Texas's Primaries Mean Something Really Important Probably
What to make of yesterday's primaries in Texas? I'm not sure.
On one hand, in the GOP gubernatorial race, the very conservative Rick Perry managed to beat the very conservative Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, with 51 percent to 30 percent, while the very very conservative teabagging 9/11 truther Debra Medina came third with a mere 19 percent. On the other hand, the very very conservative teabagging 9/11 truther Debra Medina came third with an astoundingly high 19 percent!
One would think that if Tea Party candidates would gain traction anywhere, they'd certainly gain traction in Texas. But maybe not…
Across Texas, eight of the 11 GOP incumbents running for U.S. Congress successfully fended off tea-party opponents — two others are likely to win in runoffs — and establishment candidates all but swept the state legislature. In other words, it wasn't exactly a banner night for the insurgency.
Okay, so maybe in a state where pretty much everybody is very conservative, there's less impetus to rally around a very very conservative movement. Or…
Maybe Texas is just a tiny bit more rational than it would like to let on…
Thomas Ratliff upset State Board of Education member Don McLeroy in a Republican primary nail-biter. McLeroy, a dentist from Bryan, lost by about 800 votes…
Appointed board chairman in 2007, McLeroy has been the poster-child for the board's conservative bloc with his affable tone but strident ideology… His defeat is substantial blow to the conservatives, who have largely driven the recent rewrites of curriculum standards.
Aw, Texas… You old so and so. Booting out one of the main the guys behind the drive to teach talking snakes in science class in favor of a person with another Republican with functioning reason diodes! You shouldn't have! (Actually, yes, you should have. And thank you!)