Beaten Texas Dems Rip The Bark Off Abbott's GOP On Their Way Down

DALLAS, TX — Nobody likes to be held up to public scorn. And yet, that is what the exiled Texas Democrats have done to the GOP legislators seeking to limit voting rights in the state.

Using the only leverage they have, the Texas Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C., three weeks ago have used every opportunity to publicly shame their Republican colleagues for the voting restriction legislation that will surely pass in one form or another eventually.

And, as every sitcom plot has been described at least once in the pages of "TV Guide," "hilarity and hijinks ensue."

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Democrats' only recourse now seems to be getting a federal law on the books that would effectively make the Texas proposal unconstitutional before it can even be passed.

The trouble is, that's not going well and seems increasingly like a long shot. Gov. Greg Abbott and his party still have more than enough votes to pass their Draconian measures that severely curtail who can vote, when, where and how. More than that, he can continue to call special sessions until he's no longer governor.

And it didn't exactly make the Dems-in-Exile look brilliant to have six of them turn up with COVID-19 on the other side of their trip.

Just the same, the strategy is taking a toll by dragging Republicans' names through the dirt — and they are pretty mussed up at this point. They've been called out by a multitude of media outlets and moderate-to-progressive politicians for trying to pass laws that would take Texas back to the era of Jim Crow.

Over time, they've been able to get their message out that the legislation was always a solution in search of problem, since Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton found only 16 incidences of forged addresses in 11 million votes cast in 2020. That doesn't sound much like the loss of "election integrity" that Republicans have been warning us all about.

The standoff puts particular pressure on Abbott, who is already under assault because he's not alt-right enough for the base he and his cronies created. Ronald Reagan would not recognize this party, and Ike would likely be too liberal. And Lincoln? Well, let's just say that if he were shot today, there'd be millions of suspects unhappy with his attempts to legislate reconciliation between the races.

So here we sit, waiting for the next shoe to drop. Only today, Speaker Dade Phelan signed an arrest warrant for Democratic Rep. Philip Cortez, who sneaked out of town and returned to D.C. overnight.

Cortez has said he returned to Austin with the goal of finding a way out of the impasse but, failing to do so, rejoined his colleagues.

Phelan was left standing there like a prom date who'd gotten all dolled up and expected a slow dance. But you promised you wouldn't leave, he groused when told that Cortez was again AWOL, as it were.

In a statement released by the Beaumont Republican's office, Phelan says that “Rep. Cortez returned to the Texas Capitol of his own volition and represented to me and his fellow members that he wanted to work on policy and find solutions to bring his colleagues back to Texas.”

Try to read this passage from Phelan's statement and not hear the pouting it implies.

“As a condition of being granted permission to temporarily leave the House floor, Rep. Cortez promised his House colleagues that he would return. Instead, he fled the state and has irrevocably broken my trust and the trust of this chamber.”

Dang it. I can't whup your butt, send you to bed without dinner and take away your allowance if you won't show up and cut me a switch from that mesquite tree over there.

With the homecoming they anticipate, it's no wonder they'll stay gone as long as humanly possible. It doesn't mean they'll win, but they'll make the GOP suffer every moment they can between now and their loss.

As for House Speaker Phelan: Would you like some cheese with that whine?

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