Everything You Need to Know About Dan Branch in One Headline

Apparently, Dan Branch is one of only four candidates to whom Dubya has given money since leaving office:

Former President George W. Bush gave Dan Branch $5,000 last month for his race for attorney general.

....

Bush gave $1,000 to Branch in both 2010 and 2011.

Now that Branch sees daylight and can try to move up — because Attorney General Greg Abbott is running for governor — Dubya upped his contribution to $5,000

Cahnman's Musings already had already ruled out supporting Branch in this race; this is yet another reason.

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The Intellectual Maturity of Pro-Abortion Activists

In these serious times at the Texas Capitol, what does the Huffington Post propose?!?

Texas Women: Stop Having Sex With Men Who Vote Against Your Best Interests

 The article is written by Vivian Norris de Montaigu, whose bio states:

Vivian Norris is based in Paris and holds a PhD, focusing on Globalization Studies, and wrote a dissertation on Globalization and Media.

 Apparently a native Texan, the Parisian by choice has a proposal for Texas Women:

How perfectly patriarchal, these Texas men trying to not hear what women want have shown themselves to be, but how incredibly out of touch with today's reality....Sultry, sweaty summers can be made much nicer when good old-fashioned sex is part of the picture. But women, take heed: Don't give in if your man, boyfriend, husband, toyboy is not voting for your best interests, your reproductive health -- do not sleep with that man!

Instead, make politics your sex life:

Do not make him dinner, do not go fetch him a cold beer from the fridge, do not iron that shirt, hell, do not change that diaper... do not make his life a little nicer this summer if he does not "get it" and learn to respect women! Instead, volunteer some time for senators like Wendy Davis, go with a group of women to Austin and make your voices heard. Get on the computer and the social networks and organize.

 Because George W. Bush hates ovaries:

Remember what happened last time when a Texas good ole boy governor took that patriarchy all the way to become President of the United States.

 But don't listen to those counter-revolutionary Texas Women:

[M]en in Texas who have not woken up and smelled the coffee simply do not deserve any loving. Houston has more strip clubs than libraries. You can buy a gun easier than you can get reproductive health care. There is still a virgin and whore fundamentalist mentality which is more dangerous to women as it often is also promoted by the women themselves. These women, like women who hurt other women everywhere by criticizing and judging them, need to wake up as well. Women hurting other women is suicidal. Women who play into the hand of patriarchy need to be shown the way out of that prison. Wendy Davis and Leticia Van De Putte and others are leading the way.

 After threatening counter-revolutionary Texas Women, she then makes one of the most ironic statements of all time:

The GOP will threaten and they will use silence and fear against anyone who challenges what is an outdated and unhealthy and dangerous system which abuses power against more than half of the citizens of Texas.

 Says the woman who just threatened her counter-revolutionary co-genderites.

There's not a lot to say in response.  Norris' piece is based on the assumption that women are normally so promiscuous that a 'sex strike' is a realistic option.  And that's just sad, and not true.

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Texas GOP History: When John Cornyn Replaced Phil Gramm

Cahnman's Musings just had an epiphany about when the GOP descended from the (relatively) principles-based party of the 1980's and 90's to the rudderless mess it is today.  We think it came during the midterm election of 2002.  In Texas, that was the year John Cornyn replaced Phil Gramm.

(Author's note: 2002 was also the year Bob Dole's wife replaced Reaganite Jesse Helms in North Carolina.)

First elected to the United States Senate in 1984 (following three colorful (party switching) terms in the U.S. House), Phil Gramm was a key Congressional Lieutenant for President Reagan.  Over his quarter century career, Phil Gramm helped launch and maintain the quarter century Reagan boom.  In 2002, he retired from public service.

John Cornyn, by contrast, was a close confidant of Karl Rove.  Rove helped launch Cornyn's career in the 1990's.  Over his decade in Congress, John Cornyn's record speaks for itself.

The mess in today's Republican party has many origins, but replacing a principled Reganite like Phil Gramm with a Rovian jellyfish like John Cornyn explains a lot.

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Recent Texas History: Rick Perry's 2001 "Father's Day Massacre"

The 83rd Texas Legislature is (mercifully) over.  Legislators have done their part.  All eyes now turn to Governor Rick Perry.

There is a lot of bad legislation floating around.  Cahnman's Musings will detail some of it in the coming days.  For today, however, we want to remind readers about a recent piece of Texas' political history.

