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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Texas primary loses influence with Santorum's exit


Now, Santorum's exit from the race "make(s) the Texas presidential primary moot," said Allan Saxe, associate professor of government at the University of Texas in Arlington. "It is set: Gov. Mitt Romney vs President Obama for the heavyweight championship."

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873683/texas-primary-loses-influence.html#storylink=cpy

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
via Pushjunction
By Anna M. Tinsley
Published April 10, 2012

Read the complete story

Texas could have been a king maker.

If the stars had aligned at the right place and the right time, Texas – and its 155 Republican delegate votes – could have made a big impact in the presidential race.

But now that Rick Santorum is out of the race, the Lone Star State and its May 29 primary election date may simply be relegated to a mere footnote in the story about the 2012 presidential election.

. . .  "Dr. Paul is now the last – and real – conservative alternative to Mitt Romney," Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton said in a statement. "We plan to continue running hard, secure delegates and press the fight for limited, constitutional government."

Gingrich, who landed Texas Gov. Rick Perry's endorsement, praised Santorum's bid and asked Santorum supporters to join his campaign.

In other news:


Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/10/3873683/texas-primary-loses-influence.html#storylink=cpy

By Peggy Fikac
San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN (April 10, 2012) — The Texas Ethics Commission spends too much time focusing on small mistakes at the expense of big violations that warrant audits and investigations, government watchdogs told a panel reviewing the agency Tuesday. “You're catching the minnows and letting the sharks go by,” Tom Smith of Public Citizen told the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission of the current system, faulting not the Ethics Commission but impediments including a lack of funding.

7 comments:

Rocky B. said...

"Critics say Ethics Commission focuses on minnows, not sharks"

Now that's "big" nothing news. What do you expect?

This is a neoRepublican state. They have legitimized corruption by changing the laws with their big government hypocrisy. The Ethics Commission is part of the charade.

The new Republicans are not small business, small government conservatives anymore.

They are the party of tax-scamming corporate welfare hustlers and big government social and anti-individual freedom fascists.

They call it "state's rights" and "pro-life". It is "pro-life" when these people have no problem whatsoever with drone aircraft killing thousands of innocent Arab children? And, yes, I know: that is Obama doing that. But where is your pro-life outrage?

Anyone who looks at the facts and wants to know the truth cannot hide their shadow demons.

And yes, another disappointing truth is that the Democrats and liberals have rolled over on so many of these economic
and personal libery issues - that they have become part of the problem. They also should be ashamed of their complacency.

Finally, Santorum's exit only shows who really owns the Republican Party:

The super rich and the hedge fund crowd who continues to pay a 15% tax rate on billions of dollars of income while the rest of America's right wing voter supplicants pay 25% on all income over $40,000.00 if single and $70,000.00 if married.

Who are the real dumb and duped Americans here?

This is exactly why it is much easier for the numerous right wing Anonymouses who write to the Roundup to attack me and David Baker and Will Conley.

They are so personally irresponsibel they play the victim - simply because they need some boogeyman to blame for their own personal moral corruption and political helplessness.

Yes, vote for Mitt Romney. Bush's Brain tells you you must. So when the next big recession and massive round of layoffs and wage declines occur, don't play the victim and blame the left when you see - AGAIN - that your own economic and political gullibility and lack of ethics is your real problem.

Anonymous said...

Was my understanding the RNC has ruled no winner take all primaries; and that if a state went ahead with one, they lost half their delegates.

Hats off to Romney for pulling the attack ads after Bella Santorum went back into the hospital.

Now if Ron Paul will pull his horid, you must be a hick to win Texas ads.

Anonymous said...

I am one of the Anonymouse's that Rocky B. talks about in his post.

Actually, as a Republican I agree with him that Romney is the worst candidate we Republicans could have.

He invented ObamaCare and he is not from the main group of normal Americans, which is what I call the "working class."

And yes, the Republican Party has been taken over by the greedy elite now that the Romney nomination is guaranteed.

But I don't follow Bush's Brain and certainly won't vote for Conley.

Also, Rocky, you may be developing a little persecution complex. No one except for maybe one "Anonymouse" seems to have it out for you. And he stays hidden in his hole, so value free speech.

And by the way, you should run your comments through a spell check before you post them. Or maybe the Roundup has one in the Google blog site.

Joe Tex said...

Rocky,

It is scary to think about it, but this time, I agree with you about the neo-Republican state. This bunch often talk 'States Rights' and 'pro-life', yet often wimp out when it comes to following through on such issues. If they were consistently pro-life, they would bring our troops home and not meddle in nations and affairs that are not our own.

If they were truly States Rights, they would circumvent more of the imposed unconstitutional federal programs that run rough shod over the laws and rights of Texas and Texans.

