Saturday, July 31, 2010

Chris Cillizza is an idiot...

The Fix thinks the Texas race is a toss up (link). Excerpt follows...
* Texas (Move from Lean Republican to Toss Up): Former Houston Mayor Bill White (D) has more money in the bank than Gov. Rick Perry (R) and polling shows the contest close. It's still Texas in a good Republican year, which should help Perry, but White is running an effective campaign to capitalize on discontent directed at the incumbent.
Seriously?

How wrong was this guy during the primary? Very wrong...

Bill White has marginally more money... and basically his advantage comes from a hand full of trial lawyers and half comes from the DGA... while the RGA has yet to play...

Bill White is consistently down by nearly ten points in polls... except for one outlier Democrat poll with no credibility in Texas...

Bill White is running a terrible campaign what with all the being caught lying basically every day and all of his ethics scandals... plus his liberal issues... I don't see this race being as much of a blowout as the primary, but Rick is going to destroy Bill White.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Bill White doesn't know the difference between rifles and shot guns...

Current Texas Democratic Party Chairman says Obama's fundraiser will benefit former Dem Chairman Bill White...

Boyd Richie puts Bill White in a tough spot with this comment (link). Excerpt follows...
''This is money from Texans, raised in Texas, that will remain here to help us return responsible leadership to state government," Richie said.
Will Bill White take any of this money? Obviously... which is pretty craven... to not appear and do everything to distance himself... yet to take the money. That is a very un Texan way of doing things...

MEDIA SCANDAL... "moderate Republican" Dallas businessmen for Bill White as reported by the FWST...are Democrats...

Perryvsworld did yeoman's work on this... go read his blog on this (link). Excerpt follows...

So let's go in reverse order of the people mentioned by Dave Montgomery as business leaders (and moderate Republicans) for Bill White, according to the research I spent this morning doing in databases for federal races:

Tom and Sally Dunning. Sally Dunning is a prolific donor. By the records I checked, she had given 100% to Democrats. Her husband Tom had given even more prolifically, and about 95% of his hundreds of thousands of dollars went to Democrats.

[SNIP]

Despite John Adams' spin, these "moderate Republicans" are actually not moderate Republicans. If they are, they are a very strange breed of moderate Republican that likes to give lots of money to Democrats.

In short, Bill White has the support of some Democrats who are Dallas businessmen. How exactly does that help him reach into conservative business circles and cross party lines?

Go read that entire blog on this... it is amazing that anyone could look at these Democrats who often give to Democrats and create a story out of it...

FLASH BACK to another time when the liberal media has written stories about "Republicans" being for Bill White (link). Excerpt follows...
Javier Joven... I had a feeling that this guy was no "Republican" as the New York Times leads you to believe. Sure thing... he is not one. On Facebook, he is the favored choice of the Odessa Talk radio program, which is a liberal group. Mr. Joven also gets on this page and expresses his support for liberal talk radio (link)...


The Ector County Democrats also list Javier Joven as one of their candidates (link). In other words the New York Times found a guy and pretended he was a Republican to support their story... sort of like Gromer Jeffers did and I exposed (link).
Speaking of Gromer Jeffers... here is the flash back to that time when he falsely claimed a "Republican" was supporting Bill White (link). Excerpt follows...
Mark Smith. I did a quick google search or two. On his Facebook page he praises Charlie Crist for leaving the Republican party saying he puts people before politics.... where have we heard that before?

He is a member of "Students for Barack Obama" and lists Bill White, Obama, and Kay Bailey Hutchison among his politicians he supports... his favorite books include Obama's books... he also lists himself as a supporter of Dr. Elba Garcia, a Democrat candidate for Dallas County Commissioner... plus Clay Jenkins who is a Democrat running for Dallas County Judge... and he also lists the "Progressive Center of Texas" as one of his employers...

What is the Progressive Center of Texas you ask? It is a pro Obama liberal community organizing group...
The Progressive Center of Texas is a spin-off of ObamaDallas. Our mission is to be your activist community center for North Texas.
Yeah sure Gromer this guy sounds like a real Republican... good job mentioning any of this in your story you fraud... this is scandalously bad reporting. I wonder if anyone will take him to task for this?
This is a major scandal in my opinion... a clear and undeniable pattern in the media to write these headlines about how "Republicans" are supporting the liberal Democrat Bill White. How many more examples of this will there have to be before there is some kind of major expose of this. I get it. This blog only gets a few hundred peeps per day with occasional spikes into the thousands... someone with a bigger platform needs to expose this pattern...

More bashing of liberal Bill White from liberals...

Bob Moser is not happy that Bill White is running from his liberal record and beliefs (link). Excerpt follows...
...what in the name of Rush Limbaugh was White thinking last week, when he reacted to Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Texas by taking a page straight out of Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin's playbook?
[SNIP]

But wait, you say: Perhaps White is wise to avoid giving the Perry campaign the gift of a photo of the candidate grinning next to the Socialist Satan of the Potomac. There might be something to that—if, that is, White's people hadn't already given them that gift by running an ad in the Houston Defender around Juneteenth 2009, photoshopping White in between images of Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama (caption: "The Dream, The Hope, The Change"). If you haven't seen it, you will—again and again and again, with messages approved by Rick Perry.

What this whole sad episode of Obamaphobia seems to have revealed about White, as much as anything else, is his wrong-headed notion of what it's going to take for a Democrat to win statewide in Texas.

"It seems to me that White is using an outdated playbook on this one," says Ari Berman, political writer for The Nation and author of the forthcoming book, Herding Donkeys, which details the rise of grassroots politics in the Democratic Party—and the struggles of old-school Democrats to squash that effort.

"Perry is going to tie him to Obama anyway, so White might as well use Obama to try to take advantage of the changing demographics of the state," Berman adds. "It's true that White can't win without getting a substantial share of the swing white vote—independents, moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans—but he also can't win without a big Hispanic and black turnout and I'm assuming the president still has some juice left with those constituencies."

He does indeed. And the way Democrats have made breakthroughs in conservative "red" states like Texas in recent election cycles is to set aside the old "Republican Lite" strategy of Bill Clinton (and the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen)—"I'm just like a Republican, but slightly less extreme"—and work like the dickens to expand the turnout of Latino, African-American and working-class voters who've been sitting home on Election Day.

Bob Moser is not alone... a lot of liberals are expressing anguish and disappointment with Bill White's attempt to distance himself from Obama and pretend he is not in fact a Democrat with a long liberal record...

Bob Moser seems to believe that firing up the base is the way to win elections... which is possibly a good point... it worked for Republicans in 2002 and 2004... and worked for Democrats in 2006 and 2008... so it has to work in 2010 right?

I don't know... I think that thinking for liberals was valid in 2006 and 2008... but peeps are tired of the over reach by the liberals on basically every facet of life in America...

Republicans stayed home in 2006 and 2008 disgusted by scandals and over spending... all while Democrats were as fired up as they have been in a generation because of middle eastern wars...

