RINO’s
In his latest report, Peter Morrison offers his review of the recent Texas primary and offers some insight into the strategery employed by the RINO’s in the state congress to thwart true conservative candidates.
Summary of this report:
The Texas primary has come and gone, and it brought both good news and bad news to Texas conservatives. Joe Straus survived a primary challenge for his own seat, but many of his cronies went down to defeat. Unfortunately, we lost a few staunch conservatives, and the new redistricting maps drawn up by Straus and his moderates played a big part in that. Several races are still undecided, and are headed for runoffs in July, giving us another opportunity to elect strong conservative leaders. We also have a challenger for Speaker of the House.
Full report:
After being delayed by lawsuits, the Texas primary finally took place on May 29th. Texas conservatives had high hopes that the passion and energy that were unleashed a few years ago had not diminished, and that the results of the GOP primary would be a clear message to the GOP about what kind of candidates we’re looking for. Unfortunately, the results weren’t that clear cut, but were more of a mixed bag. There was some bad news, but there was a lot of reason for hope, too.
We’ll start with the bad news, which is that some very good people were defeated in their bids for re-election. Three candidates whose defeats will have the most impact were Gail Lowe, Leo Berman, and Wayne Christian. Gail Lowe, who fought so valiantly to make sure that schoolchildren in Texas get a real education based on the actual facts of history, instead of left-wing PC fantasies, lost her seat on the Texas State Board of Education. Leo Berman and Wayne Christian, two of the finest conservatives in Austin, both lost House re-election bids to GOP challengers.
Of course, there are many factors that come into play in every election, but there’s no getting around the fact that one of the biggest factors in some of these losses was the redistricting plan created by Joe Strauss and his team of RINOs. It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that one of the purposes of the new redistricting map was to punish certain strong conservatives. It seems clear that the RINOs deliberately forced candidates like Wayne Christian and Gail Lowe into these new, artificial districts filled with people who don’t know them, and whose voting patterns would make it much more difficult for them to be re-elected. Here’s what Michael Quinn Sullivan said about the Wayne Christian loss:
“A dark spot on the night was the loss of State Rep. Wayne Christian. But even there, the Straus team had to radically re-draw Christian’s district and spend heavily from the Austin lobby.”
The good news is that most conservative Republicans won their primaries and that several Straus supporters went down to defeat, including three of his closest cronies (Vicki Truitt, Rob Eissler, and Mike Hamilton). In addition, two more of Straus’s pals (Chuck Hopson and Sid Miller) didn’t win their contests; they only managed to qualify for a runoff election on July 31st. Other contests resulted in runoffs, too. This means that there are still several opportunities for conservatives to make a difference when it comes to deciding who will represent us in November.
In fact, there’s no reason conservatives can’t be the deciding factor in every one of the upcoming runoff races. That’s because turnout will probably be very low. According to official government figures, only 1.4 million registered Republicans came out to vote in the primary on May 29th. That’s an 11% turnout. Numbers for runoff elections are usually even lower than that. One political expert is predicting that between 6% and 8% of GOP voters will come out on July 31st. Compare that to a general election, when about half of all registered voters generally come out to vote.
A low turnout is great news for committed conservatives. The lower the turnout, the more impact each vote has, which means that if we all take a little time out of our schedules and go to the polling place on July 31st, while most other voters are too apathetic to bother, we can dominate the runoff races, elect people who will stand for our principles, and send another strong message to Joe Straus and the RINOs in the Republican establishment. We can’t let up now; it’s imperative that we keep letting the GOP establishment know that we expect our elected leaders to fight for true conservative values, instead of going along to get along. It might take a while, but if we refuse to give up, eventually they’ll get the message.
On that note, Rep. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) has filed paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission declaring that he will mount a run for Speaker of the House, opposing Joe Straus. This is excellent news. It takes real courage to oppose a sitting Speaker, because there are consequences when you go up against the man who calls all the shots. Rep. Hughes has already proven that he’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. He vocally withdrew his support for Straus in 2010, after he received word that GOP members who didn’t support Straus would be punished by having their districts redrawn unfavorably. He never wavered even as he endured a firestorm of criticism after his announcement. Many lesser men would have apologized or said “my remarks were taken out of context.” Bryan Hughes is a true conservative with a lot of character, and he deserves our full support in his challenge to Straus.
