Jim wrote:

Lone Star gets loonier
Texas Republicans endorse God, squabble, call for dismantling the federal
government, await indictments and pray for Bush.

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By Jake Bernstein and Dave Mann



June 11, 2004 | On the first night of the Texas Republican state
convention last week, there were plenty of receptions to attend. Instead,
almost 200 delegates and visitors chose to file patiently into a room in the
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio for the meeting
of the Permanent Platform Committee. The next two and half hours would be
one of their few opportunities to influence the party's ideology.

Earlier that day, the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Texas, Tina
Benkiser, had proclaimed to the 11,000 or so delegates assembled for the
June 3-5 convention, "This is the true grass-roots center of America." This
state party, in fact, is the crucible in which Karl Rove helped craft the
presidency of George W. Bush. It is the home of U.S. House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. The party has seized control of every statewide
office in Texas, won majorities in both chambers in the Statehouse for the
first time in more than a century, and along with ideological soul mates,
captured the U.S. Congress. The grass-roots movement that provided the
energy and manpower for the GOP's rise in Texas traces its origin to Ronald
Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980 and then Pat Robertson's run for the
presidential nomination in 1988. The televangelist's campaign birthed an
overtly evangelical cadre of revolutionaries with a radical plan for a
return to 19th century government, at least as they understand it.


Is it too late to cede Texas back to Mexico? We could get a couple
carloads of good Mexican beer in return...