Law and Order?

...and the gaffes are over Governor Perry?

In a bid to rebuild confidence in a possible campaign for President, Rick Perry has once again stepped in it.  This time his campaign tweeted out a photo of his nemesis Rosemary Lehmberg as being the most drunk Democrat in Texas.

While his campaign has since deleted the tweet my question is has the staffer in question been fired?  If the tweet was as offensive and unauthorized as you claim Governor, why not fire the staff member for the total lack of judgement?  You are Mr. Law and Order, right?

Perry who is in legal trouble - not because of Democrat Lehmberg - but because of a Republican appointed special prosecutor should understand that this is the type of thing that is umimpressive to the voters that will win or lose an election for you.

While his current situation supposedly surrounds the question of whether or not Lehmberg should have resigned after his suggestion and whether she could run her office and the Public Integrity Unit after her own arrest for DWI, I do not remember Perry calling for the resignation of Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison or Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern.

Harrison was arrested in Seagoville after driving the wrong way down a street and hitting another car. That was his second conviction for DUI.

In November 2002, Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern was arrested in New Mexico after failing a field sobriety test and refusing a breath test. He was found guilty of aggravated DWI in June the next year.


The problem in both of those cases was they were Republican office holders.  So much for law and order.

The Man Who Would Be King...

So, the man who would be king...might still be Governor.  I will leave the dissection of Eric Cantor's loss to others and the resulting leadership scramble that will ensue.

Maybe I am wrong, but I suspect Eric Cantor is not done in politics.  I realize he lost a race that no one has ever lost before.  I realize that he could manage a waffle house with his ridiculous number of stances on immigration, but Eric Cantor despite being wrong on a number of issues is exceptionally likable.  While we all know he was pursuing becoming the first Jewish Speaker of the House of Representatives - an idea Republicans should have liked - he is not a soon to be former Member of Congress.  What is he to do?

If I were he, I would swallow my pride and endorse Dave Brat.  I would spend my next several months working my tail off for Dave Brat in Virginia's 7th Congressional District, not because you like the man, but because there is a path to redemption and part of that redemption will be making sure the district doesn't go D.

The district shouldn't go D based on the gerrymandering that happens regularly from both parties, but Cantor should ante up and bring that rolodex of fundraising home and help Mr. Brat out.  Why you ask.

Easy...there is no clear cut favorite to run for Governor of Virginia right now.  I know, I know.  That race is three years away.  (In point of face, it is about twenty to twenty-four months away.)  The point being now is the time to show we disagreed, I lost, I learned my lesson, but I can still be effective.  Again, this will be a tough pill to swallow, but if he were to get through it, he has a potential.

After the stinging defeat in 2013 of every statewide seat going Democrat for the first time in twenty-four years, Republicans do not have a clear cut and obvious choice to get back on top.  Eric Cantor is still relatively young, still has his fundraising rolodex, and will likely learn from this defeat.

The question is would he be happy as Governor?  While it isn't Speaker, it does create an interesting situation in 2020 should a Democrat be elected in 2016.  Cantor had already been on a number of Veep shortlists so could he end up in the Cabinet or another position.  I would argue more than possible.  The man who would be king, might still be....

Dreams Of Our Fathers, Hopes Of Our Egos, Or...

Finally!  The news we have all been waiting for...

Chris Christie still plans to do his 2016 thing.  The Bridgegate story be damned.  After all, he had "nothing to do with it." I don't know if he remembers from his time as a US Attorney or not, but you start low and work your way up.  The investigation that is going on so far hasn't even scratched the surface as near as I can tell, unless you count his own internal document, which shockingly enough cleared him of all wrong doing.

 

I apologize for the sidebar, but it is not clear to me why he feels so entitled, but if he hasn't noticed, Americans first off are pretty quickly getting fed up with bullys who do things the way they want, without regard to what the rest of us want.  Second, the Republican Party has gone moderate with each of its last two nominees.  I would argue longer than that as we are seeing the results of George Bush's term as President where he spent money recklessly to win elections and fight wars that were less than necessary, not to mention the civil liberties questions that continually pop their heads up under Barak Obama, but which clearly started post-9/11.  Nonetheless, the politics are simple.  If the talking heads nominate another moderate, I suspect the Tea Party folks walk and either go third party or sit on their hands.

All of that though flows back into Chris Christie.  Christie has governed as a tough in your face prosecutor, but Democrats are not the accused, they are merely another political party with ideas different than your own.  He talks about building consensus, but it sounds like from the stories on Bridgegate, his staff built consensus through political pain.