I don't think you can juice that hype three elections in a row. Republicans are due for big wins, especially in tea party centric places like Texas. There is really no path to victory for Bill White, but if I were him I would be going to donors and pretending a win is possible... moreover I would be telling the skeptics that I will have the biggest bullhorn platform bully pulpit that anyone will have for a long time... and the media will run with anything I put out on him and amplify it... so give me money and I will bash Rick and weaken him for the 2011 Texas legislative session (and redistricting and everything that goes along with that) and any possible future plans he may have for national office...

Bill White and his peeps have a lot of money to spend, and while no matter what they put out, it will be pointless in the end... they need to keep their jobs... their very purpose in life over the next 3 months... and reporters will pretend it is some kind of horse race to sell newspapers and get ratings so they don't get laid off as their companies fold all around them...

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Bill White got a fourth of his money from DC...

Bill White has a problem... his supporters are DC based and out of touch with Texas (link). Excerpt follows...
25 percent of the donations since Feb. 20 — about $1.8 million — came from contributors in Washington, D.C.

Perry, by contrast, got about 97 percent of his contributions from people and groups who listed Texas addresses. In a political cycle defined by anti-Washington sentiment, the Perry campaign has characterized White as a 'D.C.-insider,' taking any opportunity to associate him with President Barack Obama, whose popularity has declined in recent months.

[SNIP]

To be fair to White's campaign, $1 million came from the D.C.-based Democratic Governor's Association. Perry is expected to receive a similar contribution from the Republican Governor’s Association in August, if past precedent holds. Another $300,000 in White's report came from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, one of the largest unions in the country. The Service Workers International Union also donated $125,000 to White. Both are D.C. based.
Bill White is also taking cash from Obama's fundraisers in Austin and Houston according to the invitations...

Texas success becoming a national rallying cry for conservatives...

Elections are about choices, and there are still a lot of peeps out there who give Obama and the Democrats a pass even though they have controlled Washington really since 2006...

It is a valid argument for Obama to make that things weren't good at the end of the Bush term... but don't forget that the Bush tax cuts sparked some of the strongest and most consistent economic growth in a generation. Years of nearly uninterrupted prosperity were shattered by the housing bubble's pop and the financial melt down near the end of Bush's second term... we could argue all day about what role SarbOxley or Fannie and Freddie had to do with all of that... we could argue about the energy price shock of summer of 2008... we could argue about a lot of things... but the fact remains that things were going well in 2006 when Democrats swept into power in Congress... the unemployment rate was below 5%... things were good. Today things are no good... no good at all...

Then Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over... Obama was right there with them in the senate controlling the agenda. When the Bush buffer was gone, they went all out. The worst of the pain economically has been over the 18 months of Obama's administration.

To beat Democrats in 2010, Republicans can't just say "I am not a Democrat" and hope to win. They can't just bash Obama only... they have to prove they are adults who can lead... they have to remind voters that Republican ideas are good... that they work...

Rick in Texas has the formula down pat... bash Washington, but then point to all the articles and studies showing Texas on top economically...

Others are catching on.

Nationally, conservatives are pointing to Texas as proof that Republicans can govern and can lead us back to prosperity. Take this really really great blog written by a young gun College Republican for example (link). Excerpt follows...
As we watched other large, populous states like California, Illinois, and New York fall into a heavy and stifling economic downturn, Texas managed to keep its head above water and avoid the deep recession that continues to grip most other states. The southern state has managed to maintain, all things considered, a sound economy due to one of the things Texans are so adamant about: limited government. The Weekly Standard describes the situation as follows: “a state known for size and excess has succeeded because of public policies that avoided excesses of big government overspending”.

Even before the nation’s economy began to completely tank, it was predicted that Texas would stand to weather the storm better than others. Dale Craymer, chief economist of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, predicted back in 2008 that “if the nation gets the flu, [Texas is] going to get a bad cold,” ”If the nation gets a cold, [Texas will] get the sniffles.”

This was exactly the case. Texas job growth, especially in the private sector, topped the nationwide average for the past decade. While most of the nation saw major net growth in government jobs, Texas continued to follow an economic policy that encouraged capital investment and job creation—helping to lessen the affects of this nasty recession without the help of a massive and essentially useless stimulus bill. Its unemployment rate has consistently remained solidly below the national rate throughout the recession.

But for what other reasons has Texas fared better? In a nutshell, the explanation is in the way it views the role of government. The governor of Texas (and former President Bush’s successor) Rick Perry explained that “in Texas, we have long based our approach on individual liberty and initiative, believing that families, entrepreneurs and individual citizens deserve the opportunity to strive and succeed — with minimal government interference.”
Republicans all around the country can point to Rick down in Texas and say they will do things just like he did... Texas is not just rhetorically the model for the nation in Rick's head... it actually is becoming the model for conservative bloggers, magazines like the Weekly Standard, and other Republican politicians in other states.

Even Meg Whitman in California of all places basically said she would emulate what Rick is doing in Texas (link).

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Very cool... Rick says your name...

Go to Rick's website (link)....

That is really neat. Kind of a poor man's Old Spice towel commercial... he even had my current location here even though I am not in Austin today...

I wonder how long it took to film and edit the names and places...

It looks like you have to log in through Face Book... so that might deter some people from watching it. Rick did a similar video last year but as I recall it was not on his web site or Facebook or anything... just on another third party company page...

This is really well done by Rick's peeps...

Kinky weighs in...

Kinky's 15 minutes may have been up a long time ago, but this is pretty funny (link). Excerpt follows...

One other little word of advice, Rick. That great line you told the tea party folks the other day, what was it? “If Nancy Pelosi gets one more face-lift she’ll be wearing a beard”? If that’s what it was, that’s a crowd-pleaser, dude! Keep it in the act. The public’s memory is short. Keep railing against Washington and they may forget you live in Austin.

And now it’s time to meet Mr. Bill, which is not like meeting most other politicians; indeed, it is almost like encountering another human being. There is no overly sincere, unctuous, talonlike handshake that always lasts a little longer than you’d like it to. Instead of a penetrating, political stare, Bill may, at times, seem to be peering furtively over your shoulder as if he were trying to establish eye contact with a unicorn. You should not be alarmed by this. Someone who isn’t a slick candidate might just emerge to be a strong leader. We live in hope.

[SNIP]

Ann Richards once told me at a long-ago Democratic fundraiser, “Bill White reminds me of a talking penis.” She was smiling when she said that. She really did like you, Bill. You see, you can make your lack of hair work for you. You can beat it to death, and the public will love you for it. Have fun with this, Bill. Trust me.

Yeah... Kinky was never elected for a reason...

What are they reading?

R.G. Ratcliffe blogged the books that Rick and Bill White are reading (link). Excerpt follows...

Gov. Rick Perry:

The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Forged a New Afghanistan By Eric Blehm

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa By E. B. Sledge

Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific By RV Burgin

The Bible

New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America by Burton Folsom

Former Houston Mayor Bill White:

Brian Holden Reid -- America's Civil War -- The Operational Battle Field
This is a book written by a British military historian about tactics and strategy during battles in the first three years of the civil war. Unlike some American accounts, it places a lot of emphasis on the strategic decisions by both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, each of whom had strong views about how the war should be conducted.

