Three Aides Of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo Indicted; Will This Doom Her Reelection Prospects In November?

[Houston19514]

49 minutes ago, skwatra said:

I was curious about this. Looking at Harris County - in 2018 Beto beat Cruz by almost 17 points. In 2022, he beat Abbott but under 10 points. Both midterm elections.

That doesn't necessarily mean there was a shift. He's less popular now, probably didn't bring out the same number of voters. But other county wide margins did seem lower for the Dems (though maybe i'm comparing to the generals with Trump on the ballot which adds a lot to consider).

May have had at least as much to do with the relative desirability of his opponent in the two races as well.

[mattyt36]

25 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

May have had at least as much to do with the relative desirability of his opponent in the two races as well.

Turnout down almost 10%, too, which typically favors Republicans.

Votes cast for governor, Harris County, 2018: 1,188,623

2022: 1,091,819

Difference -8.9%

[august948]

4 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

/rant off and now a little gloating . . . if Cagle loses it will really be my favorite story of the cycle as it shows there's a price to pay for being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard . . . which is pretty rare in Texas politics.  (Well, being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard is certainly not rare, but paying a price for being one sure the hell is.)

If?  Didn't Hidalgo et al redistrict Cagle so it would be difficult for him to retain his seat anyway?  With the intention to make it 4-1 in favor of the Dems on the Court.  They've got the power now to go as progressive as they want (or can get away with).

[mollusk]

3 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

May have had at least as much to do with the relative desirability of his opponent in the two races as well.

Good point.  Even lots of Rs loathe Cruz.

[august948]

7 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

DeSantis (FL)

2018 share: 49.6%

2022 share: 59.4%

+19.8 pts improvement

Abbott (TX)

2018 share: 55.8%

2022 share: 54.9%

-0.9 pts improvement

Looks like someone has a way hotter set of wheels.  SORRY GREGGO!

 

Well, with things looking so down for Greg, maybe we'll get a DeSantis/Abbott ticket in 2024 or 2028 and Dan Patrick can take over?  Perhaps put Paxton in as Lt. Governor-in-waiting?  I know you'd love to see him eventually in the Governor's mansion.

[s3mh]

3 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Turnout down almost 10%, too, which typically favors Republicans.

Votes cast for governor, Harris County, 2018: 1,188,623

2022: 1,091,819

Difference -8.9%

I think people in Harris County aren't as partisan when it comes to County Judge.  Hidalgo just snuck by Ed Emmett in 2018 (may have lost bust for a libertarian candidate siphoning votes from Emmett).  

Also, I noticed that the total votes for County Judge were about 20k fewer than for Governor.  Another factor might be the removal of straight ticket voting and people who were lazy and did not vote the entire ballot.

I am still surprised that Cagle lost.  He won fairly handily in 2018.  Lesley Briones threw darts at Cagle over abortion and birth control.  But who pays attention to county commissioner attack ads.  I remember Cagle when he was a county court at law judge.  He was terrible.  On his motions docket, he would tell stories and crack jokes the whole time.  Any actual substantive legal discussions seemed like an afterthought.  Or maybe the shift in precinct lines in 2021 made a difference.  

[mollusk]

s3mh, you, me, and maybe about a dozen other people remember what a clown he was as a county court judge - shoot, he'd even recycle the same "joke" 3 or 4 times during the same motions docket, as if there were a rotating group of people in the room.  I think a combination of shifting precinct lines and going AWOL took him out, particularly when he was out golfing during one of the commissioners meetings he skipped.

[mattyt36]

1 hour ago, august948 said:

If?  Didn't Hidalgo et al redistrict Cagle so it would be difficult for him to retain his seat anyway?  With the intention to make it 4-1 in favor of the Dems on the Court.  They've got the power now to go as progressive as they want (or can get away with).

Republicans complaining about redistricting is a new kind of delicious for me.

Consider this: According to the Chronicle article below, the new district was +12 D.  Cagle lost by a little more than 3 in what should have been a much more favorable environment.  So close . . . yet SO FAR!  SAD!!!!  Guess Ramsey can just sit boycott all meetings now.