Here are the runoff races to be decided on July 31st. I’ve marked candidates that I’m endorsing with an asterisk. (I’m not offering an endorsement in every race.)
Railroad Commissioner – Full Term: Christi Craddick vs Warren Chisum
Railroad Commissioner – Unexpired Term: Barry Smitherman vs Greg ParkerState Board of Education:
*Gail Spurlock vs Tincy Miller
*Tom Maynard vs Rebecca OsborneSupreme Court Justice, Place 4 – *John Devine vs David Medina
State Senator, District 25 *Donna Campbell vs Jeff Wentworth
Texas House:
*JD Sheffield vs Sid Miller
*Travis Clardy vs Chuck Hopson
*Jon Cole vs Jeff Leach HD
*Jim Landtroop vs Ken King HD
*Stephanie Klick vs Kenneth SappUS Senate – *Ted Cruz vs David Dewhurst
US House
District 14 – Randy Weber vs Felicia Harris
District 15 – Eddie Zamora vs Dale A. Brueggemann
District 25 – *Wes Riddle vs Roger Williams
District 34 – Adela Garza vs Jessica Puente Bradshaw
District 36 – *Steve Stockman vs Stephen TakachSo make sure to vote on July 31st, and let’s do everything we can to support Bryan Hughes in his run for Speaker of the House.
The Peter Morrison Report
http://www.PeterMorrisonReport.com
http://www.facebook.com/morrisonreportSources:
http://libertylinked.com/posts/9898/the-loss-of-texas-conservative/View.aspx
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/18659323/texas-primary-turnout-was-low-runoff-may-be-lower
http://www.empowertexans.com/features/texas-voters-repudiate-team-straus/
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/politics/straus-faces-hughes-in-speaker-race
The gloves are coming off in the race for Texas Representative D21 between incumbent Allan Ritter and challenger Daniel Miller. Candidate Miller has called on Rep. Ritter to “Put up or shut up” and defend his record.
Good luck with that Rep. Ritter. In my robotic opinion, your record is impossible to describe as conservative. It simply isn’t.
And I’m not the lone wolf in my assessment.
Yesterday, Apostle Claver, founder of RagingElephants.org, Stampede!TX 2012 and Conservative activist extraordinaire spoke at a luncheon hosted by the Jefferson County Republican Women. In an impassioned speech, Claver shared his reasons for personally asking Daniel Miller to enter the race for State Representative.
Come to think of it, asking Daniel to run goes a bit farther than an endorsement, don’t you think?
Here’s the video:
Daniel Miller followed up with an email and post on his website TexansforMiller.com with a challenge to Rep. Ritter to defend his record.
An excerpt:
As you have spent countless dollars on trying to convince the people of Southeast Texas that you are a conservative, it is time that you prove it. Not with your usual tactic of taking credit for the work of actual conservatives in the Legislature, but by justifying the votes that you have taken during your tenure.
When legislation has been introduced in the Texas Legislature, you were forced to either vote for it, vote against it or “sit on the bench”. Any of these choices that you have made have been recorded in the journals of the Texas Legislature.
You need to come clean with the people of Southeast Texas and prove to us where you did not:
- Vote FOR giving unsupervised state money to paroled felons (81 Leg., HB 3226)
- Vote AGAINST the amendment that defunded Planned Parenthood (82 Leg., SB 23, RV#1172)
- Vote FOR allowing judges to reduce punishments for child sex offenders (80 Leg., HB 8, Amendment 16)
- Vote FOR allowing illegal aliens to receive in-state college tuition rates (77 Leg., HB 1403)
- Vote AGAINST Voter ID in the 79th & 80th Legislative session (79 Leg., SB 89, RV#842; 80 Leg., HB 218, Amendments 7, 11, 13, 15 & Passage to Engrossment)
- Vote FOR giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens in the 77th Legislative session (77 Leg., HB 396)
- Vote FOR raiding the Rainy Day Fund in the 82nd Legislative session (82 Leg., SB 2, RV#58)
Again, your votes were pulled directly from the journals of the Texas Legislature and, unless the Legislature is operating its journals like it “balances” a budget, then you will not be able to show that you voted like a conservative on any of these bills and amendments cited.
