Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The revolution will be supervised.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Beto O’Rourke Interview and Debate with Abbott Last Night

Beto O’Rourke Interview and Debate with Abbott Last Night

by | 105 Comments

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Beto clearly seems like the best candidate to me, and from the parts of the debate that I watched, Abbott came off like a whiny weasel.

In this short interview, they say that hispanics are moving to Abbott because of Beto’s immigration policies.  Does anyone know if that’s actually true?

Full debate:

I think the polls are worthless this year.   They all put their secret sauce into the mix, based on conventional wisdom. Most of those assumptions may have been reasonable 10 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago, but too much has changed.  The table has been turned over.  There are half a dozen wildcards.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    I opened this thread, saw October 1 as the date, and did a double-take.  How can it possibly be October 1?  It’s inexplicable.

    Just like the tides, I guess. //

  5. 5.

    hells littlest angel

    Sadly, Beto made Abbott look like an ass, and it won’t make a difference to a huge number of ignorant shit-heel Texas voters.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    Texas was always going to be a reach.

    ETA: The fact that it’s even a possibility get represents a lot of progress.

  7. 7.

    C Stars

    @Old Man Shadow: Me too. The very thing that makes Beto so compelling to progressives–that he’s a well -spoken, modern man, is probably a big turnoff to the Texas voters who have come to expect the “down home,” good ole boy schtick from all their politicians.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @C Stars: I would think people from Texas would appreciate plain-speaking over weasel words.  Abbott is a whining weasel who takes no responsibility for anything – and that makes him look weak, and I can’t imagine they are drawn to “weak”.

    “Elect me – I have no power over anything!”

    We will find out soon enough.

  13. 13.

    Anoniminous

    In 2018 Abbot won 55.8% to 42.5%.  That Beto is polling within 7% is good news and a large gain but probably not enough.

  15. 15.

    Josie

    The way this election in Texas will go depends on turnout, turnout, turnout. This explains why the Republicans are desperately trying to suppress votes, particularly in urban areas. Harris County (Houston) just had to reject thousands of challenges to voter registration rolls. Strangely enough, they were mostly in areas where Black and Latino voters reside.

  16. 16.

    C Stars

    @WaterGirl: Sorry. I agree that he unquestionably won that debate. I hope other people see that. I think my expectations are low because almost all the Texans I know are really weird politically. My sense is that Beto is definitely going places, and one way or another will be a voice that shapes our country’s future. You know, if only because he does challenge that conservative Texas exceptionalism and shows it as the complete sham that it is.

  17. 17.

    ArchTeryx

    This one might actually be one of the few races that depends heavily on the national mood. ANY Republican in Texas starts with a pretty big lead, and the Hispanic voters of Texas seem to have a really bad case of “I’ve got mine, fuck the new immigrants.”

    But if the national mood becomes anti-Republican enough, that might be enough to turn Texas blue. Sadly, though, I’ve seen enough Texas elections that I’ll believe it when I see it. This isn’t the days of Ann Richards any more.

  19. 19.

    Matt McIrvin

    they say that hispanics are moving to Abbott because of Beto’s immigration policies.  Does anyone know if that’s actually true?

    Don’t know but it certainly could be–I know that many Texan Mexican-Americans have no particular affection for the mostly Central American immigrants who are coming in undocumented, and will support draconian crackdowns on them. I think it’s shortsighted, they don’t realize how quickly the goons will turn on them, but I’m not the one having the feelings.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: hahaha

    It’s so easy to get sucked into see the races in “horse race” mode.  That’s what we see modeled every hour of every day in the national media.

    I don’t think it’s helpful.   I stand by what I wrote up top:

    I think the polls are worthless this year.   They all put their secret sauce into the mix, based on conventional wisdom. Most of those assumptions may have been reasonable 10 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago, but too much has changed.  The table has been turned over.  There are half a dozen wildcards.

  21. 21.

    cain

    @WaterGirl: His voters doesn’t either. Abbott is just a reflection of the people who elected him.

    That said, he’s incompetent. That electrical grid brouhaha should have ended his career combined with the heating issue and then the huge money spent on stuff that didn’t pan out. From a pure, “fiscal conservative” point of view, he’s a failure.

