World News Korner

Some people are unbelievably slow to learn. Let's call those people Texans.

This courtesy of US News:

Before, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, launched a 21-hour talk-a-thon on the Senate floor or encouraged the House of Representatives to stand firm in its position to repeal and delay the Affordable Care Act at any cost, he was a candidate. And he made a promise that he wouldn't go to Washington and be part of the establishment. Members of Cruz's own party took him to task for his tactics, referring to it as an "agonizing odyssey."

Back home in Texas, however, local tea party groups and conservatives are applauding Cruz's efforts.

Linda and Mike Vickers, who own a ranch in South Texas and hosted Cruz in 2012 when he was still on the campaign trail, are proud to have Cruz representing them, especially in the wake of his giving Washington a big old headache.

"He is the bravest conservative up there and it is a dirty shame that the rest of them are not the same. These last few weeks resolidified my support for him," Mike Vickers says. "They better watch out because Ted Cruz gets a big thumbs up down here on the border."

Political scientists observe that Cruz's hard line conservatism can only win him points in Texas, which is considered a Republican stronghold. Democrats haven't managed to win a statewide office there since 1994, making the state the longest-reigning red state in the country.

"There are undoubtedly some people who are irritated, but that irritation resides in the usual corners among moderates and Democrats," says James Henson, a state politics expert and a professor at the University of Texas. "There is some degree of irritation among the business community here just like in the business community nationally, but that conflict has been present here for the last couple of cycles and won't prevent Cruz's rise."

So for all of us who hoped that Texas would smarten up and give ole Raphael Cruz the heave ho, it looks like that hope is probably premature.

However with more evidence that Texas is starting to turn, if not blue, at least a deep purple politically and with evidence that support for Wendy Davis continues to grow, we may be seeing signs of the last gasps of rock hard conservationism in the Lone Star state.

Perhaps someday soon we will see the day that the majority of Texans are just as embarrassed about electing Ted Cruz, as today's Alaskans are for ever having elected Sarah Palin.



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