I don't live in Texas but I watched the whole stream above. First thought: Side by side a human on the left, tesla robot on the right. Cruz is barely human-acting. And he can't hold his own with Allred, an intelligent, caring man...that I hope wins Texas senatorial race.
There's this thing called politics, and when you have an amoral bottom-feeder like Cruz ginning up fake outrage over an imaginary threat you do your best to defuse that talking point. Allred is only going to lose by not getting enough Texans to vote for him, and as I've got plenty of them as relatives I can tell you that they don't use their brains to think with all the time because if they did the inherent contradictions of a good half of their positions would cause them to stop being so damn Texan.
You defuse the imaginary threat by pointing out that it's a distraction and pivoting to salient issues. You do not join in the bashing and targeting of a marginalized group. That means you're, in fact, not better than Ted Cruz.
When you're willing to target marginalized groups like he does, then yeah. Ted Cruz wants to sell me a plate of shit. Allred's offering a perfectly-cooked steak that he's chosen to spoon liquid shit over in an idiotic attempt to appeal to the shit-eaters' caucus, therefore rendering the steak a plate of shit.
It might not if you don't believe it's unacceptable to target marginalized groups as a strategy for gaining political power, sure. For me, though? That's some shit.
I'd agree with you but it's Texans we are talking about. Nuance and facts or for that matter compassion aren't considered important attributes for many Texans. Not all of them but FFS Cruz has been elected by Texans - several times.
There's this thing called a post-election pivot, which I would imagine Allred is capable of doing.
It's a bad strategy. Trans women in sports is not a major issue for most people. Americans have overwhelming said that the right's trans-bashing is a distraction from real issues. Allred gains nothing and stands to lose much by playing "bigot for a day."
Democrats are so scared of Republicans' culture war bullshit, and I have no idea why. It's not something voters care about right now, and most find demonization of LGBTQ+ people distasteful (see, e.g., M4L's epic losses in just last year).
The Democratic Party should not embrace transphobia like it has, in past elections, variously embraced racism (the '90s) and homophobia (the '00s). Who are these voters that Allred needs to court with transphobia? HINT: they're all fucking hardcore MAGA. Most voters do. Not. Care. and think the anti-trans crap is a distraction.
Epic cowardice by Allred that flies in the face of the data.
Let’s just hope Beto loosened the jar lid enough that Colin can yank it all the way off. Even tribal loyalty’s gotta give some time when it comes to Ted “he could be murdered on the floor of the senate and the senate wouldn’t convict the killer” Cruz. Right? Right?
That would be so sweet to see this asshole get creamed, but sadly, we are talking about Texas here and they really love them some ass clowns Paxton Abbott, Patrick Cruz Perry Bush
"Cancun Cruz had one job in last night’s debate, to rebrand himself as “not weird” and “not a complete dickhead”"
This is a common problem for the RINOs in the New GOP. Don't believe me? Ask the Hillbilly running for Veep under the Fulvous Flatulence -- both of whom are also weird, complete dickheads.
-----
"He trotted out his usual culture-warrior bullshit, like that Democrats love Islamic terrorists, want ninth-month abortions and to make boys use the girls’ room and play girls’ sports, have trans flags flapping on military bases above the American flag, spend tax dollars on drag shows, and force Hulu to only show the Looney Tunes cartoons where Bugs Bunny dresses up like a girl bunny and tries to seduce Elmer Fudd"
* The Dems just love themselves some Islamic terrorism. The New GOP prefers the terrorism inspired by the likes of Vladimir Vladimirovich, Xi, and Kim;
* Post-birth abortion (i.e. infanticide) is critical for the mental well-being and continuing health of the new mother;
* And while forcing boys to use the girls' bathrooms is critical to equality, another necessity being imposed on school districts everywhere is tampon dispensers in the boys' bathroom when the Leftist, Socialist, Communist, fascists make girls use the boys' room too;
* Allowing Trans' rights is just plain wrong, especially in our military. We can't have [derogatory names redacted] pushing the woke agenda on our fighting forces or we'll wind up too weak to defend the Motherland, much less be of help to our allies and friends. Besides, the Pride flag should have top billing over the American flag; the American flag is chauvinistic while the Pride is universal;
* If our tax dollars didn't pay for drag shows how will our most valuable commodity -- our children -- learn just how wrong and sinful Drag really is? Compelling preteens, tweens, and teens to attend Drag shows is an integral part of their moral learning;
* I'll take Looney Tunes any way I can (not very often these days, they are far from PC so they don't get much airtime). I pity today's youth, they can access cartoons (or at least what passes as cartoons these days) whenever they want, while I got to look forward to Saturday mornings in front of the TV eating cereal. (And also late Sunday afternoons when a tv station in the town I grew up in ran "Rocky and Bullwinkle.)
-----
"Is it reasonable for 26,000 Texas women to be forced to have a rapist’s baby? Is it pro-life that maternal mortality has skyrocketed?"
