Archive for the ‘Campaign News’ Category

"I've got two words for you old people: 'Go fuck yourselves.'"​Perhaps it's been awhile since you've re-read Rick Perry's book Fed Up, in which he chronicles, presumably choose-your-own-adventure style, the improbable rise of a D-student to the highest office in the only-land-that-matters. If it has, you may not recall Perry's take on Social Security, which he called a "Ponzi Scheme" that had been created "at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government." As even the C students among the Friends of Unfair Park can probably figure, that's not the kind of statement that, as the Washington Post points out today, will get a guy votes "in early-primary states with large retiree populations, such as Florida and South Carolina." Which is why, just 10 days ago, Perry's spokesman was trying to back the governor away from that less-than-measured stance on the popular program.

What you see is the video just posted by the Tom Leppert for Senate campaign in which the former Dallas mayor pitches his "ambitious" plan to "rebuild our nation's economy," which you'll find here: "A New Direction for America." To sum up: flat tax, reduce corporate taxes, eliminate earmarks, cut federal jobs and "scale back government retirement plans," reform welfare, "repeal of ObamaCare," overhaul "entitlements like Social Security and Medicare" and drill, baby, drill. Guess it beats talking to donkeys.

Perry: See, this hair doesn't just happen!​How does one explain the follicle-by-follicle perfection of Gov. Rick Perry's imperturbable man-mane? Where does his mega-watt smile and its rows of pearly whites come from? Braces? No, silly. They come from God. God spoke, and Perry was born a man of uncommon comeliness. That, Friends of Unfair Park, is Creationism. But contrary to what Perry is saying on the campaign trail, it isn't taught in Texas public schools. At a New Hampshire campaign stop Thursday morning, a boy ushered to the front by his mother asked Perry if he believed in evolution. "It's a theory that's out there," Perry said, according to a CNN report. "It's got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution." Ok, so there are "gaps." Humans and chimpanzees have more in common with each other, genetically, than either does with gorillas. Whatever that means. We can debate that. But not this, Elected Official With Whom The Buck Stops In Our Public School System. We do not teach Creationism.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas​Several Friends of Unfair Park, including a grumpy one below, have asked if we'll make mention of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fisher's speech given in Midland yesterday. Sure, absolutely, happy to. Because, first, I'm a big fan of Fisher's -- anyone who mentions Rube Goldberg and Bob Dylan and Groucho Marx and Dolly Parton in his speeches is a man who makes Economics 101 not only easy to understand but thoroughly pleasant to digest. (He's also quite keen on Robert Earl Keen.) And, second, ain't no hotter subject than the so-called Texas Miracle, wherein Gov. Rick Perry claims that close to 40 percent of all jobs created in the U.S. and A. since '09 were right here in The Great State of Texas.But as The Economist notes only this morning, there's a lot of questions about that particular statistic -- like, say, how many of them are actually below minimum wage, and how many were created compared to the influx of new residents, and at what cost to things like public ed, and on and on. The Economist writes that the criticism and congratulations all have their place while noting that "the virtues of Mr Perry's approach are debatable, but he clearly deserves a good dollop of credit for job creation."So, what does Fisher have to say on the subject? This:There are several ways to calculate Texas' contribution to national job creation from June 2009 through the end of June 2011. One is to look at the number of jobs created by all 50 states, including those that have lost jobs since the nation's anemic recovery began. Using this metric, through June of this year Texas has accounted for 49.9 percent of net new jobs created in the United States. Another way to calculate Texas' contribution to job creation is to lop off those states that have continued losing jobs and consider only those that have positive growth in employment these past two years. Using this metric, Texas has accounted for 29.2 percent of job creation since the recession ended. These are the facts. You may select whichever metric you wish. Regardless, it is reasonable to assume Texas has accounted for a significant amount of the nation's employment growth both over the past 20 years and since the recession officially ended.So, you're saying the Texas Miracle doesn't refer to the Rangers making the World Series last season. Now, what about climate change?

This morning, MediaBistro directs our attention to Uncle Barky's item from yesterday about former KXAS'er Grant Stinchfield, who, after seven years on the job, left the NBC owned-and-operated in April so he could run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Stinchfield, whose wife Amy Vanderoef co-hosts WFAA's Good Morning Texas, is a Republican running against ... well, he doesn't say. Pete Sessions? Lives in his district. Kenny Marchant? Says so here. All he'll tell Ed is "we're not ready to make any decisions until we explore all possibilities."Stinchfield's site is up and a runnin', even if doesn't say against whom. His blog's mostly a round-up of pieces done for KXAS -- at least the ones exposing things like "airport security flaws" and "disturbing issues inside many government agencies." He's also opposed to the feds spending money on homeless assistance programs, "an issue that should be left to your local government and private charities." And that's where we find the video above, which references a certain Mike Judge movie and features another former KXAS'er -- none other than FOX News's Gretchen Carlson, speaking of The Daily Show.

​Speaking of Rick Perry video round-ups ...On the other side you'll find two clips. First up is last night's Daily Show, in which Jon Stewart dissects the Texas governor's entry into the presidential race over the weekend. Stewart, like Gawker, "confuses" Perry with Josh Brolin in W. But, look, says Stewart, Perry's nothing like Dubya: "Rick Perry is what happens if Lex Luthor distilled down George Bush essence in a laboratory and crossed it with gunpowder and semen from the finest thoroughbred in Lubbock and then strapped that concoction onto a nuclear missile and shot it into the fucking sun and then waited, waited, waited until one day, on the anniversary of the Alamo, a solar flare, yada yada yada, Rick Perry!" At which point The Dallas Morning News's Wayne Slater makes a well-placed appearance.But speaking of Gawker, you'll also find a Think Progress clip topping that site's page at present in which Perry, addressing some folks in Iowa, talks about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and accuses him of, well, treason after making what's being interpreted as a tough-talkin' threat. As in:"If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y'all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treasonous in my opinion."As one Gawker commenter points out, former Dubya deputy press secretary Tony Fratto took to Twitter to denounce that comment as "inappropriate and unpresidential."

