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Explain job poaching try, Gov. Perry

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been given a top-drawer speaking assignment this fall in front of the California Republican Convention.

What an awesome development.

I am so hoping someone out there on the Left Coast will ask the governor this simple question:

“Why should California Republicans care what you say after your well-publicized effort earlier this year to poach California jobs as you sought to persuade California businesses to relocate to your home state of Texas?”

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2013/08/perry-set-for-top-speaking-slot-at-gop-convention-in-cali/

I predict no one will ask Perry to explain himself. They’ll fawn all over themselves as the tough-talking Texan vows to fight the federal government every step of the way for as long he’s governor … and beyond.

His upcoming speech, of course, is providing grist for those who think he’s planning to run for president in 2016.

Before he takes that leap, Perry may need to explain his job-poaching foray to California’s Republican Party.

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Scott Brown for president?

I love this country, the land of opportunity — and opportunism.

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who lost his Senate seat after just two years, is “exploring” a run for — yep — the presidency of the United States of America in 2016.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/08/19/scott_brown_exploring_run_for_president_119628.html

Brown stunned Massachusetts and the nation in 2010 when he won a special election to the Senate seat that was held for nearly 40 years by a guy named Edward Moore Kennedy, the liberal Democratic lion of the Senate and the youngest member of arguably the nation’s premier political family.

Brown lost his re-election bid this past year to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Now the Republican who served a third of a term in the Senate is considering whether to run for governor of Massachusetts or a U.S. Senate seat in New Hampshire.

But hey, if not either of those, there’s always the presidency.

Some folks believe that the improbable — albeit temporary — prominence shown in the 2012 GOP primary campaign by the likes of U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., and pizza mogul Herman Cain have piqued Brown’s interest enough to consider a run for the White House.

Go for it, Mr. Brown. Enjoy the notoriety while it lasts.

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Wait until governor’s race really heats up

Well, it hasn’t taken long at all for a potential campaign for Texas governor to get, um, real nasty.

A backer of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has referred to state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Forth Worth, as “retard Barbie,” which Abbott responded with a word of “thanks for your support” in a tweet.

Abbott’s lack of disgust over the description of a potential opponent for the governorship — that would be Davis — has drawn intense fire already from another Democratic leader.

Abbott backer calls Wendy Davis ‘Retard Barbie,’ Abbott thanks him for support

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilbert Hinojosa said this in a statement:

“That Greg Abbott would thank a supporter for calling Senator Wendy Davis a ‘Retard Barbie’ is absolutely disgusting and disturbing. This is what Republicans think about women — that a Harvard law school graduate, State Senator, and a long time fighter for Texas families deserves such inappropriate slander. Greg Abbott endorses such disrespect. The people of Texas deserves so much better than this from their public officials. And the women of Texas deserve leaders who respect them as human beings.”

Davis hasn’t yet said whether she’ll run for governor next year, although some observers think the signs suggest she’s getting ready to go for it.

Run, Wendy, run.

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That settles it; Cruz can run for POTUS

Ted Cruz has done it. He’s released his birth certificate that says, by golly, that he was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an American mother.

The junior U.S. senator from Texas can seek the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2016 if he so chooses.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/317585-ted-cruz-releases-birth-certificate-

I’m glad he got that out of the way.

I also am hoping Cruz’s foes on the left — and you can count yours truly as one of them — do not keep harping on his birthplace as a reason he cannot run the way those on the right have kept doing as it regards the current president of the United States, Barack H. Obama.

Scholars have said that the constitutional clause “natural born citizen” includes those who are born abroad to American parents. Cruz has settled the issue with his birth certificate. President Obama said all along that he was born in the United States to an American mother and a Kenyan father. That didn’t matter to his critics, who kept insisting he was born in Africa.

Forgive my repeating myself, but if Cruz’s explanation about what the Constitution stipulates regarding presidential eligibility is good enough, why would it matter whether Barack Obama was born in Hawaii or in Kenya? He could’ve been born on Mars and would still be eligible to serve — as long as one of his parents was an American.

