The good news is, Houston likes Hillary a lot. Harris County may be conflicted, but the blue city of Houston knows its mind and it will prevail.
I spotted the above on Thursday night while on my way to a continuing ed class at Rice University. I bet the vehicle’s owner attends the same class as me “Inside the 2016 Election.” Next week I will wait by my fellow student’s car after class to thank and hug him.
More will follow about Trump’s standing in Houston below the orange blob.
Texas has a fighting chance to diminish some of the truly bad, evil and ugly during this election.
The first order of business, ladies, is to get rid one of many out spoken chauvinist pigs. Those of you who live in U.S. Rep. Brian Babin’s district (TX-US36) would be far better served by voting on behalf of yourselves, your daughters and granddaughters. Vote for his opponent. Unfortunately, from what I understand, there is no Democratic opponent to Trump’s Texas Republican spineless lackey but, alas, there is a Green Party candidate. Ladies. Green is infinitely more acceptable than the Republican Tea Party’s tacit approval of sexual abuse.
What did this Trump doormat do aside from endorsing a serial sexual groper, abuser?
When asked about Trump’s comments about Hillary Clinton’s “nastiness” Congressman Babin replied that as a “genteel Southerner” he believes women should be told when they are being nasty.
Really? Do you spank your wife, Congressman, when she disagrees with you?
In Texas, Republican Trumpian male gentility translates to basic misogyny and bigotry. As in declaring wars on women’s reproductive and voting rights. As well as in starving public schools and by turning one’s back on the poor who cannot afford medical treatment. The Texas GOP’s decision to reject federally expanded Medicaid is nothing short of unforgiving cruelty for the mostly non-white poor in the state.
This is today’s actual version of the Texas Republican Southern notion of “decorum.”
Go Green, ladies, in TX US 36! Unseat Congressman Babin.
The hopelessness of voting in a serially gerrymandered state unfortunately prevails in Texas. Voters have given up. Because far too many of us believe we have been abandoned, so why bother to vote? Derisive ring wing TV and radio pundits dutifully serve as hacks for the powerful that own the Texas GOP by smearing “liberals” and demonic liberal policies. While no liberals are in charge.
How did it come to this?
Gerrymandering or re-districting has empowered Republican “representatives” to draw district lines that include only voters that will likely vote for them.
This issue has been addressed in my continuing ed class at Rice. In depressing and infuriating detail. I see the redrawn red maps on the big screen every week.
But anger, hopelessness and depression are far from healthy options.
On the other hand, voting is a powerfully empowering path to basic and common fairness and human decency.
Nasty Texas women and men, especially Democrats, understand where the real election rigging is taking place in the state. It’s not at the ballot box as Trump and the Texas GOP looney tunes claim. Nor is massive voter fraud occurring as Governor Abbott insists. And no, “foreign immigrants” are not crossing the Southern border in droves in order to vote in US elections.
This nonsense is right wing psycho babble that is little more than a cynical attempt to cover up the real election treachery at play.
The corruption at hand is called gerrymandering.
A Democratic state candidate for HD 47 decided to make gerrymandering the major focus of her campaign. Her argument is a compelling one that should sober every voter’s soul.
According to Ana Jordan gerrymandering has reduced electoral competition and it has fueled entrenched corruption throughout the state.
Many of us should have figured out by now that the underlying mission that drives today’s Republican Party is: Me first; donors, cronies and those who can make me rich while I am in office 2nd; Party, 3rd; constituents (who?), 4th; country, screw it.
Partisan gerrymandering is about rigging elections. The Texas Constitution currently allows incumbent politicians to draw their own districts. To do this, they use historical voter data coupled with precise map-drawing technology to identify voters they think will vote for them and those who won’t. Then they draw the district lines to include the voters they like and exclude the ones they don’t to ensure their re-election. Currently the process is legal, but there’s a reason that it’s done behind closed doors. When voters find out it’s happening, they disapprove.
Of course we disapprove. So, what are we going to do about it?
The biggest problem with partisan gerrymandering is that it deliberately removes competition in general elections. When competition is extinguished, it’s not long before self-interested legislators begin to prioritize their own interests above all else, including the pursuit of the public good. House District 47 illustrates this point well.
We need a wave election, folks. Refusing to vote because our situation is seemingly hopeless is not a winning solution. For a huge turnout is the only way in which we can break the back of this undemocratic, self-serving abomination.
Let’s shake things up and rattle more than a few smug cages. Let’s give Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (formerly Dan Gelb of Baltimore MD) a severe case of snake oil bite back disease.
Let’s make former Governor Rick Perry choke on his comment about Austin and its status as a blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas. Houston prefers blueberry soup with few if any tomatoes. We understand how rotten tomatoes can spoil the beauty and freshness of blueberries.
Now, let me take you back to the bumper stickers above at the top of the blog post. There is good news in Houston, voters. The disgusted, fed up US veteran, former Republican and current student at Rice University’s School of Continuing Studies, is far from alone.
Democrats Hillary Clinton, Kim Ogg take lead in Harris Co.
Harris is the largest county in Texas. While the suburbs remain mostly red, the city of Houston is blue.
A survey released today by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs illustrates Harris County’s continuing move toward the Democratic Party, with Democrat Hillary Clinton beating Republican Donald Trump by seven points and several high-profile down-ballot Democratic candidates showing similar momentum.
While watching TV cable news on MSNBC Chris Hayes asked TX US Rep. Michael Burgess what he thought about the University of Houston’s poll. Burgess dissed Houston, of course. “What comes out of Houston continues to baffle me.” Houston represents the state’s future, dude.
A Hobby School statewide survey released Tuesday found that Trump leads Clinton by only 3 percentage points in Texas, equal to the margin of error.
“Harris County is a good deal more blue than the rest of Texas,” said Richard Murray, political science professor and director of the Hobby School’s Survey Research Institute, noting that Romney carried the state by 15 points in 2012, while Obama won Harris County by a narrow margin.
Houston. We can eat the Texas Republican Party’s lunch in November. Let’s just do it.
Early voting starts on Monday, October 24. Here is where you can find your early and election day polls as well as sample ballots.
I agree with my fellow student at Rice U. “Trump is a vulgar pig.”
So is most of today’s Texas Republican Party.
Me first; donors, cronies and those who can make me rich while I am in office 2nd; Party, 3rd; constituents (who?), 4th; country, screw it.
I know Houston can do far better than this.
