« Ten reasons to oppose gay marriage in Texas | Main | Oct Newsletter on the Texas Homebuilding industry. »
November 04, 2005
More examples of fright-wing truth (Neocons Gone Wild, Part II)
"Consider one memo highlighted in a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday that (Michael) Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Tx., sent the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to describe his strategy for protecting the tribe's gambling business. In plain terms, Scanlon confessed the source code of recent Republican electoral victories: target religious conservatives, distract everyone else, and then railroad through complex initiatives.'The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees,' Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. 'Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.'"
Hey, that's not all. Apparently the "strict constructionist" that is our state's attorney general failed to comprehend the precise meaning of one of the amendments to the Texas Constitution on the ballot next Tuesday.
From Ed Sills at Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report (scroll down to November 2, 4:40 p.m.):
"'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'" --Lewis CarrollAs a champion of "strict constructionism" that gives full weight to the "plain text" in legal language, Attorney General Greg Abbott should know better.
Abbott has been insisting in media statements that Proposition 2, which purports to secure the definition of marriage in the Texas Constitution, is crystal clear. He even scheduled a news conference with Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht to denounce the supposedly "deceptive" telephone ads attacking Proposition 2. The news conference was abruptly canceled, perhaps when Hecht realized he might not be able to rule on a marriage case if he stated his views in a public forum or perhaps when Abbott realized that attorneys general walk a dangerous path when they start trying to regulate the content of political speech.Abbott might well be correct in his assertion that no elected judge would overturn civil or religious marriages in Texas off the language of Proposition 2, but he’s leaving out the rest of the story.
Unless he is following the political axiom, "When you’re wrong, shout it out!" one might wonder why an attorney general would claim credit for vetting the language of Prop. 2 when the erroneous wording is justifiably confusing lawyers and law professors.
The drafting of Proposition 2 was a tribute to the "We’ve got the votes" mentality that chokes off open-minded contemplation of any editing.
By the way, Abbott has a progressive, populist, tough-talking Democratic opponent.
Posted by Perry Dorrell at November 4, 2005 07:47 AM | Permalink
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.houstondemocrats.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/658