    But then, it’s not about fiscal conservatism is it? That’s just code for fuck the poor and all in on racism.

  22. 22.

    cain

    @Matt McIrvin: Don’t know but it certainly could be–I know that many Texan Mexican-Americans have no particular affection for the mostly Central American immigrants who are coming in undocumented, and will support draconian crackdowns on them. I think it’s shortsighted, they don’t realize how quickly the goons will turn on them, but I’m not the one having the feelings.

    The goons can’t tell a mexican american from a central american – it’ll be full on racism for everyone that remotely looks hispanic.

  23. 23.

    Josie

    @cain: ​
     “But then, it’s not about fiscal conservatism is it? That’s just code for fuck the poor and all in on racism.”
    This is exactly what it is all about.

  24. 24.

    C Stars

    @cain: Well said. There just seems to be a lot of folks there who aren’t even remotely concerned about issues of good governance when they go to the polls. They’re just going to vote for the white guy in the cowboy hat and that’s that.

  25. 25.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @WaterGirl: It’s weird, but I feel much the same way.

    Things are different now; and all the horse-race polling ain’t worth horse apples.

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    Regarding the Hispanic vote in Texas: A couple days ago I read that Cook’s changed its rating of the majority Hispanic 28th CD from Tossup to Lean D. But Rep. Henry Cuellar is more conservative on Border issues than Beto O’Rourke, I think.

  28. 28.

    catclub

    @Josie: ​
    &nbsp

    ;This is exactly what it is all about.

    This is what it is ALWAYS about. And why change a strategy that can win 55% of the time [with sufficient gerrymandering and voter suppression].?

  29. 29.

    Josie

    @Geminid: ​
     He definitely is. This shows you, however, why the Dem leaders supported Cuellar in the primary election. They knew what it would take to win that district.

  31. 31.

    C Stars

    Then again, when I left AZ 13 years ago or so, politically it seemed very much like Texas. Now when I go there it is very clearly and obviously a purple state. Was there three weeks ago, driving around Mesa, where TFG is planning a big shindig. In a bunch of the Kari Lake signs at the intersections, in which she’s posing with Trump, someone had cut his face out. It was weird and awesome.

  34. 34.

    ChuckInAustin

    @Baud: always write a concession speech. You don’t want to suffer the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing

  37. 37.

    lollipopguild

    @cain: Not all “Hispanics” like each other. When I managed a paint store some of the painters who came in were from Mexico and they Hated the Cubans.

  38. 38.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I’m not sure how you mean this. But if pollsters are polling registered voters, most recent Central American immigrants are screened out, and Texas-born Hispanics are included. There are a lot of Hispanic immigrants who are now citizens as well.

  41. 41.

    Salty Sam

    @Matt McIrvin: they don’t realize how quickly the goons will turn on them

    Sorry, but the goons will not turn on them, any more than DeSantis would turn on the right-wing Cubanos in Miami.

    Commenter Kent has spoken of this many times here, based on his living in Waco for years.  The Mexican Americans shifting their vote to Republicans are doing so because they completely embody the mindset of Repub policies (such as there are). It is not aspirational for them- they’ve “made it” into the club. They are blue-collar contractors, small business owners, and chamber of commerce types in their communities, and have completely bought into the “Fuck You, I’ve Got Mine” mentality of Republicanism.  They get along just fine with white Repubs.

    Kent is right.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    @Josie: Also, Henry Cuellar modulated some of his positions that liberals found so obnoxious. When I checked his ratings during the days before to his May runoff with Ms. Cisneros, I found that the National Right to Life Commitee gave Cuellar a rating of 7 out of a 100, and the Susan B. Anthony List gave him a 0.

    The Heritage Foundation gave Cuellar a 0 rating, and Cuellar’s former A rating from the NRA was a C.

  43. 43.

    Kent

    @Matt McIrvin:

    anyone know if that’s actually true?

    Don’t know but it certainly could be–I know that many Texan Mexican-Americans have no particular affection for the mostly Central American immigrants who are coming in undocumented, and will support draconian crackdowns on them. I think it’s shortsighted, they don’t realize how quickly the goons will turn on them, but I’m not the one having the feelings.

