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Texas AG candidates misrepresent their role

Texas has a long history of tough-talking macho men running for state attorney general.

They make all kinds of vows: to crack down on border security, to be tough on crime, to fight the federal government.

That’s all fine, except that the office requires little of what they individuals are trying to sell.

This year’s Republican primary for attorney general is no different. It’s getting tiresome, to be honest, listening to these individuals try out to out-tough each other.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/republican-candidates-for-texas-ag-prepare-for-dash-to-finish-line.html/

The attorney general essentially is the state’s in-house lawyer. He or she represents the state primarily in civil matters. Crime-fighting? They leave that job to the district attorneys elected to serve the state’s 254 counties.

The closest the AG comes to fighting crime is chasing down dead-beat parents who are delinquent on their child-support payments.

Barry Smitherman touts his experience as a prosecutor; Ken Paxton boasts that he has tea party U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s support; Dan Branch declares his devotion to the sanctity of human life. They’re all spending a lot of money to promote themselves.

None of it matters as much as how well they’ll perform as a civil litigator representing Texas.

Sigh.

My favorite attorney general candidate of all time, though, was the late Democrat Jim Mattox, who used to brag about how tough he was crime and how he loved a good political battle.

The late great liberal newspaper columnist Molly Ivins once said of Mattox that if he spotted an ice cream stand and a crowd of folks fighting on opposites sides of a street, he’d go for the fight.

Did that make him a good attorney general? No. It did make for a good punch line.

Mattox’s political descendants — who represent the other party — nonetheless are following his lead in their quest for the office he once held.

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Look out if GOP captures Senate majority

U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., thinks the Republicans will gain control of the Senate when the votes are counted in the 2014 mid-term election.

Of course he’d say that. He wants nothing more, except perhaps to be speaker of the House whenever John Boehner, R-Ohio, decides to call it a career.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/02/24/rep_cantor_republicans_will_take_the_senate.html

My own thought simply is that Republicans had better get ready for the fight of their lives if they govern both houses of Congress.

It’s been a knock-down, drag-out bloodbath during the first term-plus of Barack Obama’s presidency. The GOP-controlled House has managed to stymie the president’s agenda at almost every turn. Senate Republicans had done a good job of blocking appointments to key judicial posts until Democrats decided to change the rules to make it easier to circumvent filibusters.

The atmosphere in Washington has gotten quite toxic since President Obama took office.

If you think it’s been bad so far, then the final two years of the Obama presidency will require gas masks.

If Cantor’s prediction comes true, then the Senate will be able to block virtually every appointment the president hopes to make. The Supreme Court? None of the justices is going to leave the high court voluntarily.

The fights over budget issues only will intensify. The majority in the House will feel emboldened to throw up even more roadblocks. With the GOP in control in the Senate, if Cantor’s dream comes true, there will be no way for the upper chamber to act as a counterbalance.

What will the White House do? Look for the president to examine every possible legal action he can take through executive authority. He still has the power of his high office.

You know the saying about “being careful what you wish for.” Republicans want badly to control all of Capitol Hill, not just half of it.

If you thought the fighting was bitter to this point, well, just wait. It’s going to get downright bloody — and this is not how government is supposed to work.

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Congress too mean even for John Dingell

When John Dingell says that life in Congress has become too much to handle, then you know things have gone badly.

Rep. Dingell, D-Mich., is the longest-serving member in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives. Today he announced he is retiring at the end of his umpteenth term.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/199023-report-rep-john-dingell-to-retire

For 58 years Dingell has been serving the people of his House district.

I’m trying to think if there has been a more cantankerous member of the House then Dingell. One name comes to mind: the late Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, who served for 40 years before losing his seat in the landmark 1994 Contract with America GOP sweep of both houses of Congress. “Sweet Ol’ Brooks,” which he called himself, was my congressman and we had, shall we say, a checkered relationship during the years I covered him while working for the paper on the Gulf Coast.

Dingell is at once a poster for and against term limits. He made congressional service his career, which term limits proponents say runs counter to the Founders’ wishes. Then again, the folks in his Michigan congressional district thought enough of him to keep re-electing over the course of 50-plus years.

“I find serving in the House to be obnoxious,” Dingell said. “It’s become very hard because of the acrimony and bitterness, both in Congress and in the streets.”

So, another longtime veteran is calling it a career. When this man says public service in Washington has become “obnoxious,” then you’d better break out the gas masks.

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Olympics have ended; world can breathe now

Russia closed its Sochi Winter Olympics in fine fashion Sunday.

It ended without any terrorist incident, which had been the talk of the world in the days leading up to the lighting of the Olympic torch.

Mission accomplished, Russia.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/2014-sochi-winter-olympics-end-103820.html?hp=l17

The Russians’ Ring of Steel, which comprised several thousand military and law enforcement personnel, had been deployed around the Olympic venues to ensure that no suspicious individuals or groups got in. I take my hat off to the Russians for protecting the spectators and athletes from harm.

This does beg the question: Were the alarms sounding prior to the Olympics justified?

