping this effort in the back of your mind over the coming months.

Genius Texas Republicans Do Something Super Genius-y!!!

"He who is slothful in his work
Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer."
Proverbs 18:9

Good grief:

In a bizarre political blunder, a document laying out the Republican Party of Texas’s election strategy for the 2020 elections has ended up in the hands of Texas Democrats. Attacking Democratic candidates through websites and mitigating “the polarizing nature” of President Donald Trump are part of the plan.

The document — called a draft for initial discussion by the Texas GOP Party chair — was titled “Primary/General Election 2020 [Draft]” and began showing up in Democratic emails Monday evening.

It includes a target list of 12 statehouse districts, including six in North Texas, that Republicans are aiming to take back in next year’s elections.

....

“Starting after the Primary, the RPT will generate microsites for negative hits against the Democrat candidates in our twelve target race—we expect each microsite to be roughly $500,” the document reads. “We will then begin rolling out these websites, prioritizing the races that were within 4% in the 2018 election.”

....

The document says Republicans will audit search engine optimization results to make sure that the negative attack websites are on the front pages of various search engines and work with other stakeholders — such as Texans for Greg Abbott, the governor’s campaign arm — “to get any more insight on issues that matter to these districts.”

“We will attack these Democrat candidates with contrast hits which we will obtain from, public votes from the 86th Legislative Session, their campaign websites, and any other means to gather negative material on them,” the document says.

In addition to the individual websites, the plan calls for a “master site" to house attacks on Democrats across the state, focusing on federal, state and down-ballot Democrats and “how Democrat values don’t match Texas values.”

Most of this stuff isn't earth shattering.  They're building websites.  Political parties build websites.

Still, the sloppiness illustrates so much more.

But maybe Karl Rove will fix things.

Bottom Line: When you can't competently execute basic campaign blocking and tackling...why should anybody trust you with anything else?!?

Facing Environment that resembles 2006, GENIUS Texas Republicans turn to...Karl Rove?!?

"As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly."
Proverbs 26:11

What could possibly go wrong?!?

A group of Texas House Republicans is making a multimillion-dollar effort to defend the party's majority in 2020 with the speaker sidelined and Democrats pushing to flip the chamber.

Earlier this month, the group quietly filed paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission to create Leading Texas Forward PAC, with famed Republican strategist Karl Rove listed as the treasurer.

....

Rove's involvement is also notable — and it is not his only project this cycle focused on keeping Texas red. The former top adviser to President George W. Bush is also helping with the Texas GOP's Volunteer Engagement Project, an effort to revive the party's nuts-and-bolts functions ahead of 2020.

The funny part is that, the last time the GOP got into trouble because they lied and broke a bunch of promises to their voters, they had Karl Rove "run turnout operations" to keep a legislative chamber red.

We all know how that worked out.

Bottom Line: Something, something, definition.  Something, something, doing the same thing.  Something, something, expecting a different result.

How DECENTRALIZATION and PROPERTY RIGHTS (not Cronyism and Regulation) will fulfill Texas' Water needs

"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:6

"Water policy" is one of the quieter, ongoing, acts of larceny in which the Texas Legislature engages.  During our first session, in 2013, when the Legislature created an absurd slush fund to allegedly aid "water infrastructure development."  Last year, TPPF released a guide on how to permanently fix the problems, which we finally had an opportunity to read this afternoon.

Water policy in Texas is guided by a 1997 law known as SB 1 (75(R)).  The law attempted to use "planning" to reach a "comprehensive solution" to Texas' water needs.  There is a lot that could be said about SB 1, but suffice to say that it was devised by Karl Rove (Dubya was Governor) working alongside a Democrat Lt. Gov (Bob Bullock) and a Democrat Speaker (Pete Laney).

20 years later, TPPF explains the result of the SB 1 process:

[T]he face that the overwhelming majority of water management strategies in the [State Water Plan] remain to be executed points to problems with its centralized nature.  Only 14 percent of the over 3,000 water supply strategies in the 2012 [state water plan] have reported any progress over the last five years.  They remain simply strategies on paper.

The 2017 [State Water Plan] continues to rely on a significant number of new large surface reservoirs without acknowledging the costly, lengthy, and potentially insumountable federal and state permitting procedures to build these reservoirs. (6)

[Author's Note: Emphasis added.]

