As a tepid Giuliani supporter–before the interview–I thought his appearance Sunday morning on Meet the Press rated somewhere between underwhelming and appalling. Tim Russert really hammered him on his political and business associations, and it was not a pretty sight to behold. Giuliani came across as the closest thing to
I don’t know how many readers look at readers’ comments to postings, so I’m going to republish a couple of comments concerning my post about the selection of Elsa Murano as the sole finalist for president of Texas A&M. As I said in that post, Aggie sources told me that
Good news and bad news out of College Station today. Elsa Murano is a good choice as the sole finalist for president. She was brought in by Bob Gates to be dean of the College of Agriculture and to shake up the “good ol’ boy” system in the College. And
Paul’s on the road and I’ve been sleeping in my office so we’re a little late in posting that the new president of A&M is indeed Dr. Elsa Murano, current vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences. Luckily, our readers were kind enough to inform us in the
Yikes! I worked all night on a post about the Phil King proposal to eliminate school property taxes and replace them with an expanded sales tax, and the blogger software, which is supposed to save automatically, didn’t save any of it except the headline. Trying again:King made this case in
I just checked the Bryan-College Station Eagle Web site, and there is no news about the presidential search committee following the first day of a two-day meeting of the Board of Regents. Doug Slack, chair of the presidential selection committee, was scheduled to meet with the regents in executive session.
Huckabee 21%Giuliani 18%Romney 12%Thompson 11%McCain 11%Paul 8%That Huckabee and Paul cumulatively have virtually the same degree of support as Giuliani and Romney tells you how schizophrenic the Republican Party is these days.
The D’s are optimistic that Dan Barrett can defeat Republican Mark Shelton in the December 18 runoff to serve the remainder of Anna Mowery’s unexpired term. I think that the optimism is unwarranted. Although Barrett led Shelton by 1,526 votes, he actually polled below expectations.In 2006, Mowery defeated Barrett by
Stratfor is a private intelligence service based in Washington and Austin. From time to time, a friend e-mails me their assessments, which invariably are well written and insightful. Here is Stratfor’s take on the astonishing turnaround in U.S. intelligence assessment of Iran’s nuclear weapons program:There are only two reasons the
It could have an effect in a Republican primary race for governor. First, it’s never good to get beat, and having to withdraw to avoid the embarrassment of a defeat is getting beat. Maybe that will be forgotten by March 2010, but the other problem is that one reason she
The daily Rasmussen presidential tracking poll shows that Huckabee has zoomed past Giuliani to lead the Republican field. On the eve of the Republican YouTube debate, this is how the GOP leaders stood:Giuliani 27%Romney 14%McCain 14%Huckabee 12%Thompson 10%The Huck’s performance in the debate turned the standings upside down.
The embattled A&M Board of Regents will meet this week, according to a posting on the Texas A&M System’s Web site. Presidential selection is on the agenda:The Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System will meet Thursday and Friday, Dec. 6-7, in the board meeting room
Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, has breaking news:HUTCHISON TO DROP OUT OF RACESen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) begun telling her colleagues Tuesday morning that she will not run for Republican Conference chairman when the position comes up for a vote Thursday morning, according to sources. Her decision — which
Everybody in the serious news business wrings their hands over the blurring of the line between news and entertainment–I’ve been known to do it myself–but I loved the Republican YouTube Debate for exactly that reason. Blurring the line? Obliterated was more like it. For better or worse, that was America
What part of “demography is destiny” does Texas not get?
John Cornyn won a U.S. Senate seat in 2002 by pledging allegiance to George W. Bush and riding a Republican wave to victory. But neither the president nor the wave is as strong six years later, and Cornyn’s bid for reelection may not be either.
“The government didn’t understand the importance of saying to us, ‘This is a war for freedom every bit as much as World Wars I and II.’”
This piece ran in “The Hill,” a Capitol Hill newspaper, on Wednesday. It makes a case for Kay Bailey Hutchison on the Republican ticket. (Dewhurst will second that nomination.)Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is poised to win her nomination and she’ll soon seal the deal by leveraging her
This report from RedState.com, sent to me by a Senate staffer, is the best piece I have read about the Republican Senate leadership race. Hutchison is prominently featured. Although RedState is no fan of Hutchison, the article views her as crucial to conservatives’ long-term prospects, because (1) They
Texas A&M sociology professor Rogelio Saenz has written an op-ed piece on the problems of the presidential search at the university. His e-mail said that it “looks like” the piece will be published by one of the big-city dailies. I interviewed Saenz for the profile of then-president Bob Gates that
In my post of November 17, “Into the Wild Blue Yonder,” I wrote about the story circulating at Texas A&M that Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley, a Rick Perry chum in their days at Aggieland, might be under consideration as the next president of Texas A&M. In
Things change fast in Washington.Yesterday morning, I reported that Lamar Alexander of Tennessee might challenge Arizona’s Jon Kyl for the position of Minority Whip, which is being vacated by Trent Lott. Yesterday afternoon, I reported, based on phone calls to the offices of Texas’s two senators, that the most likely
I overlooked a comment posted by Charles Miller, former chair of the University of Texas Board of Regents, to my report on the “Future of Houston” discussion at the Jones School of Management at Rice University. I’m going to publish his observations in their entirety:Paul,In regard to your becoming enlightened
This is the latest word on the Trent Lott resignation and its effect on Cornyn and Hutchison. I have spoken to both offices. By all accounts, Kyl will move up to Whip, and Hutchison and Cornyn will advance accordingly. No challenge to is expected. I’m sorry to hear that. The
The AP is reporting this morning that Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi will resign his seat before the end of the year. Lott holds the number-two post on the Republican leadership ladder, behind Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The remainder of the five-member GOP leadership team, in
Today, November 22, is more than Thanksgiving Day, a time of national celebration. It is also the 44th anniversary of a day of national mourning, the assassination of John F. Kennedy. What 9/11 was to the millennium generation, the Kennedy assassination was to my generation: a universally shared moment, such
Two significant events today:1. The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, rejected a constitutional challenge against shifting the state’s presidential primary forward to January 15. The primary will be held on that date, even though the two political parties are threatening to refuse to seat some or all of
The Star-Telegram is reporting today that Forth Worth officials asked Governor Perry to set the runoff for the race to fill Anna Mowery’s unexpired term on December 11, the same day as a city council runoff election, to avoid the expense of holding two elections. Instead, Perry set
I have wondered whether the low standing of Congress in the polls reflected disapproval with how the Democrats are running things, or general dissatisfaction with Congress as an institution. Personally, I think it’s both.Perhaps that is how the country sees things too. This is a possible explanation of the findings
I’m publishing separately this comment by a reader (“anonymous”) to my post, “Hullabaloo,” because it puts a name to the rumor that is rampant on the A&M campus that Rick Perry wants a general to be the next president of the university. It is not that Perry did not want
I am quite amazed by the deluge of readers’ comments about my post concerning the dispute over governance and the choice of the next president at Texas A&M. Well, maybe I’m not so amazed. Aggies love that school, and they have strong opinions about everything of import that happens there.