Members of the Congress were there, declaring they had evidence of “credible threats” to the Olympics. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, actually suggested that the Russians might want to consider canceling the Olympics because of these threats, which he deemed to be valid and potentially disastrous.

Not to be derailed, the Russian organizers — with plenty of help from other governments — proceeded with the Olympics and they turned out to be quite the affair.

The 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens faced similar questions and concerns about terrorism, given that it was the first Summer Olympics after the 9/11 attacks. The Greeks were thought to be terribly lax in their anti-terror preparation. However, they too were able to pull off a successful Olympic event.

Congratulations are due the Russians. They might be our foes in some key geopolitical disputes at the moment, but they managed to stage a successful Olympic spectacle. They spent a ton of money on it, about $50 billion.

Given that they headed off any terrorist attack, it likely will be deemed worth the cost.

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So long, Piers Morgan

When you think about, the news that CNN has canceled Piers Morgan’s prime-time talk show should come as no surprise.

His ratings were terrible, almost as terrible as his show.

I tried many times to sit through his hour-long broadcasts. I don’t think I went the distance a single time.

http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/10/25/1086071/why-piers-morgan-is-terrible-in-five-interviews/#

CNN brought in the “Britain’s Got Talent” judge to succeed the venerable Larry King. From the get-go it became clear why Morgan was so different from King: He wouldn’t let his subjects speak their minds without getting into an argument with them.

Yes, King got downright bland late in his lengthy run on CNN. I reckon he grew tired. He’s, what, about 150 years old by now, right?

Morgan, though, distinguished himself — as the link attached to this blog notes — by making a fool of himself while trying to shame his guests.

He got onto an anti-gun kick for several weeks in a row after the Newtown, Conn., massacre of those children and their teachers, prompting some diehard Second Amendment fanatics to call for his deportation back to the UK. I did not buy into that silliness. He is, after all, entitled to speak his mind — even if he is a citizen of another country.

However, he seemingly failed to grasp how so many millions of Americans hold the words written into the Constitution as bordering on the holy.

I won’t miss Morgan. Frankly, I hadn’t watched his show in many months.

Which goes to show you just why CNN canceled his show. It’s the ratings, baby.

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Former president takes up cudgel for vets

My goodness, we have come so far as a country in lifting awareness of the needs of our military veterans.

Take the latest initiative headed by former President George W. Bush.

The 43rd president talked today on ABC’s “This Week” with correspondent Martha Raddatz about a effort he has launched through his presidential library in Dallas in conjunction with Syracuse University.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/02/president-george-w-bush-fights-to-take-disorder-out-of-ptsd/

His intention is to help veterans returning from combat reintegrate into civilian life. The former president told Raddatz about the “military-civilian divide.” Civilians, said the president, don’t understand all that veterans have endured fighting for their country.

He talked of the emotion he feels when he is in the presence of these heroes, many of them he sent into combat during his two terms as president.

How far has the nation come? Many, many figurative miles.

We can go back to the Vietnam War. Did returning veterans get this kind of attention when they returned from that conflict? Hardly. They were ignored and often scorned. No need to rehash that sorry episode.

It all began to change when the Persian Gulf War vets returned home from that brief, but intense, conflict in 1991. Then came the 9/11 attacks, which led to the war we have been fighting against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.

Bush wants to remove the “D” from the PTSD label. Post traumatic stress isn’t a “disorder,” said the president. It is a condition that requires the nation’s attention.

President Bush has made quite an effort to stay out of the partisan political battles that have raged since he left the White House in 2009. This battle, though, is worth his time and effort.

I am glad he is willing to fight it on behalf of our veterans.

This veteran thanks you, Mr. President.

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George P. campaigns in the dark

George P. Bush — nephew and grandson of two presidents and the son of a former governor — was thought to be a natural candidate for public office in Texas.

Then he launched a campaign for Texas land commissioner and promptly hid from view, more or less.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/george-p-bush-snubbed

He hasn’t submitted to lengthy interviews by newspaper editorial boards or made speeches from the stump of any substance. “P” — as he says he’d like to be called — makes brief appearances here and there and then drives or flies off to the next stop.

Well, P, what gives?

P was a huge hit at the 1992 Republican National Convention when, as a 16-year-old speaking for his grandfather — President George H.W. Bush — he exhorted the Houston Astrodome crowd with his enthusiastic “Viva Boosh!” declaration. P’s parents, of course, are Jeb and his Mexico-born mother, Columba and the then-teenager was thought to embody the GOP’s outreach to Latino voters.

He brought that cachet to this year’s land commissioner race, or so many observers thought.

As Paul Burka notes in the blog link attached here, the Austin American-Statesman endorsed businessman David Watts for the GOP nomination. The paper apparently was frustrated by P’s refusal to meet with the editorial board, which is a curious posture for a neophyte candidate campaigning for a statewide office, given that Austin is Texas’s capital city.

I won’t predict how this land commissioner primary will turn out March 4.

If P wins and then takes office in January, he’ll need to acquire some media relations skills, which would come in handy if he hopes to parlay a land commissioner post into something more visible.