Furthermore:

[A] variety of provisions in SB 1, which were intended to facilitate voluntary water transfers in a competitive market, have been interpreted and applied in a way that obstructs water markets. (8) 

SB 1,  followed by a number of other lousy pieces of legislation, have muddled property rights related to water.  This makes it impossible to profitably develop water resources (of particular note are so-called "groundwater conservation districts").  Essentially, they're taking a problem caused by too much government intervention, and they're trying to solve it with even more government intervention.

The report lists a number of other regulatory impediments to a functional water market, highlights include:

• "Surface water in Texas, as in most western states, is a public good...." (10)
• aka. If everybody owns it, nobody does.
• To the degree to which you can determine rights to use and development...the process is very complicated and very expensive.

• "[R]egulatory impediments in the water market hinder both buyers and sellers from gaining a better understanding and expectation of prices for water transfers.  The lack of pricing information and other regulatory impediments may stop agricultural users from shifting to lower water-use crops or from investing in more efficient irrigation practices." (10)
• aka. This is why we grow cotton in the middle of the desert.

• "[T]he reliability of existing water is weakened by inconsistent responses from regulatory agents."  (10)

TPPF then catalogs the difference in how groundwater and surface water are regulated.  Neither one is good.  The result is unclear property rights, higher costs, and supply shortages.

As far as policy recommendations, highlights include:

• Force "groundwater conservation districts" to reconognize private property rights.

• Note: Or you could, you know, ABOLISH "groundwater conservation districts."

• Clarify the law so that water rights more closely resemble oil and gas rights.

• Amend the law to explicitly allow for the type of property rights in surface water that we (at least technically) have in ground water.

• Streamline Permitting

Bottom Line: There's no problem related to water policy in Texas that can't be solved via. clearer property rights and smaller government.  But that would alleviate the artificial shortages and reduce opportunities for the politically directed allocation of capital. And what fun would that be for the average member of the Texas legislature?!?

"Economic Development" -- A Debate on Corporate Welfare in Texas

"Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight."
Proverbs 11:1

This afternoon TPPF hosted "Economic Development: A Debate on Corporate Welfare in Texas."  Speakers included Richard Corcoran (incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives), Senator Craig Estes, Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Businesses, and Dean Stansel of the SMU Economics department.  We'll present our thoughts thematically rather than chronologically.

Term Limits:

During his opening remarks, Corcoran made an offhand comment about how eliminating various corporate welfare funds in Florida (including their equivalent of the enterprise fund) only came about because of the churn term limits forced upon their legislature.  The short version is that as the RINO's were forced to retire, they were replaced by conservatives until a critical mass was finally achieved in the past few years.  There's a lesson in there Texas would be wise to learn.

-----

Texas' "Uncompetitive" Property Tax system and "abatements":

Hammond argued that property tax "abatements" by school districts are essential for "large capital investment" because Texas' property tax system is, in the words of Bill Hammond himself, "uncompetitive."  Hammond was essentially arguing that, because high local property tax burdens eliminate the return on business investment, local jurisdictions (esp. school districts) need to be able to "abate" those taxes.  Hammond cited Louisiana as some sort of vague example of a state that does this successfully.

Of course, Hammond's newfound chagrin for Texas' "uncompetitive" property tax system was amusing to anyone who followed the last session of the Texas legislature.  Last session, alongside Team Straus, Hammond led an effort to obstruct Lt. Governor Patrick's property tax reform efforts. At the time, rather than fixing the property tax system, Hammond et. al. pushed a dopey scheme "alternative plan" to instead cut a sales tax nobody is complaining about.

Thankfully, several other panelists and audience members pointed out that the solution to an "uncompetitive" property tax system was to fix it for everyone, not create new carve outs for politically connected special interests.

In a separate piece of semi-related good news, Hammond announced he's leaving TAB at the end of the year; we'll help him pack.

One final note: Apparently, Hammond was once a Dubya gubernatorial appointee to the workforce commission, which means he's a Karl Rove crony...boy does that explain a lot.