These votes, among many others, were noted by leading Conservative watchdog groups EmpowerTexans, Heritage Alliance, Young Conservatives of Texas and the Texas Eagle Forum and were just a few that led to your FAILING SCORES during your entire tenure in the Texas Legislature.
Just in case you missed it at the GTRW meeting, here they are:
- Heritage Alliance 2009 – 30%
- Heritage Alliance 2011 – 57%
- Empower Texans 2009 – 42%
- Empower Texans 2011 – F
- Young Conservatives of Texas 2009 – 32%
- Young Conservatives of Texas 2011 – 55%
- Young Conservatives of Texas Career – 40%
- Eagle Forum 2011 – 28%
Given these scores it is difficult for you to make the case that you are a “conservative leader” and, at best, the most that you can claim from the last session is a “Participation Ribbon”.
Some things just speak for themselves, like an incumbent’s record.
Please click here to read the whole thing.
On a semi-side note, if you’re in the mood for a little lighthearted spoof on Representative Ritter and his recent “Conservative Conversion,” I’ve been playing around with a new camera and some video editing software lately. Feel free to hammer on politely critique my editing skillz in the comments.
After you view that last video, be sure to hit the 1836 Money Bomb banner so we can afford to hire better video guys and hopefully even get the commercials aired. We are the very epitome of grass-roots around here, folks. Kind-of like the Beverly Hillbillies, but without the oil, mansion or movie set.
I believe the only way to save Texas and America is to support grass-roots, Constitutional, Conservative, Christian candidates. That’s why I got involved at the campaign level, and why I support Texas Patriots like Daniel Miller, Tammy Blair, Robert Gonzales, Col. Jim Engstrand, James White, Heidi Thiess and Ted Cruz.
UPDATE: How did I omit Matt Beebe? Doh!
Blog Update: Originally posted on 5-9-12
WTF!?
My Texas Senators, Cornyn and Hutchison and the rest of the RINO Senators are worthless. They are worse than worthless. They are RINO crony capitalists of the worst degree and should be run out on a rail for this attack on our food supply and the ability for a small farmer to feed his own family, not to mention compete with the industrial scale farms or imported foods. I’m sure they and the other RINO’s are happy with their kickbacks for allowing this POS to go through.
What kills me is, they had it beat.
From The Hill:
Reid’s staff earlier in the day had told a coalition of groups supporting the legislation that it had a chance of passing but the prospects appeared to dim as Sunday wore on. The swift approval by unanimous consent caught some aides and lobbyists working on it by surprise.
Sen. Tom Coburn, the outspoken conservative Republican from Oklahoma, had been blocking the legislation. He lifted his objection at the final moment. [‘bot – Why?]
So, I guess, technically, the vote will stay on the record and the RINO’s “save face” by simply removing objection to a procedural issue.
Don’t forget this two years from now.
One of those esteemed Senators could have backed Coburn in his objection. Sometimes a little encouragement to do the right thing is all that is needed to do the right thing.
Shame on all of you. F^%<ing bastards.
Anyone had enough yet?
Are you a citizen, or a subject?
Thanks to my friend, and proprietor of Holding the Line in Texas for alerting me to this heartbreaking news.
I missed the Peter Morrison Report in my inbox Friday.That’s OK though, it’s not too late, because there are still some excellent points Peter asks us to remember as we go to the polls tomorrow. You are going to vote tomorrow, aren’t you?
In case you’re not acquainted with Mr. Morrison, he writes a newsletter concerning National, Texas State and southeast Texas issues from a conservative / libertarian perspective. If you haven’t signed up for his newsletter, I highly recommend it.
