Originally Posted at TexasKaos.com
Great news for Texas and Texas Democrats. One of the tactics the Texas GOP has used to scare Texans from voting for Democrats is the fear that we'd lose influence in national politics, as reflected in this Houston Chronicle article.
I actually thought this was a legitimate issue. I mean why should someone vote against their own self-interests? Now did we really want one of the most corrupt and arrogant politicians representing us is another question. And Texas, did you really want people to think of this idiot when they think of Texas? I mean. Good gawd. It was an issue Texas Democrats needed to address and only a few did IMHO. So we'll address this after the flip.
Update 1: Balanced View: btw, here's an excellent comment from a Reyes local for a balanced view.
Update 2: comment below: Reyes strongly opposes warrantless wiretapping.
Texans and Texas have taken a beating around the world for adopted son, George Bush & the Bush family. Alot of it was just not fair. But much of it - MUCH OF IT was deserved. And if that burns you Texas, then good! It should!
Hey, let's be honest, Texas. The Rot started here. We had a great governor with a 70% approval rating, who had more Texas in her hair (yeah, there was a lot of it) than George Bush had in his entire damn family - and we let his bloated whale of a campaign manager scare us with QueerFear and we voted that idiot into office.
We didn't deserve Ann Richards after that and we deserved a royal beat down. Since George Bush and his crew took office, the image and respect for Texas around the world has cratered. And given the large military presence here Bush & his "Texas" legacy should be particularly hitting.
It therefore is very fitting that the Rot that started in Texas will fixed by a Texan.
In Sylvestre Reyes, Texas finally gets a chance to atone. Let's git to werk.
Real Texas Values.
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As Americans and Texans, how does it make you feel to know this idiot represents us?
A man who never did a day of work in his life, used his dad to get him into college and out of Vietnam, had his dad clean up all his financial messes, and whose qualifications as Governor was head of a baseball team where even there he was just a figurehead. Prior to the Presidential elections, he bought a defunct pig farm in Crawford and converted it into a ranch and called himself a "rancher" - and people believed it! The. man. is. afraid. of. HORSES!!
This man does not represent Texas or real Texas values. |
In fact,
this guy doesn't represent us, nor does this
crazy woman represent Texas women, and last I heard, but when
a guy goes around hurting children, he doesn't - or at least SHOULD NOT - represent Texas!!!
And anyone who rationalizes the murders of judges should not just be out of Congress - he should be in mental hospital! Maybe we can get him out in 2008, hmmm?
Texas, do you really want these people and their ideas to represent you? And do any of these people really representing you? Are they fighting for minimum wage or against it? Are they watching out for your money or trying to raise your rates? And don't you want to know your kids and your family's health are safe with your representatives?
If you follow the links on any of those stories, you'll see that NONE of the Republican Texas representatives we have in Congress are doing a good job of protecting the interests and health of Texas consumers. Furthermore, they are embarrassing us and endangering our state and country. So, if the people who are representing Texas aren't doing anything for Texas and are actually harming the state and nation, why keep 'em?
Real Texas Values believe it or not includes hard work and George Bush, with his drunk, frat-boy sensibilities, has made even that simple statement into a joke. And this obsession of his with queers and butting into other people's business does not represent most Texans.
I mean people don't move to a state with all this land just so their neighbors can spy on them! They came here to get some space. Most Texans don't care for homosexuals - but it used to be that if you left people alone, people left you alone.
And that's where we Texans started making a mistake. When we started getting away from real Texas values, we got ourselves, our state, and our country in trouble. Bush is a lame duck, but prior to him leaving, Texans need to refute him or we'll forever be associated with him.
Unlike Bush, Reyes is not a lame duck.
I cannot underscore enough how incredibly powerful Reyes will be. Reyes is not some political goodwill nomination or a move to kiss up to Hispanics. He will be responsible for some of the most crucial investigations into the Bush administration next year (yes, Iraq pre-war intelligence).
Let that sink in. If you don't have goosebumps, check your pulse or keep reading - cuz baby, you ain't seeing it yet.
Republicans in Congress have stifled any oversight of the Bush administration when it came to several Intelligence mistakes. Just check out these Intelligence scandals. Just ONE of these should've been enough to rock any President - had there been real Congressional oversight.
9/11
The Bush administration's failure to prevent 9/11 will be debated to the end of time I suspect. His supporters will rightfully say that there was no specific intelligence spelling out a date or plan.
But what the hell did they expect?? A god damn map with an X on it?! It's called LEADership not followership.
