roses suggested I pass along to everyone here a Letter to the Editor I had published in this morning’s Austin American-Statesman concerning the recent filibuster compromise:
Cornyn loses relevance
One of the biggest losers in the Senate compromise on the filibuster appears to be Sen. John Cornyn, who was essentially reduced to wailing on the Senate floor about the agreement. By adhering to the strict line demanded by Majority Leader Bill Frist and James Dobson, Cornyn sadly missed the boat when the new senate power-brokers, led by Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, resolved what could have been a devastating crisis. Let’s hope our junior senator can find some Texas independence and avoid becoming increasingly irrelevant in the senate.
More below the fold.
I want to continue to encourage everyone to get involved in the public debate about issues which are of import to us. And I do agree with roses that we should report back on our experience.
Texans may want to take this opportunity to write to Senator Cornyn and remind him how much we value Independence. James Dobson already has two Senators from Colorado representing him, and, even though he is currently feuding with Freshman Democrat Ken Salazar, he does not need to replace him with one of ours.
Senator Cornyn is particularly committed to carrying water for Dobson on the Federal Gay Marriage Amendment, of which he is shamefully a sponsor, and about which he began railing on the Senate floor as soon as the Federal District Court in Lincoln issued its opinion declaring the Nebraska Gay Marriage Amendment unconstitutional. You can view an earlier diary I posted on this ruling here. As I state in my analysis in the diary, the ruling is hardly that of an “activist” judge.
Get Radical and Keep the Debate Alive!
I love knowing that your LTE was printed in the Statesman. It’s bound to back to Cornyn. And I think it’s a great idea for Texans to contact him with their thoughts about the value of Texas independence.
Your poll is quite appropriate too. Without the “all of the above” option, I don’t know how I could have selected just one!
I know it is a hard vote. Independence, the box turtle or his wonderful Daily Show appearance?
On another exciting Texas front, roses and I have been in touch with Houston lawyer Barabara Ann Radnofsky who is running for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat now held by Kay Bailey Hutchison in connection with the upcoming Bloggers’ Caucus at DemFest hosted by the Austin Kossacks.
Barbara gave us some excellent responses to some questions we had about her candidacy, and roses and I will work on a diary this week about her and her campaign, and about putting the Texas Senate seat in play for the Democrats.
Barbara is a true progressive, and she told us Barbara Jordan would be her role model as a legislator.
Of course!
Well, as another Texan mentioned in another diary somewhere, every time you write to Hutchison and Cornyn, you’ll get a response from Hutchison, but NEVER a peep from Cornyn. So, if he doesn’t think his constituents are important, I suppose it’s only fitting that his potency should wane.
Seth, who administers a blog informally connected with Barbara Ann Radnofsky’s campaign, has posted in full the Q & A I had over the weekend with Barbara. You can check it out at http://radnofsky2006.blogspot.com/