Poor John Cornyn

According to Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post, my senator, John “Box Turtle” Cornyn had himself the worst week in Washington this past week. Now considering what we know about all the bad news being handed Republicans this week as the national economy seems to be picking up steam again, much to their consternation, this came as somewhat of a surprise to me. What, I asked myself, had he done?

Well, it’s not so much what he did, but what was done to him. His job, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee leader just became harder. In 2010 Cornyn cruised in a downhill run picking up six senate seats and closing the door on the progress of any decent legislation in the senate. He had done his job. But in retrospect, in 2010 a 2 year old could have done a pretty decent job.

This year all eyes will be on Cornyn to close the deal and regain the senate majority. And what the heck, with 23 Democratic senators up for re-election compared to a mere 10 Republicans, Cornyn must have been feeling pretty good about his chances of becoming the next Republican hero.

Then came Olympia Snowe’s sandbag job. Just a few hours before announcing that she would not be running for re-election in her fairly liberal state, Snowe informed Cornyn of this. Now New Hampshire, which went for Obama by 58% in 2008, will most certainly go back to the Democratic side of the aisle. Then, Cornyn was rubbing his hands together over the retirement of Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson. Nebraska is as red as can be and this was going to be an easy pick up. But then former senator Bob Kerrey announced he was going to try and get his old seat back. Kerry is most likely the only Democrat in the state with a fighting chance to win says Cillizza.

In short, in the space of just a couple of days, Cornyn got two pretty bad pieces of news over what he was seeing as two easy races.

And the icing on the cake is that they both came about because of all the crazy rightwing rhetoric coming out that is literally chasing centrists and moderates back to the private sector.

My advice to the senator would be for him to read his Bible more often. Here’s one I like:

“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

Proverbs 11-29.

MTP: The GOP is ROE

You know that you are a completely hooked political wonk when you set your alarm clock on Saturday night so that you are sure that you wake up early enough on Sunday morning so that you don’t miss the 9 AM CDT live airing of NBC’s Meet the Press. That, sadly, has been the state of things in my life for several years now.

And you know that you are completely hooked on MTP when you find yourself missing the deep cuts that former MTP moderator Tim Russert used to apply to the bloviating orators of obfuscation, regulars that appeared on his show weekly.

I miss the "Russert Pounce."

Up until today that is.

Because today, David Gregory was channeling Tim Russert’s spirit. Either that or he has finally acquired the brass appendages that we have all been missing on our Sunday morning politics fix.

This morning, the entire program was devoted to a roundtable discussion between Gregory and the respective chairs of the NRSC, the DSCC, the NRCC and the DCCC. That is, the four gentlemen who are responsible for raising money for Democratic and Republican Senatorial and Congressional campaigns.

At issue was presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs’ unfortunate and unqualified comment that Democrats could lose the majority in November.

Of course they could. But the problem is, Gibbs never addressed the whole concept of “likelihood.”

At this moment of weakness Republicans pounced, and I saw the effect at the Pete Olson town hall meeting last Monday when conservatives in the meeting asked Olson what the plan was after the GOP retakes the House in November. The air sparked with the electricity of certain knowledge of a complete rout in November.

NRCC Chair Pete Sessions attempted to maintain the façade in his opening remark:

“I think the, the public sees this as a long-term debt issue of big government, more spending. The president and the House, at least, are two-tenths through a big government agenda. And the bottom line is, is that people back home see it where government is doing quite well and the free enterprise system and jobs back home are not doing so well. I think change is in the air.”

And it went on like that for the longest time. Gregory danced around the subject of a Republican agenda, but the discussion remained unfocused for what seemed an interminable amount of time.

Bob Menendez, chair of the DSCC and Chris Van Hollen, chair of the DCCC were being overly cautious, having been put there by a desire not to look like whiners that endlessly bemoan the fact that they and their party were put in that position by the policies of George Bush and the Republican Party.

So it looked like a stalemate was shaping up, if not a tilt toward a GOP victory in the debate.

Then at the beginning of the 2nd half hour, David Gregory pounced.

Addressing Pete Sessions (making this not a fair fight at all), Gregory posed this question:

“This has been a debate so far this morning about, you know, the relative merits of Republican rule during the Bush years and what this president has or has not accomplished so far. I think what a lot of people want to know is if Republicans do get back into power, what are they going to do?”

A very pointed question at which time Sessions executed the old Texas Two-Step when he replied [and believe me, I am only including the statements of substance here] 

“…we need to live within our own means…we need to make sure that we read the bills …”

To which Gregory responded (as nicely as he could, I think):

“But, Congressman, that's a, that's a pretty gauzy agenda so far.”

"So far."

Giving him credit that there was more to the GOP agenda than he actually revealed, and Sessions then gave lie to that idea, reasserting that the only two things that need to happen is to balance the budget and read the bills.And that’s it, I swear.

Appearing exasperated at this point, Gregory delved further. This is a questioning strategy not unlike that which 3rd grade teachers use to evoke some higher level critical thinking skills in their students.

“How do you do it? Tell me how you do it. Name a painful choice that Republicans are prepared to say we ought to make.”

Eliciting this response and subsequent exchange:

REP. SESSIONS: Well, first of all, we need to make sure that as we look at all that we are spending in Washington, D.C., with, not only the, the entitlement spending but also the bigger government, we cannot afford anymore. We have to empower the free enterprise system. See, this is where...

MR. GREGORY: Congressman, these are not specifics.

REP. SESSIONS: Oh, they...

MR. GREGORY: And voters get, get tired of that.

REP. SESSIONS: That, that...

MR. GREGORY: You want to deal with entitlement spending...

REP. SESSIONS: They are...

MR. GREGORY: ...will you raise the retirement age on Social Security, will you cut benefits in Social Security?

