Showing posts with label Texas politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas politics. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Why Does Texas Rep. Stockman's Sad Tale Reveal a Major Healthcare Hypocrisy?

by Nomad

Representative for Texas' 36th congressional district, Steve Stockman is desperate to unseat Republican Senator John Cornyn. Polls show Cornyn with a comfortable lead and plenty of cash reserves to wage an epic battle of the conservatives. 

There's another problem for Stockman. An episode from Stockman's past, bankruptcy which, he claims,  was a result of his father's medical bills, may not be easy to reconcile with his stand on Affordable Health Care for uninsured Texans.

When Rep. Steve Stockman's (R-TX) announced his decision to run against one of the most conservative members in the Senate, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), it didn't require a fortune-teller to predict there would be fireworks. If not a fireworks display, then it has turned out to be a Texas-sized pissing contest over who could be the most conservative.

Ask any Texan and he'll reckon that there's probably nobody on earth- including the residents of all insane asylums in the Longhorn state- who could possibly be more conservative than Stockman. 
But Cornyn comes pretty close.

In spite of Cornyn's lifelong American Conservative Union rating of a frightening 93 percent (which is 2 percent higher than Paul Ryan) Stockman has decided to label his opponent the worst epitaph he could think of- a liberal.
In many parts of Texas, calling people names like that will earn you a fat lower lip and a fractured snout.
Stockman launched his campaign by proclaiming:
I’m conservative Congressman Steve Stockman, and I am running for United States Senate against liberal John Cornyn...
So how does he figure that, you might ask? 
According to Stockman, Cornyn betrayed the cause to de-fund Obamacare and abandoned Republicans during the filibuster. You must remember that. It was the 21- hour filibuster that included a reading of Dr. Seuss, praises for White Castle hamburgers, and a Darth Vader imitation. Even Texas governor Rick Perry (whom Molly Ivans considered "not the sharpest knife in the drawer") derided Cruz's attention-getting ploy as "nonsensical."

There's just one problem with Stockman's strategy against his opponent. In his attempt to portray himself as the true conservative, Stockman has had to ignore a whole chunk of  painful experience. 
Somebody should warn Republicans that victimhood invites closer scrutiny.