Yes, and yes. Whatever calamity might fall on pregnant women -- pregnant due to rape or incest, an ectopic pregnancy, the possibility of becoming infertile, a real risk of death, or any other tragic possibility, is all part of the "Christian" G-d's plans.
The religious wingnuts learned how to be cruel to half of the population from the Bible:
"It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man." Thomas Paine
Another possible reason for the WORMs' (White Old RINO Men) antiabortion stance can also be chalked up to religion:
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." Blaise Pascal
-----
"Allred saved his zippiest zingers for the end. “He has introduced this new kind of ‘angertaiment’ where you just get people upset and then you podcast about it, and you write a book about it, and you make some money on it, but you’re not actually there when people need you."
Rep Allred failed to mention the key first step: self-generate the problem you claim to want to fix; for example, voting down a comprehensive rewrite of our immigration policies during a Dem administration so that the RINOs could "fix" it when returned to total power. This has been going on since well before the Sociopathic Marigold Swamp Monster descended on his golden escalator and enshrined this action into the New GOP political platform (pretty much the only plank other than being sure that the Desert Sand Demi-Demon is protected from the consequences of his actions).
-----
"liberal women are unhappy and pissed off because they have to sleep with liberal men."
They'd be even more unhappy and pissed off if they had to sleep with pseudoconservative asshats like Raphael, or the Amber Ardipithecus ramidus, or the Hillbilly, or Karen Graham, or Tim/Rick Scott, Comer Pyle (via Thom Hartmann), or Jim Jordan, or....
FUCK NAZI CRUZ
I do not like that man Ted Cruz.
Had the privilege to see Ann Richards speak at the local college lecture series. A real no nonsense person.
He was the same fucking person 6 years ago; Beto had him in his sights…and he still won. It’s fucking Texas. I ain’t holding my breath.
Yep. "Forget it, Jake. It's Texastown."
Sign me up! I’d love to do the honors
I don't live in Texas but I watched the whole stream above. First thought: Side by side a human on the left, tesla robot on the right. Cruz is barely human-acting. And he can't hold his own with Allred, an intelligent, caring man...that I hope wins Texas senatorial race.
Fuck Ted Cruz
𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒 (𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑛) 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑.
This is a good one. His first Senate win was the result of a race that ended in a runoff, requiring a special election. In August. In Texas.
Apparently, four people voted, and three of them were shit-for-brains stupid.
Allred is jumping on the trans women in sports moral panic train, so fuck him. We don't need more Dems who don't believe in basic human dignity.
Please pick a better hill to die on.
There's this thing called politics, and when you have an amoral bottom-feeder like Cruz ginning up fake outrage over an imaginary threat you do your best to defuse that talking point. Allred is only going to lose by not getting enough Texans to vote for him, and as I've got plenty of them as relatives I can tell you that they don't use their brains to think with all the time because if they did the inherent contradictions of a good half of their positions would cause them to stop being so damn Texan.
You defuse the imaginary threat by pointing out that it's a distraction and pivoting to salient issues. You do not join in the bashing and targeting of a marginalized group. That means you're, in fact, not better than Ted Cruz.
Uhhhh .... not better than <italics>Ted Cruz</italics> ... ?
When you're willing to target marginalized groups like he does, then yeah. Ted Cruz wants to sell me a plate of shit. Allred's offering a perfectly-cooked steak that he's chosen to spoon liquid shit over in an idiotic attempt to appeal to the shit-eaters' caucus, therefore rendering the steak a plate of shit.
That analogy does not hold.
It might not if you don't believe it's unacceptable to target marginalized groups as a strategy for gaining political power, sure. For me, though? That's some shit.
I'd agree with you but it's Texans we are talking about. Nuance and facts or for that matter compassion aren't considered important attributes for many Texans. Not all of them but FFS Cruz has been elected by Texans - several times.
There's this thing called a post-election pivot, which I would imagine Allred is capable of doing.
It's a bad strategy. Trans women in sports is not a major issue for most people. Americans have overwhelming said that the right's trans-bashing is a distraction from real issues. Allred gains nothing and stands to lose much by playing "bigot for a day."
Democrats are so scared of Republicans' culture war bullshit, and I have no idea why. It's not something voters care about right now, and most find demonization of LGBTQ+ people distasteful (see, e.g., M4L's epic losses in just last year).
It's either him, or Ted Cruz.
The Democratic Party should not embrace transphobia like it has, in past elections, variously embraced racism (the '90s) and homophobia (the '00s). Who are these voters that Allred needs to court with transphobia? HINT: they're all fucking hardcore MAGA. Most voters do. Not. Care. and think the anti-trans crap is a distraction.
Epic cowardice by Allred that flies in the face of the data.
Absolutely. Perfection is the enemy of progress.
Give me all the breaks. No one is asking for perfection. We are asking for "not-outright-bigotry." That shouldn't be a hard bar to clear.
i had the panic about the stuff in my freezer, then i was like, oh right, i can just stick it outside if i need to. did lots of unnecessary baking.