REP. SESSIONS: Let, let--let's go...

And so he went. Nowhere. Sessions never answered. He never stated specific policies that Republicans are willing to put out there to the American people. Policies that empower Americans to decide who they want to clean up the mess that George Bush left us.

So Gregory turned to RSCC chair John Cornyn. [Not fair really, Two Texas Republicans on the same side in the same room].

MR. GREGORY: Senator, I'm sorry, I'm not hearing an answer here on specific--what painful choices to really deal with the deficit. Is Social Security on the table? What will Republicans do that, that, that would give them--like '94, there was a Contract With America. What are voters going to say, "Hey, this is what Republicans will say yes to"?

And guess what John Cornyn, my senator came up with? The Debt Commission. The commission assembled as a Democratic initiative to determine where cuts should be made. That is, the Republican agenda to revamp the economy is to do what the Democratic Debt Commission comes up with.

MR. GREGORY: But wait a minute, conservatives need a, a Democratic president's debt commission to figure out what it is they want to cut?

Cornyn, backed into a corner, fought his way out by attacking Obamacare. Gregory switched topics and asked about the recently-passed Financial Reform bill. And Cornyn started sputtering about how the bill was too long to read.

“Well, I think--I mean, this is a 2,300-page bill that not even Chris Dodd, the principal Senate author, knows--he said, "We don't know exactly how this will impact the economy or our financial systems for some time to come." I mean, that's part of the problem, as Pete said, passing legislation with unintended consequences and based on an ideological approach as opposed to, "Let's solve the problem" and to help encourage the growth of the economy. As the folks in the business roundtable said, the job-killing agenda of this administration is to make...”

Sigh.

Then the grownup in the room interrupted.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, I think, actually, when you look at the choice between where the president has taken the country from what he inherited vs. what our colleagues espouse, which is in essence the Bush voodoo economics, the reality is, in that choice, they have a very clear preference for the president's economic policies. Let me answer the question that my dear friend John wouldn't. Yes, they want to repeal health care, and they say replace. Well, you'll have a whole host of issues that you enjoy today that won't be enjoyed anymore. You won't see seniors closing that prescription drug gap that they have, you won't be able to have pre-existing conditions no longer be a bar to you getting insurance; you won't have a child born at birth who now will be able never--if they have a defect--to no longer be denied insurance. And yes, we have cost controls in that bill. On Wall Street reform, look, two weeks before, two weeks before the Wall Street reform bill was passed, you know, a hedge fund manager ultimately raised a million dollars for Republican candidates two weeks before the bill was being voted on, and they tried to stop us four times in the Senate before we got the Wall Street reform. I think that people in America believe in a free market as we as Democrats do, but there's a difference between a free market and a free fall market.

I’m sorry that this went overly long, but I think we all need to see this for what it is. Republicans are simply out of ideas. It has gone beyond having a knee-jerk reaction to every Democratic plan of “NO.” I think today we have been served a dish called the Republican agenda, a dish served on a silver platter with a silver cover to keep it warm.

And upon having the cover removed, we now see that there is nothing on the plate. There is nothing there. Not because Republicans are incapable of coming up with an idea, not at all. It has become all too clear to me why Republicans offer no new ideas anymore.

The Republicans have run out of fuel. They are running on empty.

Cornyn and Olson Set to Decry Deepwater Moratorium

I was reading a short blurb in FortBendNow, you can read it here, that Texas Senator John Cornyn and my CD-22 congressman, Pete Olson, are setting up to attack the Obama Administration’s 6-month deepwater oil drilling moratorium.

They plan to visit a semi-submersible drill ship that is currently standing at idle in the Texas deepwater, and then a local Stafford family-owned drilling tool maker.

It’s painfully transparent that this investigative tour to “take a look at the impact the Obama Administration’s deepwater drilling moratorium is having on local small businesses, jobs, the local economy, and our nation’s energy security” is nothing more than an exercise in the “politics of No” for local consumption.

“Following the rig tour, Cornyn and Olson will visit Stafford small business Sunbelt Machine Works Corp., which manufactures tools for the oil and gas industry and stands to suffer layoffs and significant setbacks due to the moratorium. Family-owned Sunbelt Machine Works currently employs a staff of 70. Sunbelt has already been forced to cut back hours and productivity as a result of the moratorium, according to a Cornyn and Olson.”

It’s a pretty stunning thing to say that cutbacks in the hours and productivity of a local family-owned business should be given the same weight and consideration as the issue of uncertainty of whether the major oil companies have a plan on what to do when a deepwater well blows out. It should be very clear to all of us by now that they haven’t had a plan, still don’t have a plan, and we don’t know when or whether they will have a workable plan in the future.

Russian Roulette is a game of chance played with one live round and six empty chambers, and that is the game that Cornyn and Olson want us to play with the 11th largest body of water on the face of the earth. Truth is, we now know that it was only a matter of time that a blowout on the order of the Deepwater Horizon’s blowout would occur.

I would also remind Olson that even his congressional leader, John Boehner, agrees that “maybe there is a reason there to pause till we know what happened and we can make sure we can prevent it again.”

Yes he did say that.

How long should the “pause” be? To my mind, 6 months is too arbitrary, and to put a finite time limit to it at this stage of the game seems unreasonable. How long should the “pause” be? It should be long enough to come to correct conclusions on the cause of the blowout, formulation of reasonable contingency plans should one occur again, with once more being too many, and engineering and manufacture of blowout preventers that can reliably operate in high pressure low temperature conditions in a failsafe manner. Currently blowout preventers, the ultimate well control device, are not 100% reliable in the most benign environment, and less so at extreme water depths and pressures. Indeed, one thing that can be predicted as an offshoot of this disaster is that blowout preventers will be redesigned as predicted by Paul Bommer, a UT petroleum engineering professor quoted here:

“…one thing is fairly certain. The Gulf oil spill will probably result in a "re-design" of BOPs, said UT's Bommer, as well as an overhaul of how they're tested and activated”

Leaving us with the plight of businesses that deal exclusively with deepwater oil exploration and production. What lessons should they take from this? Simply this: if your business depends on a special area of the oil business like the Gulf of Mexico deepwater, that is, if you put all of your eggs in one basket, take a lesson from the words of a great American, Mark Twain:

“Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.”

