Warning: contains politics
Or, "In Which Texas Politics are Worse Than You Think, and Newt Gingrich Parodies Himself Before the Onion Can Get Around To It"
SREC Member: "I got into politics to put Christian conservatives into office." - I... there is no way to boil this down that doesn't make me fume. The current (Republican) Speaker of the House in the state legislature apparently needs to be replaced because he's not a "true Christian conservative." He's a Jewish conservative. But Cook isn't a bigot, of course not! He just says and does a lot of bigoted shit. But he says "my favorite person [Jesus] is a Jew," so that somehow makes this crap okay? No. There's a rising chatter in this country trying to assert that all morals come from Christianity and therefore everybody else is suspect; I could be wrong, but I think this is the closest that chatter has come to actual affecting political process.
... wait, what has Michele Bachmann said lately? Never claimed Texas had a total lock on the crazy, but we do tend to be infectious. Did I mention that one of our ah-mazing State Reps has introduced a birther bill?
*facepalm*
By the way, Republicans now have a supermajority on both sides of the Texas Lege, and it's time for redistricting. And Rick Perry is now mimicking Shrub's mannerisms and speech patterns in his national appearances, which makes me strongly suspect he's planning to run in 2012... I could not be more appalled.
Gingrich Reaches Out To Conservative Hispanics At 'Americano' Forum - Apparently he launched The Americano last year "to offer balanced news and viewpoints to the U.S. Hispanic population," which, well, makes it sound like a Spanish-language Fox News. Gingrich is not the first conservative to support Jan Brewer-style "papers, please" laws out of one side of his mouth and beg for Hispanic votes out the other side, and he won't be the last. What really frosts me is Laura Drain's assertion that Hispanics are "natural conservatives," especially the bit where two of her three criteria are a belief in families and small businesses. Dude. Most people support families and small businesses, including, guess who? Progressives.
It's just such a stupid way to talk about politics. "Demographic Group A are naturally conservatives because they like puppies!" Only in a world where the talking heads on teevee continually claim that progressives are Eeeeeee-vul Puppy-Kickers.
I'm trying not to be relentlessly pessimistic about the brokenness of our political process and the moneyed forces lined up to keep it fucking broken buuuuuuuut it's hard.
SREC Member: "I got into politics to put Christian conservatives into office." - I... there is no way to boil this down that doesn't make me fume. The current (Republican) Speaker of the House in the state legislature apparently needs to be replaced because he's not a "true Christian conservative." He's a Jewish conservative. But Cook isn't a bigot, of course not! He just says and does a lot of bigoted shit. But he says "my favorite person [Jesus] is a Jew," so that somehow makes this crap okay? No. There's a rising chatter in this country trying to assert that all morals come from Christianity and therefore everybody else is suspect; I could be wrong, but I think this is the closest that chatter has come to actual affecting political process.
... wait, what has Michele Bachmann said lately? Never claimed Texas had a total lock on the crazy, but we do tend to be infectious. Did I mention that one of our ah-mazing State Reps has introduced a birther bill?
*facepalm*
By the way, Republicans now have a supermajority on both sides of the Texas Lege, and it's time for redistricting. And Rick Perry is now mimicking Shrub's mannerisms and speech patterns in his national appearances, which makes me strongly suspect he's planning to run in 2012... I could not be more appalled.
Gingrich Reaches Out To Conservative Hispanics At 'Americano' Forum - Apparently he launched The Americano last year "to offer balanced news and viewpoints to the U.S. Hispanic population," which, well, makes it sound like a Spanish-language Fox News. Gingrich is not the first conservative to support Jan Brewer-style "papers, please" laws out of one side of his mouth and beg for Hispanic votes out the other side, and he won't be the last. What really frosts me is Laura Drain's assertion that Hispanics are "natural conservatives," especially the bit where two of her three criteria are a belief in families and small businesses. Dude. Most people support families and small businesses, including, guess who? Progressives.
It's just such a stupid way to talk about politics. "Demographic Group A are naturally conservatives because they like puppies!" Only in a world where the talking heads on teevee continually claim that progressives are Eeeeeee-vul Puppy-Kickers.
I'm trying not to be relentlessly pessimistic about the brokenness of our political process and the moneyed forces lined up to keep it fucking broken buuuuuuuut it's hard.