Tom Schieffer: "conspicuous lack of merit in every field."

[NoPasaran]

Tom Schieffer, said to be considering running for Governor as a Democrat in 2010, made Texas Monthly's list of Ten Worst Legislators back in 1975.

Arrogant and—what is worse—ambitious. Gained abundant notoriety early in the session as the sponsor of a patently unfair presidential primary bill designed to boost the chances of Senator Lloyd Bentsen. His garbled mishandling of that affair could put him on the Ten Worst by itself, but he wins his spot by conspicuous lack of merit in every field.

“Actually he is furniture,” said one lobbyist. “His mistake was in trying to be anything else.” Said another: “He sits around and acts like he’s thinking. The worst type of person is someone who’s very ordinary and gets it into his head he’s some sort of big shot.” Said a high-ranking employee of a key state agency: “He’s just not very capable. All he can do is turn red in the face and scream at you.”

As chairman of the Local and Consent Calendars Committee, he killed uncontroversial but important legislation sponsored by members he didn’t like. Said one person victimized by Schieffer’s maneuverings: “He really had big britches this session. Every time he let a bill out, he acted like he’d done you a big favor.” After a feud with Comptroller Bob Bullock over the fiscal implications of the presidential primary (capped by a letter from Bullock remarking, “I am sorry if you were offended by the cost of your own bill”), he killed two innocuous bills that were vital to the orderly operation of the comptroller’s office.

More: http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/stateofmine/?p=1279
http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8051

[tbyg52]

1. Thanks for the info. nt

[sonias]

2. But isn't that better than Kinky?

Hey he was 27 at the time. Isn't that the young and irresponsible stage of your life? :shrug:



Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

3. No...

George W was 27 and young and irresponsible as well and why should we go there with another "friend of the Bushes" which obviously he is?

Of course the Bushes are also friends of Kinky's. They like his music anyway. And probably his jokes.

[sonias]

7. You know I was kidding right?

I used the "young and irresponsible" description to mock the way G.W. used his all the way up to the age of 40.

I don't like any of the slate of candidates on either side right now.


Sonia

[PDittie]

4. Better question: Is it better than Perry or Hutchison?

And that's not necessarily a rhetorical question.

[Baby Snooks]

6. Perry is better than Hutchison...

So the problem is finding someone better than Perry and the second problem is either getting more Democrats to the polls or keeping more Republicans away from the polls. Power in numbers. More of one, less of another. Or merely finding someone "presentable" and putting them out there NOW instead of LATER. One of the problems is so many Republicans don't KNOW who the Democrats are. They don't watch the commercials on television. Which is a lousy way to campaign. As Democrats in Texas are disovering. I hope.

Republicans are out there, without the cameras, at the school fairs and the apple pie contests and the rodeos and the municipal airport openings. Just "popping in" and mingling. "Howdeeeeeeeeee" as Minnie Pearl would say. Elections roll around, everyone remembers the Republicans.

While he was governor, George W Bush loved to "pop in" at things. He loved to "pop in" at one particular Hispanic community center in Houston. "Howdeeeeeeeee." The Republican Hispanics of course made sure the Democratic Hispanics knew how he would just "pop in" and soon Hispanics all around the country KNEW George W loved Hispanics because he was always "popping in." Of course he "popped out" in November of 2000. But everyone still remembers him "popping in."

The Democrats need to hit the campaign trail. The real one. First they need to find a candidate. So far, there isn't one. Then the candidate or candidates, preferably candidates so Republicans get inundated with Democrats everywhere, need to learn the art of "popping in" and start "popping in" so that by the time the Republicans have chosen their lesser of two evils everyone will already know who the Democratic candidates are and who the Democratic candidate is.

Otherwise in the fall of 2010 we will see a bunch of television ads with people all around the state getting up to get something to drink and then going to the polls going "who the hell is he/she?"

Marketing pays well for the marketing people. Not always so well for the politician being marketed.

[Aragorn]

5. Ann Richards

To paraphrase an old comic line, she's no deader than this guy.

Do TX dems run no one any good because the dems have no chance for governor, or do they have no chance for governor because they run no one any good? That is not rhetorical either.

We used to have some very good dems for governor.

A friend of mine who has run as a dem told me his ex ran as a repub "because she wants at least a chance to win". He is an attorney, she was a judge, both in Texas metroplex.

BTW in my rural Tx town my Obama sign was stolen so I put it in the window, inside. Then a smoke bomb thrown or left in front of the sign caught my garden on fire. We noticed the smell before the house caught.

[sonias]

8. We really don't have anyone who is good willing to run

I do believe we have good candidates in our party, but none of them with deep enough pockets to win against the millions of dollars that Kay Buffy and MoFo Perry have. So our team talent sits on the bench to wait another election cycle.

I'm sorry to hear about the fire near your home. I hope you reported it to the police. You should set up a web security cam on your house. Even if it doesn't really provide "live feed" i.e. isn't connected, it could deter the ass wipes who think they can commit these hate crimes without fear of being caught. Make it prominent so the idiots notice it.

Take care and be safe.


Sonia

[NoPasaran]

9. If our "talent" is going to warm the bench until the republicans run out of money

We're going to be waiting 'til Judgment Day. How old will John Sharp be then?