You are right on the neo-Republicans. What scares me is that I see nothing better from the Democrats. I cannot support their hypocrisy either, whether it be on pro-woman rhetoric, or talk of social justice that is neither pro-social nor justice, but rather a thin veneer for redistribution of wealth.

Given that the neo-Rublicans are a scam, and the Democrats are hypocrites, what choices do we truly have?

Anonymous said...

Bush's Brain: Isn't that an oxymoron?

I don't agree with Rocky on a number of issues but he is correct about issues with the Republican Party.

They are either a party of rich fat cats like Romney and Paul Ryan or a party of religious right expremists like Santorum and even Gingrich.

I can't relate to any of them anymore, so I am an independent.

But if I have to choose between Romney and Obama, I would choose Obama. At least he wasn't born with a huge silver spoon in his mouth.

And just listen to the guy talk. What a complete dolt.

Rocky B. said...

God has made Joe Tex a thinking man. And I appreciate any agreement or even understanding of the issues in the Roundup these days.

I have two follow up thoughts that are in line with your questions, Joe.

1) True conservatives (the old Republicans) can strongly dislike abortion - which I also abhor, but they would never use hypocritical big government legislation to force women to undergo invasive medical procedures that should completely be under the advice purview of clergy, doctors, husband and wife, therapists, ethics counselors, and maybe parents and friends.

The right wing nuts (the neoRepublicans) - with their Joseph Mengele-like mandatory sonograms - and their insane new proposed legislation over restricting a woman's access to contraception - deeply disrespects a woman's intelligence and undermines her self-respect by assuming women cannot make the correct reproductive decisions for their own bodies, their families, and their personal and religious moral beliefs.

If a woman chooses to have an abortion, she must live with her conscience, just like when a man voluntarily enlists in the military and kills some faceless man or woman - or even innocent children in battle.

Simply out of personal respect, a woman considering an abortion should have all the counseling and advice available. Then she must be allowed to make her decision. That decision is no ones business but hers and her loved ones.

In fact, a great question to ask is why doesn't the Texas State government provide funding to Planned Parenthood as an incentive to discourage abortions except in cases of rape and incest.

Or how about Jason Isaac and his fellow anti-abortion legislators adopt an unwanted baby as an honorable real life example to discourage abortions?

And now, the crazy neoRepublicans want to take away birth control - which will only INCREASE unwanted pregnancies and the need for abotions. Go figure that nutty logic.

A "war on women" or economic and socially retarded legislating?

Ironically, the neoConservatives always talk about individual freedom and responsibility. Yet they hypocritically want to take that same personal freedom away from women - using their big government white male God complex nonsense.

Second, and finally, too many conservatives think the Democrats are about "redistribution of the wealth." But they don't look at their own definition of "redistribution of the wealth."

Do you really think asking Mitt Romney to pay the same tax rate as you and me on his $ millions of annual income is bad?

Is that redistribution of the wealth, or is that sane economic tax parity?

No one likes taxes, but should a single adult who makes anything over $40K taxable income or a family making anything over $70K taxable income pay a 25% tax rate - while Mitt Romney pays only a 15% tax rate on most of his $ millions over $70K a year? Is that fair?

And I guarantee you Mitt Romney and his hedge fund cronies and all his very wealthy Republican supporters - they believe in "redistribution of the wealth."

Their version of "redistribution of the wealth" means to protect and change the tax laws to make sure the American middle class pay a larger percent of their income while we pay less.

And when they screw up in the stock market or in the housing market, they hire Bush (and yes, Obama) to create a bigger mess by bailing out their insider group of elite oligarchs - bankers, industrialists, oil barons, and media moguls.

Warren Buffett is a lot richer than Mitt Romney and yet he is more than willing to pay the same or an even higher tax rate than you or me.

What does that say about Mitt Romney - and his neoRepublican owners?

Finally, Joe, yes, the Democrats have a lot of work to do. But they have to get some cajones first.

Liv N Letlive said...

"Given that the neo-Rublicans are a scam, and the Democrats are hypocrites, what choices do we truly have?"

0. Crouch down, service the state and forget you are an American. Vote for the lesser of two evils, from either the Stupid Party or the Evil Party. Enjoy the bread and circuses. Cheer loudly when the Daily Hate comes on against enemies of the regime.

1. Honest people can retake their parties from the ground up (witness Ron Paul's supporters), and persuade their neighbors that peace, liberty and prosperity are superior to statism. Indirect, takes 20 years, odds are long against success.

2. Take direct action to expatriate or free yourself from the system. Expensive, and you'll be an outcast, albeit a dashing figure.

3. Prepare for the upcoming transition from soap box and ballot box to cartridge box. Expensive, and you'll be considered insane by people choosing option zero.

None of them are good options but our fate was sealed when we gave moral legitimacy to central banking, WWI (yeah, the war to end all wars, remember?), income tax and the idea that it's just fine for 51% of the people to steal from and boss around the other 49%.