Texas Progressives talk prez debate as Kuff tries to hide

Well, THIS corner of Texas Progressives does, even if nobody else will.

Boy, was the June 27 debate a clusterfuck for Biden and Democrats. So much so that Kuff had three posts the next morning and none of them about the debate. The denialism continued with three more on Saturday, and three more before his link dump on Sunday. Yeah, Kuff focuses on Texas politics, and on blog posts with long extracts, probably violating fair use law, from the original sources, and little from his own work. But, still, surely, he could have found something with a Texas take.

Like this from the Trib.

State Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Missouri City Democrat who will be a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, called for Vice President Kamala Harris to replace Biden as the nominee. Reynolds, who chairs the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, wrote on social media that he was "VERY disturbed" by the debate and shared a screenshot of an op-ed headline that argued Biden's "mental capacity is an election issue."

And, including Texas Dems' worry about downballot races. 

Surely, Kuff could have written about that.

“I think that if you are a down-ballot candidate in a swing area, that candidate's responsibility for turnout becomes even bigger than it was before yesterday,” said Ed Espinoza, a Democratic strategist who previously oversaw the progressive group Progress Texas. “You're gonna need an extra push.”

Of course, Kuff wasn't alone in chosing not to. ConservaDem Colin Allred was just as chickenshit:

Allred’s campaign and social media was silent throughout the debate. The Dallas Democrat declined to comment after leaving the U.S. House chamber on Friday, saying he was still “processing” the debate.

Others split the diff by noting that Biden hasn't focused on Texas much anyway. 

That piece already has the Julian Castro tweet that quickly made the rounds of Twitter by Friday noon.

And chose not to.

Speaking of Julian Castro? VD Hooks has more on him at the Monthly, calling him, in essence, prescient. Here's the hot take:

In 2019, Castro ran in the Democratic primary for president. By September his campaign was teetering and needed a miracle. Biden, the front-runner, looked unsteady, and many thought he was coasting on name recognition. Castro elected to give him a body check. At a debate that month, he thought he caught Biden misstating aspects of his health care plan, and he pounced. “Are you forgetting already what you said just two minutes ago?” he said. There was audible shock in the audience. “I can’t believe that you said two minutes ago that they had to buy in, and now you’re saying they don’t have to buy in,” Castro said. Then: “You’re forgetting that?”

Was he actually right back then? Perhaps. No, probably. At a minimum, more right then than Ralph Nader is today, thinking that Hillary Clinton failed because she lacked some secret sauce that Biden had. Yes, Democrats in Wisconsin know she fucked up, if nothing else. That doesn't mean Biden was a genius, just that he was lucky that COVID-era Trump was his opponent.

My take here. That includes Sy Hersh repeating through anonymous sources what Castro said mildly last year and what Ralph refused to acknowledge when he jumped in Biden's lesser-evilism tank at that time last year.

That said, Chris, CD, Hooks is still VD Hooks; the Green-hater name-checks several other 2020 candidates but Bernie Sanders isn't one of them.

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Texas third party candidates MAY FINALLY get relief from Texas law requiring them to pay the same fees as primary nominated duopoly candidates. But, that is a "may" and the "finally" is that the federal lawsuit on that won't happen until more than a year from now.