I drove to Houston on Tuesday to attend a presentation at Rice on the demographic and economic future of Houston. The two speakers were Stephen L. Klineberg, professor of sociology, who has overseen a “Houston Area Survey,” tracking economic and demographic changes in the region for 26 years
… at Newsweek, of all places, the magazine that first gave rise to George W.’s dislike of the national media by portraying his father on the cover as a wimp during the 1988 presidential race. This report comes from the conservative Web site newsmax:Less than three months after he left
This is breaking news. AP will have the story shortly.There’s a simmering dispute between the Faculty Senate’s Search Advisory Committee and the A&M Board of Regents over selection of the university’s next president. The position has been vacant for more than a year. A terse exchange of letters between Angie
The Texas Association of Business has posted its voting records for the House and Senate online. TAB represents employers, but the organization’s choice of issues to rank was not limited to strictly business issues. To its credit, TAB included several education bills in its evaluation of
When Speaker Craddick asserted at the end of the 2007 legislative session that (1) the House did not have the power to remove him as speaker because he was an officer of the state and could only be removed by impeachment; and (2) in any event, he was empowered under
Democrat Diane Trautman will challenge incumbent Republican Joe Crabb in the 127th House district, the core of which is Kingwood. “This district has changed vastly in the last 15 years and requires a leader who is in touch with current community needs,” Trautman said in her release. She and her
State Rep. Betty Brown circulated a letter last week lamenting the erosion of the property tax cut. It appeared on the Web site TexasISD.com, which bills itself as the “Homepage for Texas School Officials.” Brown’s letter is all too indicative of the mindset of many House members: that
Redstate.com answered my post about its less than inspiring podcast with congressional candidate Pete Olson, whom it endorsed for the Republican nomination in the 22nd congressional district (Phil Gramm Engineers Key Endorsement for Former Aide in DeLay’s Old District, 11/2). I have to confess that Eileen sent me
I’m a big fan of Peggy Noonan, the Republican speechwriter and author. Even when I don’t agree with what she says, I love the way she says it. In the case of an opinion piece she wrote in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, I agree with every word. Its
The conventional wisdom sure looks dumb when it is wrong. The Republican frontrunners in the race to fill Anna Mowery’s unexpended term were supposed to be Craig Goldman, whose brother Adam had worked in the Bush White House, and former lawmaker Bob Leonard. (The sole Democratic candidate was attorney Dan
A new Zogby telephone poll shows Obama moving within 3 points of Clinton:Clinton 28%Obama 25%Edwards 21%My impression is that Hillary has hit some bumps lately, but you never know whether this is just the media talking to each other or whether some of the chatter has actually embedded itself in
Prop 1. Angelo State University. The Legislature moved Angelo State from the Texas State University System to the Texas Tech System. The amendment makes sure that Angelo State will be able to receive funds from the same fund it had previously been authorized to receive funds from. I’m FOR.Prop 2.
The Chronicle carried a story yesterday in which Sen. Patrick and Rep. Paxton, in separate letters to their presiding officers, questioned TxDOT’s spending of some $7 to $9 million on advertising in support of its roadbuilding policies is a “proper” use of state funds to favor unpopular policies
Much recent speculation has centered on the possibility that Governor Perry is seeking to appoint former legislator Ron Wilson to, depending upon who you believe, the UT Board of Regents or the board that oversees the Department of Public Safety. The powers that be at UT apparently voiced their objections
No, not of the United States. President of Texas A&M. Honest. That story is making the rounds at A&M and has found its way to Austin.A&M has been without a president for a year, since Robert Gates left to become Secretary of Defense. The Battalion, the A&M student newspaper, carried
I was so disgusted by the way Texas was playing this afternoon against Oklahoma State that I turned off the television and went to the computer to blog. I wrote about a press release I saw in the Quorum Report concerning Allen Fletcher’s announcement that he was running in the
Redstate.com, an influential conservative Web site, has endorsed Pete Olson, a former aide to Phil Gramm and onetime chief of staff for John Cornyn, for the Republican nomination in the 22nd congressional district. Seven Republicans are vying for the right to challenge Democrat Nick Lampson. Most prominent among these are
Exit George W. Bush. Enter . . . change.
Which is worse: looking the other way as millions of illegals stream across the border or building an unconscionably expensive and impractical fence that few in the Valley (a) want or (b) believe will make a difference?
