Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Another Shooting Star, Another Fraud
Robert Francis O’Rourke is the latest “rising star” for the Democrat Party in Texas. He is their hope of the moment to start Texas on the path of descent into becoming the next California, a once golden state destroyed by liberal policies but consistent in sending elected Democrats to seats of power. His stated mission is to unseat Ted Cruz in the United States Senate.
Robert Francis has had plenty of national exposure, thanks to the liberal media network eager to strike a blow at the heart of Americanism. He has been given airtime on late-night national shows by Colbert, in the daylight by Ellen and a solid hour on that beacon of fake news, CNN. MSNBC even promoted him from “rising star” to “rock star.” Chuck Todd on the next worst thing (NBC itself) declared him the “Bobby Kennedy of millennials.”
There is also plenty to point to in exposing him as the fraud he is. Perhaps the easiest is the one he makes over and over again (besides skateboarding onto the stage during rallies, his next best skill is talking in endless circles), the claim that he is completely funded by “grassroots” donations from Texas. He is simply too principled to accept money from PACs.
Of course, the government’s own records show that of the 94,000 recorded state-side contributors 8000 of them are from Texas. Unsurprisingly for a liberal heart-throb, 27,000 are from California. 13,000 are from New York. 34,000 more are from 7 other northeastern states, plus D.C. Oregon and Washington state combined for 10,000 to also outdistance Texas. It also seems that there was almost no coverage when his campaign was found to have violated the limits on foreign contributions.
Much has been made of his war chest of $38 million, not counting the dollar value of all the free national television time. But most of the $23 million which is touted as being “from Texans” actually comes to the O’Rourke campaign by way of ActBlue, a digital “Express Lane” for progressive contributions according to its website. Most of its “flexible fundraising accounts” are from out of state. So far, Robert Francis has declined to share any of his fundraising wealth with his fellow progressive office-seekers. This seems to indicate to some that he plans to finish the election season with a large war chest on hand for some later purpose.
Robert Francis has demonstrated an inability to handle even the small truths. In the first debate with Ted Cruz, he tried to frame his discussion of immigration policy by sharing a story about his campaign trip through the small Panhandle town of Booker. It seems that he was quite surprised to learn in his house-to-house tour of the town in a bright red part of the state that what concerned the citizens most was the fate of the “dreamers”. To add just the right touch of human concern to the issue, he related how the most recent Salutatorian from the local high school had been deported.
The only problem with the Booker story is that the Superintendent of Booker ISD can’t find any student even in the top ten of a class being deported as far back as 2010. Booker is over 70% and the high school has an “A” grade from the new Texas Educational Agency rating system.
So, besides an endless and directionless spill about “everybody getting along” and “joining together” laced with a constant flailing of hands and arms and an occasional skateboard demonstration, the core of Robert Francis’ vision for a New Texas is open borders, free health care for everyone, federal decriminalization of marijuana (Yes, Willie Nelson is on board!) and the impeachment of Donald Trump. Nothing like fresh, new ideas to get out the midterm vote!
But Robert Francis at times is even hard to nail down on these fundamental issues. Recently in a CNN Townhall held in the Rio Grande Valley, he was asked a direct question by a college student about how he would vote on a Trump impeachment. He went into the usual circle of “Gee, we can all come together” talking points and finished after almost two minutes. The moderator reminded him he had not addressed the question. He began again for another two minutes and something of verbal twisting and waffling. For a third time he was called to answer and finally at exactly 5 minutes and 37 seconds after the original question, he actually answered. Not surprisingly, he would vote for the conviction of Trump on impeachment charges. But not for any specific “high crime or misdemeanor” he could name. I suppose there is still something called voting on principle.
Recently when college students caught up in the fever of media subsidized celebrity were asked to name a single O’Rourke accomplishment, they were stumped. That is understandable. He has none.
He did, however, manage to rate four “Pinocchios” from a fact check by the Washington Post, something almost unheard of for a liberal. It had to do with O’Rourke’s attempt to leave the scene of a drunken accident. He still denies trying to leave although other motorists drove after him honking their horns and cut him off as he tried to flee. After his “escape” failed, he had to rely on his family’s long-standing, generations-long involvement in El Paso County politics to keep him out of deep trouble.