[mattyt36]

1 hour ago, august948 said:

Well, with things looking so down for Greg, maybe we'll get a DeSantis/Abbott ticket in 2024 or 2028 and Dan Patrick can take over?  Perhaps put Paxton in as Lt. Governor-in-waiting?  I know you'd love to see him eventually in the Governor's mansion.

DeSantis/Abbott is about as likely as a Trump/Cruz ticket was in 2016.  But, hell, I'll take it.  To have Abbott (er, what's the word the flurfposting Rs use again) cucked by DeSantis would be A-OK by me.  Both of them have a national appeal only slightly higher than Marjorie Taylor Greene.  

Dan Patrick is from Baltimore.  Nuff said.

Reality and the law will catch up with the Collin County Lazy Eye eventually.

1 hour ago, s3mh said:

I think people in Harris County aren't as partisan when it comes to County Judge.   

Does the majority of voters even know what the County Judge does?

[Ross]

2 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

 

Does the majority of voters even know what the County Judge does?

Probably not, given all the attack ads blaming Hidalgo for crime issues and low bail.

[mattyt36]

15 minutes ago, Ross said:

Probably not, given all the attack ads blaming Hidalgo for crime issues and low bail.

And Mealer saying she was hiring more “police officers.” That was rich.

[mattyt36]

Maybe I've got it all wrong and the 2022 Astros were the determining factor in the end.  Happy (said better, jubilant!) people don't want change, nor do they go out of their way to vote a day after a victory parade party. 

Although some of the letters to the editor today:

Mattress Mack gambled on Alexandra del Moral Mealer ad — and lost (houstonchronicle.com)

Regarding “ What to know about Mattress Mack, the Houston furniture mogul, avid sports bettor turned Astros' hero,” (Nov. 3): Houston’s own “Mattress Mack” knows a thing or two about taking risks and seems to enjoy the gamble. Win or lose, he lost by so publicly backing county judge candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer. Appearing as a host on television ads endorsing her was a misguided move. Business and politics don’t mix, and he should have known that. Going forward I will never buy anything from Gallery Furniture again.

Michelle Braverman, Houston

(What did Laura Ingraham say?  "Shut up and dribble?")

On Monday the city honored our World Series-winning Houston Astros. Leave it to our junior senator, though, Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz to crash the party. Not only did Cruz seem to push his way into the parade, he almost singlehandedly turned the crowd’s roars of cheers into boos. Forget his failure to make the easy play on the hard seltzer thrown his way (Official Scorer: E-Cruz), why in the world was he there in the first place? It’s a shame there was no umpire to throw him out.

James Cato, Kingwood

Score it E-Cruz, what a line!

I wish Lina had been a bit more gracious in her victory speech, however, but you can't deny the opposing campaign was as toxic as the Brio Superfund site.

Edited November 10, 2022 by mattyt36

[Heights88]

On 11/9/2022 at 9:44 AM, mattyt36 said:

DAMN!  I guess all those blue-ribbon endorsements threatening us with even more crime if we didn't do their bidding didn't work!  "Thank you to all of those who supported our campaign for good governance?!"  I must have been getting a special set of ads because that message sure as hell didn't come across.  

Still, I must commend Mealer on conceding and not breaking out one of her surely many AR-15s.  HCSO will get some additional manpower, but it looks like it won't triple its headcount of 5,000 to 15,000 on a whim.

As far as I can tell looks like Cagle lost, too, which is absolutely appropriate considering the guy couldn't be bothered to do his d*mned job and show up to a vote.

P.S. SORRY MIDLAND DONORS!!!!!  And keep the faith, San Antonio!  (Remember, your County Judge is actually . . . someone else.  #LocalRule)

 

Good governance was pretty much the foundation of Mealer's campaign (Alex's Priorities | Alexandra Mealer for Harris County Judge). It's pretty hard to argue that Lina has governed well - Lina has focused most of her attention on national politics (heavy focus on abortion, pretty much her only campaign theme), fighting local infrastructure projects (except for bike lanes), and engaging in pay-for-play scandals. 