-----

Sen. Craig Estes:

Senator Estes appeared genuinely torn.  We kept an eye on his body language throughout and he looked like...a guy legitimately wrestling with the issue.  A cynic might argue that he's an incumbent reading the writing on the wall in Dan Patrick's Senate.  An optimist could say that he's recently gotten wise to the issue.  Either way, we always welcome movement in our direction and encourage Senator Estes to discuss the issue with Konni Burton.

-----

Impact on Florida:

Corcoran pointed out that no company, or professional sports team, or film production outfit that threatened to leave Florida following their elimination of various corporate welfare programs has actually followed through and done so.

----

Bottom Line: Corporate welfare leads to the politically directed allocation of capital, which serves no positive economic purpose but undermines credibility for other aspects of economic liberty; Texas cannot eliminate all of it fast enough.

Will Dan Branch run against Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate?!?

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But he who heeds counsel is wise."
Proverbs 12:15

Last night, we were war gaming various scenarios for the 2018 primaries with a knowledgeable source.  With Ted Cruz running for re-election, we started speculating about whom the big money crowd could run against him.  What follows is not an exact transcription, but is a reasonably accurate paraphrase of the conversation:

Source: The thing is, if you're going to run against Ted Cruz in a Republican primary in Texas in a midterm year, you'd have to be both incredibly arrogant and incredibly stupid; who fits that bill?!?

Cahnman's Musings: What about Dan Branch?!?

[Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong Pause]

Source: You know...[another long pause]...I think you may be onto something.

It just makes too much dadgum sense.

Dan Branch works with the Law Firm Winestead PC.  Winestead PC does business with the Export-Import 'bank.'  Ted Cruz led the fight to shut down the Ex-Im 'bank.'

It's also an open secret around the Capitol that Dan Branch loathes Ted Cruz.  Branch can't stand the fact that Cruz has derailed his political plans multiple times.  Most recently, Ted Cruz praised Ken Paxton during the latter's successful 2014 Attorney General campaign against Branch.

In his 2015 book, A Time for Truth, Cruz recounts a 2009 conversation with Karl Rove during his aborted run for Attorney General:

It turned out Rove was in the process of helping raise money for the George W. Bush presidential library in Dallas.  Texas donors were giving the Bushes tens of millions, including major donors who were supporting the Dallas state rep who wanted to run for Attorney General.  Those donors were now berating Karl. (190)

The state rep to which that quote refers is Dan Branch.  This was briefly an issue during Cruz's presidential campaign.  You can learn the full history of that incident here.

George W. Bush gave BIG money to Branch's 2014 A.G. campaign and it's likewise not a secret that Dubya "just doesn't like" Cruz.

Furthermore, Branch is from Dallas.  Cruz is from Houston.  So it also makes sense from the perspective of the region vs. region dynamic that sometimes emerges in statewide races.

Branch remains the liberal he's always been.  But the Washington cartel and the big money crowd in Dallas and Austin hate Cruz enough that you've got to imagine they'll find some yutz to run against him.  And Dan Branch might just be the yutz they're looking for....

Bottom Line: For now, this is just informed speculation, but it just makes sooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense.

Karen Rove, Joe Straus, and Prop. 7

Joe Straus at a pro-Prop 7 event in San Antonio earlier this fall

"Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,
But he who gathers by labor will increase.
Proverbs 13:11

Last week, we mentioned that Karen Rove, Karl Rove's wife, was heading one of the pro-Prop. 7 PAC's; that story just got more interesting.

Yesterday afternoon, we received a phone call from a source in Joe Straus' district who informed us that many people in the district have received mailers them this week.  The mailers are designed to make Straus appear in lockstep with Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick.  See them below:

Regardless of where else this mailer goes, it does seem interesting that the "Texas Infrastructure Now" PAC wants people in Joe Straus' district to know that Joe Straus is 'just like' Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick.

Bottom Line: While Prop. 7 might remain the least bad way to realistically fund transportation, we find it striking that a PAC run by Karl Rove's wife is using that popular issue to lay down cover fire for Joe Straus in his district....

Karl Rove's WIFE Treasurer for pro-#TXLEGE Prop. 7 PAC

"Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,
But he who gathers by labor will increase."
Proverbs 13:11

We've already discussed our ambivalence to Prop. 7, but this is an interesting development.

