Chad’s Morning Brief: David Dewhurst Believes Texans Have Misdirected Anger, Obama Really Doesn’t Like Romney, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of August 6, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.
1. Dewhurst Thinks You Don't Understand (link)
Are Texans so mad at Washington they are blaming Austin? Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst thinks so.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Friday continued to fight a battle that he had lost three days before when Ted Cruz defeated him for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.
Cruz and his allies had effectively cast Dewhurst as a tax-and-spend moderate, a criticism that Dewhurst was still eager to rebut during a rare meeting of the Legislative Budget Board at the Texas Capitol.
"There are a lot of Texans who are so mad and angry at Washington — and I'm mad and angry at Washington, too — (they) have a hard time understanding how any other form of government, such as state government, could actually cut taxes, which we did, and cut spending, which we did," Dewhurst said.
I understand what Dewhurst is saying here, and I could even argue that we saw it in local elections here in Lubbock. However, that's not why Dewhurst lost. He lost because Ted Cruz ran a better and cleaner campaign. Cruz was willing to get out and meet people from around the state. Dewhurst also lost because he is seen as a moderate. The Tea Party is alive and well and Cruz fit the description of what people in Texas were looking for. Dewhurst should stop blaming "ignorant Texans" and instead look at what he did to lose. One of the number one excuses politicians have used in the past when they have lost is, the people just didn't understand. Sorry Dewhurst, I think they did.
2. Obama Hates Romney (link)
According to a new book that is coming out, President Obama really doesn't like Mitt Romney. It's not just a political issue though. Obama just has no respect for Romney.
“One factor made the 2012 grind bearable and at times even fun for Obama: he began campaign preparations feeling neutral about Romney, but like the former governor’s GOP opponents in 2008 and 2012, he quickly developed a genuine disdain for the man,” author Glenn Thrush writes in the soon-to-be released e-book “Obama’s Last Stand.”
Thrush — a reporter for Politico, which published book excerpts Sunday —- writes that Obama’s feelings for Romney are different from how he personally felt about other Republican opponents on the Hill and campaign rivals of the past.
“Obama, a person close to him told me, didn’t even feel this strongly about conservative, combative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Hill Republican he disliked the most,” Thrush writes. “At least Cantor stood for something, he’d say.”
“When he talked about Romney, aides picked up a level of anger he never had for Clinton or McCain, even after Sarah Palin was picked as his running mate. ‘There was a baseline of respect for John McCain. The president always thought he was an honorable man and a war hero,’ said a longtime Obama adviser. ‘That doesn’t hold true for Romney. He was no goddamned war hero.’”
Not surprising really.
3. Graduation Rates Increase (link)
Texas graduation rates are on the increase.
Graduation rates for Texas' black and Hispanic students topped 80 percent for the first time in state history in 2011, but they still lagged behind the record-setting overall graduation rate of 86 percent, the Texas Education Agency reported Friday.
Hispanic graduation rates increased 3 percentage points to 81.8 percent, while black students' rate increased 2 percentage points to 80.9 percent.
"It is good news, but certainly we still have a lot of work to do," said Laura Murillo, president of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Statewide, boys continue to be less likely to graduate, with a rate of 83.7 percent, compared to the 88.2 percent of girls.
Sure, graduation rates are getting better but does that mean more students are ready for college? For some reason, I just don't think so.
4. Tennessee Democrat Disavowed (link)
The Democratic Party in Tennessee has disavowed it's own U.S. Senate nominee. Why? According to the Democrats, he has associations with a known hate group.
Mark Clayton won Tuesday’s Democratic primary with 30 percent of the vote in a field of seven candidates.
“The only time that Clayton has voted in a Democratic primary was when he was voting for himself,” said the Tennessee Democratic Party in a statement. “Many Democrats in Tennessee knew nothing about any of the candidates in the race, so they voted for the person at the top of the ticket. Unfortunately, none of the other Democratic candidates were able to run the race needed to gain statewide visibility or support.”
“Mark Clayton is associated with a known hate group in Washington, D.C., and the Tennessee Democratic Party disavows his candidacy, will not do anything to promote or support him in any way, and urges Democrats to write-in a candidate of their choice in November,” the statement concluded.
The “hate group” referred to in the statement is Public Advocate USA, a group that, according to a description on its website, “has become a highly visible political organization and a model for other conservative activist groups in Washington D.C. and across the country.”
Public Advocate USA’s recent efforts include advocacy campaigns against same-sex marriage and in favor of pro-life legislation.
“Our members are often at the forefront of the defining political issues of our time, always defending the rights of fathers, mothers and children to live their lives free from government intrusions and the self-serving motives of liberal special interests and agendas,” the website says.
Interesting.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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