If you are following this, Robert Francis (who was simply known as “Rob” at this stage of life – no senatorial campaigns in sight) had caused a drunken accident while drinking, decided to leave the scene and then relied on family connections to get by with a slight slap on the wrist. See, the media can occasionally be dead right. At times, Robert Francis can be most “Kennedyesque”(my spell check keeps saying I am spelling this wrong – but I copied the word from the New York Times, which I assume would not make such a mistake???).
I will admit that one of the factors in the media hype for O’Rourke is that they have a hatred for Ted Cruz that approaches Donald Trump levels. They would love to see the oh-so-cool Robert Francis defeat what they see as the tight, tense Ted with his constant references to such quint but dated concepts as personal liberty, constitutional republicanism, and First Principles. I think they are afraid he might actually believe some of it. Besides, he is an actual Hispanic with (of all things) an Americanized nickname.
But the main factor is still the liberal need to turn Texas and Florida purple if not outright blue. They are dangerously close with Florida which has sat on a razor’s edge for several elections now without being completely pushed off. But if Texas with its second-highest total of electoral votes were to join California and New York in the socialist camp, Democrat presidencies from now on could be almost assured.
And the pattern is in place, with a migration underway from the once Golden State where the business atmosphere drives those needing profits eastward. The problem is not that such pilgrims bring their investment and new jobs to Texas but they also bring their politics, regardless of how badly it has failed them from where they came. Liberals rarely realize they are voting for self-destruction, no matter how often it proves true.
Robert Francis may well come closer to realizing the leftist goal of an upset than that “fresh, new face” from a few months ago, Wendy Davis. She rode the media darling train for a short time having chosen the abortion issue and a pair of pink running shoes as her gimmick. After losing the governor’s race by 20 points, she has not even been able to land a talking gig on CNN or MSNBC. Robert Francis has piled up too much over-hyped media time to fade so quickly, maybe.
But the day after the election, a new “rising star” for Texas will begin receiving his due to compete for top billing regardless. Julian Castro even has the distinction of having served in the administration of the Great O as well as having delivered a major address at the Democrat Convention. He can sound Hispanic without the benefit of a nickname dug up from his junior high years. He can even pass a minority DNA test. And when the first couple of oh-so-polite layers are peeled back, he is almost pure socialist. I am sure he will be the next who is “energizing” the left not just south of the Red River but nationwide, at least ’til the next “rising star” appears.
The left will never give up the long-term goal of a blue Texas. That is why this election, and the one after it, and the one after it is important to everyone. The rot from top to bottom caused by almost complete Democrat control of a state can be seen from the blue Pacific past the shores of the Great Lakes all the way to the Atlantic coast. Those places were once havens for plentiful jobs and a growing economy. Now they punish capitalism, enterprise, and individual liberty while draining the working class and subsidizing a permanent underclass to vote for the ever creeping rot. California has the highest poverty rate in the nation, Chicago an ongoing slaughterhouse for gangs and east coast social welfare havens like New York and Connecticut are fiscal disasters.
Yes, this is an important election in the Lone Star State. But it is in all the others as well. The advance of a socialist centered vision of government carries not just the death of constitutional republicanism but also the individual’s liberty, his ability to create and pursue his own dreams and growth.
Those “rising stars” that the left keeps shoving in front of us, if locally or nationally, are nothing more than shooting stars. They flash with the quick bright light of a media fad and then disappear leaving a darkness behind, a darkness of individual liberty.
Published in General
Headline prediction:
“Cruz Cruises to Victory”
Good article. Thanks. It’s scary and even if he’s defeated he has that mix of visuals and performance, fake energy and intellect Democrats like, even non radical ones. I remember the first time I saw a newly elected Kerry take the stage in the Philippines over 30 years ago. My comment was he’s going to run for President. The Kennedyesqueness, (my spell check blew up with that one) is a studied fake act that only certain types of personalities can pull off. I wonder if they study old Kennedy tapes. Only Ted lacked it, but he was a Kennedy so it didn’t matter. They turn my stomach.
If Texas goes for O’Rourke, then I think I will start referring to the state as East California.
Perhaps Kennedyesque and Kennedyesqueness require hyphens. The left has taught everyone that we are all hyphenated somethings.
After reading a plethora of conservative Articles regarding the surge by Cruz in the polls, I was wondering when the left might admit defeat.