     

    Having lived in TX for nearly 15 years I sort of doubt that immigration is the biggest factor. What most people don’t understand is that most TX Hispanics who are citizens and vote tend to see themselves more as white working class. And they are also surprisingly rural and exurban. Your median Texas Hispanic voter is as likely to be a construction contractor or small business owner driving a F250 pickup and living in a rural area as an urbanite living in a big inner city.  And probably attends an evangelical church.  So it is no surprise that they are trending Republican just like the rest of the so-called rural white working class.

    I’m not sure what goons you are talking about.  ICE?   You do realize that Hispanic VOTERS are by definition citizens and mostly born in Texas so unaffected by ICE.  The several million non-citizen Hispanics who live in Texas DO NOT VOTE and so are irrelevant to this discussion.  Similarly the majority of ICE officers in TX you are calling “goons” are also Hispanic

    White (Anglo) folks don’t tend to have much group affinity.  I’m not sure why we expect Hispanics to be any different simply based on some vague sense of national origin.  I live in a fairly liberal and affluent urban area.  White people here don’t have the slightest affinity with white rural rednecks with their guns, pickup trucks and Trump flags based on national origin.  Hispanics are no different.  They are just as diverse.

  44. 44.

    Tony G

    It’s Texas. They’ll probably choose the worst possible candidate, because most of the voters are rotten human beings. I’d be happy to be proven wrong about this.

  49. 49.

    BellyCat

    Been working in Arlington Texas for the past five weeks. White masculinity is in crisis because only Latinos are willing to work “manly jobs” (or any jobs) outdoors in the extreme, relentless heat.

    And people are moving to the area in record numbers? I truly can’t figure it out.

  50. 50.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    Abbott is a whining weasel who takes no responsibility for anything – and that makes him look weak, and I can’t imagine they are drawn to “weak”.

    Trump is the biggest crybaby in American political history & they adore him. For Republican voters, the only question is, “Does this candidate share & express my hatreds?” They do not care about anything else.

  51. 51.

    Kent

    @cain:The goons can’t tell a mexican american from a central american – it’ll be full on racism for everyone that remotely looks hispanic.

    Absolute nonsense.  The MAJORITY of border patrol agents are actually Hispanic.  They know more about the subtleties of national origin than you do.  Many of them can tell a Salvadoran from a Honduran from a Guatemalan from a Venezuelan simply by their accents.  Can you?

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack

    Well folks the Texas governor race is over. KXAN Texas had a focus group that was Abbott 40% – Beto 27% – Undecided 33%. After the debate it was Abbot 43% – Beto 50% – Undecided 7%.
    pic.twitter.com/PjxhqcNXNo

    — Ryan Brune (@BruneElections) October 1, 2022

    Obviously debates rarely swing races like this.

    Still, you could absolutely tell Abbott has never had to defend his record and policies in a debate setting before. He was not prepared.

    — Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) October 1, 2022

  54. 54.

    Salty Sam

    @Tony G: It’s Texas. They’ll probably choose the worst possible candidate, because most of the voters are rotten human beings. I’d be happy to be proven wrong about this.

    Fuck right off.  I’m a Texan voter who would fall farther to the left of many Juicers on the political spectrum, and I vote, along with many others in this state.  If free and fair elections were held here, without vote suppression and gerrymandering, Texas would be solid blue.

    I’m sick and tired of dumbfucks conflating the actions of rightwing politicians with the aspirations of the majority of voters here, which shows up as “Fuck Texas and Texans”.  This shit is happening ALL OVER THE COUNTRY- I lived in Salem MA in ‘18 & ‘19, and had arguments about politics with Massholes who obviously got all their news from Fox.  It’s everywhere, and we fight it together, or lose.

  56. 56.

    Starfish

    @BellyCat: As we deal with more climate change, maybe we should not be aspiring to working outside in extreme heat for many hours a day and maybe some of this stuff should be limited for worker safety reasons.

    Sure, the people who worked on a roof for two hours on hot days look lazy; but in fairness, perhaps that is all you should do if it is in the 90s or hotter.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @Kent:

    Lefty brains tend to want to classify things and then the classification can become a mental straightjacket when we try to process the world.  IMHO.

  59. 59.

    Queen of Lurkers

    @Kent: Totally agree with all of this. I have lived nearly 20 years in an exurb. Our district was close to blue in 2020. It has now been re-jiggered/gerrymandered so that a lot of rural area has been added to the suburban/exurban district thus making it more red.