Larry McMurtry -- Books: A Memoir
This book is a compilation of essays by Larry McMurtry about a lifetime of collecting and selling books, his reading, and the process of writing. Quite a bit of it is about Texas.

George Lewis Crocket -- Two Centuries in East Texas
This 1932 book describes the early history of East Texas, particularly the area in around St. Augustine County. The book was given to me out a collection of Otis Carroll in Tyler.

Michael Lewis -- The Big Short
This is a story about how those who packaged and sold sub-prime loans, bringing the U.S. financial system to the brink of catastrophe. It focuses on those who recognized early what was coming, whose warnings went unheeded.

The Trail Drivers of Texas (compiled and edited by J. Marvin Hunter)
This is a collection of the oral histories of cowboys who took cattle to market during the 25 or so years before extensive fencing and the extension of rail lines into Texas. It was first printed in 1924 and reprinted in 1985 by the U.T. Press.

Gordon S. Wood -- Empire of Liberty
History of the United States, 1789-1815, by one of America's greatest living historians.

Bill White must be a fast reader, because he didn't list the liberal book he bragged about reading... authored by Akhil Amar (link). Excerpt follows...

I am going to bed reading Akhil Amar's excellent book The Bill of Rights.

Akhil Amar is a liberal legal scholar with some controversial ideas... I wonder what part of the book Bill White found to be "excellent" anyway? The part about how people like Rick are crazy racists for clinging to the Tenth Amendment? Maybe R.G. Ratcliffe or some other intrepid journalist will ask him about it. Nah... because that would not be beneficial to Bill White... so don't expect anyone in the news media to challenge him on it...

Bill White is not a work horse or a show horse...

Bill White is seriously re running the miserable Kay campaign (link)...

Kay said on more than one occasion that she was a workhorse while Rick was a show horse...

Bill White has taken to using that same line apparently (link). Excerpt follows...
"I'm a workhorse not a showhorse. We need that in Texas right now" - @billwhitefortx in Trinity
Here is the thing... you can't just declare yourself a workhorse... even if it is obvious you are not a show horse... others need to say it about you.
Texas does not need what Bill White is peddling...

Whether Rick is a show horse or a work horse or both I am not sure that it matters... whatever he is doing is working...

More than that I think we are sick of politicians blaming others for not working hard enough, but then they get in there and work even less hard... see Obama's criticism of Bush for too much vacation and yet Obama's rampant golf playing while the Gulf burned...

Bill White's "7 hours a week" attack doesn't make any sense and is not credible... according to Bill White's official schedules right now he works 0 hours per week. See how that works?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Bill White turns down a shot gun gift...

Bill White... the guy who claims to hunt but doesn't have a hunting license... received a gun as a gift at a speaking engagement recently...

He is turning it down (link). Excerpt follows...
Afterward, White said he doesn't keep gifts of significant value that are given to him during his political campaigns and "will have to find something appropriate to do with it."

Boothe said he understands if White doesn't keep the gift. "It's OK," he said. "It makes me respect him if that's what he has to do."
Yeah... Bill White... Mr. Gun Rights... member of an anti gun group founded by Michael Bloomberg...

A liberal finally explains the ranking situation properly...

Conservatives like to cite studies and rankings showing Texas as the top exporting state, the top state for job creation, the top state for recovery in this recession, and all kinds of other figures like that.

Liberals say... "oh yeah" and cite studies showing Texas in the lesser categories of things like health insurance or high school diplomas...

Which ones are more valid?

Both matter... both are important... but usually liberals try to play the poor rankings in education or medicine as proof of the coldness of Republican ideas.

The Texas Tribune talked to a Brookings expert, and he actually nailed it for once (link). Excerpt follows...
How can Texas rank last in the nation — 51st — in the percentage of adults with high school diplomas, and simultaneously rank 22nd in the percentage attending at least some college?

[SNIP]

The leading factor driving down the state’s rankings has little to do with the quality of public schools and everything to do with the rapid rate of immigration, said Alan Berube, senior fellow and research director at Brookings, a left-leaning policy think-tank.

Many Mexican and Latin American immigrants “came to Texas as adults. They didn’t come there to finish high school. They came there to work. So that depresses the indicator,” Berube says. Further, the wide gap between high school and college attainment indicates a relatively large percentage of Texans who do complete high school go on to college, with many graduating, he says.

The same trends can be seen in California — the other huge state with rapid growth in immigration — with an even more severe spread between high school and college attainment. The sunshine state ranked 49th in high school attainment, yet 15th and 16th, respectively, in the percentage of adults with bachelor’s and graduate degrees.

When conservatives make this exact same argument they are often called racist or cruel or indifferent to people who look different from themselves...

In reality, demographics can lie. Texas is one of the wealthiest states in the country, and one of the wealthiest places in the world... it has a vibrant middle class... if you have a blue collar or white collar job in Texas you can most likely afford a two story house in the suburbs, two cars, and a flat screen television... and afford to eat out all the time... there are more millionaires and billionaires in Texas than almost anywhere else... entrepreneurs flourish in Texas... you have rich guys driving around the same Ford F-150s they had when they started their own companies from scratch... yet in the rankings Texas is in the lower tier of income...

The reason...

Texas has a lot of immigrants from abroad... and many are adults when they come here... and they aren't focused on things like education. California is a liberal utopia... and it barely ranks ahead of Texas in terms of percentage of people with a high school diploma... why? Demographics... immigration driven demographics...

When Rick and other Republicans talk about the economic and job growth of Texas, I think they have a valid argument... places with conservative policies just seem to do better economically than liberal places.... that goes for countries, states within America, and just about every other way you can divide it...

When moderates and liberals like Kay and Bill White complain about Texas having a high rate of uninsured or high rate of dropouts... aren't they really just complaining about their own open borders policies that led to huge numbers of illegal immigrants settling here?

There is an important point they could make... namely that regardless of who is to blame for the porous borders, these peeps are now Americans... and they are our future... so we have to integrate better them into society... we have to give them tools to become rich and well educated just like the rest of us who have been here for generations and generations... just like the Irish and German immigrants of the 1800s and early 1900s...

I have not seen a single innovative idea from liberals regarding helping immigrants and their kids succeed and not become a drain on our society far into the future... their ideas usually lead to more dependence on government, more division, and less upward mobility...

In the Pink mocks AP's credibility... I think...

Eileen Smith is either totally off her rocker... or maybe she is just really incisively and subtly poking fun at the AP story about Rick buying land and selling it 7 years later for a higher price (link). Excerpt follows...

Why is Rick Perry helping to arm rebels in Africa by selling off property in Horseshoe Bay?

Not that Doug Jaffe isn’t interesting in his own right. The Morning News says he did business with the government of Nicolae Ceausescu, communist dictator of Romania, and Samuel Doe, president of Liberia. Why does Rick Perry want to turn Texas into a communist dictatorship by selling off property in Horseshoe Bay?

Forget about the land deal. That’s just a red herring. Horseshoe Bay is about to become the resort of choice for heavily armed violent dictators, who may or may not pee in the pool.

