Motley Moose – Archive

Anyone who doubts that Texas is now a battleground state should take a second look at the hard-fought battles-including Thursday’s “people’s filibuster”-during the past week after Republican Gov. Rick Perry, at the urging of Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, added onerous abortion restrictions to the special session, restrictions that would close all but 5 abortion clinics in Texas even though the GOP-controlled legislature had failed to pass any anti-abortion bills during the regular session.

Please Stand With Texas Women today as our Democratic Senators filibuster Senate Bill 5 while other Democratic politicians, women’s health advocates, activists, and ordinary Texans support this battle to prevent Republican Senators from passing their anti-woman, anti-abortion omnibus bill in the final hours of this special session, which ends at midnight.

Dems Approach Abortion Victory as Special Session Wanes

Texas Democrats, far outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, are nonetheless on the verge of killing one of the most restrictive abortion proposals in the nation – at least for now.

Using delaying tactics and parliamentary rules, the minority party argued into the wee hours in the state House on Monday morning and then stuck together to keep the GOP from jamming Senate Bill 5 through the Senate in the afternoon and evening. Republicans vowed to try to muster enough support to push the bill through Monday night, but that effort failed. […]

Sen. Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat and rising star in the party, has vowed to launch a filibuster. Unless Republicans can change some votes, the abortion measure can’t be brought up for debate until Tuesday morning at about 11 a.m. Since the session ends at midnight Tuesday, that means she could kill the legislation by talking nonstop for about 13 hours.

As Democratic Senator Wendy Davis leads the filibuster, she needs Texas women to share your stories:

Stand with me tomorrow, and share your story with me so I can tell it from the Senate floor. http://t.co/svlU3seE6z #SB5 #txlege

– Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 25, 2013

Filibuster: 2 hours @WendyDavisTexas going strong with less that 11 hrs to go. Stand with Texas women. #txlege #SB5 pic.twitter.com/278MDqjgWN

– Sylvia R. Garcia (@SenatorSylvia) June 25, 2013

Whoops.  It has been a very tough week for the GOP, desperately seeking consensus on issues of ideology and electability while rounding the first turn in their contest to select a presidential nominee.  And then it got stunningly worse after the collapse of their most recent favourite, Rick Perry, in the recent Orlando debate.  The conservative establishment quickly turned on him with the bitterness of a disappointed lover.  Perry’s back in the pack if not out altogether.

The Florida GOP straw poll results are in and it is pretty hard to fathom:

   Herman Cain: 37.11%

   Rick Perry: 15.43%

   Mitt Romney: 14%

   Rick Santorum: 10.88%

   Ron Paul: 10.39%

   Newt Gingrich: 8.43%

   Jon Huntsman: 2.26%

   Michele Bachmann: 1.51%

That’s a nasty spanking for Perry, who invested heavily in this poll, in a must-win state for him.  And while Romney has retained fund-raising momentum and blunted Perry’s brief rise in the give-and-take of recent weeks it is also clear that his “front-runner” status is limited by a fairly low ceiling of support among evangelicals and Tea Partiers.  Michele Bachmann’s star has fallen to new lows since her “fifteen-minutes” following her Ames straw poll win.

So, Bachmann clobbers Pawlenty, Perry clobbers Bachmann, Romney smothers Perry and the remaining cast of characters just can’t break through.  This recent upset by Cain seems more of a vote of no confidence in Perry than a sign of real resurgence for the pizza mogul, whose lack of foreign policy nous and odd tax reform proposals tend to disqualify him as a serious national candidate.

Labor Day well gone and the GOP is still looking for an electoral saviour?  It’s getting late folks.  Republicans are in serious trouble and they know it.  Pass the popcorn.

The starters have left the gate and they’re off.  Michele “Speaks From God” Bachmann stirred the punters briefly with her Ames Straw Poll victory but was promptly sasquatched by good ol’ Rick Perry’s cannonball entrance.  Huntsman morphed into the sane alternative and subsists on earned media; tells Tea Party, “Bite me” but the tea leaves say “Not this time.”

Newt does well in debates but seems headed to repeat Fred Thompson’s performance art experiment while Rudy won’t commit ’till after the 9/11 observances free him for other duties.  Chris “Get off the damn beach” Christie is yet to be called.  And Sarah, bless her grifter heart, is left to pimp her PAC.

Romney trims his sails and tries to stay upwind of the scrum but puts in an appearance to kiss De Mint’s ring which Perry unexpectedly “misses” due to prior engagements; prayers notwithstanding.

Paul gets his day in the media but fails to inspire.  Cain is unable.  Santorum wanders deeper into postmodern ultraconservative irrelevance.  For all the values sanctity and financial probity demanded and promised by candidates for this “mother of all GOP nominations” the big question remains, “Who’s in the money?”

Debate countdown here.  Or submit a “yes/no” question via Twitter with hashtag #reagandebate (as if.)

Well, it surely is on.  Presidential quote of the day?:

Obama also mocked the tea party, without mentioning it by name, and Republican candidates who sign anti-tax and other pledges.

“I take an oath,” he said. “I don’t go around signing pledges.”

Jim Kuhnhenn – Obama Holds Town Hall Meetings As Bus Tour Rolls Through Illinois Huffington Post 17 Aug 11

Well said, sir.  And a reminder the search for a commander-in-chief is already well under way and we are sure gettin’ a big vaccination dose of Governor Rick Perry:

The governor angered even some Republicans after he said Monday night it would be “almost… treasonous” for the Fed to expand the money supply to try to improve the economy. He also said things could get “ugly” for Mr. Bernanke back in the Lone Star State.

“Threatening the Fed chairman is probably not a good idea,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday.

The Perry campaign suggested Tuesday the governor is getting used to a national campaign after building a public persona in Texas that includes antagonizing Washington with eyebrow-raising remarks. “There are always new things to learn,” Ray Sullivan, the governor’s communications’ director told Washington Wire. Mr. Perry was noticeably more soft-spoken Tuesday during campaign stops in Iowa.

Danny Yadron – Perry: ‘I Got in Trouble Talking About the Fed’ WSJ 17 Aug 11

Though insider opinion was that Perry would rather be talking about that than the initial criticism he immediately received from the Right.  Michele is lighting up the tubes with the fact-checking on recent remarks she would have easily breezed over in the past.  And one of her Ames facilitators turns out to be a spooky sort of Christianist mercenary in a past Ugandan incident.  Santorum defends the honour of the Federal Reserve.  Paul supporters decry their lack of earned media, though everyone seems to get it they are a “mile deep and an inch wide.”  Huntsman turns out to be a “climate change” non-sceptic (so 2016).  Rove tells us, belatedly, that we are not a “Christian nation.”  And Obama, bless his retail heart, is on a bus tour.

All candidates’ staffers cleaning straw and cow-flops off the shoes of their respective charges?  Check.  The campaign has begun.