Texas Senate debate II liveblogging

Grades and wrap-up at the bottom

First, an apology; I got here late due to having to repair an old, crashing computer at work, but I listened to the radio broadcast on the way home.

I heard some HUGE hypocrisy from Cornyn.

Claiming he is FOR more financial sector legislation, that he wants grand juries looking at Wall Street, etc. Utter bullshit. The rest of the debate was in this same vein, of Cornyn fighting "entrenched Washington" while striving for bipartisanship.

Cornyn apparently pulled up Texas House Dems' flight to Ardmore over the redistricting fracas at some time, too. I heard him reference Ardmore at about 8:20.

He then said Noriega wouldn't do anything re a bailout. And then, he said the bailout brought tax benefits to Texas. Noriega did some instant judo on that, with the pork for wooden arrows, Puerto Rican rum, etc.

For Rick Noriega, at least, he seems more fired up than the first debate.

8:33 Gromer Jeffers asks great question about addressing poverty

Cornyn talks about getting people opportunities to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Noriega: “Some people don’t have boots.”

8:35 Cornyn – nobody likes the way Washington works in a non-bipartisan sense. Another lie. This one coming from Bush’s Texas lapdog, vs. his No. 10 Downing Street lapdog.

8:39 Cornyn opposing TXU’s coal plants now?

8:40 I LOVE the idea of the video clip interview as a debate question set-up.

8:41 Cornyn – Noriega health plan will cause rationing, etc.

Hey, John, we ration healthcare now.

8:44 Paul Burka asks if Cornyn has pushed Perry and Craddick to do more at the state level with S-CHIP.

8:48 Noriega – government as “negotiator” for lower insurance rates. Sounds a bit brreaucratic, and convoluted.

8:52 Interesting final question by KERA’s Shelly Kofler – both candidates asked to pretend being a small businessman themselves, with a crew of illegals showing up.

Noriega tries to dodge, then says, “I don’t look and assume. It’s not a fair question.”
Cornyn agrees system is broken, including the documentation part of it. Rides Noriega's coattails without having to offer up his own dodge.

But, is it broken? Immigration and Customs’ raids on meatpacking plants show the documentation of workers is not a broken part of the system. ICE knew who to arrest, and later, on the "Iowa Kosher" plant, was able to figure out who was underage.

Yes, some aspects of the system may be broken, but the system as a whole is not broken as far as what it's supposed to do. What's broken is the issue of how seriously we want to sanction employers and how seriously we want to monitor the border.

Noriega also whiffed on a shot to look at trade issues and foreign policy in this context.

So, both candidates dodge the question. Or, both lie about it.

Cornyn closing. Thanks, etc., and re-elect me.

Noriega. “This government is in the ditch.” (Earlier, he mentioned lack of trust in the system.) He should have condensed his thank-yous to the bare minimum, though.

Wrap-up: Noriega did better than in the first debate. Seemed somewhat more vigorous, but somewhat overprepped at the same time. He gets a B-minus overall.

Cornyn gets a C-minus. It was a nice attempt of his to try to be "Mr. Outsider," but I think Cornyn pinned enough Bush on him for a bit of it to stick. But, Cornyn may be able to dodge the worst.

Bottom line? It's still Cornyn's election to lose, but the margin for losing tightened at least a little. I still say Dem 527 groups should fund Libertarian Yvonne Schick to bite at Cornyn from the farther right.