I see you are very upset about Mealer campaigning with Mattress Mack, but Lina campaigning with Hanoi Jane Fonda last week is just dandy!

I understand you are ranting to celebrate your candidate and party's narrow victory, but Lina is just not a great example of engaging in common sense, moderate solutions. She is a devout progressive ideologue who is narrowly focused on politics - it's the only thing she knows.

[Heights88]

On 11/9/2022 at 12:59 PM, mattyt36 said:

As I have stated multiple times, I did not vote for Lina in 2018 but did in 2022, not necessarily because I was all about voting for her, but more because I was voting against the absolutely corrupt State GOP, which at this point is just a bunch of professional politicians with few ideas who just want to stay in power for their own sakes.

The anti-crime message was STRONG and resonated, but somehow not enough.  Despite law enforcement professionals basically flanking Mealer at all of her press conferences (which I for one consider to be extraordinarily provocative and outright scary . . . ) and her essentially implying that we were all going to be murdered walking on the Bayou or coming home from the Astros because of "Democrat" judges happily putting murderers on the streets, I think the majority saw that she was a puppet at best (an uncharismatic weirdo most likely, and an entitled, sanctimonious, condescending, crazy woman at worst) with zero experience and no meaningful plan to reduce crime.  I'm not even sure Mattress Mack helped her, to be honest.  People of course love Mattress Mack, but it telegraphs the appearance of "buying" an election.  It's kind of creepy, actually.

The Harris County GOP needs to CLEAN HOUSE and get rid of all the crazies.  Ed Emmett could've won easily, assuming he ran a campaign like he did in the past.  Tell Steve Hotze and his merry band of religious nutjobs to go off and form their own d*mned party--the Harris County Baptist Taliban--that ideology has no place in government because by its very nature and by its own admission, it wants to screw over half of the constituency.  Sit down Mack, sit down Dave Ward, sit down Ed Young, sit down partisan law enforcement leadership and law enforcement unions, sit down Crime Stoppers propaganda, sit down Permian Basin political donors, sit down State GOP with your ridiculous shenanigans to co-opt the county, and truly focus on returning to responsible governance instead of fearmongering--it is not good for anyone. 

But the fact remains:

1) Hidalgo proved to be a relatively awful candidate at the end of the day, but still eked out a victory despite being overwhelmingly outmatched in advertising spending over the past several weeks.  (I mean, she pulled out a win with all those Mealer ads during the ASTROS WORLD SERIES WIN.  I mean, those are some serious headwinds that she met!)

2) Mealer was hand-picked by the State GOP and got support from donors farther afield, and, while she came very close due to fearmongering, she lost.  

This was NOT a good environment at all for Democrats locally, so it should be expected that results would be worse than the last cycle.  But bad candidates hung on, and non-controversial County candidates ran a good 3 points ahead of Mealer.  

That, my friends, is the major political shift.  A major difference from, say, Tarrant County, which just elected a Republican County Judge who is a personal injury attorney from Southlake and has prior experience as a councilman and mayor of Farmers Branch.  I mean, just gross.  I think I'd take Mealer over that bio.

Still, the margin was extraordinarily slim and should not be considered a mandate by any means.  I pray that Hidalgo and the other Democratic commissioners do not take this as some sort of validation of progressiveness--municipal governments just cannot be a meaningful source of social spending.  I hope she tries to build relationships with the business community, and likewise, I hope the business community makes a good faith effort to build a relationship with her.  And I pray Hidalgo will make a good faith effort at crime reduction and repairing relationships with law enforcement, although I am not sure how much of that problem is on her shoulders to be honest.  

Harris County and its residents have zero interest in employers and government officials being at each other's throats.  Houston is the welcoming city it is because we have largely avoided these lose-lose political fights, which, in the end, are only good for disingenuous politicians and bad for the County and its residents.  Thanks Alexandra and the Harris County GOP for telegraphing to the suburban counties and the rest of the state that Harris County is a crime-ridden hellhole teetering on the edge of disaster--you have done definite damage and it is glaringly obvious you do not have this County's interests at heart, only your own.

