Darn real life!

Once again real life has caught up with the Snowed family, and blogging has, as might have been noticed, been severely curtailed.  (This appears to happen about once a year, so maybe I'm good for the rest of 2010.)

I do intend to cover a few topics in the near future, such as:  I met Rick Perry, I participated in a focus group evaluating the second GOP Texas Governor debate, and I watched an online friend totally withdraw support from a political figure that this friend wholeheartedly supported previously.  It's been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least.

And that doesn't even include the multiple topics I've jettisoned because they were no longer timely.  For example, did you know Ann Coulter recently called Christianity "the best deal in the universe"?  And, of course, Steve Schmidt has been talking about Sarah Palin, but people who blog much more regularly than I have already addressed his comments and their veracity, or lack thereof.

Anyhow, it is to be hoped that, in the very near future, I can rectify my time management issues, so that I can take care of the important things.  Like blogging.

Your guide to the gubernatorial debate

Just like last Thursday night, an important event affecting many Texans will be appearing on television tonight.  This week, rather than the national championship game, three candidates for the Republican nomination for Texas governor will be debating.  Two Austin stations (KVUE and KLRU) will be airing the debate despite the fact that Austin proper is decidedly blue.  (You're missing a repeat on KVUE, so don't get worked up about it.)

At this point, I think a lot of Republicans in Texas have already made up their minds as to whom they will support.  But in the interest of those who haven't (and at present, that includes the author), let's talk about the three participants.

First, of course, there is the current incumbent, Rick Perry.  This conservative's first take on his campaign website is that it is long on platitudes (e.g., "Rick Perry stand for Texans' conservative values") but short on specifics.  How does he intend to insure the uninsured, as his website says?  Who knows.

At this point, I would venture a guess that when most people think of Governor Perry, they think of his hair and the Trans-Texas Corridor.  And that's it.  I also think of his executive order (since overturned) mandating Gardasil for sixth-grade girls.  But if you really want to know specifics about Rick Perry, unfortunately, your best resource at present is going to be...sigh...Wikipedia.*

Considered to be Gov. Perry's main challenger is our senior senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison.  Her website is definitely better about including policies and more specific ideas than is Gov. Perry's.  Unfortunately, she appears to be campaigning more against Rick Perry than running on these policies (with the possible exception of the oft-shown ad saying she'll end the TTC). 

A lot of conservatives do not consider her to be conservative enough for Texas, though, possibly because of her supposed pro-choice status (I've seen that written, though her own record appears to show her to be pro-life), but mostly because of her vote in favor the first bailout in Sept-Oct 2008.  Also, the Perry camp is contending that she voted to advance debate on the health-care bill in December 2009 by voting to advance a defense appropriation bill that, had it not advanced, would have stalled debate on the health-care bill, which, you may recall, was rushed through the Senate right before Christmas.  (PolitiFact Texas reports that there were already 62 votes in favor of advancing the bill when she voted aye; she has said she was supporting the troops with her vote, since the bill was going to advance anyway.)

Gov. Perry and Sen. Hutchison have both gone negative against each other in their advertising, but there is a third contender who is still pretty much unknown to most people, Debra Medina, a Republican Party county chairperson.  Her webpage is very specific on certain issues; for example, she advocates ending the property tax and replacing it with what is called a "revised sales tax".  (The supporting documentation was too long and wonkish for me to get through before the debate starts, which would make this whole entry moot, so I'm skipping it.)

Ms. Medina has been referred to, rather petulantly, as a "secessionist teabagger" by the ultra-left Austin Chronicle.  If anything, at this point, that's almost a recommendation to this undecided conservative.

Yeah, I'm undecided at this point.  I'll be watching the debate tonight also.  Even if you lean left (and there are a few who do in Austin...), it is always good to stay informed about the goings-on in our state, so I recommend this as must-see-TV for all Texans.

And besides, American Idol isn't on.  Happy viewing.

*All Wikipedia information must be taken with the usual several grains of salt.

TX-Gov: Bell & Strayhorn: Real Men of Genius?

I wouldn't have believed these ads existed, had I not been tipped off by a co-worker this afternoon. Apparently the ad mentioning Ms. Strayhorn bothered her by its use of the word "woman". (Would she have preferred the term used for Mr. Bell, "guy"?)

TX-Gov: Kinky on Letterman tonight

Apparently Kinky Friedman will be on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight. (The transcript may be found here, courtesy Texas Politics.) If you're awake, check it out, even if you don't plan to vote for him. Of course, if you watched the debate, you'll already have heard a few of the laugh lines, but somehow I doubt the debate and the Late Show have many audience members in common.

In a related note, there is no truth to the story that a confused Phil Angelides showed up at the Ed Sullivan Theater and demanded equal time.

I never thought I'd miss Christmas commercials...

But I'd rather have Christmas ads instead of the onslaught of political junk now polluting my television. (During the morning news, it seems to get worse as a half-hour is neared, as if the candidates think people will leave on the half-hours. Strange...)

Here are the highlights and lowlights I've seen around Austin:

1. Far and away the worst: Mina Brees. Her ad is lame, with or without her son in it. That is, the son who told his mother to remove his image from her ad. (See the report for yourself, courtesy the Statesman.) Wow, your family's in sports! Big deal. It still doesn't mean you're a good choice for a judicial role.

(By the way, her son's doing pretty well this year.)

And yes, I know, the State Bar voted Ms. Brees more qualified than David Puryear. The question is, how much credence should one give to a bunch of trial lawyers?

2. Kinky Friedman: I finally saw an ad for Mr. Friedman this morning. Was he holding them back until now, or is this a last-ditch effort to get out of fourth?