But the Republican plan seems to be to “watch that basket” by letting oil companies resume deepwater drilling before anyone is ready.

And that serves no one but the demagogues and lapdogs of the oil industry.

Republicans Argue A Reid/Lott Double Standard: Rubbish

Now usually I would stay out of this because a person of non-color, like myself, has no business weighing in on whether what Harry Reid said in what he thought were off the record remarks about President Obama’s skin color and “accent” was appropriate or not.

I’ll just say that in weighing who to support during the run-up to the primary season, I did not choose Barack Obama as my first choice at the time because I didn’t think America was ready to elect an African-American as President of the United States.

History and Obama’s masterful oratory proved me wrong.

But now that my senator, junior Senator John Cornyn has weighed in, and is calling for Harry Reid to step down from his leadership position – because of a double standard – well yes I do have to offer an opinion on the senator’s assertion: Rubbish.

John Cornyn is quoted in Politico as saying this:

“…any Republican who said what Reid said would be under attack from Democrats, leading African-Americans and the media.”

Enlarging on Cornyn’s observation RNC Chairman Michael Steele made the analogy that should make every progressive American’s blood boil:

“What’s interesting here, is when Democrats get caught saying racist things, an apology is enough. If that had been Mitch McConnell saying that about an African-American candidate for president of the president of the United States, trust me, this chairman and the [Democratic National Committee] would be screaming for his head, very much as they were with Trent Lott.”

So, OK, we need a brief history lesson, then, don’t we?

In December 2002, at an event that feted the 100th birthday of Senator Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott as Senate Majority leader made the seemingly innocent observation that America would have been better off with Strom Thurman as President when he ran for the office in the 1948 election:

“When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either.”

Republican apologists at the time claimed that Lott was simply showing his respect for the most senior senator (at the time). Others scratched the surface of his remark and didn’t like the smell that filled the room.

Trent Lott, like his mentor, Strom Thurmond, was a segregationist of the first order. When Lott attended university, the University of Mississippi, during the turmoil and race issues in the early ‘60s, Lott oversaw a controversy whereby his fraternity, Sigma Nu, was considering admitting African-Americans to its exclusive whites-only club. Recalls former CNN president Tom Johnson, a Sigma Nu member, “Trent was one of the strongest leaders in resisting the integration of the national fraternity in any of the chapters.”

In short, Trent Lott’s remarks in 2002 bespoke those of an unrepentant segregationist, someone who wished for simpler times when Whites held office and Blacks poured coffee.

In other words, Harry Reid’s remarks, while unfortunate and very much reflective of his White Judeo-Mormon Nevadan background, cannot hold a candle to Trent Lott’s racist reverie.

And even to suggest equivalence between their remarks is a trip down the path toward a bovine male’s defecation.

Cornyn: “The Fight is Far From Over”

Commenting on passage this morning of the Senate version of the healthcare bill by the same 60 votes it received the previous evening, my Texas junior senator, John Cornyn (R – Wacko) had some bewildering words to say.

From the Chron:

“I had hoped that one of my colleagues would have a Christmas Eve conversion and give the American people the gift they really want: a vote against the $2.5 trillion Reid Bill. We lost a battle today, but the fight is far from over. My colleagues and I will to do all that we can to identify every payoff and back room deal that Democrats cut to railroad this bill through.”

Some amazing double talk, huh?

First, there’s that thing about the “Christmas Eve conversion” implying that those voting for the bill were pagans and that those in the Grand “No” Party were good Christians.

But you have to expect this from such a morally corrupt man like John Cornyn, so I’ll let that one pass.

Because what I really want to focus on is the second train of thought he offered. That the fight is “far from over.”

Actually, I think it is. The two houses of Congress both passed a healthcare bill. I have no doubt that one will emerge that both houses will pass, some in both houses undoubtedly holding their noses as they press the “Aye” button.

But Cornyn’s fight isn’t over the healthcare bill anymore is it? It’s over how the bill got passed in the Senate. It’s about how 3 senators held out for their own provincial interests and got major concessions to the benefit of their respective state’s voters.

His fight, now, is “to identify every payoff and back room deal” that took place to get those 60 solid filibuster-proof votes.

That’s what I like about John Cornyn. He is so dumb when he opens his mouth it makes be laugh right out loud.

And here’s why: when Democrats hold out against their party it is to get something for their constituents. When Republicans hold out against their party, it is to get something for themselves and theirs.

But what is most appropriate is how I can illustrate this point with some poetic justice.

You see, one of the good things that the healthcare reform bill does is that it closes the so-called “Doughnut Hole” in Medicare Part D. The hole that seniors fall into after their yearly cumulative prescription drug benefit reaches a certain amount, leaving them to pay the total cost of the meds that they need to live. A cost that is prohibitive on a fixed income.

And from whence did this “doughnut hole” come? Straight from Big Pharma. In 2003 the Bush Regime needed to buy off seniors’ votes in the upcoming election, and what better way to do that than to give seniors a pharmaceutical benefit in Medicare. Only we’re talking about Neoconservatives in their heyday now, so who do they get to draft this legislation that became known as the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act? Pharmaceutical lobbyists, of course. Lobbyists who wrote legislation to directly benefit the pharmaceutical companies represented by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

Credited with the law’s passage are two people. Former Congressman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) who chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare, and my former congressman, Tom DeLay (R – Tx.).

