Texas Primary Season

[Red Commissar]

This year to be a successful candidate to Texas's paranoid conservative base you have to appeal to these things

-Obama is a socialist dictator

-We must fight for our religious liberties because it's hard being a christian in America

-NO AMNESTY FOR ILLEEEGAAHLS DON'T GIVE THEM SHIT SECURE THE BORDER

-America is great guys, those big wigs in Washington just don't get it!

-CONSTITUTION WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-Texas is a conservative utopia that the rest of the country should emulate. Jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs

-Liberuhls

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I wish I could find some of the recent ones as it got closer to the early voting for the primaries (with the proper date tomorrow) basically with these guys calling their opponents secret liberals.

I haven't seen many from democrats here in the dfw area, at least with enough money to get on the airwaves, only one trying to run for the US senate seat for the dems with the whole "support the troops not the war(s)" deal but he looks really creepy -


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There's a bunch more but most of them don't know what the internet is yet.

I've stuck this in non-political because there's no real debate here to be had beyond the stupidity of these candidates, and probably more disturbingly the kind of people that'll vote for them. I suppose what's amusing too is that this election will cover both state seats, a Senate seat, and the congressional delegation. A lot of these guys are making claims about say "STOP FREE LUNCHES" and "BAD IMMIGRANTS" even though their position at the state level, like agricultural commissioner, has relatively influence there.

As far as Texas politics is concerned, the powerful state seats are the Governor for the ability to appoint the departments as well as visibility, the Lt. Governor for basically having control over the proceedings of the legislature, and the attorney general because he'll be the one representing the state in any cases against the federal government.

I suppose what's also pretty dumb is that Jeb Bush in Florida sent his kid over, George P. Bush, to try and kickstart his political career by getting him an easy seat, in this case the Commissioner of the General Land Office in a deeply Republican state.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Luckily when I lived in Texas I lived in Austin, so I was a bit insulated from Texas' political culture (ironically, since Austin is the capital of the state). I often forgot that it was even Texas, unless I was swerving to avoid drunk and/or terrible Texan drivers on the highway or something. Austin was kind of annoying in other ways, though.

[Red Commissar]

Luckily when I lived in Texas I lived in Austin, so I was a bit insulated from Texas' political culture (ironically, since Austin is the capital of the state). I often forgot that it was even Texas, unless I was swerving to avoid drunk and/or terrible Texan drivers on the highway or something. Austin was kind of annoying in other ways, though.

Further into Dallas you get a break from the conservative bent but it's amusing how it's just the opposite with some of those commercials going on about someone not being sufficiently conservative. There's one I saw on the TV but can't get it on youtube, but basically slamming his opponent for having good relations with the tea party.

I don't remember which of the local contests was it, but it was a Republican primary and in one of those attack commercials they were going on about how his opponent helped 'Obama community organizers" which seems to be a racist-tinged dogwhistle among conservative suburbanites now.

But in general though for most of the state you could be a rock but as long as you have (R) next your name you'll get votes and money for your campaign.

[Os Cangaceiros]

There are a bunch of annoying political ads here in Alaska, definitely not as many as down in the lower 48 though. Most of them are pretty boring, though, just about "such and such candidate supported the carbon tax", "such and such candidate isn't willing to submit mind-body-and-soul to the petroleum industry", tax reform crap, etc. No juicy "culture war" stuff.

[Rugged Collectivist]

I like the one for justice Jeff Brown where the camera pans up and shows the image of Texas on the ceiling of the cathedral, engulfed by the light of god.

[Os Cangaceiros]

"A LOVING GOD. UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. RULE OF LAW. AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. TEXAS VALUES."

Really hit all the good points, didn't they

[Os Cangaceiros]

All this talk about Texan values but no attack ads about how someone's honorable opponent doesn't have any swangas on his drop top? :ohmy:

[Creative Destruction]

i'm pretty glad we moved away from Texas. it's too goddamn hot most of the time and it gives me little patience to deal with the shittiness of the political system.

