Does the GOP really want to go down this road?
So, the GOP thinks they've found a scandal that will prove to everyone, once and for all, that President Obama is the shady, backroom Chicago politician who keeps an enemies list and uses the power of...
View ArticlePlease. Stop with the demographics nonsense.
Piggybacking on gjohnsit's excellent diary from earlier today, I'd like to make a few points.People keep talking about how the Republican Party is doomed in the future because of "demographics,"...
View ArticleA few thoughts on Fisher v. Texas
Texas has been in the news a lot this week -- from state Sen. Wendy Davis's epic filibuster against a set of "small government" abortion restrictions, to AG Greg Abbott's announcement that in light of...
View ArticleStop focusing on 20 weeks.
What's been irking me about the recent spat of anti-choice bills passing through state legislatures (and even Congress) is that the media only seems to be focused on the fact that the bills ban...
View ArticleTX-Gov: No, our chances didn't just go out the window.
When Rick Perry announced that he wouldn't be running for a fourth term in the Governor's mansion, while some were glad that we'd be finally getting rid of him, others immediately wrote off the...
View ArticleZimmerman and self-fulfilling prophecies
Why do people carry guns?Many people carry guns for protection against crime. Yet, like George Zimmerman, many of them suddenly start to see criminals (or potential criminals) everywhere. An unarmed...
View ArticleNo, Harry Reid didn't cave on the filibuster.
So, Harry Reid didn't go down the path of the "nuclear option" in order to get Richard Cordray appointed as director of the CFPB.But this wasn't a cave by Reid. Reid got what he wanted; the...
View ArticleFederal prosecutor under investigation for racist Facebook posts
When you are accused of a crime, these are the type of people who may be prosecuting your case:A screen capture of the Facebook interaction emailed to the Houston Chronicle showed comments Craft made...
View ArticleThe best argument against voter ID
Here's the story of basically every time I've gone to vote here in Texas.When I arrive at the polling station, I present my voter registration card to the registrar. The registrar looks at the...
View ArticleTed Cruz spills the beans
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-disowned by Canada) is one of those guys the far right likes to call a "truth-teller," because he's a politician who has figured out what the far right likes to hear and says it out...
View ArticleTexas AG candidate: "Unborn babies would have voted Republican"
Oh, Barry Smitherman.Who the hell is Barry Smitherman, you're probably asking? Well, he's currently a Texas Railroad Commissioner (in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry, despite the name)...
View ArticleTX-GOV: A longshot, but not hopeless.
There seem to be two competing camps on Wendy Davis's presumed entry into the race to replace Rick Perry. One camp can't conceal its excitement; the other can't conceal its skepticism.To the first...
View ArticleTX-Gov: Oh, it's on.
We laugh at Politico a lot over here, but this time they might have stumbled onto something:Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis and her advisers have begun informing influential Democrats that she intends to...
View ArticleGreg Abbott: "Without voter fraud, Obamacare would not exist"
You've probably heard of Greg Abbott. Down here in Texas, he's the Attorney General and the Republican candidate for Governor in 2014.Apparently Greg is a little concerned about his right flank, or he...
View ArticleTX-Lt. Gov.: Republican candidate advocates expelling states from Union
If you're not from Texas, you probably don't care all that much about our downballot offices. Well, you're missing out on a lot of hilarity if you haven't been paying attention, because the Republican...
View ArticleRep. Steve King displays new level of cluelessness
Clearly, Rep. Steve King has been spending too much time with Louie Gohmert:“I don’t know if I’m paid or not,” he said. “I haven’t looked. I have not. And I get questions I’ve never thought about. I...
View ArticleMandela gets the MLK treatment from conservatives
I have noted in several comments today that any conservative paying tribute to Nelson Mandela should come with an obligatory disclaimer that the conservative movement supported the apartheid regime in...
View ArticleHow People Who Call Themselves Christians Can Ignore The Poor
Piggybacking off this excellent diary (short form: rich guy tells the Pope to quit bashing capitalism or else he'll stop writing checks to the Catholic Church), I got to thinking today about this...
View ArticleME-Sen: "Vote for me because I'm a wife-beater!"
Maine Senate candidate thinks domestic violence conviction is a reason to vote for him.Normally, you would expect a domestic violence conviction to be the kind of thing that a politician would want to...
View ArticleTed Cruz: STILL Canadian.
For your Friday afternoon reading pleasure, here's this article from the Houston Chronicle.That's right: Ted Cruz, who back in August (when it was apparently first brought to his attention that he is,...
View ArticleTexas Republicans launch into personal attacks on Wendy Davis
Oh, Texas Republicans. You act like this is such a dark-red state, and then, well, you freak out when Democrats come up with a candidate for Governor who isn't a no-name.Predictably, Republicans have...
View ArticleOh, dear. Wendy Davis photographed holding shotgun.
Since the Texas Republican Party has apparently decided that they are not going to keep the Governor's mansion based on, you know, actual issues or policies, we get treated to questions about Wendy...
View ArticleTom Perkins' hilariously dumb idea
Tom Perkins, supposedly in jest, says that tying voting power to the amount of taxes you pay would bring about so many changes.Aside from the fact that this is a complete affront to democracy (no, the...
View ArticleGeorge P. Bush: Continuing the family tradition
Texas is having a rip-roaring primary season, with six of the seven statewide executive offices having no incumbent and the one with an incumbent (the Lieutenant Governor's race) still hosting a...
View ArticleKeep on cheering, right wing.
So, in the wake of the Supreme Court's McCutcheon v. FEC decision, we now have one more decision in favor of "individual liberty," if you understand purchasing Congress to be an "individual liberty"...