Here is The Peter Morrison Report:
Will 2010 Elections Be a Repeat of 1994?â€
Election Day is fast approaching, and if the long lines for early
voting here in my hometown of Lumberton are any indication, big
changes are coming. It appears that the Republican party is almost
certainly going to win back control of the US House of
Representatives. There is even a slight possibility that they will
also win control of the Senate (although that is less likely). You
don’t have to be a prophet to see that this election is going to be
a major setback for Barack Obama and the Democrats. All the polls
point to major gains for the GOP. Republicans need to take at
least 39 seats currently held by Democrats to become the House
majority party. Five Thirty Eight, the website which was amazingly
accurate in its predictions for the 2008 elections, is currently
projecting that the GOP will pick up 61 seats.Some pollsters are projecting lower numbers, but still enough to
control the House, while others are saying that the GOP could even
pick up 70 seats. Peter Hart, a well known Democratic pollster,
stated bluntly: “It’s hard to say that the Democrats are facing
anything less that a Category 4 hurricane.”Of course, anything can happen between now and November 2nd, but
barring some sort of shocking development, it seems pretty clear
that the anger and energy we’ve seen expressed over the past couple
of years at town hall meetings and Tea Party rallies is still going
strong, and Democrats are going to be held accountable at the
ballot box for signing on to Obama’s radical leftist agenda. This
is certainly good news, and it shows what conservatives can
accomplish when we work hard and refuse to give up the fight.However, if we’re not careful, a massive GOP victory could actually
be a setback in the long run. Many conservatives will be lulled
into a false sense of complacency if the GOP takes control of one
or both houses of Congress. Far too many people are locked into a
“Democrats bad, Republicans good” worldview; they assume that with
Republicans in place to oppose Obama, there’s nothing to worry
about. This attitude is widespread, and it has been one of the
main reasons conservatives have seen our agenda remain unfulfilled.In 1994 a very similar realignment occurred. Voter anger at Bill
and Hillary’s left wing activism–NAFTA, ordering the military to
stop discharging homosexuals, and attempting to socialize health
care (not to mention the Waco massacre)–led to the so called
Republican Revolution, when the GOP took control of the House and
Senate for the first time in 40 years. For all the talk of
revolution, very little came of it. Which should have been no
surprise as the first thing the GOP majorities did was elect Newt
Gingrich Speaker of the House, and Bob Dole Senate Majority Leader.
Gingrich, for all his conservative bluster, has always been most
interested in advancing his own career, not pursuing an authentic
conservative agenda. Bob Dole was a McCain style Republican, a
“moderate” who prided himself on being able to compromise with the
Democrats.Both Gingrich and Dole (and most other Congressional Republicans)
had helped Bill Clinton pass the disastrous NAFTA “free trade”
agreement prior to the 1994 election. After the “revolution”, they
then helped Clinton secure Congress’s approval of GATT/WTO.
Together these trade treaties have nearly wiped out America’s
manufacturing base, and led to increasing economic dependency on
Communist China. In spite of all these betrayals (and many more),
conservatives became complacent after the 1994 election, simply
because they assumed that with Republicans in charge, everything
would be fine.Nothing could be further from the truth, and by now it should be
crystal clear that the words “Republican” and “conservative” don’t
have the same meanings, and that the problem isn’t just limited to
Gingrich and Dole. Look at how George Bush treated us. He teamed
up with Ted Kennedy to give us No Child Left Behind, the expensive
folly that won’t do a thing to close the achievement gap, but will
fill decent public schools with bad students after their own
schools have been shut down by NCLB. He pushed banks to lower
lending standards for minorities, leading directly to the mortgage
crisis. He bailed out Wall Street to the tune of 700 billion
dollars. In 2004 he mobilized Christians and conservatives to
rally to the polls to re-elect him by talking tough on gay
marriage, but after he won re-election he never mentioned the
subject again. He and the GOP Congress gave us the prescription
drug bill, which is projected to cost America trillions in the
future. They also did nothing as millions of illegal aliens poured
into America under Bush’s watch.
The latest TBF poll is up on the sidebar. As usual, Right Klik has all the pertinent info:
The TBF poll in a nutshell: This is a poll designed to promote rising conservative stars. At the end of the week, the winner will be promoted by a network of over 80 conservative blogs and will receive a flurry of contributions from patriots across the country.
We’re working to fill a leadership vacuum that has resulted from the failures of the Washington-based Republican establishment.
Right Klik is back from some Capitalist efforts and has once again done some fine legwork putting together the Conservative Candidate lineup for your information and edification. I’ve posted the new poll on the sidebar as well.
Right Klik also posted a telling compilation of video moments from the last few months which tells the story of why it is so important for everyone to get educated and involved in the Conservative movement.
We must oust the Democrat and RINO Republican aristocrats who are trampling our Constitution and have been doing so for the last hundred years or more. It’s not going to be easy, but it is necessary if we are to remain a free America. Voting for true Conservatives is the only way to achieve this goal within the framework of our system of government. To remain on the path we’ve been on is a road to serfdom.