Arrogant Bill White allies threaten Texans’ right to govern themselves...

It is rare that RedState and the editorial page of the liberal Fort Worth Star Telegram agree on something, but the Democrats are so out of line here that anyone with an inkling of objectivity sees that they deserve to be shamed and embarrassed for their actions.

Here is Lloyd Doggett...

First RedState weighs in (link). Excerpt follows...

In one of the most outrageous displays of arrogance by Washington in recent memory - which is saying a lot, of course - the House Democrats have inserted specific language on top of $10 Billion in funding for education included in a War Supplemental bill targeted directly and solely at Texas - language that demands the money be spent in certain ways.

According to the Houston Chronicle, “The proposal would allow the federal government to give money directly to school districts, provided Perry certifies that the federal support will not replace the state money. Perry must also agree not to proportionally cut education funding more than any other item in the next budget. While the measure includes $10 billion in education funding nationally, Texas is the only state that must make such a certification before receiving the federal funding.”

The thing is, besides being an affront to federalism and our right to live free from far away know-it-alls in DC telling us what to do, Perry’s office makes the good point that, “[t]he House-passed version requires that the governor guarantee the Legislature will provide a certain level of state funding, which is prohibited by the Texas Constitution…”

The Fort Worth Star Telegram calls the Democrat decision wacky (link). Excerpt follows...

Maybe the Democrats in the U.S. House were just feeling giddy last week on the eve of the holiday weekend. Maybe wacky would be a better word.

Or maybe they knew what they were doing Thursday when they passed an appropriations bill with provisions that would require Texas and Republican Gov. Rick Perry to jump through hoops required of no other state or governor for a share of $10 billion in education funds.

The best explanation for their behavior may be that they sought to embarrass Perry because this year, he refused to apply for a share of $4.35 billion in federal economic stimulus money dedicated to President Barack Obama's Race to the Top education reform program.

But their ham-handed effort can only embarrass themselves. And in the process they have lobbed a softball that Perry can knock out of the park as part of his continuing campaign to depict Washington as an out-of-control, power-hungry monster.

[SNIP]

But it is not the place of Congress to tell Texas how to construct its state budget. Perry couldn't commit to anything about state spending in 2012 and 2013 if he wanted to. That's the Texas Legislature's job.

Throw the Democrat bums out. Keep the Bill White bum out...

The worst part of all of this is that it is tied in with troop funding... Democrats are shameless. This kind of shameless partisan maneuvering reminds me of how Bill White supported a lawsuit to deny Texas military voters the right to cast their ballots in local and state elections...

Democrats will throw our troops under the bus any chance they get...

The likely outcome is that the senate will block this nonsense but you never know... the Fort Worth's point is highly poignant... this does nothing but fires up Rick's base and makes Republicans even more angry and unwilling to trust any Democrats... this plays right into Rick's strength and even vindicates his anti Washington rhetoric...

Robert Pratt sez it well (link). Excerpt follows...

Democrats are setting Texas school district pay scales and budgets out of the Congress in D.C. These folk, even those from Texas, know no shame when it comes to destroying the rights of Texans to govern themselves.

The only solution for Texas? Defeat every Democrat on the ballot.

This includes Chet Edwards, Bill White, and all of the other phony good ole boy Democrats who are really just liberal Pelosicrats.

5 observations on that forum...

Bill White and some libertarian lady named Kathie Glass "debated" at a candidate forum last night...

VIDEO

1. This "debate" did not elevate Kathie Glass. I watched most of it, and she does not seem credible. Her accent seems un Texan to my 5th generation Texan ears... she was not as careful as Debra Medina in terms of staying mainstream during the debates. She kind of went off the reservation a few times.
2. The "debate" did make Bill White look desperate and small. Why on earth would a major party candidate debate a fringe candidate one on one? That is crazy. For all the heck Democrats are raising about the Green Party, the Libertarian Party is basically the same thing. It was mostly liberal Democrats who got Libertarians on the ballot years ago... and Bill White eagerly debating a Libertarian sort of underscores that point.
3. Almost nobody watched this thing. It was on local television in Kerrville, a couple hundred peeps were in the audience, and a tiny number watched online.
4. Greg Abbott also didn't show up. In fact, no Republican showed up. I have also been told that Linda Chavez-Thompson... the Democrat running for Lt. Governor... canceled or declined to go... one or the other... it was not Rick skipping the debate so much as it not being a legit debate. When has there ever been a debate in early July? That is ludicrous.
5. For all the heck about Rick being "chicken" it seems like his message is still getting out there (link). Excerpt follows....