Last night I flipped past Nightline when I noticed they were talking about Beto (and they ONLY called him “Beto”). Were they talking about the uphill road he has ahead of him? Or the poor performance in the debate vs. Cruz? Or a report on the history of over-hyped Dems in Texas like Beto or Wendy?
Nope. If you saw the piece you’d have assumed he had already won in a landslide. Interviews with lifelong Democrats talking about him as the second coming of Kennedy. Interviews with self-proclaimed Evangelicals saying rather un-Christian things about Cruz (and why they voted for Beto).
Unless the opening part of the story was “Look at how delusional the Media is…”, the Beto campaign couldn’t have put together a better 5 minute Political Ad.
C’mon, now…that’s a little harsh, isn’t? Naw, just joking with you.
I did my part earlier this morning – straight ticket R (which of course includes Ted).
I went by the Fort Bend County early-voting location in our area about 1:15, figuring I’d skip the lunchtime crowd. Ha! There was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot, which was completely full, and most of the lanes were clogged with lurkers waiting for a spot to open up. I could see that there was a line of people out the door, down the front of the library and down one side of the parking lot. Took me 15 minutes to get out of the traffic jam.
This morning I showed up about 10 minutes before voting started. There was already a line out of the door, but there were a few parking spots and I snagged one. Took about 40 minutes to make it to the voting booth.
And he even has the brass to pretend to be Latino (with that “Beto” BS: he’s less Latino than Elizabeth Warren is Native American) when he’s running against an actual, honest-to-goodness, son-of-Cuban-refugees, Latino.
That might be why only 8,000 of his 94,000 donations came from Texas.
Henry Cisneros
Wendy Davis
Julian Castro
Joaquin Castro
“Beto” O’Roarke
Who’s next up?
I remember Kerry before he took the stage – when he was a mere lieutenant in Vietnam. It was obvious even that he was running for president.
I think he looks like David Hogg’s creepy uncle.
I want to see Bobby’s yearbook! That is the true test of a man these days. I want to see how people addressed him (he used Bob in college). I want to see what people said about him in their little notes. However, I don’t think his mom is likely to give that up to the press (although a “staunch” Republican). We’ll need to crowdsource this. I am calling on all those men who attended Woodberry Forest School in Madison County, Virginia, on or about 1991 to share their yearbooks and their memories of Bobby O’Rourke. GO TIGERS!
All he needs are pink running shoes and he’d be Wendy Davis. He’s not even as smart as her though.
As long as there’s a significant percentage of Texas’ economy that is blue collar, as opposed to the white collar-dominated economies of the bi-coastal states, it’s going to be tough for the Democrats to turn the state Blue for the very same reason Trump won blue collar voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016 — those people know the bi-coastal types have total disdain for their jobs and industries, and did little to hide that in the most recent election.
The idea that the urban white elite and the non-working or low-salaried urban poor (whites and minorities) were going to create a coalition along with suburban women that was going to vote Hillary into office in 2016, to the point the Democrats no longer needed to care about blue collar workers, caused a backlash, and the same thing applies to Beto courting those same bi-coastal elites and their cash in the 2018 election cycle. He’s not winning the blue collar working class, especially Latino workers in the oilfield areas in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford shale, because they know what the progressive elites think about their jobs — they want their industry to dry up and die, and if the people working in it have seen their incomes rise sharply over the past decade, that’s not as important as virtue signaling you want to save the planet.
O’Rourke avoided the worst of Wendy Davis’ gaffes, when she turned off Catholic Latino voters by exciting the bi-coastal types in making her 2014 campaign all about unlimited abortion. He stayed away for the most part from the abortion issue, but there are lots of other areas where a Democrat gets him or herself in trouble in Texas by trying to run a campaign to please New York and California donors and media people instead of the voters in their home state. That’s what’s happened here, especially over the past three months, and why Cruz started pulling away in the polling.
When I think of the Beto campaign. I think of another Rich White Privliged culturally appropriating Hispanic culture jerk on one side, while defaming the actions of a self made second generation poor immigrant kid.
Abortion Ken! Now comes with skateboard!
But since the Privileged White kid is a self-loathing Progressive, he’s the “correct” one to support. And because the self-made immigrant kid doesn’t act like a victim, he’s the “wrong” one…..