Republicans cry "Coup!" in Texas

[ck4829]

For the last several days, the Texas Freedom Network had been chronicling the battle taking place in the Texas House of Representatives, as right-wing activists from around the state swung into action in order to try and save Rep. Tom Craddick's position as House Speaker - as TFN noted:

"Craddick has alienated Democrats and a number of Republicans with his autocratic rule of the House and by forcing controversial votes on hot-button issues like private school vouchers. The religious right has strongly supported Craddick’s speakership, seeing him as an important tool in the far-right’s ongoing and deeply divisive culture war on mainstream values like strong public schools, religious freedom and civil liberties in Texas.

Eleven House Republicans have moved to support state Rep. Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio, as speaker after the new legislative session begins on Jan. 13."

TFN explained how people like David Barton and the Cathy Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum were hard at work rallying their grassroots activists to save Craddick's position, but it looks like it was all for naught:

"Straus, a moderate Republican from San Antonio, swept into the speaker's race Friday night and by Sunday had enough pledges, the great bulk from Democrats, to assure his election as the next House leader. As his list of supporters continued to grow Monday, his chief Republican rivals dropped their campaigns, leaving him all but assured of election when the 150 House members vote on a speaker when they gather Jan. 13."

Needless to say, right-wingers in the state are not happy, with Rick Scarborough decrying it as a nothing short of a "coup":

"Values voters in Texas will be outraged to hear the news that a small band of Republicans and 64 Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives have conspired to name Representative Joe Straus of San Antonio, the most liberal returning Republican Representative in the House, as Speaker, replacing conservative Tom Craddick,“ said conservative activist, Dr. Rick Scarborough of Nacogdoches, Texas. “This is a deliberate and carefully calculated plan to undermine and halt progress on the issues we care about the most, ESPECIALLY the rights of the unborn child and traditional marriage” ... “This is nothing short of a coup and we will not take it laying down! We have worked hard for two decades in Texas to elect principled conservatives, but today it is clear we have far too many whose only guiding principle is power!” said Scarborough."

http://rightwingwatch.org/content/decrying-coup-texas

Even in TEXAS, the right wing lost!

:rofl:

[Liberal In Texas]

1. We're not done getting Texas turned around.

Stay tuned.

[aquart]

5. I will, indeed. Best of luck.

[Stevepol]

17. Pay attention to the voting machines as well. That's the source of Repub support,

one of the sources anyway.

If there's a fair vote count in TX, I think it's blue or awful close to blue.

[dhill926]

2. irony is lost on these morons.....

[Forkboy]

3. Forkboy cries, "Bwahahahahahahaha" in Massachusetts.

:)

[DebbieCDC]

4. Now there's an oxymoron for you: "Texas" and "principled conservatives"

What a laugh

[cosmik debris]

6. It has been a running story in the Texas Forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=55591&mesg_id=55591

[eleny]

7. K&R

[gratuitous]

8. Can't argue at all with Dr. Scarborough's analysis

Yes indeed, this is a deliberate and calculated plan (just like you in the Texas Eagle Forum have) to undermine and halt progress on the you care about the most. And here we just automatically assume these assclowns are complete idiots. Dr. Scarborough very shrewdly cottoned on to what was happening when the odious Tom Craddick was deposed.

Elections have consequences, Doctor!

[RB TexLa]

9. It wasn't his conservativism that cost Craddick his job.

Straus was just the guy who was able to put the votes together to win. Craddick was out no matter who replaced him. Conservative members wanted him out as much as anyone else.

[XOKCowboy]

10. Molly Ivins is up in her Heaven laughing her ass off!

She loved "The Lege" for it's comedy value. I'd love to hear her take on this. :)

[AnneD]

11. We lobby in the legislature....

Senate and Reps (I am a school nurse, AFT member and citizen) and I have done it numerous times since 1998. The last 8 years have been miserable. I was treated so poorly when I went to testify as an expert before the comittee I finally blurted out 'excuse me but I am a citizen and you are paid to represent us'. OK maybe not a good choice but I was too through with that GOP asswipe in charge. Craddick set such a nasty autocratic tone. My sig line can apply to him too.

[Ishoutandscream2]

12. Fellow AFT member here, too

Hope you have a great second semester! Oh, and my mom was a school nurse for 31 years.

[AnneD]

14. And God Bless your mom....

I testify about the crazy stuff they mandate now and the potential deadly impact it can have. I have come to believe that common sense is just not that common.

[sonias]

13. "Values voters in Texas" can kiss my ass

Those alleged christian conservatives are the worst hypocrites in the whole country. They will claim they are "pro-life" valuing all children's lives and then have no problem when reports show them that Texas children are at risk everyday due to their fiscal policies. They simply turn a deaf ear.

1/06/09
Texas lags behind other states on children’s issues
(snip)
Texas teens are more likely to become pregnant than those in any other state, and children in the Lone Star State are among the most likely in the nation to die from abuse or neglect, according to a new report by Texans Care for Children, an advocacy group.

Don't hold your breath waiting for those "values voters in Texas" demonstrating their outrage about infant mortality and child poverty in Texas. Once the birth happens they could care less. And they don't care enough to provide prenatal care either. They just want to make sure every fetus becomes a birth. Then they wash their hands of the whole matter.

1 in 4 Texas kids live in poverty and those numbers are based on statistics from 2007. :grr:


Sonia

[wryter2000]

15. That's very encouraging

IMHO, we'll never achieve real progress until Republicans rescue their party from the rw loonies.

[TahitiNut]

16. Why do these right-wing lunatics ALWAYS accuse others of doing what they themselves do??

It seems to be an international plague of psychological projection. Insane.