   Perry has said he will not appear on stage with White until the former Houston mayor releases income tax returns from the years when he was deputy U.S. energy secretary and Texas Democratic Party chairman in the 1990s.

   Perry spokesman Mark Miner called White a “shameful candidate” who worked to limit military voting, “mismanaged the Houston budget and profiteered by steering business to a company he had financial ties with during Hurricane Rita while he was mayor of Houston.”

   Miner compared White to President Obama and said he did not unveil any new policy initiatives during the forum, choosing instead “to continue a campaign based on personal attacks.”

Web videos...

R.G. Ratcliffe looks at web video in the Rick versus Bill White race (link). Excerpt follows...

AUSTIN — They look like television commercials for Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic challenger Bill White, but they actually are Internet videos that the campaigns and partisans churn out on a weekly basis.

They make their own candidates look superior. They make their opponent look sinister or stupid.

If the YouTube upload counts are correct, these videos have been viewed by fewer than 3 percent of the likely Texas general election voters. And one of Perry's most-viewed videos is about him shooting a coyote, while White's most-seen has less than 8,000 views.

Upload counts? I think you mean download. Upload is people putting videos up. Download is watching it....

I wish that Rick's peeps had left the Kay videos up... those were some good stuff... remember the one about the event where she had under 10 people there... with "All By Myself" playing... that one really made her look pathetic... the one right at the end with that Earmark Queen parody to the tune of Abba's Dancing Queen had several tens of thousands of views before they took all of the anti-Kay videos down on either the day after the primary or maybe even the day of... I am not sure. Either way, it would be one I might play again from time to time if it were still up...

The anti-Rick videos from the Democrats are pretty funny and much better than the ones from Kay's peeps, but I am not sure they have much substance... they kind of just scream, "we don't like Rick personally..." They mock his hair. They mock his gestures. Only a few have touched on any actual issues...

The chicken suit was a good investment at 75 dollars (link), but it will only go so far... every other time the chicken suit is mentioned the fact that Bill White still has not released his taxes comes up as well... so you have to wonder whether it really is a net wash or even a negative.

Rick's anti-White videos have been hit or miss so far... a couple of them have been extremely well done, spot on, and solidly produced... and even funny or creative... but others have seemed slapped together by committee... too much crap thrown into one video... no coherent theme to tie it together...

A lot of the anti-Rick Democrat videos have been pretty bad too... more than just message wise... they are just hard to watch through to the end...

It is one thing to have bad production quality... this is web video we are talking about... but some of them on both sides just seem like they were made on a deadline to fit a schedule rather than made with the flow of events...

I would make one observation here though as a veteran of decades in politics... in any campaign, a tiny fraction of your voters will end up being your contributors, your volunteers, and all of that. No more than 5 or 10% of your volunteers and contributors will provide 80 or 90% of the volunteer hours and contributions to your entire campaign...

That works for other things too... not just politics...

A small segment of the population adopts certain technologies and trends earlier than others... some call them early adopters. If the cool kids are all going to see Twilight or Harry Potter, the other kids will too...

They are the peeps who are watching these videos. The political junkies... the insider class of early political adopters including journalists, lobbyists, activists, and bloggers... the videos watched by thousands are shaping the way they view the race, and those people are going out and shaping the way everyone else views the race.

One thing I find interesting is that mainstream journalists link to these videos a lot... they even embed them sometimes... yet the videos only have hundreds or maybe thousands of views? What does that say about the value of a link on these major newspapers?

Embry nails it on Green Party...

Jason Embry clues in on something I wrote a blog about a while back (link). His editorial is one of the first in the msm to acknowledge that having a Green Party candidate on the ballot is more about redistricting and down ballot races where a small number of votes can more likely make the difference than about Rick and Bill White (link). Excerpt follows...

Conventional wisdom says a Green Party candidate takes more votes away from a Democrat than a Republican, so Toomey's effort appears aimed at helping Gov. Rick Perry beat Democratic challenger Bill White. After all, Toomey is Perry's close ally and former chief of staff.

But Toomey's interest in Texas politics extends beyond the governor's race. He is a key player in helping Republicans win more seats in the Legislature, and as this whole matter moves forward, we may learn that his real target was the battle for the Texas House, which is now split between 77 Republicans and 73 Democrats.