I am amazed by the brazenness of his staff, which again, makes me think somewhere along the line he nodded his head.  His Deputy Chief of Staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, did not get to her position by being stupid.  Somewhere along the line she should have realized these emails might end up in the public domain, or did she think her boss was the head of a crime family and simply wouldn't allow these emails to see the light of day?  The same with his old high school buddy David Wildstein.  These two make kid running for high school class President look smart, but if they were this brazen, why not believe they had the authority from Papa Bear?

I know I am blogging a lot about Chris Christie, but the hubris astounds me of some of the brightest GOP "stars."  If this is the best we have, I think we are in serious trouble.

To me, this looks like someone's dreams are going to come crashing down because of the weight of his ego.

Broken We Stand

In 2008 the Republican Party decided it would nominate a moderate - John McCain.  In 2012 we were told again that a moderate - Mitt Romney - was the only way to go.  You remember the record, right?  Zero for two?

Now in Virginia, the Republican party establishment wants to nominate Ed Gillespie, to be the nominee for the US Senate.  Why?  A great article over at Deo Vindice sells the point perfectly.

Are there not enough career politicians floating around?  I am blown away that anyone could seriously believe this is the way to go, to hire a campaign hack to run for office.  Where is Karl Rove when you need him?  (I'm joking.)

It is a scary thought, but at some point the Grand Old Party is going to have to find something to stand for and what is stands for can not just be the same big business that is currently buying the Democratic Party.  If there is no difference between the candidates, why am I even voting?

As the blog notes, why should conservatives or even Republicans vote for Mark Warner II?  Ed looks more than happy with Terry McAuliffe and Bill Clinton.  (I take back my previous question.  Republicans should vote for Ed so that he can steer state business, courtesy of the taxpayers, to Republican businessmen, instead of to Democrat businessmen.  What was I thinking?)

The point is the GOP needs to figure out who and what they are?  What do they care about?  At this point I am not sure and am increasingly surprised by the things that come out of their mouth, but it is time Republicans figure out and who and what they are.  It is time to know where we are on government spending, taxes, national defense and civil rights, and the various wars on drugs, poverty, and so forth.  It is time for the Republican Party to stand up for something other than big business.

I mean today the House Ways and Means Committee announced a tax reform bill to day that included a two hundred page summary.  Let me repeat that...a TWO HUNDRED PAGE SUMMARY.  Are you kidding?  How about a tax form that asks income and engages a flat tax.  That is reform.  Instead we are still playing favorites games to decide which business should benefit from government involvement.

I pray the GOP will learn before they become a permanent minority without any rights.

Rising Stars Burning Out Fast

A few years ago I was told Bob McDonnell, the 71st Governor of Virginia, was a possible candidate for Vice-President on a Mitt Romney ticket.  Just a few years later, I am told that Chris Christie is the 2016 nominee for President.  A few days ago, everyone realized neither is going to happen and these two are just two more fallen stars in the American GOP.

Again and again, we see corruption and asinine behavior from those who are supposed to be the prime players in the GOP farm club...the candidates who will restore the Republican party in the near future.

Instead, one is indicted by federal prosecutors for corruption and the other appears to have misused his office to pay back political opponents by shutting down roads, DMV offices, and ultimately who knows what else.

I apologize to all my friends in the Republican Party, but the McDonnell defense that I just did what everyone else did, doesn't cut it.  I get that we are the stupid party.  I'm even accepting of that.  I am not willing to lower my standards though so that I can become the Evil party...the party where it is okay to take from one person who works to give to someone who doesn't; the party where it is okay to kill a baby, but not a convicted murderer [for the record, both are wrong]; the party which says spotted owls are more important than humans.  When did it become okay for Republicans to lower their standards to that of their opponents Governor McDonnell?

You were one of the first people I talked to when I was appointed by Governor Gilmore to an advisory board.  If I had known you were so hard up for cash, I wouldn't have wasted your billable hours.

As for Governor Christie, you have campaigned twice on "getting things done," but now you just sound like the blowhard bully you cry that you aren't.  You were the knucklehead who ran his mouth until someone would bloody your nose and guess what.  Folks in New Jersey seem lined up to return the favor to you.

If the charges against McDonnell and potentially Christie, weren't so serious, I would laugh, but instead the "bright stars" of the Republican Party have burnt out...