Political Rancor: The Season is the Reason

 

By Jay Goode

Several urgent calls to me this week emphasized what season it is. It’s the political season of course. It’s the season of anger and discourse. There seems to be a hate brewing, too. Just read the Texas Tribune.

There is a lot riding on a number of political campaigns in North Texas. Also at stake is the prestige of the tea party. The Dallas Morning News says that Senate candidate Ted Cruz lashed out at his opponent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst over immigration attack ads. Those ads are working. It has caused Cruz to go off-message to respond to Dewhurst. This may be adding more steam to Dewhurst’s campaign. No one disputes that Dewhurst has the lead in name recognition. Independent voters hate rancor and discourse. This may drive them to Dewhurst.

Adding to the rancor are the charges and accusations in the responses to news articles.

This blogger believes that the tea party is being painted as extremist by the state and national media. The Dallas News has intimated that in a front page article a week ago when it suggested that the tea party has peaked.

One caller I received charged that there was a pattern of cronyism in some of the tea party political picks. Another tea party member admitted their picks were based on “who was the most Christian”. One of the Texas Tea Party Alliance’s picks is Jewish. None of the TTPA’s picks were based on religion alone. Who can honestly say what is in the heart and mind of a candidate?

If the tea party fails to defeat Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, where does that leave the newly elected Republicans in North Texas? Politics 101 says that freshmen lawmakers have very little impact in the Texas Legislature. Straus — if he wins — will seek political vengeance against the recalcitrant Republicans by allying with the Democrats, mostly experienced imcumbent lawmakers. He has done that before. The current political rancor will be nothing like what Straus and his liberal Democrat allies will unleash on North Texans. The media will applaud. Should we get ready for casino gambling, higher taxes, and more spending? It may not sound democratic, but that is the way politics works.

Short-sighted innuendo that Straus is unacceptable because he is not a Christian has now caused the national media to focus on the speaker’s race.

“The battle was less than gentlemanly. Mr. Straus’s Jewish faith briefly became an issue when e-mail was circulated suggesting that the House needed a “Christian conservative,” according to a New York Times article.

The liberal media continues to paint tea party Texans are right-wing extremists.

“But opponents of Mr. Straus, convinced that the San Antonio Republican is too moderate for Texas…,” according to a New York Times article reprinted from the Texas Tribune. The article points out that Straus is holding a $4 million pot in this high-stakes poker game where his opponent Beebe is practically broke. Articles like this are sure to cause more money to pour into Staus’ coffers from the East Coast and West Coast.

That’s a bad move on the part of the tea party.