Austin is losing its political character. it's no longer, really, the hippy, left-liberal safe haven it's been touted as. by the time i left there, the Left activist groups were neutered pretty well, especially after some of the institutions were shut down by city (the Rhizome Collective was a center for anarchist activist). the Third Coast Activist center is there, kind of, and they host some events but there's no major activism going on except for the activism revolving around immigration (which is a great thing!) Libertarians and the Paulites get more play in Austin.

because of the influx of new money and transplants within the last 10 years, it has grown and its political character has changed as well. suburban politics has a huge negative impact on the city that wasn't there previously, especially when it comes to public transportation. the gentrification that is happening east of I-35 is horrid, as well.

Portland, of course, isn't much better politically. in some ways its worse. but at least i don't have to suffer through 9 or 10 months of unbearable heat anymore.

[Rugged Collectivist]

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130928022332/bioshock/images/8/85/WashingtonmuralBIHD-1.jpg

^ Texas politics. Apparently.

[Os Cangaceiros]

i'm pretty glad we moved away from Texas. it's too goddamn hot most of the time and it gives me little patience to deal with the shittiness of the political system.

Austin is losing its political character. it's no longer, really, the hippy, left-liberal safe haven it's been touted as. by the time i left there, the Left activist groups were neutered pretty well, especially after some of the institutions were shut down by city (the Rhizome Collective was a center for anarchist activist). the Third Coast Activist center is there, kind of, and they host some events but there's no major activism going on except for the activism revolving around immigration (which is a great thing!) Libertarians and the Paulites get more play in Austin.

because of the influx of new money and transplants within the last 10 years, it has grown and its political character has changed as well. suburban politics has a huge negative impact on the city that wasn't there previously, especially when it comes to public transportation. the gentrification that is happening east of I-35 is horrid, as well.

Portland, of course, isn't much better politically. in some ways its worse. but at least i don't have to suffer through 9 or 10 months of unbearable heat anymore.

I left Texas in about 2011, but there was still stuff going on around Austin, like Worker's Defense Project and ISO stuff around Austin and San Marcos. Plus the anarchist scene around Monkeywrench and the mere presence of UT guarantees a certain level of left activism I think...

[Red Commissar]

Here's some more religious outfoxing

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If you're interested in reading about some of the nuttiness in the primaries besides in my part of Texas:

http://www.texasobserver.org/primary-madness-ballot-roundup/

highlights


RIDDLE V. NOUN

First, there’s state Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball). She’s the woman who explained to CNN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A5Z1QnXhx8) that foreigners and Middle Easterners are coming to the US to deliver children and spawn “terror anchor babies,” told an American UT student with a Middle Eastern name to move to Afghanistan (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/debbie-riddle-texas-state-facebook_n_1917393.html), and who said (http://www.texasmonthly.com/lists/worst-debbie-riddle) the idea of public education “comes straight out of the pit of hell.” She spent the last legislative session trying to maintain her ability (http://debbieriddle.org/low-income-housing-update/) to keep low-income housing projects out of her district.


Riddle has been wrapped up in a contentious primary race with used-car dealer Tony Noun. Riddle may be a lock to keep the seat, but Noun’s put up a fight, hammering Riddle’s apparent violations (http://bigjollypolitics.com/2014/01/31/tony-noun-responds-debbie-riddles-violation-law/) of state election law and supposed unfealty to conservatism. He’s even posed (http://www.votetonynoun.com/ted_cruz_inspires_all_republicans) with Ted Cruz, a seeming must (http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/02/18/i_m_ted_cruz_and_i_sort_of_approve_this_candidate. html) for any Republican in a primary this cycle. But Noun was also born in Lebanon, something that gave this pairing a frisson of danger.



GOD v. GOD

The question of “Who is the real Christian?” is popping up frequently over Texas, and I’m not just talking about Dan Branch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohgam2XzOC4) and Dan Patrick’s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZtJZoXUOmg) increasingly theocratic TV ads. (There must be something about Dans.)
As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Bud Kennedy writes (http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/02/20/5587683/in-grapevine-a-tea-party-leader.html?rh=1), the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party, one of the most reactionary in the state, had a flashpoint last week over a lurking sectarian divide that’s threatened to undo Texas time again and again. It’s not Baghdad, but it’s still pretty grim. Yes—it’s the Baptists and Methodists.