Tauzin got his. At a cool $2 million per year, he became the highest paid lobbyist in DC. And who was his new boss? PhRMA.

On November 22, 2003 the bill had hit the House floor and it looked like it was going to go down. It was opposed by Democrats and conservative (but not neoconservative) Republicans.

Here is a description of what ensued, courtesy of Bruce Bartlett of Forbes:

“What followed was one of the most extraordinary events in congressional history. The vote was kept open for almost three hours while the House Republican leadership brought massive pressure to bear on the handful of principled Republicans who had the nerve to put country ahead of party. The leadership even froze the C-SPAN cameras so that no one outside the House chamber could see what was going on.”

“Among those congressmen strenuously pressed to change their vote was Nick Smith, R-Mich., who later charged that several members of Congress attempted to virtually bribe him, by promising to ensure that his son got his seat when he retired if he voted for the drug bill. One of those members, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was later admonished by the House Ethics Committee for going over the line in his efforts regarding Smith.”

So really, if Senator Cornyn wants a fight, a real one against real criminals, maybe he shouldn’t look much further than his own political party. Because it’s not a crime to get things for your constituents. In fact, that is one of the reasons Texans elected Cornyn: to get stuff for Texas. But it is a criminal act to trade your vote for personal gain, or to offer someone that trade.

And what did Tom DeLay get for his crimes?

Stress fractures.

Cornyn: A Few Apples Short of a Full Load

Nice headline huh? I wish I had thought of it. But no, it’s the eye catching headline featured these days on the Austin American-Statesman’ blog “Postcards From the Lege.”

“Cornyn just a few apples short.”

Well, OK, I finished their sentence for them.

It refers to coverage of a Thanksgiving story about how my junior senator, John Cornyn, found himself in a photo op session helping pack apples into 25 pound capacity crates at the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.

Cornyn, it seems, erred on the side of lightness and failed to load his crates with the requested minimum of 25 pounds.

After this fact was apparently pointed out to him Cornyn quipped “Good enough for government work.”

Get it?

Cornyn, works for the government? And he’s doing some work?

And doing it rather poorly at that.

But then I think John Cornyn is rather used to performing below minimum acceptable standards. Rather than vote for historical change in healthcare reform, rather than being on the side of history, Cornyn votes NO. Rather than help thousands of Texas children get back on healthcare coverage, Cornyn votes NO on SCHIP.

It’s a pity that as an army brat John Cornyn was not subjected to the same kind of work ethic that was imposed upon me by my parents. My father had a saying that he drummed into me:

“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well.”

I never heard the saying “good enough for government work” until I had my first government contract, and even then I had to have it explained to me.

Cornyn, obviously had different upbringing.

Different values.

And that’s what makes him a few slices short of a full loaf.

Looming: Outrage Against Republicans Who Vote For Rapists

Last Month our new senator from Minnesota, Senator Al Franken, proposed an amendment to HR 3326 the Defense Department Appropriations bill, S 2588. This bill was meant to fix the problem that became big news in 2005 when Jamie Leigh Jones, an employee of KBR in Iraq who was brutally raped and beaten by her male co-workers then had to suffer the indignity of submitting to arbitration (that is, without a judge, jury or public record of the hearing – something that would be unheard of had the crime been committed in America). KBR claimed that Ms. Jones had signed away any right to a trial of any kind when she became their expatriate employee in Iraq.

Franken’s bill, simply put would deny the use of funds for any Federal contract “if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.”

The bill was debated and approved on October 6th.

Thirty Republican senators voted no.

John Cornyn, the junior senator from Texas was among their number. Kay Bailey Hutchison voted in favor of the amendment.

30 white men, Republicans all, voted against the rights of a rape victim.

Why mention this now? This seems to be some old news.

Politico is reporting today that momentum from this event is gaining steam and that these 30 senators, including John Cornyn of Texas, are going to be presented to Americans by Democrats that Republicans are insensitive to rape victims. In particular, six of these Republicans who are up for re-election in 2010.

From Politico:

“Angry letters denouncing Republican senators have appeared in newspapers from Tennessee to Idaho. Unflattering videos of senators trying to explain their votes have gone viral on the Internet, including one of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) swatting away a hand-held video camera held by a liberal blogger questioning his vote against the amendment.”

“And Democratic strategists are salivating at the prospects of using the vote against the eight GOP senators who voted against the amendment and are up for reelection in 2010.”

So in case you start hearing about this, I thought maybe you should also be able to view the above-mentioned video taken by the blogger who asked the junior senator about his vote for rapists and against all American women.



What a class act, huh?.

Pete Olson Still Can’t Find the “Yes” Button

From time to time I get an email alert on how my federal legislators voted on key votes in the House and Senate. This past weekend I received the latest and it held only mild surprise for me.

Kay Bailey Hutchison actually voted “Yes” for something.

Actually she sometimes does, and in doing so, splits (and therefore cancels) the Texas vote.

And that’s fine. We don’t need John Cornyn’s vote to count for anything, so having Kay Bailey cancel him out from time to time is a satisfactory outcome.

This time Kay voted Yes on the “Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010.”

Cornyn voted no along with 24 others – all Republicans.

What is this bill? It is HR 3288 passed in the House in July by a vote of 256 to 168 (and yes, Pete Olson voted “No”). A bill to:

• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Department of Transportation
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Federal Maritime Commission
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the National Transportation Safety Board
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, and
• Make appropriations for FY2010 to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

In other words, to keep significant public services in our government working.

Kay Bailey voted “Yes”, Cornyn and his protégé Olson voted in Republican lockstep “No.”

Pete Olson’s voting decisions are simple.