The president in 2012 released his own birth document that said, yep, he was born in Hawaii. That, too, settled it.

As for Cruz, thanks for coming forward. Now, let’s get on with arguing about issues … eh?

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Clinton vs. Christie in 2016

I know it’s early. I shouldn’t even be thinking like this. But I’m starting to lick my chops at the prospect of a 2016 presidential campaign between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chris Christie.

Neither of them has declared their intention to run, although both are beginning to act ever so slightly as though they’re interested in seeking their party’s nomination. Clinton already has run once for the Democratic nomination. Christie has been the Republican governor of New Jersey for three years.

Both are dynamic presences within their own key constituencies. They’re fierce defenders of their records. They’re politically savvy.

Why Clinton?

She might have the most comprehensive resume for the job since, perhaps, George H.W. Bush. Former first lady, former U.S. senator from New York, former secretary of state. Prior to all of that, she was Arkansas’s first lady and at one time was an accomplished lawyer. She’s been close to the center of power, given her marriage to one Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States.

Some pundits have compared her White House inevitability with that of General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, who was deemed unbeatable during the 1952 presidential campaign. Turns out they were right about Ike.

Why Christie?

He is a no-nonsense guy. Christie is unafraid of the ideologues within his own party. He rolls up his sleeves and works for New Jersey. My favorite moment of the 2012 political season occurred when a Fox News Channel talking head, Steve Doocy, asked Christie if GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would visit the Jersey Shore, which had been battered by Hurricane Sandy … on the heels of President Obama’s tour of the destruction. Christie’s response, in effect, was: I don’t give a damn whether he comes here or stays away; I’ve got a job to do. He added that he wasn’t the least bit interested in how it might affect the presidential campaign.

I ought not to engage in this kind of speculation. I’m doing it anyway with the hope that it comes to pass.

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Johnny Football fumbles at key moment

My old friend Tom Taschinger has it exactly correct.

Writing for the Beaumont Enterprise, Taschinger takes dead aim at Johnny “Football” Manziel’s troubles stemming from an autograph signing debacle that well could effectively cost him the rest of his college football career.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/columns/article/THOMAS-TASCHINGER-Manziel-mangles-his-college-4739393.php

The NCAA is looking into whether Manziel took money for signing the autographs. This is not a difficult case to prove or disprove. Either he took the dough or he didn’t. If he did, then Johnny Football is facing a possible season-long suspension by the NCAA.

Can there be any clearer message for the young quarterback, the first freshman in NCAA history to win the Heisman Trophy, that he isn’t supposed to take money for signing his name? If he did, the young Texas A&M quarterback has messed up royally.

Taschinger wrote this: “Manziel apparently signed autographs for memorabilia dealers — dealers! — in six separate sessions last season. We’re talking hours-long sessions and thousands of items. Big money even was said to have changed hands.

“Folks, that’s not a borderline violation. It’s as blatant as a quarterback being leveled by a defender five seconds after releasing the ball. You have to wonder what Johnny Football was thinking while he was grinding out those signatures — and why his parents or a coach didn’t step in and save him.”

I don’t want this story to pan out. It’s looking as though it will. There will be an accounting made of who paid Manziel the money if that’s what comes to pass. If it does, I fear the cheering at Kyle Field this season is going to be a bit muted without Johnny Football taking the snaps.

He would have no one else in the entire world to blame but himself.

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Pelosi finally speaks out on Filner

It took her a while — arguably too long — to speak out, but the U.S. House of Representatives’ top Democrat has given her former congressional colleague the heave ho.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says San Diego Mayor Bob Filner should leave office. Now. He should spare the residents of California’s second-largest city the pain of a recall election. Hit the road, Your Dishonor.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/nancy-pelosi-calls-san-diego-mayor-step-article-1.1428653

Filner once served with Pelosi in the House as a Democratic member. He then became mayor. In recent weeks, more than a dozen women have come forward with harrowing tales of sexual harassment bordering on abuse from the 70-year-old mayor. No need to detail what he reportedly said and did to these women. Filner has admitted to some disgraceful behavior.