The tea party group’s co-founder, Julie McCarty, wrote (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bg-NRItCUAE1Fyf.jpg:large) to her fellow members on Facebook that in the crucial three-way primary for Tarrant County Criminal Court No. 1, they should vote for David E. Cook, a Southern Baptist, over Don Hase, a Methodist, because Methodists believe “anything goes.” Methodists, McCarty wrote, “have female pastors and openly welcome gays with no church discipline,” though the connection that has to a local criminal court race is unclear.


As Kennedy notes (http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/02/20/5587683/in-grapevine-a-tea-party-leader.html?rh=1), Cook, the Baptist, received the lowest qualification rating from a local bar association of the three men in the race (there’s also Everett Young, a Lutheran.) Until recently, McCarty’s group was meeting at a Lutheran church in Bedford, but they’re presumably finding a more holy place to sanctify their political activity.





CHRIS MAPP V. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, DECENCY

Newspaper endorsement meetings are a time for candidates to appear respectable. On the primary trail, they can let it hang out and rile people—but enter a newspaper conference room, and your job is to convince an editorial board that you’re thoughtful, stable and trustworthy. That’s not what happened with Chris Mapp, a South Texas boat salesman who’s one of the hapless seven contenders running against John Cornyn. When Mapp, entered the hallowed halls of the Dallas Morning News, he let loose with a shotgun blast of unwise rhetoric.

South Texas businessman Chris Mapp, 53, told this editorial board that ranchers should be allowed to shoot on sight anyone illegally crossing the border on to their land, referred to such people as “wetbacks,” and called the president a “socialist son of a *****.”
After some blowback, he told the San Antonio Express-News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/South-Texas-Senate-hopeful-slammed-for-racial-slur-5255976.php) on Friday that the term ‘wetback’ is as “normal as breathing air in South Texas.”
Mapp, who writes on his campaign website that’s he’s not the candidate for those who support the “radical Muslim agenda”—imagine Cornyn praying to Mecca—is a marginal figure, it’s true. But he’ll probably disappear after the March 4 primary, so now is the time to get to know Chris Mapp. He has a lot of thoughts, and you can read them in his website’s “Current Writings (http://mappforussenate.com/Current_Writings.html)” section.

I do believe the act of slavery is not appropriate but let’s get a couple of things strait [sic throughout]. Black people sold Black people for profit as well as White People. Stop whining, what is done is done. Have you ever read the Bible, Slavery was a way of life and when you look at Joseph you will see a man that was in Jail and a slave (sold by his own family) and he turned out great. (No whining hear, he talked it out with God) What a great Idea. (Have you ever heard of Egyptian reparations, “No”?)
But he’s not a close-minded man. He’s open to learning new languages and cultures (http://mappforussenate.com/Archives.html), for example.

I was checking out Rosseta Stone over the weekend and I am having trouble deciding wehther to purchase Arabic or Chinese as a second language. Here is the dilemma; If the presidents closest advisor was born in Iran and we are having the Muslim brotherhood to the white house and the new blank panther party ( notice I did not say black) – this was the reason for choice A. Choice B is based on the Debt that will grow beyond control.
As 2014’s primary season comes to a close (before two and a half months of grueling runoffs) let us set aside division and rededicate ourselves to personal growth like Mapp has.



That last bit there I haven't even heard of, what the hell.

[Creative Destruction]

I left Texas in about 2011, but there was still stuff going on around Austin, like Worker's Defense Project and ISO stuff around Austin and San Marcos. Plus the anarchist scene around Monkeywrench and the mere presence of UT guarantees a certain level of left activism I think...

i left Texas last year. but yeah, the WDP was the immigration work i was talking about. that's probably the biggest thing that is going on right now, afaict. they opened up that office that the Third Coast Activist resource center is based in now. i never paid much attention to the ISO. i don't think anyone (generally, outside left circles) did either. but i could also just be completely out of the loop. i left any sort of activism that i was doing shortly after the Rhizome Collective got shut down. i guess that was five years ago or so. since then, i've just been kind of watching from a far.