    About Beto — judging from signs and bumper-stickers — there was a lot more excitement in the senate race in 2018. He could not manage to top even the execrable Cruz. Of course Abbott is just as if not more execrable, but I really doubt Beto’s going to get any closer than about 5 points at best.

    Texas still has too many white people and conservative Hispanics.

  61. 61.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kent: Was thinking more “national white Republicans”– the Donald Trumps who will still go on about Mexican rapists. But, yeah, local politics is local.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Starfish:

    In a First, Washington Will Draft Rules on Workplace Heat Dangers

    The move, aimed at protecting workers in sectors like agriculture and construction, reflects a growing recognition of the health threats posed by global warming

     
    NYT link.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    That is an extremely cute promo. I’ll be there!

    (Was a West Wing fanatic, but for some reason I never saw Veep. Now I’m sorry about that. Will have to find it somewhere, as I think I’d like it.)

  64. 64.

    AndyG

    @Tony G: In 2020, the election result was 46.48% Biden, 52.06% Trump. 5,259,126 voters voted for Biden.

    In 2016, the election result was 43.24% Clinton, 52.06% Trump. 3,877,868 voters voted for Clinton.

    As someone who has lived in Texas for many years, I don’t agree with your statement that most of the voters are rotten human beings.

  65. 65.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Bluto’s right! Even though I have a bet with @WaterGirl that Beto will lose, it just doesn’t matter! We still have to work hard in every election, especially state-wide elections.

    On October 1, 2020, how many people thought that any Democrat, let alone all three, would win in Georgia? Who thought Biden would win Arizona?

  67. 67.

    Cameron

    Both my brothers and both my sisters live in TX, and have lived there for years.  AFAIK they all vote Dem.  I have no clue what goes on there; hell, I live in FL and have no clue what goes on here.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @cain:

    [. . .] it’ll be full on racism for everyone that remotely looks hispanic.

    Warden of a private detention center and his brother stop their truck on side of the road, shoot two migrants standing near a water tank. One was killed, the other is in the hospital.
    https://t.co/p4Jw97ABX5

    — Aaron Hall (@immlawACHall) September 29, 2022

    El Paso Times:

    A jail warden for a private detention center and his twin brother were arrested in connection with the shooting death of a man in an attack on a group of migrants in Hudspeth County, authorities said.

    Mike Thomas Sheppard and Mark Edward Sheppard, both 60, were booked into the El Paso County Jail on manslaughter charges on Sept. 29, according to jail records. Mike Sheppard was the warden at the West Texas Detention Center operated by LaSalle Corrections.

    The affidavit obtained by the El Paso Times states that at 7 p.m. Tuesday a group of migrants was drinking water out of a reservoir when a vehicle passed the group and then returned. The driver leaned on the hood of the vehicle and fired two shots, killing a man and injuring a woman. The agents located the vehicle and questioned its owner, Michael Sheppard. They subsequently questioned Mark Sheppard. After initial denials, he admitted the brothers were together the evening of Sep. 27 near the site of the shooting.

    The migrants told investigators while they hid they “overheard one of the males shout something in Spanish to the effect of ‘Come out you son-of-a-bitch, little asses!,’” the affidavit states.

    The migrants told investigators they heard a vehicle rev “at which point they heard two gunshots with one of them stating they had been shot.”

    According to a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, there were 13 migrants in the group, including one accompanied minor. The agency said the group was all Mexican nationals. In interviews with federal agents, members of the group said the pair of men yelled profanities at them. The migrants who survived the shooting are in custody pending court hearings. The injured woman is at El Paso’s Del Sol Hospital in stable condition.

    [. . .]

    Suspect Mike Sheppard was the warden of the West Texas Detention Center in Sierra Blanca, which has a capacity of 1,053 detainees. La Salle Corrections, a private prison company that operates the facility, has not responded to a request for comment.

    West Texas Detention Center is “a privately owned center that houses migrant detainees and contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” And the brothers were driving a company truck at the time of the shooting.

  70. 70.

    RaflW

    As someone who lived in TX for 15 years (’80-’95), I believe that Texas isn’t deep red. It’s a purple state with a combo of very restrictive voting laws and some groups that have historically (via marginalization, I think it’s fair to say) self-suppressed.

