John Sharp is out on the road stumping for the tax bill and plays it up for the masses with that folksy charm that Texans eat up with a spoon. Seriously. He was speaking to folks in a hardware store. Wait, we just have to set the image for you. Scene: Main Street USA. Exterior: Slightly run-down hardware store in an economically depressed hardscrabble little dusty Texas town. Politician walks in to crowd of middle-aged and weather-worn townfolk to talk about how the government is there to help them. (Are you with me now?)
Sharp laid out the new tax plan and spent a lot of time talking about the cigarette tax. Just to prove he knows taxes like that hurt people like the ones that hang out in hardware stores, he pulled out a tin of tobacco and as he put a pinch between his cheek and gum, he sympathized that times are tough on all us regular folk.
Cue music, fade out. Annnnd SCENE! Cut, print, next shot.
Say what you will, but Sharp has been everywhere the last six months... conferences, conventions, meetings... I even heard he spoke to a local Methodist church's women's group.
I pose this question to you. If you had the option: Bell or Sharp as the Dem for Gov. in 06?
Bell.
Sharp wants to be a Perry apologist, ignore the fact that his "plan" is going to bottom out in 3 years when the surplus runs dry and force everyone to do this all over again - all while allowing Perry to win re-election b/c he presented a "bipartisan" plan, then let him. Sharp has traveled the state, but he's ignored every Democratic concern with his legislation. Republicans have concerns - he appreciates their input. Democrats try to contact his office, then they're just throwing fire and not willing to be part of the solution.
Bunch of bullshit. I say again - Sharp couldn't go anywhere that doesn't have a ten-foot door for his massive ego.
Sharp ain't nothing but Perry's 2006 buttboy democrat - just as Morlaes was in 2002.
In a state where they'd call Lieberman a liberal, I guess my thought is that we might have a better chance of winning with Sharp. Bell's a great guy and would be a great governor, I just can't drink the cool-aid on this one.
Tell me how the Sharp plan is going to help buy a textbook, pay for a teacher pay raise, fix lighting problems in our border schools, or help alleviate the rising cost of transportation in our rural schools. Tell me how it's going to help lower taxes for anyone with a home valued under $100,000 (note: don't go look in El Paso). Tell me how Sharp provided anything more than cover for the 24 Perry-appointed millionaires on the TTRC.
Dismiss it as kool-aid all you want, but when this "long-term solution" requires an increase in the sales tax three years out, $1.44 billion of a surplus that isn't going to last more than a year or two, and a regressive tax increase on cigarettes, it ain't no solution. It's a band-aid to get us past June 1, and get Perry through having to do anything even close to resembling leadership and tough action.
Sharp sold out.
Yeah! We should have an income tax! Fuck rich people!
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at April 10, 2006 3:34 PM
We're discussing two different things... I'm totally with you on the school finance solution. You're absolutely correct. I'm asking from a wanting a Democrat winning in November stand point.
Sharp absolutely sold out. Does that mean that he doesn't have the best chance of winning in November?
Wouldn't a sold out Dem (Sharp) be better than Perry?
The tax plan has no sales tax hike in it. At least give Sharp credit for that. If it had been a totally Republican plan, it would have given Texas the highest sales tax in the nation -- just like they tried to do last year.
I can't imagine Sharp going to small-town hardware stores. I don't know how his massive ego would fit through the porch door...