/rant off and now a little gloating . . . if Cagle loses it will really be my favorite story of the cycle as it shows there's a price to pay for being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard . . . which is pretty rare in Texas politics.  (Well, being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard is certainly not rare, but paying a price for being one sure the hell is.)

This is quite the delusional rant...It's pretty plain to see that Hidalgo has demonized moderates in her own party and Conservative voters. Hidalgo has made no "good faith efforts" to reach out to anyone but the hard-core progressive left. Lina's campaign was built on fear mongering with national issues. Mealer campaigned on real kitchen table issues - crime is not a "boogeyman" issue as you make it out to be. 

 

I do have to hand it to you...A+ rant with just no tether to reality. 

[Ross]

28 minutes ago, Heights88 said:

This is quite the delusional rant...It's pretty plain to see that Hidalgo has demonized moderates in her own party and Conservative voters. Hidalgo has made no "good faith efforts" to reach out to anyone but the hard-core progressive left. Lina's campaign was built on fear mongering with national issues. Mealer campaigned on real kitchen table issues - crime is not a "boogeyman" issue as you make it out to be. 

 

I do have to hand it to you...A+ rant with just no tether to reality. 

Umm, I think the rant with no connection to reality is yours. Hidalgo has been pretty moderate overall, and I saw almost no ads mentioning national issues. She's had to deal with the two cowards Ramsey and Cagle, and their utter inability to understand how to write a budget, and their desire to focus County spending on the rich white areas instead of helping people who really need it.

Mealer never showed me that she understands what the County Judge does.

[mattyt36]

16 hours ago, Heights88 said:

Good governance was pretty much the foundation of Mealer's campaign (Alex's Priorities | Alexandra Mealer for Harris County Judge).

If you say so.  Maybe you got different commercials, but what I saw essentially was four different pitches:

(1) "Hi, I'm Mattress Mack, you know I know a lot about mattresses and furniture.  Let me tell you about politics.  My market research said you guys obviously want a Hispanic woman, so look what I found . . . but don't worry, she's not too brown (and there's makeup for that)!  And isn't it cute we can insert "moral" into her name!"  (I must admit, I was only disappointed that they didn't do a "The Harris County GOP will save your money . . . and your life!" at the end of the commercial.)  These intro commercials were so cringeworthy they were like Steve Buscemi from 30 Rock, "How do you do Harris County, I'm Alex, how bout that crime?"

(2) "Hi, I'm Alexandra del Moral Mealer, and you're going to die if I'm not elected.  Look at all these brownshirts uniformed police officers standing behind me who will tell you that, yes, you're definitely going to die if you don't elect me."

(3) "Hi, I'm Mattress Mack.  Remember when Alex told you that you're going to die if you don't elect her.  Well, if you don't believe her or me, listen to heavy hitter Dave Ward.  Don't pay attention to the fact that it looks like he doesn't know where he is at the moment."  (I guess that was for the Senior Center votes.)

(4) "Hi, I'm Alex, I know this is a big and diverse city and all, so let me show you how definitely plugged in I am.  Look at me, I'm just like you, driving around golf courses with my husband and children, hoping that no one shoots us!  I felt safer in Fallujah!  Thank God I already taught my 4 year old how to handle an AR-15."  (I'd say it'd work in Montgomery County, but they'd probably have to buy more makeup and drop the "del Moral" . . . oh, and make her husband run in her place.)

Combined with the Ramsey-Cagle whiny baby flurfshow, wasn't exactly a great story.  "We're all going to die if we don't hire more police officers, so in protest, we're going to do the right thing by our constituents and are not going to show up to pass a budget.  Don't worry, only a couple more weeks of dying . . . unless you don't do what we say, that is, in which case you're an absolute goner!"