Good leadership would have at least taken the PDB, the noise monitored by the Intelligence committee, and the direct warning and step-by-step anti-terror plan laid out by the Clinton adminstrations transition team and have at least done SOMETHING. It certainly wouldn't have spent the month prior to the attack on vacation.
The Bush administration failed to heed multiple warnings of an major attack including the infamous August 6th PDB entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S."
Al Qaeda members - including some who are U.S. citizens - have resided in and traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
FBI information...indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
PlameGate - Treason in the White House
What else can you call it? If you out an anti-terror undercover agent, compromising her and her entire support detail, all in the name of political retribution, isn't it treason?
For the White House to claim it's tough on terror while outing anti-terror agents is just absurd.
Iraq - Was it bad intel or manipulated by the White House?
Bush and his advisors were determined to take the fight from Afghanistan to Iraq and they justified the invasion of Iraq on three major positions:
* Iraq had something to do with 9/11.
* Iraq and Al Qaeda were working together
* Saddam had WMDs and would sell them to terrorists.
Not one those reasons turned out to be true. Was it bad intel or did the Bush administration manipulate the answer? We all deserve to know what happened with the Iraq pre-war intelligence because too many lives - American and Iraqi - were lost and will be lost over this mistake and/or lie.
In fact, each of these three Intelligence failures deserve an answer and the American people have the right to know. And now we have a chance with Reyes.
Pelosi has "cajones"
In appointing Reyes, Pelosi skipped two more senior representatives in Jane Harman and Alcee Hastings. More on that later but if anyone wondered if Pelosi would have the political strength and the cajones to stand up to the Good Ole Boys, then this move should shut that up.
And I purposely used the masculine "cajones" because we all know that as the highest ranking woman EVER in the history of American government, there are many Boys and "concerned women" who can't wait to put the ceiling-busting Pelosi back in the kitchen.
What a sign of strength for Pelosi. And what a FANTASTIC appointment. For Texas. For Hispanics. And for Texas Democrats.
Pro-War Democrats in a Quagmire
Without a doubt, there was a bit of luck - some of it bad luck for others - in Reyes getting the appointment. Jane Harman was the first in line for the position but her hawkish support of the Iraq war lost her this position.
Frankly, I'm glad. When we've got Republican politicians running from Iraq, why the hell should Democrats be running to it? I'm sick of Democrats who voted for the war being unwilling to admit they made a mistake. We hate it George Bush - why should we like it in Democrats?
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...
Hey, I myself was fooled. I was wary of Bush but I believed Colin Powell's speech at the UN. Like many Americans, I believed in my government and my President. I believed George Bush would need the threat of force to intimidate Saddam into opening Iraq. It was supposed to be a bluff or at the worst a last resort - NOT THE FIRST GODDAMN CHOICE!!
And I sure hell did NOT think Bush was so crazy that he'd launch into war without reason.
And ultimately I believed that Democrats and moderate Republicans would check Bush if he went too far. In other words, I believed in my government.
What can I say? I was wrong. I fell for it. I was fooled and GOD it burns me to say that.
But there is no shame in admitting we made a mistake. What American citizen doesn't want to trust their government? Yes, admitting you are wrong opens us to ridicule and doubts (our own even), but that's life. We can't compound this mistake anymore with more lies because Americans are dying for those lies.
My government, my President lied to me and let all us Americans down and I learned a very important lesson:
- You get the government you deserve. If you don't fight for your rights, they will be taken away from you. If you don't hold your officials accountable, they will cheat you. If citizens fail to watch over their democracy, that democracy will die. The price for democracy is vigilance.
- You'll never fix a mistake if your not willing to admit that you made one.
Jane Harman and Democrats who still insist they did not make a mistake by voting to give a lunatic the use of force: Find the courage to admit you were wrong or you will continue to lose credibility with the American people and, as Pelosi has demonstrated, political relevance.
I think many Americans were fooled by George Bush and their government. I think they would be sympathetic (esp. after 9/11) if you admitted you made a mistake.
Harman, though she became more critical of the war, felt the need to defend her by defending the war. Considering she would have headed the committee which would ultimately investigate the pre and post-Iraq Invasion intelligence, Harman was simply a worst of the top three choices.
Focus on Ethics takes out Hastings
Alcee Hastings was the 2nd choice for the chair but lost out due to a allegations of corruption which led to him being the only Federal Judge impeached by Congress. Hastings was accused of bribery as a judge. He was acquitted and one of the agents who testified against him admitted to lying, but it was a past history that I think Pelosi and the Democrats correctly understood would undermine their agenda to clean up politics.