[Tenka]

Mr. Mapp was checking out Rosetta Stone over the weekend and is having trouble deciding whether to purchase one language of geopolitical importance today or another as his second language. Spanish? Well it may be the second-biggest language in the world and spoken by a great many U.S. Americans (whose legal status Mr. Mapp would undoubtedly bring into question), but it is the language of job-takers, and he doesn't wanna seem to be on their side.

[Sea]

Mr. Mapp was checking out Rosetta Stone over the weekend and is having trouble deciding whether to purchase one language of geopolitical importance today or another as his second language. Spanish? Well it may be the second-biggest language in the world and spoken by a great many U.S. Americans (whose legal status Mr. Mapp would undoubtedly bring into question), but it is the language of job-takers, and he doesn't wanna seem to be on their side.So he took this one instead?
http://tutordelight.com/files/2012/12/67153804900755690733.jpg

[Red Commissar]

They've also been throwing a fit over "activist judges" or "legilsating from the bench". The most recent episode has been over the federal judge's decision to overturn Texas's ban on gay marriage. In a fit of rage Dan Patrick took to tweeter to get his base together, but he made a major mistake while doing so

https://www.texasobserver.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/dan-patrick-tweet.png

:laugh:

He of course deleted it later.

I was also looking through the list of democrat primary people to see if there's some odd ones. I see that in one of those trying to run for the Senate ticket is a LaRouchite nutter (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kesharogers.com%2F&ei=mlMVU8m7D4ik2gWF1IH4Cw&usg=AFQjCNEVSSSGS5F2f-lhplWYe_uJQ6CojA&sig2=JSyC8XqNXjtg6H3CJf6bgA&bvm=bv.62286460,d.b2I), lol. Considering how terrible turnouts are to primaries she might have a chance at showing up in the general election.

[Red Commissar]

So in the aftermath of these primaries we saw some weird things

The teabagger Republicans had a mixed bag- they picked up some and lost bad in others. One of the notable ones is a teabagger, Dan Patrick (whose ads you can see back in the op) got the plurality of votes for lt. governor over the incumbent David Dewhurst, but not the majority so he forced a runoff. Likewise another tea bagger, Dan Huffines (who owns a chain of crappy car dealerships) won in a contested state senator position against an accused "RINO", John Carona. In some areas they failed bad though, like Debra Medina for Comptroller of Public Accounts who had high-profile support from baggers like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck but had torpedoed her candidacy from the getgo due to coming off as a truther when she made a bid for governor in 2010.

The Republican governor race was a forlorn conclusion but looking at the ballot I noticed that someone on there came up as SECEEDE Kilgore, with caps and all- he had legally changed his name so that it would appear like that on the ballot for people voting in the Republican primaries. Apparently said guy was running on a platform of Texas secession, but he didn't seem to've gotten much love despite the grandstanding of many republicans to do just that. One of the more heated races

The Democratic one had some weird cases too, lot of it resulting from their pitifully bad organization statewide. In the governor race, the favorite Wendy Davis won, but had lost primaries all along the border to a no-name candidate, though some people speculate his Spanish name (Ray Madrigal) was more appealing to residents there and Republicans have quickly seized on this as a damning indication that Mexicans won't vote for a democrat.

There was some other no-names with results no one can explain. Looking at sites for the Democratic ticket for agricultural commission which is running into runoff, the frequent candidate Kinky Friedman got a plurality of votes along with Jim Hogan over the Democratic favorite, Aga Fitzsimmons III who had both money, a background as a longtime rancher, and the preference of the party to boot. Friedman's result is largely attributed to his image and name recognition in spite of the Democratic Party's opposition to him due to having no ranching experience and running solely on a pro-pot legalization position. Jim Hogan is the bigger enigma and no one can really explain why he was able to get votes over Fitzsimmons to be one of two runoff candidates. Hogan ran no website, only used $5,000 of his money, and had virtually no name recognition in the crowd according to the political wonks. Hogan for his part in the typical Texan fashion credits his success to God giving him help :rolleyes:

The weirdest for the Democrats was in the primary for the senate ticket. The preferred candidate of the party, the well-moneyed dentist-businessman David Alameel, did not get enough to win outright (47.06%) and is forced into a run-off with the LaRouchite Kesha Rogers who despite the fierce opposition of the party for her candidacy owing to her call to impeach Obama among the other LaRouchite talking points, garnered 21.72% of the vote. Rogers portrayed her result as a victory against the democratic establishment and also rattled off some other LaRouchite quasi-fascist talking points about the state of the country. As mentioned before Roger had done much the same thing for a congressional seat a few years back, going all the way to be the candidate for general election, though it was in a district strongly Republican in the first place. Still, this'll do a lot for the ego of the Larouchite cultists that they were able to throw off a democratic primary again, and is again an embarrassment to the leadership of the democrats here.

All told this means there's going to be more cruddy commercials leading up to run-off in May. The general election ones aren't as bad in so far as being nauseatingly insane, since they focus more on attacking one another rather than reinforcing their views

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I would probably vote for a member of the Larouche cult. If American politics refuses to disappear it should at least be enjoyable to watch.

[Slavic]

The Republican governor race was a forlorn conclusion but looking at the ballot I noticed that someone on there came up as SECEEDE Kilgore, with caps and all- he had legally changed his name so that it would appear like that on the ballot for people voting in the Republican primaries. Apparently said guy was running on a platform of Texas secession, but he didn't seem to've gotten much love despite the grandstanding of many republicans to do just that. One of the more heated races

I've only been to Texas on two occasions, both military training related. During the few times I mingled off base and in the public sphere I swear each time there was always one guy going off on how exceptional Texas was and how its basically its own country.

[Red Commissar]

I've only been to Texas on two occasions, both military training related. During the few times I mingled off base and in the public sphere I swear each time there was always one guy going off on how exceptional Texas was and how its basically its own country.

Yeah, they've been making a case of that more so because they view Texas as a bright, booming economic hotspot in the United States because of their policies, nothing at all related to the usual oil boom-bust cycles this state goes through apparently. If you look at one of the election videos above, the first one with Dan Branch he signs off with "Texas is an exceptional place" ;)

There was an uptick in that sentiment around the time the obamacare law got ruled constitutional which led Governor Perry to hold a news conference where he postured that Texas would exercise its "right" to secede if Washington continued to infringe on their states rights. But like with a lot of politics it's all grandstanding and posturing. Poor Kilgore, I guess he's got to change his name back around legally again.

Here is a treasurer of a Republican Party branch down in Beaumont (a ways east of Houston) blowing a gasket over the struggle the tea party has to follow

http://tfninsider.org/2014/03/05/texas-goper-warns-of-threat-to-nations-christian-anglo-american-bedrock/


“The Cultural Marxists who infiltrated the West did not delude themselves with the idea that they would achieve a bloody revolution overnight. They committed themselves to a ‘long march through the institutions’ of our society, determined to undermine the Christian, Anglo-American bedrock of this country from within. They attacked our faith and morality with materialistic evolution and pseudoscientific psychological theories from the likes of Sigmund Freud. They attacked our history with a vicious revisionism, a history written by sore losers instead of celebrating the triumph of the explorers, colonists and pioneers in conquering and civilizing an untamed continent. Only after long years of these efforts of worming themselves into the institutions, both public and private, did their investments start to pay dividends.”

...

I encourage all of you to keep working, keep networking, keep building the grassroots. Our time is not past, but rather the Tea Party successes of 2009-2010 are merely a foretaste of what will come when the economic chickens come home to roost. No one knows when that will happen, whether this year or ten years from now, as human economics are ultimately driven by irrational and chaotic forces. Take the opportunity right now to make money, pay off debt and save it for the future. Invest in your families and your relationship with God. We should make hay while the sun shines and we can dispatch our enemies when night comes.