I am pretty sure she is mocking their entire story... and its credibility. Pretty funny really...

These were some of my first thoughts reading the story... it was so hyped up based on some 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon friends of friends of friends stuff... it was one of the most laughable pieces of "journolism" I have seen in quite some time... so outlandish and lacking credibility that it just kind of makes you shake your head in disapproval...

Texas Republicans greeting Obama "warmly"...

Rick is happier than Bill White that Obama is coming (link). Excerpt follows...

Plans still were being firmed up, but one fund-raiser is to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Its location has been a moving target. An event to raise money for the Democratic National Committee has been penciled in for Austin, with entry ranging from $5,000 for an individual ticket to $30,400 per couple for VIP seating and a photo with Obama, according to an e-mail from a public affairs consultant. The DNC could share part of its take with the state party.

The consultant's e-mail said, "We must stand with President Obama and ensure that he has the support in Congress necessary to lead the county. And some of the proceeds will remain in Texas to help elect Democrats in Texas, including Bill White as our next governor."

The idea that the Democratic fund-raiser might help the Democrat running for Texas governor was fresh meat for Perry's camp, which went into press-release overdrive at first mention of Obama's visit.

Perry's camp called White and Obama "joined at the hip"; scoffed at White's dismissal of celebrity endorsements by noting that he got former President Clinton's support; and dredged up a 2009 ad in which White's picture appeared with those of Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. under the words The Dream (King), The Change (Obama) and The Hope (White). White, then Houston mayor, said at the time that he hadn't seen the ad.

Democrats said what's important are issues like education and insurance rates.

"This race is about Rick Perry's record ... not about whether or not Bill White goes to a fund-raiser," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston.

If the race is exclusively about Rick's record, why is anyone even running against him? Texas is currently the most successful state in the nation... with more jobs, more people moving to Texas from failed economies elsewhere... and all of that...

Races are never pure referenda on incumbents. Elections are choices. Rick has a record, and it is very strong. Bill White has a record and views that are both out of touch with mainstream Texas... It is a choice. Even as people go to vote for Rick, they will be voting both for Rick and against Obama and Bill White...

Texas Republicans have something planned for Obama apparently (link). Excerpt follows...

Texas Republicans are planning a special "welcome" when President Barack Obama comes to the Lone Star State on Aug. 9 to raise money for Democratic candidates. But don't look for red carpets and rousing fanfare.

Details are still being worked on, but Texas Republican Party spokesman Bryan Preston said the "welcome" will likely be a rally designed "to send him a message once again -- since he hasn't gotten it yet -- to keep his hands off our state."

Republicans, led by Gov. Rick Perry, have pilloried Obama's administration on a litany of issues, from healthcare to environmental policy. Obama failed to carry Texas in his 2008 race against Republican John McCain and fares poorly in Texas public opinion surveys.

A Rasmussen Reports poll in mid-July showed that 37 percent of Texas voters approve of how Obama is doing his job, compared with 63 percent who disapprove. That's below his national approval ratings.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White has no plans to join Obama during his brief fundraising mission and will concentrate on his efforts to unseat Perry, White spokeswoman Katy Bacon says. "Bill's focus in August is meeting Texas voters and raising money for the governor's race," Bacon said.

Details about Obama's Texas trip -- his third as president -- are still sketchy, but plans include an Austin fundraiser sponsored by the Democratic National Committee.

I wonder if they are crowd building for something, or if there will be something fun and gimmicky to get news?

Could be a good opportunity to raise some money for the party which is in some debt still...

HUGE... Bill White lied about having sheriff endorsements... they really endorsed Rick's campaign...

This is almost unbelievable....

The border sheriffs in Texas are almost unanimously Democrats... it is just the way the counties along the border go... yet quite a few of them endorsed Rick yesterday.

The crazy thing is that this upset Bill White so much he lied and claimed two endorsements from sheriffs who were actually endorsing Rick (link). Excerpt follows...

In an attempt to one-up Perry, White claimed endorsements from "10 of the 15 sheriffs whose county lines touch the border" with Mexico.

The problem was, two of the sheriffs White said are backing him signed statements of support for the Republican incumbent: Zavala County Sheriff Eusebio Salinas and Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr.

"I'd like to know who put me on that Bill White list. It isn't right," Salinas said. "I'm only on Rick Perry's."

Significant departure

White spokeswoman Katy Bacon insisted Gonzalez was a White supporter, but Perry's campaign provided a signed statement of support from Gonzalez.

The campaign's news release also included a quote from Gonzalez: "Texas could have no better person at the helm of its government than Governor Perry."

Gonzalez was at the Texas Sheriff's Association convention in Fort Worth and could not be reached for comment Monday.

"I'd like to know... who put me on that Bill White list..."

A rinky dink operation I guess...

What a fraud... yet the headline is confusing as all get out...

White edges Perry in support from border sheriffs

Democrat picks up backing from at least 8 sheriffs; incumbent says 10 on his team

Wait, so... Bill White has 8, and lied about 2 of them, and Rick has 10? And they are basically all Democrats anyway? Yet Rick's web site only says that he has 8 endorsements not 10 as the paper sub headline says...

So who edged whom? I am really confused by this reporting...

Credibility.... Bill White has none... and the Houston Chronicle doesn't either...

Bill White risking losing his base?

Eileen Smith of Texas Monthly is not happy with Bill White's mushy trying to have it both ways campaign (link). Excerpt follows...

Just last year, White bought a newspaper ad picturing him and Obama under the headline, “The Dream. The Hope. The Change.” This year, he’s expected to buy a newspaper ad picturing him and Ronald Reagan under the headline, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” OK, fine. So White’s running in a red state where the president isn’t exactly popular. But isn’t this going just a bit too far?

“There are some people, including me, who believe that the president is spending a lot more money than we’re taking in, is spending too much money in Washington,” White said. “I don’t believe in borrowing so much money. When I served as the chief operating officer of a federal department, I cut the budget. And now you see the budgets of other Cabinet departments go up.” I don’t get it. Does he think he’s going to gain Republican votes by spewing this kind of rhetoric? Isn’t he instead alienating the Democrats supporting him who overwhelmingly voted for that silly “community organizer”?

However, it’s important to note that White does have a scheduling conflict. When Obama’s raising money for him, White will be at the Johnson County Fair.

OH MY GOD. Dude. He’s the leader of your party, not to mention your commander-in-chief. Show some respect.

What does Bill White gain by bashing Obama? Not being chased out of East Texas at the end of a pitch fork?

I don't know... elections are about enthusiasm and turn out... and liberals are already pretty demoralized this year... although Bill White is a devoted liberal with liberal ideas and a record of liberal policies he obviously has to tack as much to the center as he can for the election...

Will liberals be excited? Obviously not. Conservatives will be excited... but they won't be fooled by Bill White's phony campaign.

The independent moderates... who in Texas are really just Republicans... won't be fooled either... especially after they see the ads exposing Bill White's Obamalike record... or maybe Rod Blagojevichlike record in other ways... either way Bill White is of the Chicago school of politics... liberal... shady...

Bill White has David Axelrod's good looks... none of the charisma of Obama... but he shares the same liberal DNA....