Texas Infrastructure Now is a PAC supporting Prop. 7.  They have a glossy website and we've seen their advertising around social media and the Texas Tribune's website.  Poking around for a few minutes on their website did yield one useful piece of information:

Karen Rove is a local lobbyist and is also the wife of one Karl Rove:

Love, etc.: Karl Rove weds Karen Johnson

Bottom Line: Prop. 7 might still be the least bad way to fund necessary transportation upgrades, but Karl Rove's wife working for one of the pro-PAC's is a detail that shouldn't be overlooked.

Dewhurst sells apartment to Karl Rove's wife

" While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage."
2 Peter 2:19

This is bizarre:

Dewhurst has listed unit 1003, his two-bedroom condo in the Westgate Tower, for more than $1 million. Two high-dollar independent lobbyists — Mindy Ellmer and Sabrina Brown — have joined with Karen Johnson Rove, the wife of political strategist Karl Rove, to purchase the Dewhurst property. Closing is expected next month.

The Westgate offers an ideal address for people who work in state politics, since it is steps from the west entrance of the Capitol. Apparently, some people think it might make a nice spot for wining and dining legislators, too.

Talk of the lobbyists’ plans to use the condo for parties for their clients prompted a letter from Connie Heyer, a lawyer for the condo owners association.

“The board understands that the purpose of the purchase would be to provide a venue for lobby entertaining,” Heyer wrote. “The residents have long expressed the desire to enforce and maintain the residential nature of the residential portion of the building.”

....

The lieutenant governor’s history of making real estate deals with lobbyists extends back to at least 2003, when he sold an Austin mansion to Texas lobbyist and former senator Dan Shelley. Dewhurst told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at the time that he took a net loss when he sold the property for $1.95 million — $1 million more than he paid for it five years earlier. Dewhurst said he had invested “several hundred thousand” dollars in the house.

Another Dewhurst property also was recently on the market.

The campaign committee of the lieutenant governor took possession of a white-columned estate in Austin’s tony Old Enfield neighborhood earlier this year when Dewhurst reached an agreement with Kenneth “Buddy” Barfield, who the lieutenant governor claimed stole money from his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2012. The two sides reportedly agreed that Barfield would sign over the property to repay some of the money.

 Read the whole thing here.

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Update: It gets better. Apparently, Mindy Ellmer is Charlie Geren's girlfriend.  Also, she's a taxpayer funded lobbyist whose clients include the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Learn more about the Tarrant Regional Water District here.

Would Ron Paul challenge Senator John Cornyn?!?

This is a blog post we never thought we'd write; how times change.

Following their defeat in the 2012 election, the Republican establishment has attempted a massive power-grab, despite the fact that they were the ones who lost back-to-back Presidential elections.

It's not a secret that we've been looking for a primary challenge for John Cornyn for months.  It's also not a secret that we've been working with Ron Paul supporters on local issues.  It might be time to put two and two together.

Cahnman's Musings doesn't agree with Ron Paul on every aspect of foreign policy, but we oppose the current war in Syria.  We also don't trust John Cornyn.  Under current circumstances, Ron Paul would be a substantial improvement over John Cornyn.

A successful primary challenge requires two things: money and name recognition.  Ron Paul would begin a campaign with both.  If he were to run, Ron Paul would instantly become the favorite.

Louie Gohmert remains our top choice to challenge Cornyn, but Cahnman's Musings doubts he will run; assuming Gohmert's out, Ron Paul becomes an acceptable alternative.

Cahnman's Musings is hardly an anti-war publication.  We are, however, anti-THIS-war.  In 2014, an anti-war Republican doesn't frighten us.  A three-issue campaign, based upon avoiding war in Syria, dismantling the Federal Reserve, and dismantling Obamacare would go a long way in Texas.  It would certainly beat whatever horse manure John Cornyn might offer.

Texas GOP History: When John Cornyn Replaced Phil Gramm

Cahnman's Musings just had an epiphany about when the GOP descended from the (relatively) principles-based party of the 1980's and 90's to the rudderless mess it is today.  We think it came during the midterm election of 2002.  In Texas, that was the year John Cornyn replaced Phil Gramm.