So forgive me for not spending any time on perusing "Alex's Priorities" as all I got from the commercials was that her priority was to scare people into returning the Harris County GOP to power.  But let me guess, her priorities are something about increasing safety, eliminating waste, and, of course, not doing corruption.  Wow!  Original.  That is the level of thought someone put into her campaign.  (In fairness, who knows, maybe she's a totally normal and likeable person, and was just a naive figurehead that was steered into this by the Harris County Geriatric Old Party and their love of 1980s politics.)

That is not to say that this "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" rhetoric didn't get through to many.  My friend shared a Facebook post with me from a friend and Spring resident that went: 

This message is for EVERYONE who voted for Lina Hidalgo:

1. Don't call 911.  We don't have enough police.  Just kill your family if you have a disturbance.

2. Don't complain about pot holes in the roads.  She needs the money herself illegally.

3. Call Lina Hidalgo's office when there is a shooting at your kid's school.  She personally needs the money illegally and want pay [SIC] for more training.

4. If you want a parade the day before a very critical election call Lina and Sylvester.  They don't care if it interferes with the election the next morning.  They will grant you permission.

5. If your [SIC] upset about Crime.  To [SIC] bad.  You voted for her.

Enjoy your next 4 years under this type of illegal leadership.

So needless to say, the messaging worked well on her.  I'm sure she got the same message from the pulpit--you know, "men of God."  Sad to say, this is not an outlier.  There are posters on here who have essentially said the same.

So some questions:

1.  Is there any way to describe this person as anything other than batflurf crazy? Kill your family if you have a disturbance?!  WTF?!  Don't complain about potholes because Lina is pocketing money?  Lina is fully responsible for the Astros World Series victory so she and Sly could schedule a parade?  Man, what a whack-o!

2. Even if she is this concerned about crime, if the above is her outlook, must she have an absolutely miserable life and outlook?  If my mom were talking like that consistently, I'd get her professional help.  I'm not saying this person doesn't genuinely believe it, but man, what a way to live.  For her own peace of mind, I'd help her move to a blood red state like Arkansas, I guess, since, of course, crime does not exist there.

3. Is it that much of a stretch to interpolate that this person essentially hates half of her fellow County residents?  And . . . seriously . . . what do you think the main factor driving that hate?

4. Could there have been a way for Mealer to make a strong case for crime without being so MAGA apocalyptic and unserious?  Her commercials were speaking to only one demographic.  Compare them to Hidalgo's final commercial, especially, where she easily manages not to come across as a firebreathing whack-job while speaking to the whole community.  Politics should be about addition, not subtraction.

5. Do you really think this type of campaigning is good for Houston and Harris County?  It obviously incites fear and turns neighbor against neighbor (which is the absolute id of MAGA politics), but it also telegraphs to residents of surrounding counties that this is some sort of hellhole, so don't come in and spend your money as you will likely die--after all, you are so likely to die, as a matter of fact, look at all these people in uniform--these County employees charged with protecting you--they are also telling you you're going to die!  How in the hell is that good for Harris County, which she purports to want to lead?  It is so GD dark.  The only "vision" there is "Make Harris County GOP Again and We'll Make the Policemen Work Harder Again."

(None of the above is meant to criticize the 90+% of law enforcement who do their jobs ethically and without fear or favor.  But the MAGA/Mealer message has always seemed way more juiced up to support the 10% of them who don't.  Their view of law enforcement is so reductive and immature.)

Quite honestly it's amazing she did as well as she did, but she had all the $ at the end.  At least the Midlanders who donated can take comfort that they didn't lose as much money as Elon or FTX investors.

P.S. @Heights88 could you be from San Antonio as well?

Edited November 11, 2022 by mattyt36

[mattyt36]

15 hours ago, Ross said:

Mealer never showed me that she understands what the County Judge does.

100% true.  She wanted to hire "police officers," not sure it ever clicked that Harris County has no police officers, and naturally said she was going to pay for them by "eliminating waste."  She is an investment banker!  She doesn't know a damned thing about crime other than statistics in an Excel spreadsheet.  I have no doubt her strategy for saying she fixed crime would be to just stop talking incessantly about how bad it is should she have been elected.  Like Trump declaring months into his presidency that the wall was built and America was, indeed, great again.  If you're one of those simple-minded spoonfed partisans, you no doubt would believe it without qualification, when, at the end of the day, the only real reason you only felt America was great again was because you thought you stuck it to the other half of the country.  What a winning political strategy!  What could possibly go wrong?!

