The Lone Stupid State.
Ever wonder where the phrase ‘yellow-dog Democrat’ comes from? It comes from John Nance Garner, who served as FDR’s first Vice President back in 1993. When FDR decided in 1941 to go with Henry Wallace for his third term, Garner retired to his ranch in Texas where he lived quietly and happily until he died in 1967 at the age of 99.
At some point in his later years, Garner was interviewed by someone who asked him whether he had ever voted for a Republican over the course of his career. Garner rocked back and forth several times, spit a big glob of chewing tobacco over the side of the porch as said, “I’d rather vote for a yellow dog.”
Things have really changed in Texas. The last Texan to make it to the White House was George Bush, who was a transplanted, Ivy-League kid from the Northeast. His grandmother was a founder of Planned Parenthood, his father was put on Reagan’s ticket to reassure voters that they weren’t just voting for some crazy, West Coast nut.
Now we are being treated to the spectacle of a Texas GOP which has just passed two of the most flagrantly disgusting, racist, and anti-female laws that have ever been enacted in any state. Meanwhile, the 7-day average for Covid-19 deaths in Texas is now 273, which is — ready? — almost ten times higher than the 7-day Covid-19 mortality average back in July.
Attaboy, Governor Abbott. You’re doing a helluva job.
What I am now going to say may come as a shock to my liberal friends, but I’m going to say it, nonetheless. Because as far as I’m concerned, I’m glad these two laws have been passed in Texas because I can’t think of any more effective way for the Democratic Party to become the permanent, majority party in this country than by being able to picture that GOP as a bunch of racist, dumb schmucks.
So, the trick is to develop a campaign narrative for 2022 which will promote the idea that what has just happened in the Lone Dumb State could happen in other states if the GOP takes control and could even happen at the Federal level if the GOP wins the Presidential and Congressional contests in 2024.
These two laws are so stupid, so racist, so antediluvian, that the Democrats should start talking about the GOP as representing a fundamental threat to the health, welfare, and social stability of this country to a degree that has never happened before.
We’re not arguing here about whether the minimum wage should be increased by a buck an hour over the next four years. We’re not debating whether people who lose their jobs should get some extra cash beyond what they receive after losing their jobs now.
We’re talking about much more fundamental issues such as honesty, decency, and respect. The law which the shitheads who voted for it claim is nothing more than an effort to ‘protect’ the integrity of the voting process, in fact, is really nothing more than a legislative version of ‘stop the steal,’ brought to us by Donald Trump and Roger Stone.
As for the anti-abortion law, the idea that we would sanction private citizens to enforce any law is about as crazy and destructive to the idea of ‘equality under law’ as the law which the Puritans used in Salem to execute nineteen people accused of witchcraft in 1692 and 1693.
Want to go back to the legal system that was in force a century before the Constitution was written and approved? They just did it in Texas.
The good news is that what just happened in Texas won’t spread to other states if the blue team starts ramping up their attacks on this nonsense the way the began ramping up attacks in 2020 against Trump for how he mishandled Covid-19, along with all his other stupid, racist, and other antediluvian views. I knew two Republican voters who told me they liked the fact that Trump was so honest that he was willing to say that we needed to stop immigration from “shithole countries.” Note that my knowledge of these two idiots is expressed in the past tense.
When it comes to getting people energized to vote, there’s nothing that works as well as making people feel they can express their sense of righteous indignation by showing up at the polls.
Recall what I said the other day about how I saw BLM signage all over the place in New Hampshire prior to the 2020 election. These two Texas laws, I am convinced, will create another opportunity for the Democratic Party to remind everyone that they believe in voting rights for everyone and support a woman’s right to choose.
Of course, I’m assuming that the blue team won’t find another way to shoot themselves in the foot.
