I'm not a fan of the TxDoT Cheerleader so I'm down to two myself but was pleasantly surprised by Medina tonight. Really figured it would be heavily weighted toward the two cheerleaders and that she would get about 1/10th the time of the others but they pretty much evenly split and Medina seemed to be the sane one while the other two were cat fighting. Now the interesting part is that Medina is not scheduled for the next debate if I've seen that correctly. She might get more support to be there with the other two and that might cause Perry to opt out. Seemed to me when he asked his 2nd question, that was supposed to go to Medina, to Kay Bailey and was stopped by the mods and forced to ask Medina a question that he stumbled as he had had no intention of acknowledging her and fumbled around for the drugs question. It was interesting and I'm now interested to see her there at the 2nd debate if for no other reason that to get to see Perry off his game again. Anyone think Perry or Hutch won tonight?
Big fan of Medina. I listened to some of the debate. Every the professional politicians would vomit out their stump speeches, she would respond with straight facts. And she said she would let the state decide whether or not to legalize drugs.
Here's the video if you missed it Medina is an interesting candidate, but since she is a relative no-name and will not be in the next debate, she is all but out. I thought Hutchison looked ok in the debate, but it's going to take more than that to win me over based on her Senate track record. I thought Perry came across as an assclown and any of his reasonable supporters (should any exist) should be embarrassed by his performance last night. My personal favorites: - It seemed like his only defense to many of KBH's questions was "KBH has been in Washington for 16 years". The crowd laughed every time. I honestly don't know - were they laughing at him or KBH? - When he railed on KBH for voting for the bailout/stimulus (can't remember which) she countered that Perry had written her a letter urging her to vote in favor of it. He claimed that the letter was tongue-in-cheek and she should've picked up on that. WTF??? - When the audience member asked about the Texas Advance Directives Act, and Perry said that he would do his best to repeal the act, she said that the law was passed during his tenure as Lieutenant Governor (and, consequently, while he presided over the state Senate). He said he knew nothing about it. - Of course, during his closing remarks he had to throw in the "support our troops" bit and drop the name of a soldier he had talked to. Hell, maybe the guy is ready for national politics after all. EDIT - Just watched the first half of the debate (which I missed last night) and watched KBH's inability to answer a direct question about abortion. I've changed my mind - they both suck, go Debra Medina.
I didn't hear the debate, but I am ready to vote for just about anyone who will stop building toll roads for which I have to pay $2 one way. That seems outrageous to me.
I want to hear more about Medina's proposal to eliminate property taxes completely in favor of some sort of sales tax.
Depending on her audience KBH has pretty much been "multiple" choice. How I wished she had worn 7" heels to look down at that closet case.....uuuhhhh I mean incumbent governor.
What's the knock on Perry? Seems like our state is handling the worst financial/economic crisis in 80 years better than most. It doesn't seem like Perry does much wrong - or does much at all - or is not convincing enough to get things done (mandatory STD shots for all girls)... Perhaps governement works best that way.
I haven't even heard anything about Medina until the debate. After looking over her website and reading her views on issues, I'm leaning towards her. To me it's just more of the same with Perry or KBH. New blood would be great.
Legalizing Drugs and abortion are some of the deciding factors on who you vote for????? This state is in more trouble than I thought......
Gay and Lesbian Democrats turned out in huge numbers for Obama. The biggest surprise he will get in 2012 (and yes he will be re-elected), is that as a community and a voting block and a donor base, we have long long long memories. Point being as stated earlier, if you are in 100% agreement with any candidate, you may want to rethink some things. When McCain early on talked about being a "foot soilder" in the Reagan Revolution, somehow I always pictured goose stepping.
I wouldn't vote for KBH for anything. Medina interests me, but has no real hope. Therefore I will vote for Perry in the primary, but I don't know for whom I will vote in the general. Not wed to either Perry or the Dem, whomever that might be. btw. The governor in Texas is a pretty weak position. I wouldn't blame nor give much credit to Perry for anything that goes on.
Wow this entire post disappoints me. I thought we had a pretty high level of discourse around here but to suggest Perry is unacceptable because he is an aggy misses the entire point. "What do you have against Perry?" Well let me start: 1. His support of mandating the Gardisil vaccine for all little girls in Texas while at the same time his former chief of staff is the chief lobbyist in the state for Merck. We were one the only state in the union to bite off on this. His efforts were finally stymied by the leg. who pointed out he had usurped his exec. powers . Nevertheless his actions in attempting to have Gardasil mandated were wholly at odds with his professed desire to have smaller less invasive government. It was a tip of the cap to a huge pharmaceutical manufacturer who had the good fortune to hire a Perry loyalist to promote its agenda. 2. He voiced an opinion that he actually thinks we should secede. I thought we had this one solved in the 1860's but apparently the moron thinks the issue should be revisited. 3.. Toll roads. 4. He is pro-big business an anti consumer. As an example see his actions related to the Texas Residential Construction Commission Act. This anti-consumer act was passed in 2003. It was supported heavily by large home sellers in the state and large contributors to Rick Perry . At its core the act requires basically two levels of mandatory arbitration before a homeowner can even initiate a lawsuit against a home manufacturer. The arb process was very expensive (on average costs consumers several thousand dollars for each level of the process) was stacked in support of big business and does not often result in a victory for consumers. The Act he supported and signed required homeowners to jump through several administrative hoops before they could ever even initiate a claim for a construction defect. Given the fact the most valuable asset most of us have is our home and if you think about the already vastly different bargaining position individuals attempting to obtain redress for shoddy workmanship from a large company face, it is clear to further increase that disparate bargaining position served no purpose but to feather the nest of the large home manufacturers. He's never seen an insurance company or big industry he didn't like or support to the exclusion of the citizenry. 5. He is probably the most heavy handed governor we have had in 50 years. As an example look at what he has done with regents, the president of Texas A and M, the Hutchison supporting regent at Texas Tech and anyone else who is not in his camp. There's five. As an aside, to support someone unelectable like Medina is falling into the same trap as we did with Kinky and Strayhorn, it will result in old 38% getting another term.
When people say that Media interests them, but they wont vote for her because she has no chance basically ensures that she has no chance. So basically people WANT to vote for a winner, even if they dont like the candidates that have been presented as "winners." Thats very interesting.
I voted for Kinky. I voted for Alan Keyes. and I will probably be voting Medina, in both the primary and the general election.
Medina has been invited to the Jan 29 debate: The Link She gained 8 points in the latest Rasmussen poll.