A totally cynical campaign.  Thank God it mostly didn't work this year, either here or nationally.  I hope the County GOP will take this as a message to change, but I highly doubt they will.  What a racket.  

Edited November 11, 2022 by mattyt36

[Blue Dogs]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:43 AM, august948 said:

You're looking the wrong direction.  The wave appears to be washing over the Floridian peninsula to the east.

Dr. Mark Jones thinks Hidalgo might seek statewide office soon. 

. 🤣

Edited November 17, 2022 by Blue Dogs

[Blue Dogs]

On 11/9/2022 at 12:06 PM, BEES?! said:

I have to wonder if Cagle pulling those no show stunts cost him his spot. It really was not a great look, and I’m sure there were Republican people who protest-voted against him. 

Beto O’Rourke is just a lackluster candidate for TX imho. I think people just don’t care for him all that much. He’s lost several elections now, and I feel like the Democrats would do well to focus resources into bringing up a different candidate if they want a hope of flipping the governor’s race.

Del Moral Mealer vs Hidalgo being that close is something I’m really interested to hear more about. O’Rourke carried Harris county, yet the county judge race was much closer- does that mean there were a sizeable number of O’Rourke voters who voted for del Moral Mealer over Hidalgo? Actually, looking at the results, a lot of the judge races were quite close. 

Abbott won by DOUBLE DIGITS over that 4-time LOSER from El Paso (55% to 43%) & carried 235 out of 254 counties. 

[mattyt36]

@Blue Dogs happy to see you're still with us, and nothing has changed!  I was beginning to get worried and was this close to calling the Texas Rangers San Antonio Field Office.  Never change, and keep on truckin', friend!

[mattyt36]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:29 AM, mattyt36 said:

I have no doubt her strategy for saying she fixed crime would be to just stop talking incessantly about how bad it is should she have been elected.

Damn!  They forgot to update their game plan!

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by mattyt36

[august948]

19 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Damn!  They forgot to update their game plan!

 

Good thing Fox News exists...otherwise this guy would have to get a real job.

[mattyt36]

19 hours ago, august948 said:

Good thing Fox News exists...otherwise this guy would have to get a real job.

Well of the two, at least one has social utility.  Think of it as Consumer Reports.  Surely you used that once or twice back in the day, no, Augie?!

[august948]

14 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Well of the two, at least one has social utility.  Think of it as Consumer Reports.  Surely you used that once or twice back in the day, no, Augie?!

There's a blast from the past! 😀

Consumer reports is awesome.  But it's thing is that it was unbiased.  Media Matters not so much.

[mkultra25]

14 hours ago, august948 said:

There's a blast from the past! 😀

Consumer reports is awesome.  But it's thing is that it was unbiased.  Media Matters not so much.

Hunter Thompson once claimed that there was no such thing as objective journalism, and that the only thing remotely approaching it was the security camera at a 7-Eleven. One of the main differences between the "golden age" of journalism and what passes for it now is that its practitioners used to dress up advocacy as objectivity, now they rarely even pretend. Factoring in known biases when reading is simply part of critical thinking. Unfortunately, that's a skill that's all too often in short supply, judging from how often people are willing to immediately grant credibility to whatever gets posted on social media.

[mattyt36]

On 11/20/2022 at 12:20 AM, august948 said:

There's a blast from the past! 😀

Consumer reports is awesome.  But it's thing is that it was unbiased.  Media Matters not so much.

Don't be so 2014, Augie.  I thought the new term was "fake news."

The data are either objectively true or not. If the data are false, well, then the statement is false, it is not "biased."  If the data are true, well, then two possibilities--(1) crime did drop by 50% almost overnight; or (2) crime did not and it is evidence of a media organization trying to influence the political agenda.  If (2), well, then the real bias ain't with Media Matters.

