Dan Patrick, ladder-puller

There's plenty of Republicans who, uncannily, have pulled the ladder up after themselves after getting some sort of government-related assistance.

At the national level, there's of course Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas benefiting from affirmative action then wanting to end most of it. There's several GOP congressmen going to college on Social Security survivor benefits when a parent died, then wanting to privatize Social Security.

At the state level, there's attorney general and gubernatorial nominee Greg Abbott, getting a massive lawsuit settlement over the falling tree that paralyzed him, then preaching the gospel of tort reform.

And, there's Dan Patrick, filing for bankruptcy with his radio station years ago, wanting bankruptcy's "protection." A protection he surely won't extend to most people today.

As the Dallas Morning News reports, that's just part of Patrick's past business and business ethics problems. That's bad enough, but par for the course on modern Republicanism, as noted above.

It also appears that, based on the people who gave him money for the radio station takeover, that he engaged in at least the moral equivalent of money laundering.

Don't you love GOP politicians who talk about bringing a business mentality to government You know, like George W. Bush wrecking half a dozen companies before getting elected as governor then "MBA president." 

Anyway, that's secondary to reading about Patrick's financial shenanigans. The News has a good, thorough piece, serious enough it put two reporters on it. Serious enough that Patrick would respond only by written statement. And, that's probably a good reason not to believe anything he says beyond the narrowly tailored confines of his written statement.

Unfortunately, none of this is likely to make a difference in either the primary or general elections. Which will give us top GOP leadership even more heartless than Rick Perry and David Dewhurst. And the problem lies with the average GOP voter continuing to vote for people who act like their "betters," who perpetuate the idea of being a distinct social class even while claiming America is a classless society.