    Not victim-blaming, but it’s why things like Voto Latino and Voces de la Frontera as well as outreach to Black and other minority voters is essential. We have to understand where voter suppression has been most prevalent so that it can be countered. Dealing with the gerrymandering of lege seats has to come after – FSM willing – Texas has a Democratic governor at the next redistricting.

    TEXAS TRIBUNE: Analysis: It’s harder to vote in Texas than in any other state
    Voting laws in Texas are the most restrictive in the country. And voter turnout here is among the lowest, too. Maybe those facts are related.
    By Ross Ramsey OCT. 19, 2020

    How hard is it to register to vote and then to vote in Texas?
    It’s harder than in 49 other states, according to a “cost-of-voting index” compiled by political scientists at Northern Illinois University, Jacksonville University and Wuhan University in China.
    …
    Texas has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country, turning out 45.6% of its population of eligible voters in 2018, compared with a national average of 49.4%, according to the United States Election Project. In the last presidential race, in 2016, turnout was 51.4% of the state’s eligible voters, a number that includes adults eligible to vote whether they registered or not. The national average was 60.1%.

    It’s amazing to note that when I lived there, it was so easy. I voted early, no questions asked, at my grocery co-op. But that was when Ann Richards was governor and the state hadn’t been totally fucked over by Republicans.

  71. 71.

    Kent

    @AndyG:

    @Tony G: In 2020, the election result was 46.48% Biden, 52.06% Trump. 5,259,126 voters voted for Biden.

    In 2016, the election result was 43.24% Clinton, 52.06% Trump. 3,877,868 voters voted for Clinton.

    As someone who has lived in Texas for many years, I don’t agree with your statement that most of the voters are rotten human beings.

    More people voted for Biden in Texas than any other state except California.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: I signed up. Hope I remember to tune in, or dial it up, or whatever.

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m re-watching it for the third time. It’s some dark satire, incredibly cynical, there are no good guys (maybe Gary, stretching a bit further maybe Amy) and I think it’s hysterically funny. It was created by Armando Iannucci, who in spite of his name is a Scot, who also created The Thick of It, which has the same tone. Also, The Death of Stalin, and, In The Loop, which got less attention, about the run up to the invasion of Iraq. I am a fan.

    Never saw The West Wing.

  75. 75.

    Anoniminous

    “When [Johnson] signed the [Civil Rights Act of 1964] he was euphoric, but late that very night I found him in a melancholy mood as he lay in bed reading the bulldog edition of the Washington Post with headlines celebrating the day. I asked him what was troubling him. “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come,” he said.” — Bill Moyers

  76. 76.

    Leto

    Rise of Republican Latino voters cause alarm among Democratic activists

    Paola Ramos, host of Field Report with Paola Ramos, talks with Alex Wagner about why a growing number of Latino voters are voting for Republican candidates, and why cultural conservatism sometimes takes precedence over Republican attitudes towards immigrants.

    She did an hour long segment on this last week that was interesting. If you have Peacock you can watch the full thing. Also this is the representative the Rio Grande Valley area chose in the recent election: TX GOP Congresswoman Unclear on the Position of Church and State

  77. 77.

    Kent

    @RaflW: Having also lived there for 15 years I think the other thing about Texas that affects voter turnout is the utter lack of “community” in much of the populated areas of the state.  Vast parts of Texas are just suburban and exurban sprawl full of relatively new people living in cookie cutter suburbs with literally NO SENSE Of where they are actually living in terms of town boundaries, city councils, school districts, etc.   The identities are more defined by developers than politics and which master planned community you live in.

    People think they live in places like Steiner Ranch, Seven Meadows, Cinco Ranch, Grand Lakes, Kelliwood, etc. Which are all master-planned communities the size of towns with their own HOAs, private parks and pools, etc.  Rather than the actual towns or counties that they live in that are largely irrelevant to their lives.

    And most people aren’t actually FROM there to begin with.  So it doesn’t surprise me that voting and voter turnout is low.  People in TX tend to be unbelievably disconnected from any sense of larger community.    New subdivisions pop up out of nowhere like mushrooms after a rain.  There are few geographic boundaries to even define space.   It is all very strange and disconnecting.