Just because an organization is oriented towards compiling such data (and transparently so) doesn't mean the facts presented are false.  That's like saying oncologists are biased against cancer or the EPA against dirty drinking water and cholera so we can't trust either.  When I was growing up, we used to label people arguing such things as ignorant rubes or conspiracy theorists.  (Of course, it was typically orchestrated by a wealthy political class with a very unpopular political agenda.)

I know a whole demographic of people have been conditioned otherwise, which is a real tragedy for one of the world's most advanced democratic societies.  There's a hell of lot of people who seem happy to risk throwing that away--for what, I still don't understand--owning the libs?  Hopefully people will wake up and realize that they lose in this scenario as well.

Edited November 21, 2022 by mattyt36

[mattyt36]

Well, no surprise there, but Mattress Mack has really thin skin.  Like most MAGA types out there, he can dish it out but sure as hell can't take it.  This letter sounds like something Trump would write, albeit with better grammar, no misspellings (except for Mack ironically?!), and, er, no weird sexual innuendos.  

The level of self-awareness calling someone else "sanctimonious," when he personally appointed himself as the savior of Harris County and went around telling everyone that Lina was essentially pro-people getting murdered, is just non-existent.

The above said, Lina should lead by example--a mature and professional politician would not have made such a needless dig and instead have been more gracious.  

A true "humanitarian," one full of "goodwill and unwavering support for communities," would not write this letter, which has not only insults, but ends with a not-so-veiled threat.

Why don't you run yourself next time, Mack?  

Mattress Mack claps back at Lina Hidalgo for election dig (chron.com)

[mkultra25]

Both in the linked tweet in the Chron piece as well as on Reddit, there's some discussion as to whether Mack actually wrote the letter himself or if someone else that preferred to remain anonymous did so, and simply cc:d Mack, who then opted to go public with it. Given how many times Mack is referred to in the third person, it's kind of odd if he actually wrote it, but stranger things have happened. Regardless of who wrote it, it's a pretty unhinged rant to take out an expensive full-page ad for. 

[mattyt36]

Well, the letters to the editor aren't particularly positive.  The sentiment appears to be, as Laura Ingraham once encapsulated, "Shut up and dribble sell furniture."

I mean, the guy is good and has done a great deal for the community, but I can't say after going to his showrooms I ever felt any desire to buy his wares--(1) way too expensive (at least for me); (2) not the most stylish or "leading edge"; (3) creepy salespeople ready to pounce (it's like a car dealership); (4) all the damned quotes that border on "Arbeit Macht Frei" and "Accept Jesus Christ now!"

I get it, he's thankful that he arose from nothing and credits God, but as with any evangelical, seems to have an overwhelming desire to jam it down your throat, which to me just doesn't seem Christian.  He has now transferred it to politics.  Or, rather, evangelical Christianity is nakedly just purely politics now--thanks to Trump, these "good Christians" have aligned themselves with performative a*sholery.  (See Young, Rev. Ed for a great example.) 

Anyway, again, when it comes to "sanctimony," the inability to realize at the very least that a good portion of the population disagrees with it and really doesn't see a need to be "saved" says it all.  Mack, we don't need you to save us, and maybe make an effort at preserving your legacy by toning down the Messiah Complex just a tad.  Wake up and realize you can't possibly speak for God, and probably want to err on the side of not pretending that you do given what the Bible actually does teach or you might find yourself in a real crime-ridden h*llhole, buddy.

Hopefully this brand of religio-politics continues its slow death (it's gotten to the point at which it is not appealing to anyone except proto-Fascists)--I just hope the pace picks up exponentially. 

Mattress Mack and Lina Hidalgo: Houston Chronicle readers react

[Blue Dogs]

On 11/9/2022 at 5:15 PM, august948 said:

Well, with things looking so down for Greg, maybe we'll get a DeSantis/Abbott ticket in 2024 or 2028 and Dan Patrick can take over?  Perhaps put Paxton in as Lt. Governor-in-waiting?  I know you'd love to see him eventually in the Governor's mansion.

Trump will win the Presidency again in 2024.