(Author's note: 2002 was also the year Bob Dole's wife replaced Reaganite Jesse Helms in North Carolina.)

First elected to the United States Senate in 1984 (following three colorful (party switching) terms in the U.S. House), Phil Gramm was a key Congressional Lieutenant for President Reagan.  Over his quarter century career, Phil Gramm helped launch and maintain the quarter century Reagan boom.  In 2002, he retired from public service.

John Cornyn, by contrast, was a close confidant of Karl Rove.  Rove helped launch Cornyn's career in the 1990's.  Over his decade in Congress, John Cornyn's record speaks for itself.

The mess in today's Republican party has many origins, but replacing a principled Reganite like Phil Gramm with a Rovian jellyfish like John Cornyn explains a lot.

Election 2012: A Tale of Two Ads

I saw two ads today that perfectly encapsulate the state of the Presidential race.

First up is this ad from American Crossroads, a pro-Mitt SuperPAC:


Compare that to this (parody?!?) ad from Barack Obama's campaign:


That should tell you everything you need to know.

The Taranto Principle, Leftist 2004 myths, and why Obama will (probably) lose (big)

Several years ago, Wall St. Journal columnist James Taranto introduced an idea that came to be known as the Taranto principle, it states:

the liberal media often ill serves liberal politicians by creating a feedback loop in which both sides reinforce each other's prejudices while public opinion goes its own way.

I think the 2012 election could become the biggest vindication of the Taranto principle since Paulene Kael in 1972.  At a minimum, the Obama re-election campaign has based its strategy around liberal myths about George W. Bush's 2004 re-election that leave it disconnected from reality.

The liberal 2004 mythology can be summed up as follows: "after a horrific first term for Bush, thatrottenSOBKarlRove(tm) knew Bush couldn't win so he brought in the Swift Vets to trash warheroJohnKerry(tm) and thatrottenSOBKarlRove(tm) also ginned up anti-gay sentiment to get his base to turnout."  All of the preceding statements are false.  Consider the following:

• George W. Bush had a reasonably successful first term -- People tend to forget this, because of what followed, but George W. Bush's first term was reasonably successful.  In his first term, George W. Bush cut taxes, responded appropriately to 9/11, and removed Saddam Hussein from power.  The disastrous "freedom agenda," amnesty push, and Wall St. bailout that unraveled Bush's Presidency were, in November 2004, still in the future.  Barack Obama's first term record, by contrast, speaks for itself.  George W. Bush didn't head into the 2004 election with 43 months of 8%+ unemployment (that would be closer to 11% if they weren't cooking the books) and embassies on fire.

• The Swift Boat Veterans were telling the Truth -- It's impossible to overstate the importance of the Swift Boat Veterans to the myths leftists tell themselves about the 2004 election.  Heck, leftists have event turned 'swift-boating' into shorthand for an underhanded smear campaign.  Unfortunately, for the left, the reason the swift boat veterans charges stuck is because they were true.  Leftist attacks against Mitt, by contrast, are laughably false.  That's why the over these over the top attacks aren't working.

• Homosexual 'marriage' wasn't a particularly important issue in 2004 -- First things first, Karl Rove didn't make homosexual 'marriage' a campaign issue in 2004, the Massachusetts Supreme court did.  That being said, homosexual 'marriage' wasn't particularly important.  Most of the states that had marriage referendums were solidly Republican and, in Ohio, the marriage referendum passed with a wider margin than Bush's victory.  Bush's 2004 voters weren't motivated by homosexual 'marriage,' they were motivated by post-9/11 national security issues.  Fast forward to 2012 and you see why the 'War on Women' narrative has been such a flop against persistent unemployment and embassies going up in flames.

In 2004, you had a reasonably successful, if unspectacular, incumbent (whose real policy disasters were still in the future) going against a challenger who told serious fibs about himself.  In 2012, by contrast, you have an incumbent with a disastrous record going against a challenger who has, if anything, undersold his own record.  Team Obama cannot replicate George W. Bush's 2004 re-election strategy, largely because they don't understand how Bush's victory happened in the first place.

'Stop Brainwashing Me;' An Open Letter to Karl Rove

Dear Mr. Rove,

Last night, I had an interaction with a government major at the University of Texas, which I chronicled on Facebook:

Random UT Student: All the great Presidents were Democrats; FDR, JFK, Lincoln.