Libertarian candidates have appeared on Texas ballots much more frequently than the Greens in recent years, which appears to have helped Democratic House candidates.

Democrat Mark Strama of Austin won a seat in the House six years ago by beating Republican incumbent Jack Stick by 569 votes. Greg Knowles, the Libertarian candidate in that race, got 2,390 votes.

And Democratic former Rep. Robby Cook of Eagle Lake beat his 2006 Republican challenger by 415 votes while the Libertarian got 1,300.

The thing missed in much of this though is that Toomey's effort was "aborted." The signatures that got the Green Party on the ballot were not his that we know of... they were from an entirely different group. It was two different efforts. Toomey only half heartedly pushed this as far as we know... then abandoned it. Then later there was a second effort that was done in earnest.

Of all the ways to help Rick, getting the Green Party on the ballot is way way way down the list... this was clearly aimed at a long term down ballot strategy to torment Democrats and force them to move to the left in a state that is solidly to the right... it was clearly aimed at tormenting Democrats in the same way that Libertarian candidates torment Republicans in close House races...

For Bill White having the Green Party on the ballot doesn't help especially with his eager support for controversial Barnett Shale drilling procedures and off shore drilling... but as I have blogged before too many candidates on the ballot could also serve to dilute Rick's vote and keep him from being solidly over 50%...

Bill White uses Dolph Briscoe's funeral in fundraising tweet....

Bill White sent out a tweet and boy was it uncouth (link). Excerpt follows...

Thurs. heading to Gov Briscoe's funeral. Today we passed over 5000 donations in last 9 days and 100K following Facebook

Uncouth to say the least... very strange to combine those two thoughts.

There might be something to Rick's claim about Obama targeting Texas...

How petty can the federal government be? Emily Ramshaw has the story about how the feds denied the standard rubber stamp type of request by Rick to fly flags at half mast at federal buildings in Texas for the death of former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (link). Excerpt follows...

When former Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. died Sunday after a long illness, Gov. Rick Perry reached out to the U.S. government, asking for flags to be flown at half-mast at federal buildings in Texas. The response, Perry's office says, was a resounding no.

Under the United States Code, "In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States or the death of a member of the Armed Forces from any State, territory, or possession who dies while serving on active duty, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff."

But when Perry's office made the request to the Department of Homeland Security's Denver Megacenter — which distributes flag orders from the White House — Perry was flatly rebuffed, his spokeswoman says. She says federal officials told him he didn't have the authority to make the request.

DHS officials have not yet been reached for comment — and Perry's office says they think it was just bureaucratic confusion.

Yes it may have just been bureaucratic confusion... but it was kind of a Freudian slip in some ways. The default answer by the feds right now is to say no to Texas. To do anything and everything to undermine anything Rick does.

I don't use foul language here often, but f**k the federal government. This is so petty of them. Maybe the "s" word isn't such a bad idea about now, right?

This episode definitely bolsters Rick's claim that Obama has put a target on Texas... anything to screw over Texas, one of the only successful states out there right now.

Fake poll scandals...

POLITICO reports on the fake Research 2000 poll in Arkansas (link). Excerpt follows...

In the final weeks leading up to the June 8 Democratic Senate runoff in Arkansas, no data proved more pivotal in shaping conventional wisdom than a pair of Research 2000 polls showing challenger Bill Halter holding a lead.

And those surveys—which fueled the narrative that Sen.Blanche Lincoln was a goner—may have been bogus, according to the blog that commissioned them.

The prospect that polling data in a Senate contest of national consequence may have been faked has sent shockwaves across the campaign world, raising disturbing questions not only about the reliability of suddenly ubiquitous public polls, but about a new media environment where polling numbers are accepted without question even as they threaten to influence the outcome of campaigns.

The episode marks the second time in less than a year that a pollster’s results came under serious questioning—the Atlanta-based polling firm Strategic Vision, was also accused of falsifying data, and its failure to disclose information about its methodology led to a rebuke from the American Association for Public Opinion Research for violating its ethics rules.

How long until a lot of these other Democrat polls (link) (link) (link) are exposed for being fraudulent and fake and intended to shape fundraising and news coverage?

Maybe the media should have more integrity... do their own polls... not report on polls they don't commission themselves... like in the old days...