Texas Lt Governor David Dewhurst called for the Impeachment and removal from office of President Barack Obama at a Tea Party and NRA sponsored rally at the Alamo this week. Republicans recently passed an executive order to open the Historic Alamo grounds to partisan politics last year.
If you recall, David Dewhurst lost the Senate Republican primary to Ted Cruz last year and is not going to make that same mistake again. He is running as an incumbent to keep his place as Lt Governor of Texas.
Here in Texas, the Lt Governor is a very powerful position, many say more powerful than the Governor. Vying for the seat in 2014 are Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and State Sen. Dan Patrick. All of whom are to the right of David Dewhurst. Dewhurst, calling for the impeachment and removal from office of the President, is the MODERATE candidate here in Texas.
I do not know much about either Staples or Patterson – though it was Patterson who decided to allow the Alamo state park to become a political football. But I do know quite a bit about Dan Patrick.
Dan Patrick owned, operated and starred in the two largest conservative talk radio stations in Texas, one in Dallas and one in Houston. He joined the state Senate a few years ago on his way to become Governor of Texas. Patrick is rabid pro life evangelical fundamentalist Christian creationist. I once personally heard him on the radio suggest that President Clinton AND the First Lady Hillary Clinton be executed for treason. Hadn’t you heard? They had teamed up in a conspiracy, with torches, to burn down most of New Mexico trying to destroy a hard drive which contained evidence of their collusion with the Red Chinese to attack America! Rush Limbaugh reported extensively on that at the time.
Greg Abbot is the guy running to replace Governor Rick Perry. Abbot is most famous for being in a wheel chair with a gun holster and who for the majority of his life has consistently voted against any access or help for the handicapped. We know of Greg Abbot nationally because he will be running for Governor against Wendy Davis who got national attention in her failed filibuster to defend women’s rights.
The kicker here is I can’t even find the names of any Democrats running against the Republicans for Lt Governor. Not newsworthy because it doesn’t matter. They will lose by more than 20 points. On the other hand, Wendy Davis is in the news because she may lose by only 10 or 15 points.
And you know, not a few shaker their finger in my face over this unpopular truth. Politics in this nation from its conception is more about religion and race than anything else. And until we come to terms with that fact, we will be under the thumb of right-wing reactionaries.