If the GOP can use John Kerry's military career against him, they would've kept throwing Hasting's past against Pelosi and the Democrats.
Pelosi and Hastings, who have no quarrel, met in her office where she told him directly. I like that. Face-to-face, not through surrogates, giving Hastings and Pelosi a chance to be honest and frank. That's what good leaders do: they're accountable and strong and straight-forward.
It was a good move in my opinion and I applaud Hastings, who understandably was upset, for handling the news like a pro. He'll get his chance one day I suspect.
Fragile Democrats already fighting. Murtha puts Hoyer in head-lock.
Of course, the Harman-Pelosi friction and Hastings, a black Caucus member, being passed over will once again ignite the media's mania to prove the Democratic majority is fragile and full of infighting.
When Steny Hoyer was elected by Democrats as the #2 in the House over Pelosi's choice, Jon Murtha, the media and GOPers gleefully reported that Democrats were doomed. Pelosi was too weak to continue (the poor damsel). A rabid, foaming-from-the-mouth Murtha would grab the nearest appropriations bill and proceed to beat Hoyer and every Blue Dog Democrat. And the incoming Democratic majority would fracture before they even took power.
Well, it didn't quite happen that way.
When the media swarmed Murtha looking for a fiery reaction from the former Marine, Murtha shrugged his shoulders and said, "I didn't have enough votes" and that he'd "just go back to [his] small committee." That "small" committee by the way is just the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees military spending.
Murtha felt he had done a lot to change the direction of the debate on the Iraq war and would continue to do so from his position as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
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Not exactly pouting is he? In the meantime, Hoyer and Pelosi did what all good politicians do: deal with realities. They don't have like each, just work together.
Rep. Barney Frank, "Look, someone told me she hasn't liked him since 1963, and it has had zero effect on how well they have worked together. We don't have to guess at this. We have seen it. They can and will work well together as we move forward."
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Sorry, guys. I know. We were all surprised. It won't sell newspapers, improve Bill O' Reilly's plummeting ratings, or make Ann Coulter anymore money.
Damn it to hell, guys. This just is not good drama.
But it IS good government.
Pelosi's open push for Murtha will be questioned but political transitions tend to be hectic and messy. In a town as brutal as Washington, DC, this was a pretty minor scrap.
If Republicans and wingnuts want more drama, they may want to tune into Faux News for good fiction. Perhaps Rupert Murdoch will hire another killer to write a How To Murder book to pick up his network's pathetic ratings.
Fact is Pelosi is just not the docile, waiting-at-home-for-her-man Laura Bush or the bobble-headed Kaybee Hutchison that conservatives expect. Pelosi's got free will, intelligence, and the perogative of any leader - male or female.
And as any married man can tell you, you don't muck with a woman's perogative.
Nope, Pelosi's done a great job handling the transition. Will she continue to do this? Who knows but we'll find out. And anyway, that's what we're here for. To hold our Representatives - whatever the party - accountable.
But in taking charge of the transition process, Pelosi has displayed the kind of political savvy and strength she and the Democrats will need for the next two years if they hope to turn back the worst and most corrupt goverment in decades.
And the fight to investigate the corruption and intelligence lapses will be led in the House by a Texan.
But will Representative Reyes follow through?
So, now that Reyes has been given the keys to the Intelligence Committee, will he follow through with his call for more oversight into the MANY Intelligence lapses which occurred during Bush's administration?
I'll let Reyes speak for himself:
"Every one of us understands that we are a nation of laws, that we lead the world by example, that we have a great respect for process and to protect the rights of everyone. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I reluctantly today rise in opposition against this resolution, because I think that the president has not made a case as to why Iraq and why attack Saddam Hussein. As a member of the Intelligence Committee I have asked consistently the questions to those that have come before us with information, I've said - I've asked the question of what is the connection between 9/11 and Iraq and Saddam Hussein? None. What is the connection between Iraq and Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda? Very little, if any."
That's right. Reyes not only voted against the war resolution, he spoke out passionately against it. And now, as a veteran, he has promised to investigate it.
In Congressman Reyes, we have a chance not only to hold the government accountable, but we Texans finally have the chance to atone for several mistakes and bad choices we made as a state decade or more ago.
It ain't often we get a chance to make things right (that's a Texas value as well). Let's make the most of it! We're better than these crooks and dumbasses we got "representing" us.
Congressman Reyes, we are counting on you to do your part. Now git to werk!