05.16.07
The Speaker & An Incorrect Sports Analogy
Chrisy Hoppe of the DMN tries to link the Republican “insurgents” against Craddick with the left, Push against Craddick is right out of left field. Instead she swings and misses with this incorrect sports analogy.
Those who had backed other speaker candidates were relegated to that place in left field, the “thanks for coming” spot reserved for awkward athletes who show up late to the softball game.
The scrub goes in right-field Christy. But to the substance of your article, that Craddick is just a victim of egotistical, power-hungry politicians and that he has had “No major scandal. No colossal failure.” Colossal? Maybe not, but he’s reiviews aren’t glowing. He has been involved in one of the biggest scandals in Texas politics we’ve seen in a while, Tom DeLay and the GOP’s Money Machine (see Craddickism). And to use your won words against you has seen the GOP loose seats in the House in the last two elections cycles, that stopped a long GOP streak of gains:
Then, seven Republicans lost their seats between 2004 and 2006, and so did some Democrats seen by their primary voters as too close to Mr. Craddick. The supermajority was gone, the margins tighter.
While that may not be a colossal failure it is a pattern, the GOP has lost House seats after every session that Craddick has been Speaker. While losing those seven seats isn’t a colossal failure, losing seven more would be. And that would put Craddick and his scrubs in right field.