In June 2001, following his first legislative session as George W. Bush's successor, Governor Rick Perry vetoed 79 bills in one day.  At the time, it was dubbed the "Father's Day Massacre."  This so-called "Father's Day Massacre" established Rick Perry as the dominant player at the Capitol.

The best part of the Father's Day Massacre is that it gave the usual suspects around Austin a conniption fit; as Lou DuBose reported a decade later:

Perry's vetoes came from out of nowhere. The governor's legislative staff didn't attempt to get in the way of the bills. Legislators didn't get courtesy calls.

"This was mean-spirited," a lobbyist told me. "This was the governor getting even."

"There was no playbook that he was working from," said a state employee who had been chief of staff for a legislator at the time.

(Author's Note: Did you notice that the lobbyist and the state employee didn't allow themselves to be quoted by name?!?)

 During Rick Perry's Presidential campaign, NRO's Katrina Trinko observed:

The dramatic gesture paid off.

The Austin American-Statesman analyzed over 500 e-mails and letters that were sent to Perry’s office in the aftermath of the vetoes, and found the response overwhelmingly positive. Perry, the American-Statesman reported, “appears to have energized people who support the death penalty, oppose abortion, are wary of more government — and whose turnout at the polls is necessary for him to win a full term in the 2002 election.” Winning the trust of conservatives was important for Perry. Before the vetoes, he had signed a hate-crimes bill that was opposed by many conservatives — his office was inundated with calls the days before the bill hit his desk — and was the Democrats’ “top priority” that session, according to Texas political analyst William Lutz.

 The 83rd Texas Legislature was EXTREMELY disappointing, but Rick Perry remains Governor.  That office has a lot of power, including sole discretion over vetoes.  Cahnman's Musings encourages Governor Perry to use it extensively.

-----

Contact the Governor:
Phone: (512) 463-2000
Twitter: @GovernorPerry

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BREAKING NEWS: Rick Perry Caves on Obamacare

Sigh:

Governor Rick Perry reverses position on Medicaid Expansion
by,
Abe Rill Phuelez
April, 1st 2013

Austin, TX -- Citing a need to 'embrace political moderation' and fear of 'being called mean by Democrats,' Texas Governor Rick Perry today reversed his position on expanding Medicaid under the 2010 Federal Health Care Law.

"In 2012, Mitt Romney decisively won independents and the results speak for themselves.  Texans should embrace political moderation to achieve similar results," Perry said.  "As Governor, I fear being called mean by Democrats so much that I would rather expand a bankrupt Medicaid program."

Medicaid expansion will split Texas Republicans.  Representative David Simpson and Senator Donna Campbell issued a joint statement calling the move 'heartbreaking and inexplicable.'  Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, by contrast, hailed Perry's decision as "the best news I've heard all session."

Battleground Texas Reacts

Jeremy Bird, President Obama's handpicked choice to rebuild Texas Democrats, echoed Straus' sentiments.

"Battleground Texas is ecstatic Governor Perry has joined the tradition of former Virginia state senator John Chichester and former Colorado Governor Bill Owens by preemptively expanding government" said Bird. "As we recently made clear, Battleground Texas does not yet posses the resources we need to win.  Medicaid expansion is the taxpayer financed slush fund of Battleground Texas' dreams."

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Mark McKinnon called the move 'a strategic milestone' for Democrats.  "The long-term objective of the Democrat party is subvert traditional American virtues of individual sovereignty and self-reliance and to replace them with a spirit of fear and dependence on Caesar.  Any system that traps another million souls in a substandard health-care system is a slam dunk win for Texas Democrats."

Julian Castro salivates

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the political figure most widely expected to benefit from Medicaid expansion, issued the following statement:

"I am delighted Governor Perry chose to reject common-sense Medicaid reforms like Federal block granting in favor of the mother of all payola schemes for Texas Democrats.  Socialized medicine will allow me to establish a protection racket for a statewide run in a way that felony corporate contributions never could.  Medicaid expansion will be Julian Castro's personal Tammany Hall.

Tea Party activists were too busy fighting among themselves to comment.

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Was George W. Bush ever Governor of Texas?!?

Michael Quinn Sullivan might be a dirty Aggie, but so is the Governor of Texas; speaking of Governors of Texas:

I was at the Capitol this afternoon, standing in the Rotunda waiting for someone. A woman (wearing a big "Support Public Schools" button) was beside me, and asked (to no one in particular) why there was a picture of George W. Bush hanging there and not a picture of Barack Obama. "These are Texas governors. Bush was governor," I explained. "No he wasn't," she said definitively. Ok. — at Texas State Capitol.

GREAT moments in Public Education!!!

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