He simply votes “No.”

He voted “No” to rebuke CongressRacistMan Joe Wilson for his unprecedented heckling of the President earlier this month.

He voted “No” to fund the “Advanced Vehicle Technology Act.” An act that appropriated funding to advance our technology in the development of “new vehicle technologies.” Because, as we all know, we have lots of oil and lots of money to buy foreign oil to feed our gas-hungry internal combustion engines.

And he voted “No” to fund the “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.” A bill to replace an antiquated educational funding program, the “Federal Family Education Loan Program” with a more robust and realistic program embodied in this bill which serves to, among other things, increase the number of Pell Grants to college students and to increase their annual maximum.

It’s been awhile, I guess, since Pete Olson was at a university. Tuition has gone up a bit since then.

But Pete voted “No”, just the same.

All of this just gives me pause. I haven’t heard of a credible Democratic candidate coming in to make CD-22 the next Democratic congressional district as of yet, and am getting a little impatient. CD-22 is ripe for a reversal in 2010, and I am just wondering whether anyone at the DCCC is aware of it yet.

If not, will someone please shake them awake?

CNN Report Card: Texas Senators Have a 43% Disapproval Rating

Here’s something you can do today. Go to the CNN website that asks you 10 questions about the 2^nd 100 days of the newly elected federal government.

You are given eleven grade choices ranging from A+ to F upon which to rate various parts of the government as well as how you think it is doing on some of the real burning issues of the day (notably missing is any mention of Barack Obama’s birth certificate).

Notably, whatever the subject matter, there is that group of whiners that give the grade of F to just about anything. F is the most common grade category, ranging from 25% to 54% of all ratings cast.

Also notably, a full 43% of all Texans who responded to Question 6 which asks you to grade the performance of YOUR state’s 2 US Senators, assigned a rating of either D or F (16% D, 27% F). Throw in the grade of C- and you have a grand total of 49% of the respondents who think that Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison are doing a poor job.

My guess is that some of these low ratings are from people like me, people who finally had an opportunity to click on the “F” button in this non-scientific poll. But I’ll bet that some of these ratings are from teabaggers who just hate the way Kay Bailey voted in favor of the TARP bill.

You have all day today to rate your government. CNN will announce the final tallies tomorrow, August 6^th at 7 PM CDT.

Kay Bailey: Keep it Respectful

Well last week we got to hear the junior senator from Texas become the voice of reason on the NPR radio show “All Things Considered” as he begged to disagree with the RNC (Rush Newt Cheney) chorus of hate and bile as they laid into Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being a racist.

Of their remarks he said this:

“I think it's terrible... This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advice and consent. Neither one of these men [Limbaugh and Gingrich] are elected Republican officials. I just don't think it's appropriate. I certainly don't endorse it. I think it's wrong.”

Then today his partner in crime Senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison echoed Cornyn’s words with her own take on the Sotomayor nomination:

From AP:

“I definitely think we need to have the respectful tone and we need to look at the record. We need to have the responsibilities that have been put on us by the Constitution taken very seriously.”

Implying of course that the remarks of Limbaugh, Gingrich, Rove et al. were not respectful and were not to be taken seriously.

And this has apparently sparked a fury in the rabid right as comments posted at the Houston Chronicle’s website revealed.

“Sounds as though Hutchison is selling out to the illegal Hispanic vote. Is there no one left that represents Americans?”

“If Sonia Sotomayor's behavior had been respectful there wouldn't be a problem now. Her in your face, arrogant, racist rhetoric needs to be addressed. Everybody's personal story is rather unique. What qualifies a Latina woman to be a better judge than anyone? Could Kay Bailey Hutchison answer this question for me?”

“Well, first off, her "life experiences" should play no part in her decisions. Save that for Dr Phil. Secondly her statements on race would disqualify her to serve as a juror, and you want her to serve on the highest court in the land? NO WAY JOSE”

So it has become obvious to me that not only is John Cornyn trying to court a few more Hispanic votes after having chased them all away in 2008 with his border fence (I was for having one before I was against having one) nonsense but it is also clear to me that Kay Bailey has all but written off the right wing in her quest to replace Governor Rick Perry on the ballot in November 2010.

And rightly so.

After all, the rabid teabagging right of the Grand Obsolete Party is what Governor Perry refers to when he says the words “My base.”

Perry has all of those votes locked in anyway, so why not reach out to the Hispanic vote by looking like a reasonable person willing to listen, judge, and then vote to confirm the first Latina Supreme Court justice?

Barring any surprises, this thing is a done deal, so there is no upside to looking like an obstructionist from the Party of No.

I am going to put Kay Bailey’s vote to confirm in the Aye column. As for John Cornyn it is anyone’s guess because when it comes to issues of an Hispanic nature, John Cornyn changes his mind about as often as I change my socks.

John Cornyn and I Finally Agree On Something

I have to hand it to my US Senator from Texas, Junior Senator John Cornyn. He doesn’t let a day go by when he doesn’t say something impossibly idiotic. It has been almost comical.

Comical except for the fact that when he votes in the Senate he now usually votes No as many times as he voted Aye when the Republicans had majorities and a president in the White House.

But today he was quoted saying something that I can really get behind.

Dick Cheney should campaign for Republican candidates.

From Politico:

“I think it depends on the circumstance on the race [but] I’d be proud to appear with the vice president anywhere, anytime.”

I couldn’t agree more. I would love to see John Cornyn share the stage with Dick Cheney. Heck, I’d be thrilled if Cheney started doing this with all manner of Republican candidates, starting as soon as in the primaries next year.

Sharing the stage, a laugh or two, maybe a pitcher of iced tea, with REAL Republicans.

Because what we really want to do is stir up Cheney’s base and get them out to the voting booths and nominate Real Republicans to run against Democrats in the fall. Republicans that are as scary as Dick Cheney is.

