Speaker Tom Craddick is out peddling his story of leadership. He leaves out the threats, arm-twisting and dirty tricks and gives a more subtle tale of majority rule. By majority rule he means crushing any opposition.
Do you remember when you had hope? When you thought naively that public service and policy and doing what is right for Texans would be what politics would be like? That you would get to make a difference? That you would get to use the power and influence of the State to make lives better from Tyler to El Paso?
Then you get elected or you get a job as a staffer or an a campaign and you find out it's not about that at all. It's about winning, it's about the game, it's about the campaign donations or the ambition of the candidate and if someone mentions "the people" it gets a hearty laugh in the office.
In spite of all that, I hold out hope that the voters will see through it all one day. One day they won't swallow the bullshit that comes from the people like Craddick and Perry and they'll vote for someone forthright and strong and courageous and honorable.
Every year, that hope fades. But, I have to keep it because how can I live a life so full of cynicism and pessimism about our future?
Okay, this reply is going to be a bit lengthy because I'm pissed. So, tray tables in their upright position and seat belts fastened, here we go:
I do not recall Craddick pushing the need for himself as Speaker so much before - is this a sign of his concern or is he bordering on desperation?
I find a few interesting aspects of the attached article. Regarding his concern for trial lawyers: trial lawyers, while certainly not wanting Craddick as Speaker, would certainly NOT have the opportunity to have a liberal Democrat as Speaker this time around. Furthermore, should any legislator want to get silly and seriously attempt to reverse the business-backed tort reform measures then they would be shot out of a cannon by the Republican controlled Senate and a veto-collecting Republican governor. So good luck in trying to use the trial lawyer angle to scare the Republican's into supporting just Craddick. I think the base is smarter than that. I think Craddick is using the old political ploy of creating a boogyman to scare people to take the focus on how much he actually scares people.
"A divided Republican Party is a Democratic win." Huh? Lincoln used the whole House divided thing effectively, but the difference here is that Craddick is the cause of the division because he wants to purge "less pure" Republicans. By trying to purge your own party he divides the Party for the benefit of the Democrats. Republicans, ALL Republicans, must unite to beat the opposition. Craddick playing legislative god by deciding who lives who dies on the Republican ticket weakens the party. Republicans who lined up at the back mic in the closing days of the session where not rootng for Democrats to win. They were disenchanted and disappointed in a Speaker that said he would change in his acceptance speech at the first of the Session and broke that promise over the next 149 days.
Craddick says the Republican base knows what is best for the country. Again, huh? Is he running for President or Speaker? He best be thinking about what's good for Texas. Again, the Republican base should be ALL Republicans, not those of his choosing. In addition he states what is best for the Republican base yet he must count on Texas Democrat legislators to win the Speakership again. If trial lawyers, by and large, support Democrats, isn't then Craddick actually supporting the trial lawyers by needing Texas Democrat legislators to win?
The Speaker is not suppose to be an autocratic ruler. The Speaker is Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, not chosen Republicans or Democrats. The Speaker is not the sheriff but a traffic cop ensuring good legislation makes it through and bad legislation dies. The other 149 members are the Texas House of Representatives, elected by their respective constituency to do good in Austin.
But as we know, when push comes to shove, Craddick does both.
Craddick is bringing in Washington D.C.-style politics. Most legislators want to work together to do what's best for Texas. Sure, they will disagree on the social issues and redistricting as they always have, but that is normal.
Woe to you Democrats that will allow yourself to be used.
i must agree with plain spoken
Wow Plain Spoken,
Did Craddick run over your cat? Can't we all just agree that Craddick is an asshole shat from the womb of Tom Delay and needs to be sent packing back to the Devils Dumping Ground (Midland) from which he came?
Anon - actually no, he didn't run over my cat (yet). I'm just concerned that the Republican Party is acting worse that the Democratic Party. Interesting analogy about tom Delay/Craddick. Texas Monthly did call Craddick "A Tom Delay without the indictment".
anon - unless you're using "cat" as an analogy to my sense of Texas Pride, then yes, he did run over my "cat".
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I guess you really have to kind of admire Craddick's ability to sucker the legislators into voting him back into the Speaker's chair and then follow it up by making them all his bitches. Think Lucy luring Charlie Brown into kicking the football time and time again. It's unfortunate that our state reps are too fucking retarded to figure out how to oust him. But then again, these guys aren't really known for their brains or work ethic.