View ArticleUniversity of Massachusetts basketball player comes out of the closet
University of Massachusetts basketball player Derrick Gordon publicly announced that he is gay in an interview with ESPN and Outsports, becoming perhaps the first Division 1 men's basketball player to...
View ArticleNo, America is not going to become Mississippi.
Holly Springs, Mississippi, is a town of about 7600 people. It's about a 45-minute drive from where I grew up (outside of Memphis, TN), a small-college town, home of the historically black Rust...
View ArticleTX-Sen: Could John Cornyn be vulnerable?
The other day, Public Policy Polling released a poll of Texas showing Republican Greg Abbott leading Democrat Wendy Davis 51-37. That was what everybody focused on.What a lot of people seemed to miss,...
View ArticleEXCLUSIVE: Video of Cliven Bundy speaking to group of "Negroes"
You've heard about Cliven Bundy speaking his mind about "Negroes" and how much better they had it during slavery, but now we have video of him actually telling this to a group of African-American...
View ArticleDecoding the "education reform" dog whistles
"We support higher standards and rigor in the classroom, but every day, concern among parents is growing over Common Core. The feds are taking over and rushing this. Let's face it: centralized planning...
View ArticleWhy We Can't Have Nice Things: Race, sprawl, and climate change
It's 2014. The fact that climate change is happening and that humans are causing it should be blatantly obvious at this point, and the question should be "what should be done about it?" But instead,...
View ArticleIn case you're lukewarm about Hillary Clinton...
The Supreme Court of the United States just reminded the entire country that, yes, a Democratic President, ANY Democratic President, is better than a Republican President.Do you want to know why, if...
View ArticleGreg Abbott: Not doing the Kochs' bidding means the terrorists win
Oh, Greg Abbott. Your opponent in the race for Governor points out that your office is now hiding information about where dangerous chemicals are stored, that you've received a bunch of money from the...
View ArticleWhat you need to know about the Rick Perry indictment
I've been away from Daily Kos for most of the weekend, so I haven't had any time to comment on the big news coming out of Texas on Friday evening. As a criminal defense lawyer here in Texas, I thought...
View ArticleTed Cruz's Dad Goes All Cliven Bundy
At a certain point, conservatives should probably just shut up before they say something really stupid and racist.Conservative activist Rafael Cruz argued that African-Americans need to be “educated”...
View ArticleRep. Louie Gohmert puts together a truly impressive word salad
If I told you that a Congressman actually said this:“I talk to these Secret Service agents, most of them are the same agents who have perform admirably and loyally for all these years, done a stellar...
View ArticleRick Perry thinks he's Ronald Reagan
Oh, he still thinks he can be President.AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the speech that launched Ronald Reagan’s political career with his own lecture Monday night...
View ArticleRepublican expresses his contempt for democracy
I had the misfortune of this popping up on my Facebook today, which I considered not linking to because I dare not give page clicks to this web site. But, of course, this author just says out loud...
View ArticleAre you confident about 2016?
I'm not.At least, not if Democrats campaign like they did this year.There have already been plenty of diaries up about what went wrong last night. I don't feel like rehashing everything here, because...
View ArticleWhy Jeb Bush's wealth is a problem in the GOP primary
Being rich. In the party of the rich, you would think it wouldn't be a problem, but it is.At least, it's a problem if you're actually running for office. Jeb Bush has a Mitt Romney problem, though...
View ArticleCar-free and middle-class status
It's now been nearly three months since I owned a working car. My decision to go car-free was part forced by not having a running car and not having the means at the time to afford even another...
View ArticleTrump is the GOP's George Wallace
“Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security, they want to do it on Medicare, they want to do it on Medicaid. And we can’t do that.”“People as they make more and more money can pay a...
View ArticleNo, HERO wasn't about turnout.
When a Democratic candidate or initiative loses, the knee-jerk reaction is to blame it on Democrats for not turning out to vote.Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance was not one of those cases.Combined, the...
View ArticleWho Exactly Is "Qualified" For College?
Antonin Scalia is a racist ass, of course, but there’s an even worse aspect to the Fisher v. University of Texas case that deserves everyone’s attention, and it comes not from Antonin Scalia but from...
View ArticleTexas Primary Roundup
The Presidential race has been beaten to death — perhaps the most noteworthy thing to come out of the Texas Presidential primaries was Marco Rubio’s (likely) failure to meet the 20 percent threshold...
View ArticleCould Hillary Clinton win an electoral college landslide? Yes, and here's how.
In the past week, two themes have emerged:One, Hillary Clinton is very likely to win the 2016 Presidential election.Two, because of the current polarized political climate, Hillary Clinton is extremely...
View ArticleIt's a little rich for Republicans to complain about "identity politics"
This morning, as I turned to the editorial page of the Houston Chronicle, I was greeted by a screed written by Jonah Goldberg claiming that the racists fueling Donald Trump’s campaign for the White...
View ArticleThe AHCA makes clear: Trump has no clothes
Earlier this week, I turned to the editorial page of the Houston Chronicle and saw this garbage from Marc Thiessen on the op-ed pages.As a conservative, I'm thrilled by the arrival of unified...
View ArticleWhy are we concerned about Howard Schultz?
Howard Schultz, 65-year-old billionaire ex-CEO of Starbucks, is exploring a run for President as an independent.Howard Schultz will almost certainly never be President.Howard Schultz intends to run on...
View ArticleShocker: Allen, TX gunman may have been a white supremacist
Of course. The mass shooter in Allen, Texas may have been a white supremacist.Mauricio Garcia, a local resident, had multiple weapons on him and in his nearby car, said people familiar with the...
View Article