Or as dumb as John Cornyn.

Time to Primary John Cornyn

Although the junior Senator from Texas, John Cornyn, has just been re-elected to his Senate seat in the last election, it’s not too early to plan John Cornyn’s early retirement package. Because it is time to primary John Cornyn.

Today, John Cornyn became an apologist for liberal Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.

From CQ Politics:

“While we were disappointed by Senator Specter’s decision to switch parties, he was very candid to acknowledge that this was simply nothing more, nothing less than political self-preservation.

As Leader McConnell indicated, his own pollster told him he could not win the Republican primary in Pennsylvania. So his only options were to leave the Senate or to switch parties, since he was determined or he was convinced he could not win as an independent.”

Hah! He left the Republican Party because he couldn’t be re-elected? John Cornyn lies! John Cornyn, himself a liberal, avoids the issue. Arlen Specter didn’t leave the Republican Party because he simply wanted to stay in office. He left The Party because he has become a communist.

A fascist communist.

And so is John Cornyn.

John Cornyn, who endorsed Arlen Specter over a true conservative, a True Republican. The Club for Growth’s own Pat Toomey.

That’s why we need to get rid of this senator. He no longer serves in the interests of the right-thinking People of Texas. John the Fascist.

And with righteous groups like The Club for Growth raising True Republican consciousness (and raising campaign cash to boot) we can recruit and run a True Republican against Communist Cornyn.

Who do we look to, to get this done? A few names come to mind. Congressman Tom DeLay comes to mind. He has been in Virginia for far too long and needs to come home to Texas. Another who comes to mind is Speaker Tom Craddick. With the Texas legislature being influenced by liberal communists, Tom Craddick would be better used by True Republicans in the US Senate.

Whoever we run, it’s time now to put the wheels in motion.

[Note to Googlers: this is supposed to be a parody. I’m not serious.]

Cornyn Cuts Up: Coleman/Franken Contest Will Take “Years” to Resolve

What a guy our US Senator from Texas is. What a cut-up.

Today, not only did John Cornyn predict that it will take “years” to resolve the Coleman/Franken Minnesota senatorial contest (that guy . . . what a jokester), but he predicted if in the meantime, it doesn’t take years, and the victorious Democratic Senator-elect is finally seated, World War III will erupt.

No, really, that’s what my senator said.

Now, as I recall, World War I started when an anarchist set off a bomb that killed Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. That and a bunch of secret mutual defense pacts. And World War II began when Hitler and Joseph Stalin played a little “one for me and one for you,” splitting a sovereign Polish state between them.

World War III, in John Cornyn’s opinion, will break out when Al Franken takes the seat awarded to him by 254 voters.

Or maybe he is just speaking figuratively, do you think?

As in World War III is an unthinkable proposition and we just don’t want to go there.

Well I can tell you that unlike the real World War III, John Cornyn’s make-believe World War III is far and away long overdue.

I would love it if the Grand Obstructionist Party screamed bloody murder when Minnesota’s Supreme Court comes to its final, and also long overdue decision that Al Franken won the November senatorial election.

Just think of the imagery. The Grand Party of NO brings the government to a screaming halt in protest over this seating. The government stalls, Wall Street tanks, and the economy augers into the ground. Net result? Republicans elect dog catchers and that is all for another 200 years. Or better yet, failing to ruin this country the GOP tries to grab another federal office by having the whole thing decided in the US Supreme Court. A thing that Cornyn hopes . . . er . . . thinks will take years. Just lay back and think on it. What an opportunity to show that once again Republicans cannot pull it off in a contested election, and run to their 4 sure-thing Supreme Court justices, hoping against hope for yet another coup d’état.

Because we now have an 8-year long perspective on how well it turned out the last time they did that.

World War III? To quote the former president, bring it on.

Cornyn “On Good Faith Disagreements”

Here is what my US Senator said today about the possibility of establishing a “Truth Commission,” as proposed by Senator Patrick Leahy. A body that would look into allegations of abuse of power by the Bush Regime.

“The idea that this so-called Truth Commission would somehow resolve the good-faith disagreements ... is just asking us to believe in the tooth fairy.”

Now it is possible to get behind the realpolitik stance of moderate Republican Arlen Spector, who said that Democrats “can walk in the front door” of the Justice Department and “ask directions to the relevant filing cabinet.” Mainly because that is happening already. Day by day new revelations are coming out about all sorts of unconstitutional legal opinions proffered by Justice lawyers after 9/11. Really all we have to do is look in and see what has been filed.

But Leahy is also correct. This needs to be a matter of public investigation, and should be bipartisan, or if you will, non-partisan.

But that won’t happen as long as you have brainiacs like John Cornyn in there stirring up the pot, calling acts and deeds that were arguably illegal if not immoral, “good faith disagreements.”

Did Josef Stalin have a good faith disagreement with the people he and his surrogates sent to the gulags?

With the people he had double tapped in the basements of Lefortovo Prison?

Honestly, if the disagreement is one of “good faith, ” let’s say, the good faith disagreement that waterboarding is a form of torture, I can figure out a good way to settle the disagreement.

Let’s set up a chamber in the basement of the Capitol, and let’s line up all the ladies and gentlemen of Congress who have a “good faith disagreement” that waterboarding is not really torture, John Cornyn can stand at the head of the line. Let them in the chamber one at a time, then stuff a wet rag down their mouths, tie them to a board so their feet are slightly elevated over their heads, put a wet cloth sack over their heads, and then poor water in their mouths through the sack.

All the while asking where they planted the bomb.

And not stopping until it is found out where it is.

My guess is we will have a few fewer “good faith disagreements” by the time we go through that line.