Ta, Marcie. #CreepyCruz must be voted OUT of the Senate.
Hey. You may have been born here, but Senator, you're no Canadian.
Let’s just hope Beto loosened the jar lid enough that Colin can yank it all the way off. Even tribal loyalty’s gotta give some time when it comes to Ted “he could be murdered on the floor of the senate and the senate wouldn’t convict the killer” Cruz. Right? Right?
That would be so sweet to see this asshole get creamed, but sadly, we are talking about Texas here and they really love them some ass clowns Paxton Abbott, Patrick Cruz Perry Bush
Yeah, but do they really like Ted Cruz?
Enough to keep reelecting him. Gotta own those libs I guess
Nobody actually LIKES Ted Cruz. But if the alternative is a SOCIALISTCOMMUNISTMARXISTSCARYBLACKMANBOOGABOOGAVOOGA? I think we all know the answer.
Make TX Ann Richards country again!
Saw Molly Ivens in the lecture series too.
We need more Texans like Molly and Ann.
Yes! I thought of her too!
"Cancun Cruz had one job in last night’s debate, to rebrand himself as “not weird” and “not a complete dickhead”"
This is a common problem for the RINOs in the New GOP. Don't believe me? Ask the Hillbilly running for Veep under the Fulvous Flatulence -- both of whom are also weird, complete dickheads.
-----
"He trotted out his usual culture-warrior bullshit, like that Democrats love Islamic terrorists, want ninth-month abortions and to make boys use the girls’ room and play girls’ sports, have trans flags flapping on military bases above the American flag, spend tax dollars on drag shows, and force Hulu to only show the Looney Tunes cartoons where Bugs Bunny dresses up like a girl bunny and tries to seduce Elmer Fudd"
* The Dems just love themselves some Islamic terrorism. The New GOP prefers the terrorism inspired by the likes of Vladimir Vladimirovich, Xi, and Kim;
* Post-birth abortion (i.e. infanticide) is critical for the mental well-being and continuing health of the new mother;
* And while forcing boys to use the girls' bathrooms is critical to equality, another necessity being imposed on school districts everywhere is tampon dispensers in the boys' bathroom when the Leftist, Socialist, Communist, fascists make girls use the boys' room too;
* Allowing Trans' rights is just plain wrong, especially in our military. We can't have [derogatory names redacted] pushing the woke agenda on our fighting forces or we'll wind up too weak to defend the Motherland, much less be of help to our allies and friends. Besides, the Pride flag should have top billing over the American flag; the American flag is chauvinistic while the Pride is universal;
* If our tax dollars didn't pay for drag shows how will our most valuable commodity -- our children -- learn just how wrong and sinful Drag really is? Compelling preteens, tweens, and teens to attend Drag shows is an integral part of their moral learning;
* I'll take Looney Tunes any way I can (not very often these days, they are far from PC so they don't get much airtime). I pity today's youth, they can access cartoons (or at least what passes as cartoons these days) whenever they want, while I got to look forward to Saturday mornings in front of the TV eating cereal. (And also late Sunday afternoons when a tv station in the town I grew up in ran "Rocky and Bullwinkle.)
-----
"Is it reasonable for 26,000 Texas women to be forced to have a rapist’s baby? Is it pro-life that maternal mortality has skyrocketed?"
Yes, and yes. Whatever calamity might fall on pregnant women -- pregnant due to rape or incest, an ectopic pregnancy, the possibility of becoming infertile, a real risk of death, or any other tragic possibility, is all part of the "Christian" G-d's plans.
The religious wingnuts learned how to be cruel to half of the population from the Bible:
"It is from the Bible that man has learned cruelty, rapine, and murder; for the belief of a cruel God makes a cruel man." Thomas Paine
Another possible reason for the WORMs' (White Old RINO Men) antiabortion stance can also be chalked up to religion:
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." Blaise Pascal
-----
"Allred saved his zippiest zingers for the end. “He has introduced this new kind of ‘angertaiment’ where you just get people upset and then you podcast about it, and you write a book about it, and you make some money on it, but you’re not actually there when people need you."
Rep Allred failed to mention the key first step: self-generate the problem you claim to want to fix; for example, voting down a comprehensive rewrite of our immigration policies during a Dem administration so that the RINOs could "fix" it when returned to total power. This has been going on since well before the Sociopathic Marigold Swamp Monster descended on his golden escalator and enshrined this action into the New GOP political platform (pretty much the only plank other than being sure that the Desert Sand Demi-Demon is protected from the consequences of his actions).
-----
"liberal women are unhappy and pissed off because they have to sleep with liberal men."
They'd be even more unhappy and pissed off if they had to sleep with pseudoconservative asshats like Raphael, or the Amber Ardipithecus ramidus, or the Hillbilly, or Karen Graham, or Tim/Rick Scott, Comer Pyle (via Thom Hartmann), or Jim Jordan, or....
fnord
Allred is never going to live down his transphobic ad, though
Yup, fuck that guy.