When Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was so gracious in her defeat to Gov. Rick Perry after this week’s GOP primary and whole-heartedly threw her support behind the man with whom she had just been in a bitterly personal and vicious mudslinging campaign against — well…let’s just say I had a feeling that there was more to it than KBH being a good loser.
Well, this morning the other shoe hit the floor (let’s just hope that unlike New York’s Governor David Paterson, there’s not a third shoe…) when Gov. Perry announced that he thinks KBH “should stay in the Senate.”
Gov. Perry and Sen. Cornyn Back KBH Staying in the Senate
Call me a cynic if you’d like — but I think when KBH called Gov. Perry on election night to concede, she “graciously” offered to endorse her rival and ask her supporters to back Gov. Perry in November on one condition: that Gov. Perry publicly back KBH’s decision to retain her Senate seat — despite having promised to resign at least 5 different times (with each promise, her resignation date slips further and further into the future).
KBH promised that “win or lose,” she would resign after the March 2 primary. Well, she lost. And rather than risk unemployment from the public teat, KBH back-pedaled again and said that she’d resign “sometime before November” (of this year, presumably).
But now with Gov. Rick Perry backing her staying her full-term, and Texas’ other Senator, John Cornyn (R) doing the same — I’ll bet you dimes to nickles that we’re not very far from an announcement from the Hutchison camp that the Senator, “at the urging of her constituents and fellow GOP leaders” has decided to stay in Washington D.C to fulfill her full term and to keep fighting “for the people of Texas.”
Which, of course, is complete bullshit.
“I think it would be in Texas’ best interest for the senator to stay there, to continue to fight the good fight and, you know, finish her term out, frankly,” Perry said in an interview with Dallas-area radio host Mark Davis two days after fending off Hutchison’s challenge in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
Perry’s comments — and those of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who said Wednesday that Hutchison should stay put — could give Hutchison political cover if she decides not to resign.
Gov. Perry’s main line of attack against KBH was branding her as “Kay Bailout Hutchison.” If Gov. Perry truly believes that, then he would not want her to remain in the Senate, where she can continue to waste our tax dollars by voting for bigger and more government spending and waste.
Bottom line is that KBH is a liar. And a selfish, power obsessed woman. It’s unfortunate that Gov. Perry and Sen. Cornyn both gave her political cover to go back on her word (again) to resign her seat.
On Tuesday night, KBH might have lost the race to be Texas’ next Governor. But the real losers were Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams and the citizens of Texas.
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Astute reasoning here, Robbie – so how do you square this with all of your previously-positive posts about Perry? Is he just another huckster? Why did he so need KBH’s support after the blowout, anyhow? I long ago lost faith in Cornyn and would love to see him lose his next election. KBH is a selfish, publicity-hungry old woman, and the fact that a third of the Republican primary vote went to her, here in Texas, is deeply disheartening. Decline and fall.
Robbie…you and I both know Rick Perry has proven he is a smart politician. He is not going to burn a bridge that he might need one of these days. If Perry had called for KBH to resign her seat (like she promised to do over and over again) he would have come off looking vindictive and mean spirited after he defeated her in the primary. The media in this state would have had a field day!
We all know KBH was lying when she said she would resign her Senate seat. But there are a lot of naive people out there who still believe she is a “principled” politician. Like it or not, Perry will need to win over those voters come November when he takes on Gomer Pyle (aka Bill White) in the general election. He may have the majority of the conservative Republican votes (minus the ones who voted for Medina), but he will still need the RINOs and independents who voted for Hutchison.
Right now Rick Perry is holding all the cards. If the Washington DC crowd, who overwhelmingly supported KBH, wants anything from Texas, they have to deal with Rick Perry. Hacking them off further by calling for KBH to keep her word, would do him no good. Besides KBH is toast, she will not win again. Perry can wait her out and if she does someday manage to do what she said she would do and resign, he can appoint who he wants.
I was/am planning to vote for Michael Williams for Senator this November !
How do you write in a person’s name when it’s all computer voting now ?
SB — there won’t even be a spot to write him in this fal, as tehre will be no Senate race on the ballot.
And you cannot write anyone in unless they have filed the paperwork as a write-in candidate anyway.
And frankly, I’ve made my position clear on Kay’s resignation over at my place,
http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/298989.php
Some argue that her senior position in the Senate is an advantage that Texas can ill-afford to lose. I disagree. After all, we are going to lose that seniority in January of 2013 since she has declared herself a lame duck. It seems to me that it is better for Texas if she moves on sooner rather than later, and allows her successor to begin accumulating that precious seniority a couple of years early.
Perry had nothing to gain or lose in supporting her, she was never going to vacate that seat willingly anyway.
Personally, I want her to stay, as I want the opportunity to vote for Michael Williams, and for the citizens of Texas to do the same. I want her ass handed to her by us, not by retirement.
Another nice Parthian shot at KBH from the American Thinker.
Texas-Sized Lesson: The New Tone Era Is Over.
While it bothers me to hear people from outside Texas call her a “Tea Party” candidate, I can understand how her lie might have not caught up with them yet.