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Academic credentials needed for chancellor?

Paul Burka poses an interesting question about someone who appears to be in line to become the next chancellor of the University of Texas System.

Does he have the proper academic credentials for the job?

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/next-ut-chancellor

Burka is talking about former legislator-turned-lobbyist Kyle Janek, who appears to be Gov. Rick Perry’s top choice for the job of UT System chancellor. Burka writes on his blog that Janek doesn’t have “any academic credentials.”

The actual choice, of course, belongs to the UT regents. Perry, though, will apply pressure for the board to select Janek, who’s a good friend and close ally of the governor.

But I have to wonder about the “academic credentials” aspect of this appointment.

Burka doesn’t specify what kind of credentials are required. He believes John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, has the academic credentials for his job. Does he? Sharp served in the Texas Senate, on the Texas Railroad Commission, as state comptroller and ran two unsuccessful campaigns for lieutenant governor.

How about Kent Hance, who’s leaving later this year as head of the Texas Tech University System. He served in the Legislature, in Congress, on the Railroad Commission and lost a Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate.

Do either of these men’s credentials stack up academically?

I agree that academic “cred” is important. One of the chancellor’s main tasks, however, is to raise money for the university. Sharp is good at it, as is Hance — and as was former state Sen. John Montford, who was one of Hance’s predecessors at Texas Tech.

The current UT chancellor, Francisco Cigarroa seems to be a prodigious fundraiser as well; he also is a medical doctor, which I believe qualifies him as having superb academic credentials.

Burka suggests that Janek’s legislative career was undistinguished.

If he doesn’t have the stroke within the Legislature to obtain more money for the massive university system, then perhaps that — not a lack of academic credentials — should be the measuring stick.

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Cornyn’s tea party challenge goes kaput

So much for a serious challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn from the tea party wing of the Texas Republican Party.

U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Loony Bin, had been counted on by many within the GOP to mount a stout bid to unseat the veteran lawmaker.

Silly them. It didn’t happen. It won’t happen.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/texas-steve-stockman-john-cornyn-republican-senate-primary-elections-2014-103754.html?hp=f2

The tea party wing of the reliably Republican Party of Texas has abandoned Stockman, who’s vanished from the campaign trail — yet again. He’s been a no-show at campaign events. His dismal campaign effort has been described as “horrible” by Texas tea party bigwig JoAnn Fleming.

I’m still trying to figure out why the righties dislike Cornyn so much. He’s racked up a generally conservative voting record in the Senate. He’s led the Senate campaign committee effort to recruit solid GOP candidates for Congress’s upper chamber. He’s been pretty darn critical of his Senate Democratic colleagues and the Democrat who lives in the White House.

What brought about this idiotic challenge — from the likes of Steve Stockman, no less?

They disliked his vote to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff.” He didn’t stand with tea party favorite U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s effort to defund the Affordable Care Act. And just recently he voted to extend the nation’s borrowing limit without attaching any spending limits.

In other words, he ain’t vicious enough.

Stockman emerged as the leading challenge to Cornyn within the Republican Party. The congressman held true to his form, however, in acting weirdly in public. He invited has-been rocker and Second Amendment firebrand Ted Nugent to the State of the Union speech in January. He’s faced questions about his staff’s campaign activities — but has disappeared for days and weeks on end to avoid answering them.

Sen. Cornyn will be re-nominated in a few days. He’ll go to on face a Democrat this fall. He’ll likely be re-elected.

I was hoping for a more serious challenge for Cornyn. Sigh. It wasn’t meant to be.

So long, Rep. Stockman.

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Medal of Honor shocks recipient

You’re a 72-year-old Army Special Forces veteran. You’ve seen combat up close and personal. You’ve been injured on the battlefield and you performed so heroically in September 1969 that the Army awarded you the Distinguished Service Cross for valor.

But something was missing. Some of the brass thought you deserved the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. You didn’t get it because, reportedly, someone high up in the chain of command didn’t want to grant the honor to an African-American.

The battle occurred 45 years ago, in Vietnam. Your name is Melvin Morris and when the phone rang one day this past year, you picked it up and the president of the United States was on the other end of the call.

He invited you to the White House to receive the honor you richly deserve. You and several others from will be honored. It is late, but no less deserved.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2014/02/florida_man_shocked_to_learn_o.html

Morris is one of only three Vietnam War veterans who will be present to receive their Medals of Honor. All told, eight living veterans will be on hand. The rest of them are now deceased. Some of them died on the battlefield. Some of the veterans date back to World War II and the Korean War.

It will be an unusual ceremony, honoring veterans of African-American, Hispanic or Jewish heritage who were denied the honor because of their race, ethnicity or faith. President Obama and the Pentagon want to make it right and have scheduled this event for March 18.

Melvin Morris said he was shocked when he got the phone call. He said he fell to his knees.

But like virtually all heroes, he had gone on with his life. “I never really did worry about decorations,” Morris said.

Well done, Mr. Morris — and welcome home.

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