Texas Blue Mailbag: Week of 7/22/07

Watch out, folks — we're going for the yuks in this Mailbag! Well, I am, anyway. Josh is apparently answering serious questions on fundraising and the attorney scandal. Would someone tell him that it's Friday?

FD from FB asks:

Are national fundraising trends for Democrats affecting fundraising for local candidates in Texas?

Josh answers:

To be honest, I have been remiss in that I haven't really devoured the campaign finance reports of a great many campaigns currently underway. That being said, the current national trend seems to be "those that can raise money are raising it by the truckload." There are some Texas-specific campaigns who have acquitted themselves nicely in their quest for chasing the dollar. Mikal Watts, for one, raised $1.1 million in one month after launching his campaign to be the Democratic Senate nominee, which garnered national attention. Joe Jaworski, running for state Senate in District 11 down Galveston way, is going to report that he raised about a quarter of a million dollars. That's a big deal. And a lot of the campaigns haven't even ramped up the fundraising yet, or been in it long enough for us to have reports to look at. The 3rd Quarter reports will reveal many things about how the Democratic field will shake out, as well as how 2008 will go, in general.

I think the short answer to your question is: Yes. Probably. If the candidate has all of the tools you need to raise money (including the wherewithal to be on the phone for 4-6 hours a day, making the ask) I think the money is definitely available here in Texas.

LP from Seattle asks:

Why can't we impeach whatshisname?

George answers:

Well, if you mean whatshisname, that's because we don't have the votes. However, if you're referring to whatshisname, it's because he's already neutralized by his unpopularity and we benefit more from being able to demonize him next November.

CB asks:

How long can Alberto get away with this [expletive deleted]? Is Gonzales just gonna be the sacraficial lamb of the Bush administration or are we really going to get some answers on this one? And how does [George Bush] get people to fall on their swords for him?

Josh replies:

You ask a good question, and I wish I had a good answer for you. The difficulty I have in answering your question is that I can scarcely believe he hasn't been loaded into a cannon and launched across the Potomac yet. But then again, I could say the same thing about a lot of guys in the Bush Administration. Perle and Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld all seemed like huge liabilities but no one really did anything proactive about them, save for Rumsfeld, and that wasn't really done until it absolutely had to be.

You would think that Gonzales would now fall in to the "something absolutely has to be done" category, but apparently not. I know that the most highly prized trait in the Bush administration.

SC inquires:

"Are we going to be living 'The Handmaid's Tale' in 25 years?"

George answers:

My guess? Probably not. After all, we can't get much of America to speak modern English properly; how on earth are we ever going to get them speaking Middle English? (I think he went with Chaucer rather than Atwood. Is an American dystopia with Sumptuary Laws possible? Let's hope not — at any rate, I think it is an unlikely future, no matter how badly Republicans might want national dress codes and a caste system for women. Zing. - JB ed.)

EDIT: See, folks, told ya Josh couldn't take a joke. Besides, if we're going for likely dystopias, my vote's for Orwell over Huxley — er, Atwood.