Listen up, my fellow Texans. It is looking as though this year’s campaign for governor is going to get nasty. Maybe even way beyond nasty.
Democratic nominee Beto O’Rourke has leveled both rhetorical barrels as his Republican foe, Greg Abbott. I do for a moment believe Gov. Abbott is going to sit by passively while O’Rourke calls Abbott a “thug.”
Get a load of what the Texas Tribune has reported:
“I just had a chance to meet with the ambassador from the EU,” O’Rourke told Evan Smith, the CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, in a crowded hall at the South by Southwest festival. “We talked about the fact that you’re seeing the continued rise of authoritarians and thugs across the world. And we have our own, right here, in the state of Texas.”
Smith asked, “Greg Abbott is a thug in your mind?”
O’Rourke replied, “He’s a thug, he’s an authoritarian.
Beto O’Rourke calls Gov. Greg Abbott a “thug” and an “authoritarian” | The Texas Tribune
Oh … feel the burn, OK?
Don’t get me wrong here. I want O’Rourke to defeat Abbott, who I believe has become a disciple of the Kooky Cabal of the GOP. Abbott has shown zero inclination to pull his own punches regarding O’Rourke, accusing Beto of wanting to disarm Texans by taking their guns away, which is a lie; he accuses O’Rourke of favoring “open borders,” which is false on its face.
O’Rourke’s thug description carries some remarkable imagery, to be sure.
Still, the fight for the Texas governor’s office is on. It’s going to get loud and likely quite angry in extremely short order.
We’d all better strap ourselves in tight and get ready for a rough ride to the political finish line.