This is big news. Rep. Bryan Hughes has dropped his bid to be Speaker of the Texas house of Representatives and has endorsed Rep. David Simpson in his run against incumbent speaker Joe Straus.
While conservatives wanted to see Straus replaced, they was worry that Hughes’ background as a trial lawyer could work against him, and there was also worry that Simpson would split the anti-Straus vote. With Hughes out and endorsing Simpson, conservatives now have their best chance ever to oust Straus.
Expect to hear more about the Speaker’s race in the near future.
Krauthammer: Republicans would be insane to take the “taxes now with a promise to consider cuts later” non-deal Obama is offering.
Especially since Obama’s tax hike “would have reduced the 2012 deficit from $1.10 trillion to $1.02 trillion.”
The national election was disappointing, but here in Texas Republicans continues to make gains. “Overall we have 796 more Republican elected officials in the State of Texas today than we did in 2008.”
Former Texas Democratic congressman Jack brooks has died.
And in case it got lost in the election night news, Steve Stockman, the Republican who retired Brooks in the 1994 election, is returning to congress representing the 36th district.
Displaying a willingness to perceive reality heretofore unguessed at, the Michigan senate passes right-to work legislation. Tomorrow: David Letterman’s Cold Day in Hell Special.
School goes into lockdown because a student brought…a thermometer.
Save the life of a fellow employee at AutoZone? That’s a firing. (Hat tip (last two): Alphecca.)
Once you find out that PSY once sang “Kill those f*cking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f*cking Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully,” suddenly “Gangnam Style” doesn’t seem quite so amusing.
It’s big news when a Senator steps down to head a think tank, especially the granddaddy of all conservative think tanks, where founder Ed Feulner is stepping down at age 71.
It will be tough to lose DeMint from the Senate, where he’s done so much to further the cause of limited government and recruited stalwart conservatives like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to join him. But hopefully he can awaken a sleeping giant at Heritage, an enormously important institution before and during the Reagan Revolution, but almost invisible in the Internet era.
Erick Erickson likes the move. “Jim DeMint’s power in the conservative movement just grew exponentially. A man who was going to retire in four years anyway, will now be leading the conservative movement from its base of operations for years to come.”
What I find revealing about the choice of Roy is that Cruz–who has been making noise as a potential contender for the White House in 2016–appears to be putting his chips on the tea party as the future of the Republican party. In doing so, he is aligning himself with insurgents like Rand Paul and, of course, the chief insurgent, Jim DeMint, who helped fund Cruz’s Senate race.
Is this a good bet? I’m dubious. The tea party has a lot in common with the old Ross Perot “United We Stand” bunch. These groups seldom have staying power. Granted, the Kochs’ involvement makes the tea party’s survival more likely, at least in the short run, but in the establishment almost always prevails. It may prove to be the case, though, that Cruz is so appealing that he can transcend the factionalism in the Republican party. The strength of the Republican field in 2016 is that it is filled with big names: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Mike Huckabee. Only Rubio and Cruz qualify as fresh faces, though, and that might be where the rank-and-file look first.
Wait, let me get this straight: A conservative Republican Senator-elect, who worked at a conservative think tank, ran as a conservative, courted conservatives, and beat the overwhelming favorite establishment candidate while pledging to govern as a conservative, has now chosen…a conservative chief of staff?
Sadly, Burka misunderstanding conservatives is nothing new. The idea that conservatives truly believe in low taxes, balanced budgets, and limited government seems entirely alien to Burka. When it comes to describing inter-Republican-Party dynamics, he’s like a color-blind man trying to describe The Wizard of Oz.
And so instead of reaching the obvious conclusion, that Ted Cruz chose a conservative chief of staff because he’s a conservative, Burka prefers to envision imaginary 2016 horse-race jockeying.
Lots of larger pieces in various stage of construction, but rather than put them up when everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving, here’s a quick LinkSwarm:
Former Sen. Warren Rudman dead at age 82. Gramm-Rudman-Hollings really worked at controlling the deficit. That’s why Democrats had to kill it.
Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire. Pretty much ensuring that we’ll go through this whole charade again a year or two down the road.
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, having been given a second chance by a federal judge, decided that the first hole in their foot just wasn’t big enough and decided to shoot again. Hostess is still dead.
Two weeks after wining reelection, and facing an FBI probe for corruption, Jesse Jackson, Jr. resigns. Like father like son.
It’s been a rough week for conservatives, so by way of some cheering up, here’s the best of Ronald Reagan, so you can remember what a real president sounds like.
Warning: Sound gets a little sappy and out-of-hand.
In the real-life 2012 version of Atlas Shrugged, Texas has taken the place of Colorado, i.e. the redoubt of a dynamic economy, freedom and limited government in a country grown ever-more statist. Thankfully, it’s not the only one, and red states are still outperforming blue states by a good measure. A narrow Obama victory can’t change that. We’ve got to keep on fighting the good fight.
Politician says FEMA’s response to Sandy is as incompetent as it was to Katrina. But what does Rudy Giuliani know about managing New York City in a crisis?
Sheldon Anderson on how the Democratic Party left him. “When you look at states where Democrats have enjoyed years of one-party dominance-California, Illinois, New York-you find that their liberal policies simply don’t deliver on their promises of social justice.”
When Obama took office unemployment was 12.7% for blacks. Now it’s 14.3%.
I’m pretty confident that Ted Cruz will win the election (and deservedly so). The only question now is: By how much?
To determine that, let’s look at the recent history of non-Presidential top-of-the-ballot races in Texas:
2000 Senate: Kay Bailey Hutchison 4,078,954 (65%) over Gene Kelly 2,025,024 (32%)
2002 Senate: John Cornyn 2,480,991 (55%) over Ron Kirk 1,946,681 (43%)
2002 Governor: Rick Perry 2,617,106 (58%) over Tony Sanchez 1,809,915 (40%)
2006 Senate: Kay Bailey Hutchison 2,661,789 (62%) over Barbara Ann Radnofsky 1,555,202 (36%)
2008 Senate: John Cornyn 4,326,639 (55%) over Rick Noriega 3,383,890 (43%)
2010 Governor: Rick Perry 2,733,784 (55%) over Bill White 2,102,606 (42%)
(I’m throwing out the 4-way 2006 gubernatorial race as not germane. All numbers via Wikipdia, % rounded.)
In terms of financial resources, Sadler’s fundraising has been very poor, having raised just over $800,000; poorer even than Rick Noriega, who managed to raise over $4 million, or Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who raised about $1.5 million. Then again, money isn’t everything: Tony Sanchez spent $60 million of his own money to garner a meager 40% against Rick Perry in 2002.
I don’t think Sadler will do as poorly as vanity candidate Gene Kelly did in 2000. I expect Obama to run 4-5 points worse than he did in 2008, and I expect Sadler to probably lose a point or two off Obama’s total. So, I predict: Ted Cruz gets 61% of the vote, and Paul Sadler gets around 39%.
Meanwhile, Obama is drawing crowds in Ohio between 2,800 and 4,000. That’s a good crowd…for a Whitesnake concert. It’s pretty piss poor for the President of the United States of America. I guess it’s hard to draw a crowd when you already have the stink of failure on you.
(I would like to apologize in advance to any Whitesnake fans offended by crowd size comparisons to Obama. If you believe limited government, the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy welcomes you whether you’re a hair metal fan, a brony, a hipster, a juggalo, or even a furry (I thought it best not to link anything for that one), as long as you’re voting against Obama!)