Monday, July 26, 2010

Looks like Bill White may have egg on his face... claiming endorsement he did not have...

The plot thickens from my earlier blog (link) about how Bill White and Rick are both claiming the same sheriff peeps as their endorsements...

Now the Texas Tribune has a small update (link). Excerpt follows...

UPDATE (4:10 p.m.): The Perry campaign sent us signed endorsement cards from the Zapata and Zavala sheriffs. We haven't heard back from the White campaign.

This seems like a potentially really big deal and a credibility gap for one of these candidates...

Rick and Bill White both claiming endorsements from same peeps...

Rick and Bill White both got some sheriff endorsements today... and they are claiming some overlapping endorsements (link). Excerpt follows...

* Both Perry and White claim endorsements in Zapata and Zavala. We're trying to sort it out.
Interesting... I wonder what that is about...

Bill White needs moderate women... so why is he attacking Rick on anti cancer vaccines?

Bill White's Back to Basics PAC is hammering Rick for promoting a vaccine that cures... cancer...

It was also an issue in the Rick vs. Kay race... and I believe I spotted evidence of it backfiring on Kay. Now Bill White runs the exact same attack just maybe with more money behind it...

But wait... isn't Bill White in need of moderate women? That is what the liberal Texas Tribune sez (link) Excerpt follows...

Jeff Hewitt, a Democratic consultant, says White would have to take advantage of those feelings, focus attention on the suburbs outside of Dallas and Houston and try to appeal to moderate Republican women in East Texas.

Democrats are hoping to attract Republicans who did not vote for Perry in past elections. They will try to target voters who preferred independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn in 2006 or U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison this year during the Republican primary.

Hewitt says moderate Republican women are important because they are more willing to switch parties than men if they are not satisfied.

“He has to flip some moderate Republican women to win. End of story,” he says. “If he just gets the typical Democrat vote and they get the typical Republican vote, he loses, no doubt about it.”

Hewitt says the strategy to oust Perry is not far-fetched after drops in housing values, increases in unemployment, a projected budget shortfall and a rise in college tuition costs.

“Moderate Republicans are going to say 'why not? Could it get any worse? Why not give him a shot?” Hewitt says.

Okay first off Hewitt is an idiot... Texas is the envy of America economically and Texans know it... Texans are proud as hell about that...

Second off... moderate women like anti cancer vaccines.

Third off... Rick is either even or ahead among women... and way up among men... in almost every poll. Bill White has more of a gender gap than Rick... Bill White's deficit among men is severely high...

Voter ID... Bill White opposes requiring identification to vote...

Bill White is such a tool.

A tool of the liberal establishment... he is no "different" kind of Democrat... he is far far far from "conservative."

He opposes voter ID requirements (link). Excerpt follows...

Voter identification

The discussion over voter identification is one in which Democrats and Republicans in Texas rarely agree. Republicans say it will help prevent voter fraud. Democrats believe it is a way to dissuade minorities, seniors and low-income voters from casting ballots. On whether to support voter-identification legislation:
Gov. Rick Perry: Has supported bills that would require voters to show identification at election sites. He has said he will push for voter-identification legislation to pass next session. Argues that Texans already need a valid identification to drive and get on a plane, so they should also need one to vote.
Democrat Bill White: Believes there is not enough evidence to support claims that voter fraud is caused by a lack of identification at the polls. He does not support a voter law that would infringe on the rights of citizens without identification to vote.
Sure he was eager to prevent active duty military from voting in Texas elections while they were deployed (link)... but people voting fraudulently without identification... go for it!

It is not overblown to call Bill White's anti military stance evil... amoral maybe is a more appropriate word even... these people are fighting and dying for our freedom and Bill White is more concerned about partisan advantage... it really makes my blood boil every time I think about Bill White's anti military lawsuit when he was chairman of the Democratic party in Texas... if Rick's peeps don't run a television ad about that I will be very very disappointed. Maybe it is just because I was raised in a military community... but I don't know who could vote for Bill White after knowing about his belief... present tense... that our heroes serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are second class citizens unworthy of absentee voting in our elections...

Bill White tries to cover up his anti gun views... tries to have it both ways...

When it was politically convenient Bill White was a member of the radical anti gun faction started by elitist New York liberal mayor Michael Bloomberg...

He conveniently dropped out of the group when he started running for statewide office in Texas last year (link). Excerpt follows..

when the former Houston mayor was part of a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group publicly listed him among opponents of the amendment.

Now federal law, the Tiahrt Amendment said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cannot release information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation, and that information cannot be used in a civil lawsuit.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which White was a part of until last year, opposed the measure. In fact, White’s name appeared on a couple of public declarations of opposition.

The first was this March 2007 open letter to Congress.

The second was this June 2007 ad in USA Today opposing the amendment.

Bill White now is spinning and lying and feigning ignorance and pretending he would have quit had he known about this...

Bill White also has more than one story about when and why he quit the anti gun group. Excerpt follows...
There is also some dispute about when White quit the group. His campaign has said previously that he quit on July 21, 2009, the day that Mayors Against Illegal Guns ran an ad in USA Today opposing the Thune Amendment. But earlier this year, a spokesman for the group told the American-Statesman that he resigned July 28, which was the day after John Sharp, then running against White for the U.S. Senate, criticized White for being part of the mayors’ group.
What kind of rinky dink operation was he running while he was mayor anyway?

This spin is so transparently bad and full of lies... will others in the press talk more about this story that dropped late on a Friday afternoon, or will they give him a free pass like they do on almost everything else?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Wait... so Rick bought some property in 2000 and sold it for a profit in 2007?

Wait... so Rick bought some property in 2000 and sold it for a profit in 2007? Nobody was buying and selling property for profit during that time! Absolutely scandalous... not...

The appraisal in 2007 showed that he actually sold it for 100,000 less than it was potentially worth...

How many times has this story been written over the past 3 years?

I recall during the Rick vs. Kay battle when this non issue came up that the person who bought the land from Rick in 2007 sold it recently for far more than he bought it for... I just can't find the link to the article stating that...

Today's AP treatment of this transaction which has been disclosed transparently for years is one of the worst examples of hit piece sensationalism based on the most convoluted 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon logic I have ever seen. The headlines are just breathtakingly biased for there to be so little there there...

I am ashamed of this story... I am embarrassed for everyone who was involved in researching it and writing it. I mean... hiring an appraiser to build a time machine and go back in time and assess value in 2000 and 2007 to fit their narrative... that is just laughable "journalism."

I am also ashamed of the reporters who eagerly retweeted this article today... when they are mum on the Bill White articles.

Credibility. Zapped.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Black Texans not happy with Bill White...

African Americans don't seem that pleased with Bill White running in such a cowardly way away from Obama (link). Excerpt follows...
Does it make you long for those days during MLK day when Mayor White wanted to be right there smack dab in the middle of Dr. Martin Luther King and President Obama. That picture appeared in the African American weekly newspaper The Houston Defender. I guess those days are long gone!