Filner spent two weeks in “intensive” rehabilitation, came out and now plans to continue his career at City Hall.

Meanwhile, recall petitions have been circulating throughout the city. My guess is that they’ll far more than the required number of signatures to put his recall election on the ballot.

Pelosi wants none of that. She’s right to call for Filner’s resignation. If the mayor possessed any honor, he would heed the message from Pelosi and others to get out and rehab himself as a private citizen.

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Rand Paul making sense? Wow!

Someone pinch me. Throw some cold water on my face. Give me a slap. Pass the smelling salts.

I think I just read something regarding Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that actually made sense. Paul, the tea party golden boy and possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said a government shutdown to defund the Affordable Care Act is a bad idea.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/317531-rand-paul-i-dont-think-shutting-down-the-government-is-a-good-idea

He told his pals at Fox News Sunday as much this morning.

I think I’ve just entered a parallel universe.

Paul, of course, is right about the shutdown. His views on “Obamacare” need work. He’s swallowed the argument that the Affordable Care Act is some sort of evil deed perpetrated by the federal government, even though data are showing that its initial impact on the nation actually is proving to be a net positive.

The shutdown notion being pushed by his tea party brethren, though, is what deserves attention. The idea of shutting down the government — and punishing tens of millions of Americans who depend on government to help them get through the day — is an outrageous overreach by zealous partisans who have no clue about what it all means.

I’m glad to see Sen. Paul understand the consequences of what these goofballs are proposing. At least on this issue he is joining the shrinking ranks of sensible Republicans who don’t see the government as their mortal enemy.

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President takes wing

This speech is about a month old, but I just caught up with it … and am astounded by its ignorance.

U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., went on the floor of the House in mid-July to gripe about all the trips President Obama has taken aboard the jet called Air Force One.

http://thehill.com/video/house/311969-gop-lawmaker-obamas-using-air-force-one-as-personal-toy

Coble yapped about the cost per each flight and accused the first family of using the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet as its “personal toy.” He was warned against using improper references to the president by the presiding officer.

If the president of the United States feels a need to fly Air Force One somewhere on behalf of the country he governs, then why is that such a huge deal to a back-bench member of Congress whose name few Americans even recognize? Coble’s complaints center on the cost of using the aircraft during difficult economic times. He says its use runs up the deficit and the debt, which the nation cannot afford.

The aircraft also supplies the president with all the communications he needs while he’s en route to his destination. The way I see it, those amenities are quite necessary for him to do his job. You know, things like telecommunications he can use while speaking with military and domestic policy advisers, phone hookups so he can be briefed on crises as they erupt. These are fairly essential items, don’t you think?

I’m not going to begrudge any president the right to use an airplane that enables him to be on call every minute of every day he occupies the most powerful office on the planet.

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Area 51 report will feed frenzy

Is it true that some folks believe the declassification of information relating to Area 51 is actually going quell the intrigue?

You must be joking.

http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/area-51-report-wont-stop-hollywood-those-who-want-believe-6C10936776

It’s going to heighten it. It will foster more theories — all of them bogus — about what happened out there.

Area 51 long has been the subject of myth-making from those who think that in the late 1940s creatures from somewhere “out there” crashed to Earth. Go to Roswell, N.M., and experience the carnival atmosphere downtown with all the UFO gift shops.

I’ve never really gotten into the Area 51 stuff. I’ve read all the nonsense and the fun-loving jokes about whether extraterrestrials came a’callin’ at Area 51. I’ve never given it a serious thought … not for a single second.

Then again, I tend to dismiss most conspiracies. President Kennedy’s murder? A lone gunman, a loser, a rogue Marxist pulled the trigger that day in Dallas. Robert Kennedy’s assassination? A single Jordanian-American angry over RFK’s pro-Israel stance did the deed in that Los Angeles hotel kitchen. 9/11? That was what it was: a brilliantly conceived and executed terrorist attack by terrorists.

The CIA’s declassification of these Area 51 documents won’t put a damper on anything. Hate to say it, but we have too many Americans with too much time on their hands who’ll concoct even crazier schemes about Area 51 than we’ve heard already.

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