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    “Voice sync.” I could not think of the word dubbing to save my life when I wrote that. At least I knew there was a word, so not complete decrepitude.

  79. 79.

    West of the Rockies

    Vast scads of voters want big, strong daddies who will put the scary brown people, women, and “the gays” in their place (along with academics and nerds and teachers).

    I think all such voters basically have massive inferiority complexes, and want someone (male or female) who will move through the halls of power like an eighth-grade bully through a gym of seventh-grade nerds.

  80. 80.

    RaflW

    @cain: “That said, he’s incompetent…”

    I don’t disagree with you at all. The Texas grid B.S. should have seriously dented Abbott’s electability.

    But the central frame of GOP voters is that government sucks, nothing works, so why not at least have a Republican ‘in charge’ to mismanage it and own the libs. Oh, and to beat up on gays, trans ppl and keep women from having a say about their pregnancies.

    R voters don’t expect competence, and are thus never disappointed. Just confirmed in their (incorrect!) biases. Moving from TX to MN was instructive in how a state can work at least decently well.

  81. 81.

    Kent

    Kind of an aside.  But I’ve been reading through and studying the roots of the American revolution with my daughter who is in AP American History and wow.  All the butt hurt middle and upper class tax protestors in places like Boston in 1760 sure have a lot of parallel to the MAGA dipshits of today.   I can see where we get it.  Compared to most colonies around the planet, the American colonies were amongst the most privileged and coddled in history.   You want to see people with actual grievances, visit Spanish America during that same time.

  82. 82.

    Subsole

    @Josie:

    They’re also shutting down polling places at college campuses.

    Even down in Aggieville, which is not exactly a hotbed of liberalism.

    Popular image notwithstanding, there are plenty of non-conservatives here. The assholes have rigged things so effectively we have to get like 50 votes for every conservative one…and our coalition only shows up if it’s on fire from crotch to eyeballs. Maybe.

    The problem isn’t evil. It’s laziness.

    Ultimately, no idea if he wins it. But we’re doing what we can.

  84. 84.

    Wanderer

    @Steeplejack:  That was so funny. Absolutely the most likeable I have ever seen Charles!  If only  ‘A Private Affair’ had been so well dubbed I would have been able to watch it.

  85. 85.

    RaflW

    @Kent: Totally. Our family moved to Greenwood Forest on the (then) fringes of Houston in 1980, when a thousand families a week were arriving in that mushrooming megacity.

    It was a rather alienating place. Utterly bereft of things for a non-sports high school kid to do, really. I had my political awakening in college in Ft. Worth, and while back home in ’88 I went to my precinct caucus, held at the middle school.

    There were several dozen cars in the lot, but it turned out 85% of the people were headed to the GOP room. I ended up being a Dukakis delegate to the Harris Co. convention. My first taste of both the thrills and boredom of gathering 100s or 1000s of Dem gov’t nerds in a convention hall. But I digress.

    The contrast when I moved to central Austin in ’99, bikeable, walkable, with cafes and hangouts and tons of cheap live music etc was amazing. My brother and his wife live in the Houston Heights (pre-WWII bungalow and mini-mansion neighborhood 8 mins from downtown) and I think have a very strong sense of community. But they walk to their (progressive, Methodist) church, they were the people on their block to host the first ‘all alley’ BBQ, and my bro is a massively kind and very energetic extrovert.

    The HOA, planned development burbs would probably kill him.

  86. 86.

    Wanderer

    @Steeplejack:  That was so funny. Absolutely the most likeable I have ever seen Charles!  If only  ‘A Private Affair’ had been so well dubbed I would have been able to watch it.

  87. 87.

    jonas

    @WaterGirl:  “Elect me – I have no power over anything!”

    I’m no Texas politics expert, but my understanding is that the governor there — relative to other states, at least — actually doesn’t have that big a role day-to-day in how things are run. The Lt. Gov. is really the key position.

  90. 90.

    jonas

    @lollipopguild: Not all “Hispanics” like each other.

    I was reading an article the other day about NYC setting up these migrant shelters in the Bronx to house all the asylum seekers Abbot keeps shipping up there and they were quoting a bunch Puerto Ricans from the neighborhood who were hopping mad about having these filthy Venezuelan illegals moving in next to them.