Will You Walk Into My Parlour Said the Spider to the Fly

Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I've a many curious things to shew when you are there."
Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

- From “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt

You know, the last time that a very popular Democratic president was asked to come to Texas, a president who despite his national popularity, had very unfavorable ratings in said state, it was none other than John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

And nothing good came of that November trip.

So it comes as no surprise that junior senator from Texas, John Cornyn is the first to offer President Obama a personal tour of Laredo. Laredo, the safest city this side of Mosul.

Quite frankly, I think Barack Obama has better things to do than to kneel to John Cornyn’s egotistical grandstanding. It makes me wonder whether Cornyn has thrown in a personal tour of Cornyn’s own hunting lease, where they will cruise around in Cadillacs with the rag tops down so they can shoot game at will. I hear that Kennedy was especially taken with that act of pure Texas culture.

No. I’m pretty sure that Barack Obama can take care of these matters at his level, in talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Let’s let John Cornyn rub elbows with the Laredo locals and swap lies with the Federales. That’s his bailiwick and I’m sure he’s good at swapping lies.

And let’s let Obama do what he is good at.

Developing and communicating policy.

Cornyn’s Out of Luck: Stanford Financial Benefactors Assets Seized

I mentioned this before, that Texas Senator John Cornyn was treated to a Delay-esque junket to a Caribbean paradise for 4 days just after the 2004 election, ostensibly to conduct a “fact-finding mission.” Treated to this boondoggle by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford.

And also that three federal agencies were investigating R. Allen Stanford’s activity in his offshore banks on Antigua and Barbuba. Well, the chickens came home to roost today as the SEC has filed civil charges against Stanford Financial, freezing their assets in the bargain.

Holy Madoff.

It seems that in these times of 3% CD interest, Stanford’s two Caribbean banks were offering an 8.25% return on $8 billion worth of CDs, leading the feds to ask how the guy can possibly pay out on that.

Leading me to wonder what John Cornyn did, or didn’t do to deserve a free paid vacation. John Cornyn and his “undisclosed companion.” Because living here in the heart of Texas 22, a congressional district that returned wheeler/dealer Republican former Congressman Tom Delay for 10 terms, notions like this become second nature to you.

Maybe someday we will find out.

But today, I come to find that John Cornyn didn’t just lose a free meal ticket in the seizure of assets of Stanford Financial.

He lost a substantial source of lucre.

Last time I mentioned that R. Allen Stanford donated $2,000 to Cornyn’s campaign committee, this despite the fact that he donated to Democrats by a larger margin than to Republicans in the last cycle.

It gets better.

Because in total, between Stanford, Stanford’s executive team, and Stanford’s PAC, John Cornyn’s campaign received $19,700 from this business entity whose assets have now been frozen by the SEC.

You know, John Cornyn wasn’t even on the Banking Committee when he was given that trip. But now that he is, and into this group of people who are being accused of fraud to the tune of over $27,000, gee, I don’t know. Do you think Cornyn should return all that money? Return this money at least to give the illusion of propriety?

I’ll bet these guys could use the money right now to pay their lawyers.

Maybe buy an “Obama Effect” Glock.

And here is the bigger mystery. Most of these guys at OpenSecrets.org are big players in DC. Huge amounts of influence to be gotten here. Why then, oh why, among all of these heavy hitters do we find the name of Pete Olson? Pete Olson, who never served a day in elected office in his life, somehow rated receiving a total of $14,500 from this same sorry group of people and PAC.

$2300 of it came from Stanford, himself.

For Pete Olson.

Gee, could it be that they know Pete Olson? Could it be that they know Olson through his previous staff job in DC working for Senator Phil Gramm? The same Phil Gramm that engineered the financial meltdown that we are all experiencing?

So what about it? Do you think Pete Olson should return his lucre as well?

John Cornyn, Barbuda Still My Friend?

My friend Susan has a little piece on her not-a-blog today, Valentine’s Day 2009, on our favorite US Senator, John Cornyn. Susan says that Cornyn is stepping in to fill the empty shoes left by Tom Delay, who is busy these days being an icon of rightwing uberpartisanship.

In November of 2004, it seems, John Cornyn along with an undisclosed companion, took up an offer by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, Chairman of Stanford Financial Services to visit his operations on the Caribbean islands of Barbuda and Antiqua. As seen in the link provided by Susan, the 4-day trip was to conduct a

“Financial services industry fact-finding mission hosted by constituent company with substantial operations on site Notes Sen. Cornyn discloses expenses for himself and a companion, but does not disclose the identity of the companion. Total Cost $7,441.00”

Interesting and timely, I say, as Cornyn is certainly not hanging back staying hidden in the woodwork this time around. He finds himself in the news obstructing bills and visiting high roller contributors in New York rather than staying in DC to vote in this time of financial crisis.

But then I opened up today’s Chronicle and find that this is more interesting, and more timely, than I thought at first.

It seems that R. Allen Stanford has been under investigation by the SEC, the IRS and the FBI for awhile now. Investigators have been pretty closed mouth about what the matter is all about, other than to say that Stanford’s Caribbean banks are selling CDs that net the buyers higher than usual returns. From the Chron:

“The entire scope of the probe is unclear, but investigators are looking into the sale of certificates of deposit issued by the firm’s Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The CDs have yielded returns higher than the average.”

Wow. The very banks that Cornyn and a companion were asked to visit in 2004 as part of a “fact-finding mission” are being investigated for some questionable business practices by 3 federal agencies whose terrible combination of letters usually spell B-A-D N-E-W-S.

I also checked the FEC, and saw that Stanford had given $2000 to Cornyn’s campaign in 2007. Interesting, because Stanford and many of his highest ranking corporate officers at Stanford Financial Services had, for the most part, maxed out for Barack Obama in the last election.

