SocraticGadfly: Texas Progressives offer primary post-mortem and more

March 10, 2022

Texas Progressives offer primary post-mortem and more

Biggest post-mortem, GOP side, but really, regardless of party, is for Van Taylor, of course. Big question is: who leaked to Breitbart and why? My money is on Tania Joya her own self, on the grounds she probably wanted more money from Taylor and didn't get it.

Second biggest post-mortem, within the GOP, is for the money of Christofascists Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, along with the genyus of Former Fetus Forever Fuckwad Jonathan Stickland. Fuckwad, of course, turd-polished and spun failure afterward.

Third biggest post-mortem, within the GOP, is for Gohmert Pyle. Kenny Boy Paxton's sharp elbows were surely a factor, but finishing behind even Eva Guzman? That said, I think the Trib is right; Pee Bush is still straddling two stools within today's GOP and will probably do the splits in the runoff. And, it will be nice not having a wingnut squared representing East Tex-ass in Congress, too. Dan Solomon at the Monthly, writing before the primary, argued this was Dems' best pick-up opportunity in the general. Maybe, maybe not; that said, it's arguable that the top two Dems heading to a runoff might actually be good in this case, boosting name recognition.

Biggest Democrat post-mortem may be officially written in November, but at least some handwriting is on the wall right now, and that's the surge in GOP votes in the Valley. The bigger problem for Dems besides the GOP surge, which is still far behind Dems, is the enthusiasm gap shown by possible Democratic voters not showing up. That translates beyond local and regional races to statewide ones.

Second biggest Dem post-mortem? Mike Collier, who ran for the same race in 2018, couldn't avoid a runoff in the lite gov primary.

Third biggest will be written May 24 when either Henry Cuellar or Jessica Cisneros is knocked out after a runoff.  Related to that and the potential biggest Dem post-mortem, the Observer looks ahead to all runoffs scheduled for the Valley. 

John Coby highlights Eric Dick's latest shenanigans.

The Texas Living Waters Project warns that the Hill Country faces numerous threats to its long term viability, and the window for addressing those threats is closing.

The Dallas Observer reports on the student protest at the University of North Texas against super-anti-trans candidate Jeff Younger.

Texas Elects parses some numbers from the primaries.

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Exxon, known here as eXXXon, is disentangling itself from Putin's Russia. Former CEO, and Trump's first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is the guy who led its deep dive into the oily cesspool. Story's a good read. Tillerson headed eXXXon's Russia division in 1999 when it made a big play into drilling off Sakhalin Island. Rex apparently believed in the idea of "engagement," which obviously has worked no better with Moscow than with Beijing. That said, eXXXon had started winding things down after post-Crimea sanctions, and did most of the rest of that after post-2016 election sanctions.

SocraticGadfly talked about being in the army and in the union with the Texas National Guard.

Rarely has there been national political legislation of personal import, but the postal reform bill, by not only eliminating retiree health care prefunding, but cutting rural newspaper postal rates, is a biggie.

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