  93. 93.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Kent: A Politico article described what sounda like a clever way to get around the lack of community identity you describe. Part of Republican efforts to organize Texas Hispanics was to open four campaign headquarters that double as community centers:

        An RNC spokesman described the community centers as “not your traditional field offices” but rather as places to host workshops, host movie nights, and engage with the community for more than just political events.

    The four centers incude three in the South Texas cities of McAllen, Laredo, and San Antonio. The RNC also hired 20 organizers to try and increase the Hispanic Republican vote.

    This is from an interesting February 7, 2020 article titled “The GOP is gaining among Texas Hispanics. Women are leading the charge,” author Sabrina Rodriguez. The article leads off:

       Democrats were caught off guard by Donald Trump’s numbers in South Texas in 2020. Hispanic Republican women who live there were not.

    Many of them are playing a leading role in urging their neighbors in majority-Hispanic South Texas to question their traditional loyalty to the Democratic Party.

    One of the women interviewed is Cassie Garcia, who is running against Henry Cuellar for the 28th Congressional District seat.

  94. 94.

    Subsole

    @ArchTeryx:

    They’re not.

     

     

    They really, truly are not.

     

     

    We have cities here, folks. Big ones. Like, really, really big.

    Houston.

    DFW.

    El Paso.

    San Antonio.

    It’s not all tumbleweeds and cattle ranches here. Honest. Assuming so is like assuming Oregon stops at the border of Portland, or Upstate NY doesn’t exist.

    It’s the same trick as flying in for diner safaris and painting the good folks of Broken Spoke, Ohio as the majority while ignoring Cincinnati entirely.

  96. 96.

    zhena gogolia

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛:

    “Send all these pieces of garbage barefoot with machine guns straight to the front,” Mr. Prigozhin said in an apparent reference to Russia’s military leaders.

    You first, Zhenechka.

  97. 97.

    Subsole

    @RaflW:

    And that right there is why I will pour salt on John Roberts’ grave. That ghoul does not deserve to have good, American grass growing over him.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @Subsole: Yes, it’s very disappointing how many people stereotype Texans as a bunch of weird, ignorant hicks. It’s just not right!

    By the way, when you go on rattlesnake hunts, do you chew tobacco, take snuff, or both? Asking for a friend.

  100. 100.

    AndyG

    @Subsole: Agree 100%. Out-of-staters have their worlds rocked when I tell them that Houston elected Annise Parker, an openly lesbian Mayor, for three terms (she was then term-limited out). Until Lori Lightfoot was elected in Chicago, Houston was the most populous U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor.

  101. 101.

    Subsole

    @Geminid: Chaw. If’n you get bit, you can work up a pretty fair poultice, if’n you got the right-size plug.

    Some folks stick to snuff, ’cause you can always dip snuff, but you gonna have a rough time snortin’ chaw.

    Don’t matter to me though. I tried rattler once. Didn’t like seein’ em’ die, meat’s too salty and it’s got too many bones in. I need somethin’ with bite, I’ll grab a bottle of black label.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Salty Sam:

    I live in SoCal, it’s about as democratic as it gets and there are still a not invisible number of rethuglicans here. They are outnumbered but they are still here. And in many of the rural areas of CA they can do well. Anyone hear of Kevin McCarthy? We have 42 democratic members of the house from CA and 11 republican members.

    If you live in a state with the reverse ratios you still have a sizable percentage of dems. This country is not 100% political anything, anywhere.

  103. 103.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Salty Sam: Latinx voters who choose the GOP usually seem to have:

    1.) attraction to White Adjacency (believing they are the “right ones”, look down on Undocumented people etc.), and/or

    2.) enough anti-Blackness/misogyny/LGBTQ-phobia, BlueLivesMatter, “Traditional” values to overlook the GOP’s shitty treatment of their own group

  105. 105.

    RaflW

    @AndyG: Dallas County also had a lesbian sheriff. Big cities there behave a fair bit like big cities everywhere.

    I was looking at Kansas state house district voting yesterday (yeah, I’m a data nerd) and even a city the size of Hayes, KS (just under 21,000) the voter profile bends about 15-20% more democratic than the rural area adjacent.

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