Tag Archives: Politics

political news, State news

Watch for the response to Davis memoir

Texas is full of armchair political experts. You can call me one of them, as I’m liable to offer an opinion or two on occasion on how I see the state of play across the state’s enormous landscape.

A friend of mine is another one. He tilts the other direction. I lean left, he leans right.

A recent blog post I published wondered aloud about the possible political impact that Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis’s revelation that she ended a pregnancy would have on her bid to become the state’s next governor. My friend responded that it wouldn’t budge her “dismal” poll numbers. She’ll still lose to Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, my friend believes.

I agree that the news by itself isn’t likely to budge the numbers in Davis’s favor. Abbott remains a solid favorite to win the gubernatorial election in November.

What could influence this race, however, is the response to her memoir, “Forgetting to Be Afraid,” and the item in it in which she reveals she aborted a pregnancy in the second trimester because she and her then-husband learned that their unborn daughter had a rare and potentially fatal brain disease.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/wendy-davis-ended-pregnancy-110659.html?hp=l17

Will her GOP opponent make hay over it? Probably not.

However, he has some zealous supporters across the state who just might try to make something of it. They just might seek to rub Davis’s face in the tragedy that darkened her life. They very well might want to resurrect the “Abortion Barbie” epithet that was attached to her after she led that legislative filibuster in 2013 that derailed temporarily a restrictive anti-abortion bill in the Texas Senate.

A lack of discretion on their part well might rouse some anger among those who otherwise would be inclined to vote for Abbott but who take issue with those who are beating up a political opponent over a decision that transcends politics. Indeed, that kind of personal tragedy ought to be out of bounds.

The more zealous among us — on both ends of the political spectrum — too often think everything is on the table. In the case involving Wendy Davis, acting on that instinct could blow up in their face.

 

Uncategorized

GOP future growth requires immigration reform

I disagree more with Sen. John McCain than I agree with him.

But he’s right to declare that the Republican Party is doomed if the House of Representatives kills immigration reform.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/07/john-mccain-predicts-terrible-consequences-for-gop-if-house-kills-immigration-reform/

McCain, R-Ariz., represents a border state and has a keen knowledge of the need to reform our immigration system. He voted to approve the Senate bill that passed 68-32 in a rare show of bipartisanship earlier this year. It’s gone to the House of Reps, where Speaker John Boehner has said it will need a majority of Republican House members to support it before it even goes to a vote of the full chamber.

Frankly, I don’t really give a damn about the Republican Party’s future as it relates to immigration reform. I do care that we fix the system that has put 11 million or so U.S. residents in hiding. The Senate bill would give those folks a “path to citizenship”; it also strengthens border security by completing construction of a hundreds-mile-long fence and hiring of many more border patrol agents.

It contains elements that conservatives and liberals both like.

Whether it helps the Republicans’ future is of little interest to me. The GOP has taken it on the chin from Latino voters who keep voting Democratic because, frankly, Republican lawmakers keep saying strange things — such as calling for the deportation of those 11 million residents who are here illegally.

Never mind all of those who have made positive contributions to our society, or those whose children have become de facto Americans by virtue of growing up in the only country they’ve ever known as “home.”

Republicans need to listen to McCain. This GOP elder statesman knows a good bit about the compelling need to reform the immigration system.

Uncategorized

Critical talks to begin

Secretary of State John Kerry is on the verge of achieving something of vital importance to the United States.

It is getting Israel and the Palestinian Authority talking again, looking for a permanent peace agreement between them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/20/world/meast/mideast-palestinians-israel/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Israel already is making the first “goodwill gesture,” in releasing some Palestinian political prisoners. I’m hopeful now the Palestinians will return the gesture, or something akin to it to demonstrate that they, too, are interested in forging a lasting peace.

I’ve had the honor of visiting Israel, spending five weeks there in May and June 2009. I’ve seen how close the Israelis live to those who have made it their mission to eradicate Israel. The threat of violence — even war — is with them constantly. They persevere and go on with their lives in such a way that one doesn’t detect Israelis’ outward fear of extermination.

The two sides need to talk and talk some more.

The agreement to begin those negotiations makes me hope — to borrow a phrase from an earlier negotiation involving the United States and North Vietnam — that “peace is at hand.”

Stay with it, Mr. Secretary.

 

 

Uncategorized

Hastert Rule has to go

The San Antonio Express-News has editorialized wisely in calling for the end to the Hastert Rule.

The link to the editorial is here:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/Hastert-rule-undercuts-democracy-4660269.php

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is going to invoke the rule before allowing the House to vote on immigration reform. The rule — named after former Speaker Dennis Hastert — requires a majority of Republican House members to favor a bill before it goes to a vote. Never mind that the bill already has a majority of support among the entire body, which includes Democrats. Most GOP members have to agreed to it, according to Boehner.

Suspend the rule, Mr. Speaker, and let the House vote on whether to reform the nation’s broken-down immigration system.

Look at it this way, Mr. Speaker: Your GOP colleagues in the Texas Senate suspended its own two-thirds rule to vote on a bill restricting abortion in Texas. If they can bend the rules here in the Lone Star State, you can do it on Capitol Hill.