3. Valinda Bolton and Bill Welch: Both have now gone negative in at least one ad. But Mr. Welch's ad rings much truer than Ms. Bolton's. First of all, Ms. Bolton's first ad places the blame for education in Texas solely on the Republicans. Let's see...who ran this state for 150 years? And by the way, where were the Democrats during some of these sessions of the Legislature to which she refers? Oh, yes: in another state. Nice try.

Anyway, Mr. Welch pointed out that Ms. Bolton moved into this district solely to run for the Legislature. Ms. Bolton just released an ad trying to tie Bill Welch to, among other things, Rick Perry's toll road advocates and Tom Delay. It's 30-seconds full of half-truths and false implications. For example, Mr. Welch is on record strongly opposing the tolling of already-paid-for roads. Nice try.

One more thing, before I forget again: Ms. Bolton claimed in her first ad that nothing had been done about education. The other day, this ad ran on either KEYE or KVUE immediately before Mark Strama (HD-50) came on and talked about what he helped accomplish for...get ready...education! Get your talking points straight, people.

4. And why does everyone have to use black-and-white, slow-motion videos of their opponents when they want to make them look bad? It's a massive turnoff, at least for me. (Then again, at this point all the ads are annoying me.)

Bring on Santa already!

19 days of commercials to go...

The sequence of ads during KVUE's 5:55 am break this morning:

1. Carole Keeton Strayhorn: Rick Perry shafts education
2. Greg Abbott: I've collected a lot of child support money
3. Chris Bell: Rick Perry shafts children's insurance
(And by the way, Mr. Bell: Making a trite statement and having a couple of rows of sycophants applauding does not a great commercial make.)
4. Buick: We're ending our model year two months after everyone else did
5. Susan Combs: Putting students first
6. Rick Perry: Protecting our borders

I'm thinking of voting for Buick.

TX-Gov: The debate continues, kinda

The Libertarian candidate for governor, James Werner, when not threatening to sue Belo for deliberately excluding him, has started posting his answers to the questions the other four candidates faced (and, in some cases, mishandled).

There are some interesting tidbits to be found (such as the idea of supporting the FairTax on a state level), and in most cases, his ideas are clearly articulated. Of course, he wasn't in a shoebox with harsh lights on him, answering within a one-minute time limit, either.

By the way, he has stated that Belo's invitation to the others constitutes their giving them "a giant TV commercial". (No, Belo gave themselves a giant TV commercial, with their name in the top left corner throughout...and I noticed at least KEYE making an obvious effort not to show any of the Belo journalists in the clips--take that, Christine Haas!) How is the Statesman's offer (made only to Werner, as best as I can tell, and mentioned repeatedly in the Statesman's coverage of the debate) of blogspace that much different? Sure, it's not quite the same as statewide TV coverage, but by what factor? After all, the televised debate was competing for attention with Texas-OU and Deal or no Deal, so how many people, aside from me, really watched the thing?

TX-Gov: Just what is a reasonable contribution, Mr. Bell?

From Chris Bell's site:

Texas is currently one of only 13 states that allow unlimited contributions to candidates for legislative and executive office. Consequently, a small number of large donors contribute the vast majority of the money raised in Texas politics. For example, in the 2002 election cycle, 76 percent of all contributions came in checks of $5,000 or greater. The lack of reasonable contribution limits allows this small group of wealthy individuals to buy special influence and play on an uneven playing field.

From this morning's American-Statesman:

After Friday night's see-saw gubernatorial debate, Houston personal-injury lawyer John O'Quinn gave Democrat Chris Bell a potentially record-breaking lift, promising to give his campaign $1 million now and to give or raise $4 million more later.

I don't think any further comment is necessary.

TX-Gov: Did anyone win besides maybe Belo?

Here's a great idea: let's put four gubernatorial candidates, four journalists, and a somewhat lost moderator in a shoebox for an hour and see what happens! So, here's how it looked from here (at least what wasn't drowned out by a small child):

Chris Bell: Ducked at least one question entirely, referred to all three of the others in the debate as Republicans, but seemed to handle the lightning round questions well.

Kinky Friedman: Generally articulated his point well, but seemingly got rather flustered in the middle, just after all three of the others assailed him for certain remarks which had been brought up in a previous question. Didn't really seem to have fully articulated solutions for problems, just an awareness of those problems.

Rick Perry: Looked mad for some reason...maybe he didn't want to be there. Explained pretty well his rationale behind pushing the Trans Texas Corridor, even if the TTC (and tolled roads pretty much throughout the state) isn't the only solution to future traffic problems. He also ducked at least one question entirely.

Carole Keeton Strayhorn: Ducked several questions entirely, including the question I have wondered myself, that of whether she is a political opportunist. (She ducked that question at least twice.) Blew her lightning round question, proving she knows about as much about foreign leaders as Paris Hilton.

James Werner: What do you mean, he wasn't invited? He liveblogged the debate for our friends at the American-Statesman, and while he promised to answer the questions asked of the other candidates, his blog shows that he discarded that idea in favor of snarky "awards".

Belo: Great move, taking the focus off the actual debate by placing it instead on your exclusivity clause. This, no doubt, allowed KVUE's coverage to be completely stomped in the ratings by KXAN's "Deal or no Deal". Hey, KXAN had to show something, why not something that might draw a lot of viewers? I can't imagine that most people watched this debate all the way through. (Granted, this was in Austin, but I don't believe Belo owns an NBC station anywhere in Texas.)

And by the way, I don't remember who moderated the whole thing, but way to blow your signoff by forgetting when Election Day is. Even Ms. Strayhorn remembers that.