Me: Actually, Lincoln was the founder of the GOP.

Random UT Student: You've gotta stop letting Karl Rove brainwash you.

Mr. Rove, please stop brainwashing me.

We have met three times.  The first time, on November 5th, 2004, was on a D.C. Street kitty corner from the White House; I was the Bob Novak intern who congratulated you on President Bush's re-election three days earlier.  On St. Patrick's Day 2010, I attended your book signing in San Antonio.  Two months later, on the day of the flash crash, I was at a dinner you did for KLUP in San Antonio.  I'm not sure if you put something in my drink, or if you used some sort of cosmic mind rays, but I don't appreciate you brainwashing me.

I believe George W. Bush's education policy was an unconstitutional intrusion into state sovereignty.   I believe the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East undercuts the central premise of George W. Bush's 'Freedom Agenda.'  I believe Chief Justice John Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee, MUST be impeached.  I believe Henry Paulson illegally violated his fiduciary responsibility to American Taxpayers.  Obviously, Karl Rove, YOU brainwashed me into thinking this.

Why are you brainwashing me Karl Rove?!?

Why are you making me believe falsehoods like Lincoln being a Republican?!?

With all due respect Karl Rove, please stop brainwashing me.

Sincerely,
Adam Cahn
Austin, TX
August, 24 2012.

John Cornyn's Pathetic Pander on Eric Holder

A couple days ago, Texas' own U.S. Senator John Cornyn had this encounter with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:

Stuff like this drives me insane; let's review John Cornyn's record:

• John Cornyn voted FOR Bush's TARP Bailout
• John Cornyn voted FOR Obama's Debt-Ceiling Bailout
• John Cornyn voted FOR Obama's Indefinite Detention Law

I could go on, because John Cornyn has voted for A LOT of atrocious legislation.  John Cornyn has also been a disgraceful chairman of the Republican Senate Campaign committee.  It's against this backdrop that we must assess John Cornyn shamelessly mugging for the cameras from the chamber of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

This incident encapsulates everything that's infuriating about Texas' Congressional Delegation.  Our congressional delegation routinely supports terrible legislation, then they pander and tell Texas Conservatives what we want to hear.  Texas' Republican Congressional delegation has zero interest in limited government unless they can use it to make Democrats look bad.

That isn't good enough.  If John Cornyn were serious about getting to the bottom of Fast and Furious, he'd have played hardball with the Obama administration a year ago.  Mugging for the cameras and yelling at Eric Holder is way to little, waaaaaaaaay too late.

Contrast John Cornyn's words with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's actions.  Where John Cornyn threw a Public Hissy fit, Attorney General Abbott has quietly sued the Federal Govt. over 20 times.  Unlike John Cornyn, Attorney General Abbott gets results.

With all due respect, Senator Cornyn, you've been playing this game for a decade; we've figured it out.

Why Obama Just Can't Win -- Dems are Fleeing

At some point soon, I'm going to do a longer post outlining all the reasons Obama's CANNOT win this election.  In the meantime, this National Journal piece came out today.  Money quote:

In fact, Obama’s reelection campaign has a split personality when it comes to the general election. One side is confident and growing more so about the turbulent GOP primary, an improving U.S. economy, and better numbers for Obama in swing states. The other side harbors fears bordering on paranoia about massive spending by the GOP and outside super PACs for the party’s nominee.
“There is already unprecedented super-PAC spending going on,” Messina said. “There will be super-PAC spending in key states against us. We have to be prepared for that.”

To prepare for it, Obama’s campaign has put the rest of the Democratic Party on a starvation diet. Messina and senior White House adviser David Plouffe (Obama’s 2008 campaign manager) have told top Democrats that they won’t receive any cash transfers from Obama’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sought commitments for $30 million, the amount distributed to them in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles. Not this time.

Let me translate for those of you who don't speak bull crap:  as Karl Rove has noted, Obama's fundraising is disappointing and Democrats are panicking.  Confident parties have more than enough resources to go around, and this sort of cannibalism reveals a party that knows it can't win turning on it's own.  Stay tuned, this is going to be fun to watch....:)