Chad’s Morning Brief for 01.29.13
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of January 29, 2013. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.
1. State of the State (link)
Governor Rick Perry will deliver his 7th State of the State Address today at 11am. KFYO will have live coverage of the speech and you can follow along on Twitter by using the hashtag, #TxSOTS.
I expect to hear a lot about the story of Texas today. The story of the last decade and the rise of the economic power that the state has. I expect the Governor to compare the state to the out of control spending in D.C.
I also expect to hear the Governor propose tax cuts, address rebates, and possibly one or two other big economic policies. The Governor will probably speak about water, abortion, education, energy, and possibly spend a little time on border security.
What do you expect to hear from the Governor today?
2. Could Hillary Turn Texas? (link)
Could Texas turn blue? Yes. Will it happen by 2016? No, but in the future it could indeed turn blue. But what if Hillary was to run for President? Even then, unlike what this writer thinks, Texas will not be blue.
The Lone Star State is headed blue — the only question is WHEN Texas becomes a Democratic state. If Hillary Clinton runs for president, she will have a fighting chance of carrying Texas, which shares revolutionary demographic trends rewriting the rules of politics, and of creating opportunities for Democrats to regain control of the House and achieve a national realignment of Rooseveltian magnitude.
No less an authority than Karl Rove is known to have been worrying about the political future of Texas for years, with good reason. If Clinton were to run in 2016, she would attract a giant surge of the demographically powerful Hispanic vote, an equally giant surge of the equally powerful women’s vote, a strong surge of support from younger voters who are developing lifetime habits of voting Democratic, and strong support from seniors and boomers.These trends are as powerful in Texas as they are nationally. Some enterprising pollster will run the numbers for Hillary versus various Republicans that will show the potential strength of a Clinton candidacy in the Lone Star State.
The coming Democratic surge in Texas has been held back by two factors, both of which are highly relevant to Democratic prospects of regaining control of the House and maintaining control of the Senate in 2014.
First, while Texas Democrats have a number of very able leaders at the congressional, state legislative and municipal levels, the Texas Democratic Party structure has been asleep at the wheel and failed to recruit and finance the strongest statewide candidates.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) both face upcoming reelection campaigns and potential GOP primaries. Perry could lead Texas Republicans to disaster. He acts like the banana republic autocrats of the 1970s, combining crony capitalism with an attempt to name himself governor for life. He can be beaten.
If — and only if — the Texas Democratic Party stops lip-synching talk about winning elections and starts aggressively doing what it takes to win elections, beginning with aggressive candidate recruiting and financing, there could be 2014 surprises in Texas.
While the Texas Democratic Party has a history of being lackadaisical, the Clintons do not. Want an early read on Hillary’s intentions? Watch whether the Clintons begin visiting the Lone Star State ahead of the 2014 elections.
Yeah, the writer is full of it but he does make a good point. Republicans should stop taking Texas for granted. It could turn blue in the future, but it won't help Hillary.
3. Immigration (link)
The immigration reform legislation that the group of 8 Senators announced yesterday is off the a predictably bumpy start. According to FOX News:
Even so, the proposed pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants drew immediate criticism from others on Capitol Hill.
"No one should be surprised that individuals who have supported amnesty in the past still support amnesty," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said. "By granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration."
The eight senators who unveiled the new principles are Democrats Schumer, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado; and Republicans McCain, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
According to documents released early Monday, the senators will call for accomplishing four main goals:
--Creating a path to citizenship for the estimated illegal immigrants already in the U.S., contingent upon securing the border and better tracking of people here on visas.
--Reforming the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university.
--Creating an effective employment verification system to ensure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants.
--Allowing more low-skill workers into the country and allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can demonstrate they couldn't recruit a U.S. citizen; and establishing an agricultural worker program.
The principles being released Monday are outlined on just over four pages, leaving plenty of details left to fill in.
A Senate aide tells Fox News the group's principles say important security triggers must be met before a pathway for citizenship is created for illegal immigrants. Even then, the principles explicitly state that illegal immigrants must go to the back of the line behind would-be legal immigrants, and they will not be eligible for federal benefits while in the temporary legal status.
The aide tells Fox News that although many of the details of the bill still need to be worked out, those involved are encouraged by their progress and the support of senior senators. Members of the group on Sunday said they are seeking to craft a one-step, all-encompassing bill based on the shared principles.
"We are committed to a comprehensive approach to immigration that we can live with," Durbin told "Fox News Sunday."
Citizenship has been a sticking point in previous efforts, particularly among Capitol Hill Republicans. However, they appear willing to accept the path to citizenship, in part, so long as the legislation also includes tighter border security.
Senator Ted Cruz along with other Republican's aren't sold on the plan. There is still a lot that has to happen for this to become something that is debated. Republicans need to be careful of how they handle this.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am 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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