What does Bill White gain from not going to the Obama events that ultimately benefit him? Not having a picture taken with him is probably an important thing and a smart move... but his lame excuse... or non excuse... kind of makes Bill White look weak and passive aggressive... since he is still taking money from Obama being here it makes him look like a small man without convictions... but he is still willing to take the money...

Rick unplugged at the RGA...

Some very candid comments from a Republican Governors Association event in Colorado last week (link). Excerpt follows...
When five Republican governors took the stage in the Aspen Institute’s Doerr-Hosier building Thursday, it was easy to see that Texas Gov. Rick Perry was sporting the biggest attitude.

Perry, who was lieutenant governor in 2000 when George W. Bush left for the White House and is now seeking a third term, was wearing jeans, a black sports jacket and a black T-shirt reading “Marshall Law has been declared.”

Perry explained that “Marshall Law” is the name of a Texas country-music band and he was giving the band a little national exposure at the Aspen Institute.

“They told me I couldn’t wear the one that said ‘Secede,’” Perry quipped before serving up a big plate of Texas-style Republican red meat for the audience, many of whom were in Aspen to attend a Republican Governors’ Association fundraising event.

Perry, 60, is the financial chairman of the governors’ association and if he wins re-election in November against Houston Mayor Bill White, he’s likely to find his name on many short lists of potential Republican nominees for president in 2012.

During Thursday’s event Perry was asked what he thought about Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Bobby Jindall signing into a law a bill that allows people to carry concealed weapons into churches.

Perry seemed to relish the question about guns, saying “It’s one of my favorite subjects.”

“I’m a big believer that most of us out there are sheep,” Perry told the audience. “And we go about our business and we want to be left alone and we’re pretty comfortable. And there are some people out there that are wolves, that take advantage of the sheep.

“And I’m a big believer, in all across this country, that we need a few sheepdogs. And one of the ways that you’re a sheepdog is to have a concealed weapon — be trained appropriately, have the correct type of background — and if you’ve done those things, you should be able to carry your concealed weapon anywhere.”

Perry, a former Air Force pilot, is also clear on where he stands on securing the 1,200-mile long border that Texas shares with Mexico. He wants 3,000 more border patrol agents and over 1,000 National Guard troops along the Texas border between Brownsville and El Paso.

“The way that you secure the border with Mexico is with boots on the ground,” Perry said.

The Obama administration announced Thursday that Texas agencies would get $17 million more in federal funding this year for border enforcement as it relates to smuggling and terrorism.

But Perry said the immigration issue won’t be solved until there is a Republican president and a Republican Congress.

“Because I don’t see this administration as going to do anything other than to leverage it as a political issue, and try to make this about being racism when the fact of the matter is it has nothing to do with racism and has everything to do with about securing the border and the safety of the citizens on both side of that border,” Perry said.

And Perry also wants to see more high-tech solutions used, including predator drones flying above the border to give real-time information to law enforcement.

Once the border is secure, Perry said he would give illegal residents a year to register with the government, give their biometric identification information, and then check in once a year for a new work permit until they’ve become citizens.

“The ones that have a record, the ones that are bad actors, the ones that are not over here just looking for work and to help their family, they’re not going to go register,” Perry said. “And we will find them. We will find them.”

He also said, “I totally respect and understand what they are doing in Arizona.”

Gov. Perry said border violence is increasing in Texas to the point where bullets from Mexico hit the city hall dome in El Paso recently.

“It is going to spill over into the United States,” Perry said of the border violence. “I’m going to be a very pissed-off governor when the American people get killed by terrorists because our federal government continues to fail to do their job.”

When asked about Iraq and Afghanistan, Perry said, “I think Iraq is a great example of how you can go in and develop a democracy in a part of the world where democracy is very much needed,” and that, “Afghanistan is going to be a very, very long, tedious, expensive and bloody process.”

And sounding like a candidate for national office, Perry also said he wanted to “to make a very important statement” to the Aspen Institute crowd.

“This administration and the way they have treated the great democracy in the Middle East — Israel — is an absolute affront to democracies all across the world,” Perry said.

Perry ended his remarks in Aspen with ominous warning.

“I think we’re fixin’ to go through a very, very difficult time as a country,” Perry said. “There’s no use sugar-coatin’ it. We’re fixing to have some of the hardest decisions and difficult decisions to be made all across this country. There are going to be things happening over the next five years that you’re gonna sit back and say ‘Dang, I didn’t think that could ever happen before.’ But to save this country, it’s gonna have to.”
Fun stuff... does Rick talk this way in front of Texas reporters? Do they just not report it?

Friday, July 23, 2010

This promise to live in a double wide trailer...

Bill White has been going around promising to live in a trailer. Which is absolutely stupid...

Does Bill White really think that is going to earn votes? That anti-Rick mansion ad has been on the air for weeks now, and Rick only gained on him... because governors live in governor's mansions... just like presidents live in the White House... that's the deal. It is not scandalous for a governor to live in... a governor's mansion.

Bill White goes to these campaign stops and says this line, and I guess it must be getting applause or reaction, because I don't see why else he would keep using it (link). Excerpt follows...
“In my Texas, my wife and I are going to live in a double-wide trailer,” White said.
What is stopping you from doing it now?

Put up or shut up...

Live in the trailer now. Prove it. Otherwise your promise is empty... everyone knows you have almost no chance of winning, so the promise to live in a trailer if elected if one of those desperate stunts... but if you are serious, why not start right now? Prove it. Put up or shut up...

In the meantime I sincerely hope they catch the punk... likely a liberal sociopath in Austin for the Democratic state convention in 2008... who torched the real governor's mansion...

Rick's peeps call Bill White a liar....

Pretty good effort on this Liar Liar video by Rick's peeps...


Not as good as these three though...





Thursday, July 22, 2010

Bill White is a re run of Kay's strategy is all he's got...

Bill White is basically re running Kay's attacks... and has been all this time (link). I will let Paul Burka say it for me... Excerpt follows...

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Should Perry have spurned stimulus money?

I don’t get it. White has been criticizing Perry for taking more stimulus funding than any state except California and New York. Is this a bad thing? White is a Democrat. Democrats want to use government to help people. Money helps people. Had White been governor, would he have told mothers receiving child support that he wasn’t accepting $27.3 million in federal funds for child support enforcement? Would he have rejected $2.1 million to compensate victims of serious crimes? Would he have snubbed $9 million for women who are victims of violence? Would he have struck $2 million for a nutritional program that provides home-delivered meals to seniors? Or $27.6 million in supplemental nutrition assistance for food stamp recipients? Or $1.58 billion for road and bridge construction? One and a half billion dollars is a lot of jobs.

It looks to me that White is falling into the same error that Perry’s opponents always make: They hate Perry so much that they want to make him out to be a bad person, not just a bad governor. White is apparently trying to make some obscure point that Perry is not really a fiscal conservative, or that he is really a creature of Washington. Give it up. It’s not going to work. In the meantime, White ends up looking silly, because everybody knows that if White had been governor, he would have jumped at the money. What’s more, we would be in a much worse budget situation today if Perry hadn’t done so.

I realize that there is a separate issue over whether state budget writers used the stimulus funds wisely, or whether they used money that was intended for one purpose to achieve another purpose. That’s an argument for another day. There should be no dispute over whether Texas is better off because Perry took $12 billion or so in stimulus dollars. It is. So why is White trying to make an issue of something that serves beneficiaries of government programs–his own constituency?

Bill White is terrible... he is a re run of Kay's bad campaign... but he is a Democrat...

His entire attack attack attack strategy is flawed... he is not attacking on the right things...

Rick is a governor who lives in a governor's mansion. How is that an attack that will help Bill White?

Rick pushed for kids to get an anti cancer vaccine, but the legislature overruled him. How is that an attack that will help Bill White?

He attacks from himself... he attacks through a liberal trial lawyer PAC called Back to Basics... he attacks through bloggers like Matt Glazer that he pays...

He misfires on things like this dropout issue... claiming that Rick is proposing something that is already law, when that is not the case. Currently dropouts under 18 can't get a new license, but Rick is proposing taking away the license. Not just preventing kids from getting a license, which affects a small number of kids since most kids drop out after they get their license... Rick is talking about taking away the license... something that is not happening right now. Rick is also proposing tax incentives for businesses to get their employees back in school or into a GED (link).

It is a smart idea. Bill White's plan is to personally walk around... with television cameras rolling... all around select neighborhoods and try to find kids and get them to go back to school... it may be a smart idea, but is it really a state wide idea, and is it any better than the incentive of a driver's license or lack thereof? Wouldn't Rick's ideas work together with that neighborhood canvass thing Bill White promotes?

Why falsely bash Rick on the license issue? Why belittle the tax incentive idea? It all just makes Bill White look petty and small...

Obama's fundraisers benefit Bill White... it sez so right on the invite....

The Capitol Inside explains that Obama's trip in part at least is meant to raise money for Bill White (link). Excerpt follows...
An invitation to a fundraiser that President Barack Obama has tentatively scheduled in Austin next month says that the event will benefit the Texas Democratic Party and gubernatorial nominee Bill White as well as the Democratic National Committee.

But White, who's challenging Republican Governor Rick Perry in the November general election, isn't planning to attend the Obama fundraiser in Austin or another one in Houston the same day because his own calendar is already booked.

[SNIP]

"It is crucial that the DNC has adequate funding to withstand the withering negativity and distortions about this record," Hildreth said. "We must stand with President Obama and ensure that he has the support in Congress necessary to lead the country. And some of the proceeds will remain in Texas to help elect Democrats in Texas, including Bill White as our next governor."
Unless Bill White stops taking that outside money... remember he is getting a huge amount outside of Texas while Rick is getting almost every penny inside Texas... unless Bill White says no to money from the DNC and these other liberal groups with ties to Obama's machine... it will be really really easy for Rick's peeps to tie Bill White and Obama together. Easier than it already is I mean...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Political jiujitsu... Rick wants to meet Obama to talk border security...

Rick deftly turns Bill White's cowardly take his money but don't appear with him stance on Obama (link). Excerpt follows...

Perry says he wants to meet with Obama on border security

Gov. Rick Perry said today that he would like to meet with President Obama when he is in Texas on Aug 9 and talk about border security issues. Obama is set to be in the state for Democratic fund raisers in Austin and Houston.

Interesting... this whole Obama coming to Texas to raise money for Bill White situation is a win win for Rick...

Guess who is funding the anti-Rick ads?

It's not a broad grassroots organization... it is basically one trial lawyer (link). Excerpt follows...

— Texas conservatives will forever hold a special place in their hearts for 2003. Republicans took control of the Legislature that year, cut state spending and restricted jury awards in lawsuits.

But 2003 made Steve Mostyn angry. The Houston trial lawyer looked at how the new regime approached state government and saw children losing state-funded health insurance, college tuition increasing and, yes, barriers at the courthouse.

"It burned a hole in me pretty deep," Mostyn said.

Mostyn has responded in the years since by giving money to Democratic candidates. And giving and giving. In the past couple of election cycles, Mostyn (pronounced MOSS-tin) and his wife, Amber Anderson Mostyn, have become perhaps the most important donors in the Texas Democratic Party.

Already this year, the couple and their law firm have contributed more than $2 million to candidates and political groups, mostly to Democrats. The Mostyns, both 39, have quickly joined a handful of Democratic donors, usually trial lawyers, who can step into a legislative race and match business interests on the Republican side dollar-for-dollar.

This year, for the first time, they are heavily engaged in the governor's race as well. Mostyn said he has put more than

$1 million into a new political action committee named Back to Basics , which has pestered Gov. Rick Perry with two television ads in the past month. The Mostyns gave more than $500,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White or the Democratic Governors Association, a national group helping White, and Anderson Mostyn will soon launch a group that she says will back candidates based on their support for public education.

Ambulance chaser...

What a waste of money...

What is the primary function of government?

The primary role of government is to uphold the rule of law in order to safeguard life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Secondary, I would get into specific duties that are government's responsibility... police protection, military, things like that...

At the state level specifically, the central role of government continues to be courts, rule of law, and law and order. Enforcing laws, catching criminals, and making sure we don't descend into anarchy or lawlessness...

Beyond that, most things government does can and should be privatized. Including transportation, education, and just about everything.

Bill White thinks the primary function of Texas government is education (link). Excerpt follows...
Katy Bacon, White’s spokeswoman, said the hiring of foreign nurses shows the state has failed to educate enough Texans for the jobs. That's a Perry issue “since he's the leader of state government, and the primary function of state government is education," Bacon said. "The buck stops at his desk.”
I guess I see where she is coming from in terms of the state spending such a huge portion of its budget on education... but the way she put that just bothers me...

Bill White is also against across the board cuts which are some of the most effective cuts we can do. He is trying to be the education candidate (link). Excerpt follows...

“I wouldn’t do across-the-board cuts — education needs to be the top priority,” he said.

I get that... education is an issue that almost always benefits Democrats at the polls... but there is so much bloat and waste in education it is not even funny... why should it be spared audits and trimming? More money does not mean "more education." These days I think people get that...

Strange video... Bill White and a 16 year old girl...

Interesting... watch for yourself...


I don't really know who J.D. Gins is, but it sounds like he didn't want to bother with dealing with a neglected 16 year old girl... but was eager to help someone donate...

I can't blame him too much because campaigns are set up to take checks and crank out bumper stickers... not to deal with constituency services or deal with complex individual issues...

Still... it sounds like a missed opportunity...

Monday, July 19, 2010

Them's fightin' words... Rick gets feisty on Bill White's ethics scandals...

Rick elevates Bill White's business dealing problems (link). Excerpt follows...

Regarding White, Perry said he believes the former Houston mayor is hiding shady dealings from his past.

"Just this last weekend, we find out he's lying about making money off of Frontera," Perry said, referring to Sunday's Dallas Morning News story on the connection. "He needs to be honest with the people of this state. There's something in his records he doesn't want people to know and until he releases them, I refuse to be on stage with him during a debate. It's that simple."

SNAP!

The throw down has begun...

Bill White tells Lubbock he is against tougher immigration policies...

Lubbock is a lost cause for Bill White, yet he is there anyway trying to defend his sanctuary city policies (link). Excerpt follows...

As indicated by their questions, several people viewed immigration reform — especially Arizona’s controversial illegal immigrant ID law — as a top priority.

White, who opposes Arizona’s law and similar proposals for Texas, called for “more boots on the ground” on the Texas-Mexico border. But, he said, immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.

“The federal government has dropped the ball for a long time on immigration,” he said. “Rick Perry has been ineffective with the federal government at getting the resources that we need to protect the border.”

Lubbock resident Jon Bruegel was looking for a more specific answer from White.

“Are you willing to crack down on businesses that hire illegal aliens?” he asked.

White again explained he believes immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, with such decisions being made by the state’s U.S. congressmen and senators. As an example, White said he wouldn’t ask local law enforcement officers in Lubbock to protect the border.

“And if you told me we need to have more state people respond to 911 calls, I would say ‘call your mayor,’ ” he said.

Bruegel questioned White about what the state’s responsibility and limitations are in prosecuting illegal immigrants and their employers.

White stressed a need for the federal government to continue what he described as its traditional role of protecting the border and enforcing immigration laws, but admitted a lawyer with expertise in constitutional law would be better able to provide a more clear answer about state versus federal responsibility.

It sounds like there was a slight scuffle between some Bill White supporters and the man asking White the pointed questions...

After about five more minutes of discussion with the audience, White left the room. One White supporter wasn’t satisfied with the nature of Bruegel’s questions.

“You’re a plant,” she told Bruegel in a face-to-face confrontation.

Carrie Taylor, a self-described lifelong Democrat, said she recognized Bruegel as being a Lubbock-area Republican Party activist.

“Just don’t try to act like you’re a member of the Democratic Party,” she said. “You don’t even intend to vote for him.”

Bruegel, admitting his involvement with the Republican Party, said it was his right to attend the rally.

“He could potentially be my governor and you don’t want me to ask him a question?” he asked her.

Here's to you Jon Bruegel... the new Joe the Plumber of Texas...

A good comment sums it up well...

Election

Not sure who to vote for, but now a little concerned about White. Seems like from this article, that in the mind of Mr. White and his staff, that if you are not a democrat that you are worthless, not worth the time or effort and have no voice or right to ask questions. The gentleman (Bruegel) was not singled out for asking unnecessary questions, for being rude, or disrespectful, only for being a Republican. WOW in the Gov.White Texas if you are not a democrat you will have no right to ask questions is that really what we want in a leader for our state??

I really don't get what Bill White thinks he is accomplishing my going to places like Lubbock (link). Excerpt follows...
Gov. Rick Perry absolutely demolished Democratic challenger Bill White in campaign funds raised from donors identifying as coming from Lubbock. Perry posted $81,459 raised since February to White's $2,027.
Rick will absolutely demolish Bill White in Lubbock at the polls in November too...

Rick playing the immigration issue well...

Bill White missed a chance to out flank Rick on the right on immigration, and Rick is capitalizing (link). Excerpt follows...
A famous Texas political aphorism declares that "there is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." But now, in Texas, who should be striding down the middle of the wide highway of state politics but the most successful Lone Star pol today: Gov. Rick Perry. The Republican, who not too long ago conjured up visions of a militarized border, appeared before a crowd of 1,800 members of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization, and declared that the Arizona immigration law — the darling of voluble members of the right — was not a good "fit" for Texas. He drew thunderous applause.
The way I understand it, Rick has come out as saying Arizona's law is not right for Texas, but he has also come out and said he would support something sort of kind of similar... and he also supports Arizona's right to pass the law in the first place...

In a show of solidarity with his fellow Republican governor Jan Brewer of Arizona, Rick has even gone so far as to say he will not attend a border governors summit if it is moved out of Arizona where it was originally scheduled...

I think Bill White's line about vowing to veto Arizona if it is passed in Texas... plus his sanctuary city stuff... won't play well in Texas this year... and yet he is going to have a hard time riling up Hispanic people against Rick as Republican hard liner on immigration Pete Wilson's political adversaries did in California years ago.

Bill White caught lying about his shady foreign business deals...

I may have to make several blogs on this one topic because there is so much here...

Read for yourself the story of Bill White, his Department of Energy experience in the William Jefferson Clinton administration, his experience with Frontera energy, and his Wedge Group dealings...

All very shady (link). Excerpt follows...

DALLAS — Democratic candidate for governor Bill White, in his first public acknowledgment, has confirmed that he has made a profit from his investment in an oil exploration company he founded that ran into financial trouble after a central Asian republic demanded more of the revenue from its field.

In a story in Sunday's edition of The Dallas Morning News, the former Houston mayor confirmed that he has made $1.7 million in capital gains and $1.1 million in net profit from the sale of more than 1.4 million shares of Houston-based Frontera Resources over a four-year period beginning in 2006. He still owns almost 96,000 shares, but resigned his chairmanship in 2001.

During his 2003 mayoral run, he told the Houston Chronicle that he hadn't "made a penny" on his investment in the oil and gas exploration company he founded in 1996. "I have some stock, but it is so subordinated to the other interests that I am told that it has little or no economic value."

Main conclusions at first glance...

Bill White seems to be a pathological liar...

Bill White needs to release his taxes for these times so the people can examine some of these connections better...

Bill White has some seriously shady business history...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Texas unemployment rate drops...

Straight from the Texas Workforce Commission...

Texas Unemployment Rate Drops to 8.2 Percent in June

Texas employers add 166,100 jobs since January

AUSTIN —Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent in June, down from

8.3 percent in May, and continued to trend well below the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of

9.5 percent for the same month. Texas total nonagricultural employment grew by 14,000 jobs in June for a total of 166,100 jobs gained since the beginning of 2010.

“Texas employment has grown every month in 2010,” said Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Tom Pauken. “Notably, Texas employers in goods producing industries added jobs in the month of June, which included gains in Manufacturing, Construction, and Mining and Logging.”

The Education and Health Services industry recorded the highest increase in June, with 8,900 jobs added, followed by Professional and Business Services, which increased by 8,600 jobs.

“While I am encouraged by the decrease in the Texas unemployment rate, times are tough for Texas workers and their families,” said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronny Congleton. “Job seekers should turn to WorkInTexas.com and our workforce centers across Texas for reemployment and support services.”

In June, Manufacturing added 5,700 jobs, Construction grew by 4,800 jobs, and Mining and Logging increased by 2,900 jobs. Employment in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities industry was up by 3,000 jobs, and Information added 800 jobs.

“Seven industries added jobs in June including Professional and Business Services, Manufacturing, and Construction – that’s positive news for Texans seeking new opportunities,” said TWC Commissioner Representing the Public Andres Alcantar. “TWC and the 28 local workforce boards are committed to helping job seekers find these opportunities, and to helping employers with an array of services they need to run their businesses.”

The Midland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 5.9 percent. The Amarillo MSA had the second lowest unemployment rate in June at 6.0 percent, followed by the Lubbock MSA at 6.7 percent (not seasonally adjusted).