Obviously, Stanford likes to win. And this is just okey-dokey as far as John Cornyn is concerned.

John Cornyn Wants Change . . . Or Maybe Not

So I guess I was one of a few politics junkies that actually tuned in to the Senatorial debate last night. This race is really flying under the radar, and only pops up occasionally when you see a TV advertisement.

I am still meeting people who don’t know who John Cornyn is, let alone Rick Noriega. When I run into the odd one who knows who Cornyn is, typically they are glad to hear that he has an opponent.

But, these people will vote for a refrigerator if it is running against John Cornyn.

So if the debate last night was meant as a means to attract the attention of the voters, it fell flat on its face. Only we junkies tuned in, you see.

So if that is what the debate was meant to accomplish, and it didn’t, what DID the debate accomplish?

Well for one thing we all got to see John Cornyn speak out of both of his mouths simultaneously.

Only people who have two faces can do that, and John Cornyn definitely has two of them.

Illustration? Let’s take the example of John Cornyn’s laughable television ad. You’ve seen it. It is a video of John Cornyn taking a walk in the country with a herd of cows. Now you can tell that he doesn’t do that very often, he is a city boy through and through. And really, so am I. But I have spent enough time out in the field, on ranches, to know this: when you walk with a herd of cattle you must look down every once in awhile.

Look down to avoid stepping in a cow pie.

But no, John Cornyn kept his gaze firmly fixed on the far horizon in this video. So my guess is that when he was done with videotaping for the day he got one of his staffers to clean his boots.



So here we have a video of John Cornyn not looking down as he walks through a herd of cattle. And we also have the voiceover claiming that he is sick of how things have gotten in Washington and how he wrote a bill to change the way things are done. Yes, that’s right, John Cornyn has picked up the Change mantra of his party leader. The mantra that John McCain lifted from the Democratic campaign.

John Cornyn, agent for change.

That’s what he is saying out of one of his two mouths. Out of the other mouth? Now this is unbelievable. Out of the other mouth, John Cornyn said in the senatorial debate last night that “I am for the status quo.”

Let me repeat that. John Cornyn said “I am for the status quo.”

How, I must ask, can one be an agent for change when they are “for the status quo?” Now that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Another way to express “pro Change” is to say “Anti-status quo”

So is John Cornyn just two-faced or is it that he was for “Change” before he was against it?

Oh, and by the way, contrast Cornyn's "Cows" TV ad with Rick Noriega's. Compared to Rick's ad, one that is full of information and substance, Cornyn's ad looks like something he just stepped in.

Noriega/Cornyn Senatorial Debate On PBS Tonight

The one and only time that Rick Noriega will be in a debate with Big Bad John Cornyn that will be seen throughout Texas is tonight. You will be able to see it on any PBS television station that broadcasts in Texas. It will be a one hour debate beginning at 8 PM. The Libertarian candidate will also be included in this debate for those who still have not gotten over Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

The debate comes at an interesting moment in the Noriega campaign, as it was just announced yesterday that Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer had written off Texas, saying that Texas was out of reach. Or at least that is what they were saying at MSNBC. They later corrected themselves. From MSNBC:

“For the record, Schumer said Texas might be difficult. He declared it ‘expensive. That’s the problem.’”

Which is exactly why Schumer and others were simply drooling at Mikal Watts’ self-funded campaign early last year.

Drooling.

Then later, Rick Miller, a Schumer staffer, came back and made it clear that MSNBC got it wrong. All wrong. From The Chron’s political blog

“But late this afternoon, Schumer spokesman Matt Miller said MSNBC had misunderstood what Schumer was saying. Miller said Schumer was saying the committee was not spending any money on television advertising in Texas right now because the state is too big and too expensive. Miller said that did not mean Schumer was giving up on Noriega. ‘We're in no way writing off Texas, and it doesn't mean he (Noriega) won't get some money in the future,’ Miller said.”

Well I’m glad they cleared that one up before the debate. It would be pretty difficult to face an opponent who knows that his own party has written off the race as unwinnable.

Now I guess we are all wondering about how far into “the future” Miller was talking about. Because if "the future" is further than 26 days away, I guess they can keep their money.

A South Texas VA Hospital? Cornyn Can’t Deliver the Goods.

Working fast and furious, our two Republican senators got some tax extensions included in a tax bill, and got some hurricane relief funds included in it as well. But when it came down to the wire, the much-promised funding for a VA hospital to serve the Rio Grande Valley somehow did not make the cut.

So South Texas veterans will have to continue to receive health care from VA hospitals that are up to a 6 hour drive away.

According to Cornyn, who is very quick to lay blame at others’ feet, the bill was not included as an amendment to a defense funding bill because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and bill manager Carl Levin refused to include it.

John Cornyn has only himself to blame for this one.

Cornyn’s problem?

John Cornyn.

As the second to lowest ranked senator in the US Senate in terms of effectiveness, Cornyn is a liability for his constituents and the Senate leadership knows it. John Cornyn is up for re-election this year against a formidable opponent, Lt Col Rick Noriega. Senate leadership sees an opportunity to exchange a lemon for a plum, and declined to give the junior senator a piece of pork to deliver to his state.

The message to Texans is clear. Clean up your act and send a Democrat to the US Senate. If Texans want to get these things funded, they need to rethink this whole “elect-a-Republican-at-any-price” thing.

So South Texas veterans who are being told by John Cornyn to “keep up the pressure on Congress by making phone calls, sending e-mail and letters, and holding meetings” maybe ought to reconsider working on this with Cornyn. As we all found out this week, Cornyn can’t deliver the goods because Cornyn is Cornyn.

Rather than gnash your teeth at Cronyn’s failure, better to send a Democrat to the US Senate. A Democrat will be able to get this done.

A Democrat like Rick Noriega.