I'm watching Leticia Van De Putte, Dem candidate for Lieutenant Governor, miss a golden opportunity while being interviewed by His Wordship Chuck Todd.
Todd asks her why Texas has done so comparatively well during the recession, and she gives him the obligatory "abundance of natural resources" bromide, without elaboration.
Then Todd says that Rick Perry would say that it's because Texas has fewer regulations on business. And this is where she should have said:
Oh really? Texas has fewer regulations than other states? You mean somehow Texas got an exemption from federal regulations?
To which Todd would have said, no, no, I meant Texas itself imposes fewer regulations on business than other states.
Ah, she should have said. Then it's not a matter of FEDERAL regulations, since obviously every state in the union is under the same federal regulations. But it's a matter of how the state regulates itself. So, Chuck, you're saying that any state could have an economy just as robust as that of Texas, if only they would regulate themselves less?
Uh...uh...well that's not exactly...
Then what are you saying, Todd? I'm saying that Texas has been blessed with advantages that not every state possesses. Obviously this is not about federal regulations, despite Rick Perry's protestations to the contrary. This is about hard work in an atmosphere of tremendous good fortune, and any state with the resources of Texas could match its relative success.
Unfortunately, drugstore cowboys like Rick Perry are only concerned about success for the successful. Outside that relatively small bubble of actual prosperity exists a state that is drowning in this sea of plenty. As the Texas Legislative Study Group has said in its 2013 report "Texas on the Brink," Texas is
50th in high school graduation rate, first in amount of carbon emissions, first in hazardous waste produced, last in voter turnout, first in percentage of people without health insurance, and second in percentage of uninsured kids. Now, the GOP has nominated Gregg Abbott, a Perry clone, who has dedicated his entire career to preserving this despicable travesty. It's time for Texans to fight their way through the GOP media fog, financed by wealthy special interests out for no one but themselves, and listen to some alternatives.Wendy Davis knows that Texas can do better, that we can be a state of decent human beings who have each others' backs. I only ask that Texans listen to what she has to say with an open mind, consider which candidate will act in the best interests of all Texans and which candidate will act only in the best interest of the politically connected elite, and then register and vote their conscience.
Chuck, one only has to look at the slate of radical extremists the GOP has just nominated to know that Texas truly is on the brink, and this election may be the state's last chance to reverse this parody of real prosperity that is Rick Perry's chest-thumping Texas for the wealthy, and restore a Texas of which every Texan can once again be truly proud in every sense of the word.
Let's do it.