​The New York Times just posted one in a series of national-press pieces since Saturday questioning Rick Perry's role in the so-called Texas Miracle. Read it or don't; your call. But the photo with the story -- Perry watching himself play football for A&M courtesy Electronic Arts, which is expanding its Austin operations -- reminded me: Tied to EA's announcement last month, the governor's office sent out the video you'll see after the jump, in which EA put the gov into the game, literally, against the University of Texas, which, far as you know, had nothing to do with the SEC's decision not to invite the Aggies to play ball ... for now, anyway.And while we're looking at videos about Rick Perry, you'll find two others after the jump: Bill Clinton today referring to the Texas governor as a "good-lookin' rascal" -- hey now. And: Perry's campaign ad, which prompted Gawker to refer to him as "conservatives' wet dream." Probably because he's such a good-lookin' rascal.

​In mid-May, Ray Washburne explained his attraction to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty thusly: "He's got a great story to tell." This was in a Wall Street Journal piece about how Pawlenty was attracting big-money men such as Washburne -- co-founder of Mi Cocina, owner of the Highland Park Village, Phil's Natural Food Market-eer, former Met and Texas Business publisher, Bush Ranger -- and other locals, including Harold Simmons, Tom Hicks and Kenny Troutt. Washburne was still a solid Pawlenty man just a few weeks ago, when he cautioned The New York Times that, look, those Dubya donors ain't around no more: "Nobody is inheriting any kind of apparatus left over from the Bushes at all."But what about now -- now that Rick Perry's in it to win it? That's the question asked of Washburne repeatedly in the last 24 hours: Where will Pawlenty's moneymen go now that he's out and George W. Bush's successor as Texas governor hopes to follow him to D.C., otherwise known as Rick Perry's A&M report card grades. He tells Politico, don't look for 'em to go Michele Bachmann: "It's going to be a migration to either Perry or Romney," said Ray Washburne, a Texas real-estate developer and restaurateur who raised money for Pawlenty. "None of the other candidates are getting our people."Washburne added, "Let's get behind someone who can actually win."Romney and Rick musta heard Ray, judging by this morning's Times. Washburne says ......he received telephone calls from Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry on Sunday morning not long after Mr. Pawlenty announced his intention to leave the race. Both campaigns were aggressively pursuing political operatives, contributors and rank-and-file supporters."When the girlfriend breaks up with you," Mr. Washburne said, "you're not ready to start dating just yet."

​In mid-May, Ray Washburne explained his attraction to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty thusly: "He's got a great story to tell." This was in a Wall Street Journal piece about how Pawlenty was attracting big-money men such as Washburne -- co-founder of Mi Cocina, owner of the Highland Park Village, Phil's Natural Food Market-eer, former Met and Texas Business publisher, Bush Ranger -- and other locals, including Harold Simmons, Tom Hicks and Kenny Troutt. Washburne was still a solid Pawlenty man just a few weeks ago, when he cautioned The New York Times that, look, those Dubya donors ain't around no more: "Nobody is inheriting any kind of apparatus left over from the Bushes at all."But what about now -- now that Rick Perry's in it to win it? That's the question asked of Washburne repeatedly in the last 24 hours: Where will Pawlenty's moneymen go now that he's out and George W. Bush's successor as Texas governor hopes to follow him to D.C., otherwise known as Rick Perry's A&M report card grades. He tells Politico, don't look for 'em to go Michele Bachmann: "It's going to be a migration to either Perry or Romney," said Ray Washburne, a Texas real-estate developer and restaurateur who raised money for Pawlenty. "None of the other candidates are getting our people."Washburne added, "Let's get behind someone who can actually win."Romney and Rick musta heard Ray, judging by this morning's Times. Washburne says ......he received telephone calls from Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry on Sunday morning not long after Mr. Pawlenty announced his intention to leave the race. Both campaigns were aggressively pursuing political operatives, contributors and rank-and-file supporters."When the girlfriend breaks up with you," Mr. Washburne said, "you're not ready to start dating just yet."

The Institute for Justice may get what it wanted after all. Sort of. Ish.​For two years Matt Miller, executive director of the Institute for Justice Texas Chapter, fought with the city of Dallas in federal court over the 2008 ordinance that prohibits store owners from covering the top two-thirds of their windows with advertisements. The IJ brought the suit on behalf of several local shop owners who claimed the ordinance -- which was championed by Dwaine Caraway, who'd said stores with signs "just trash up the community" -- was a "blatant" First Amendment violation that's hurt small businesses trying to get the word out to would-be customers. The city responded by saying, "The courts have repeatedly held that a city may have content-neutral sign regulations as long as they are reasonable and advance a significant governmental interest."But then, in June the Institute for Justice dropped the suit against the city, insisting Dallas officials were going to fine their clients $1,000 a day every day they were in violation of the ordinance. Said Miller in a statement, "Unfortunately, few small businesses can risk $300,000 in fines, however remote that risk might be. Our clients were forced to abandon their case or face possible bankruptcy."So, then, how to explain this? Next week, the City Plan Commission will discuss, per its just-posted meeting agenda, "Window Sign Special Exception language." Which says, in short: