Welcome Ted Cruz, Your Newest Tea Party Senator

Ted Cruz, a conservative Texas attorney and Hispanic Bill Murray imitator, defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff to replace the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was a far saner senator for far longer than Texans had a right to expect. Cruz received 56 percent of the vote to Dewhurst's 44 percent and is going to be our newest Tea Party aligned senator, barring a meteor strike that levels everything except San Antonio and Austin.

As Dave Weigel and others have noted, Cruz's success has many fathers — to date, the only negative consequence of same-sex marriage anyone has uncovered. The Club for Growth provided millions in financing, while Senator Jim DeMint threw his support to Cruz last year, as part of a broader effort to ensure that reliably Republican Senate seats are held exclusively by politicians who think the United Nations' Agenda 21 is a communist plot to get rid of golf courses.

Nevertheless, much of the credit for Cruz's victory has to go to Governor Rick Perry, who endorsed Dewhurst…

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Tags: Kay Bailey Hutchison, Rick Perry, Senate, Ted Cruz, Texas

Texas's Primaries Mean Something Really Important Probably

What to make of yesterday's primaries in Texas? I'm not sure.

On one hand, in the GOP gubernatorial race, the very conservative Rick Perry managed to beat the very conservative Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, with 51 percent to 30 percent, while the very very conservative teabagging 9/11 truther Debra Medina came third with a mere 19 percent. On the other hand, the very very conservative teabagging 9/11 truther Debra Medina came third with an astoundingly high 19 percent!

One would think that if Tea Party candidates would gain traction anywhere, they'd certainly gain traction in Texas. But maybe not…

Across Texas, eight of the 11 GOP incumbents running for U.S. Congress successfully fended off tea-party opponents — two others are likely to win in runoffs — and establishment candidates all but swept the state legislature. In other words, it wasn't exactly a banner night for the insurgency.

Okay, so maybe in a state where pretty much everybody is very conservative, there's less impetus to rally around a very very conservative movement. Or…

Maybe Texas is just a tiny bit more rational than it would like to let on…

Thomas Ratliff upset State Board of Education member Don McLeroy in a Republican primary nail-biter. McLeroy, a dentist from Bryan, lost by about 800 votes…

Appointed board chairman in 2007, McLeroy has been the poster-child for the board's conservative bloc with his affable tone but strident ideology… His defeat is substantial blow to the conservatives, who have largely driven the recent rewrites of curriculum standards.

Aw, Texas… You old so and so. Booting out one of the main the guys behind the drive to teach talking snakes in science class in favor of a person with another Republican with functioning reason diodes! You shouldn't have! (Actually, yes, you should have. And thank you!)

Tags: Christianity, Education, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Religion, Rick Perry, Science & Technology, Tea Party, Texas

Republicans Want More Quitters in Congress

Every so often politicians — usually Republicans — launch a campaign for a constitutional amendment that would term-limit members of Congress, and every time they do so the proposal goes nowhere, because duh.

It's that time of year again…

Republican senators Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sam Brownback offered such a measure on Tuesday, saying it would be good to get fresh blood on Capitol Hill.

"Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians," DeMint said.

Absolutely, and that's why Jim DeMint has been so supportive of the fresh-faced, inexperienced newbie from Chicago who ran for president last year after serving less than a full term in the Senate… oh, that's right, no he hasn't. Well, what does it matter? Sen. DeMint's first term expires in 2011, and I'm sure he'll do the honorable thing by refusing to run again.

Just to set a good example for others.

Tags: Jim DeMint, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sam Brownback, Senate, Tom Coburn

From the Pork Barrel: Beer Fixes Everything!

* This is the way real men resolve their conflicts: over beers, in full suit and ties, on patio furniture.

* Hey, look! The Obama administration loves gay people!

* Oh, wait. Nevermind.

* The Senate just got a little more sausage party-er.

* America: Sarah Palin would make a great president… of doing the laundry.

Tags: Alaska, Alcohol, Barack Obama, California, DADT, Henry Louis Gates Jr., James Crowley, Joe Biden, Kay Bailey Hutchison, LGBT, Polls, Pork Barrel, Racism, Sarah Palin, Senate, Texas, White House