I have a confession to make.

I used to think John Cornyn was okay for a Republican. I grew up in AZ with Republicans like Barry Goldwater and Paul Fannin (okay, yes, and Evan Meacham, but nobody liked him by the time we got to know him) . These were Republicans we could fight like hell with and still respect as basically decent human beings.

I thought John Cornyn was one of those when he was Atty General. I didn't know at the time about his brush with the soon to be infamous Jack Abramoff.

Then he went to the Senate, and whatever good sense he'd been gifted with at birth evaporated from exposure to corruption and ambition. Box Turtles were no longer safe in their shells, but were enlisted in the war against marriage equality.

But this is Texas, and we've all heard about how Republicans rule in Texas. I thought this was as good as it was going to get.

Then, when Abu Ghraib Gonzales was up for confirmation as Atty General of the United States, I decided to write my United States Senators about my concerns. I didn't think that an apologist for torture who described international treaties as "quaint" was someone who could be trusted with the Constitution.

I got back a form lecture about how Box Turtle John's Best Friend Forever, Alberto Gonzales, had pulled himself up by his immigrant bootstraps (which somehow got attached to George W. Bush's coattails) and those of us who objected to this gifted (if tiny) one's ascension from Presidential toady to Atty General were being a little bit anti-immigrant and racist.

Not one word about Abu Ghraib, or the now revealed atrocities perpetrated by Tiny Al as White House Counsel. No reassurance of any kind that Congressional oversight would be invoked to protect my and my fellow citizens rights.

That was the moment I swore I'd find some way to get a new U.S. Senator. Eventually that did lead me to the Draft Rick Noriega movement.

So, it's with some amusement that I note that somehow, John and his BFF appear to have had a falling out, according to the Austin American Statesman.

"He's a good person, but I look at his jobs he's held, and I wonder what has prepared him for being the head of the Department of Justice and 110,000 employees in a highly partisan and difficult political environment," Cornyn told the American-Statesman editorial board.

You know when a good time to consider that might have been, Senator?

When he was up before the Senate for confirmation as the Attorney General of the United States, aka head of the Department of Justice.

Wonder why the thought didn't occur to you then. Elections too far away, perhaps? Nothing focuses the political mind as much as electoral peril, and Texans have not one, but two excellent choices to replace the Senator who thinks he only represents ONE Texan.

Two Democrats who are exploring runs against Cornyn next year — San Antonio lawyer Michael Watts and state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston — said Gonzales should resign. Noriega said Cornyn has sharpened his criticism of Gonzales because he's got an eye on the 2008 election, and Watts said Cornyn "will never call for his resignation unless Karl Rove gives him permission."

Well said, gentlemen. I

'm clearly a Noriega supporter, (why settle for better when you can have best?), but the fact is either of the Democratic contenders would be a step up from Box Turtle John.

It's a nice position for Dems to be in, but we have to remember the object lesson of the California Governor's race last year-which had such a poisonously divisive primary that a weak incumbent returned to office, and two leading lights of the California Democratic primary damaged each other in the eyes of the electorate-possibly permanently.

Fight hard in the primary, but don't salt the earth. We need to unite behind our standard bearer in the general election, or we'll have another six years of Box Turtle John.

And no Texan deserves that.

tags: john cornyn  rick noriega  mikal watts  txsenate  2008 elections  

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