Why Cannot All Democrats Be As Outspoken As Ann Richards?

[arwalden]

She doesn't mess around... she's very polite and mostly diplomatic... but she doesn't let that prevent her from telling it like it is. She's also very good as speaking her mind without actually SAYING exactly what it is that she's thinking.

I generally dislike Larry King interviews... but the Ann Richards interview was very worthwhile.

You-go, Ann!

-- Allen

[Cleita]

1. Ann's the best. She is the genuine article, a real plain speaking

Texan not the phony, illiterate babbler Bush is. Funny, even though she admits to having an alcoholic past, her brains cells didn't get mushed up like his. It could be he never had a whole lot up there to begin with.

[sundog]

4. yes, there's a big difference

between "plain spoken" & "illiterate" (for all those who insist w is a "good man" because he is "plain spoken") -- she was good to watch

[jobycom]

2. Because she's not running for anything

And she will tell you that. She lost to W, remember. Speaking her mind gains her respect, but it didn't win anything for her.

Politicians are always more fun when they are out of office.

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. It was not an honest loss.

She was COMPLETELY leading in percentage points before the election. That election was stolen just like what he's trying to do in November.

[jobycom]

6. Polls and exit polls supported Bush's win

She lost because of an underground effort to smear her, because she lost some Democrats by being too moderate, and because she and the rest of the Dems flat-out underestimated the Republicans. They mobilized the troops, we sat on our hands. They got out the NRA people over the concealed-carry law, they got out the militia wackos over Waco (they ran commercials of the Texas National Gaurd flying towards Waco and implied that she was behind the government raid on Waco), they ran underground ads claiming she was the lesbain lover of Sara Weddington, and on and on and on.

And there was a great Demographic shift. During her four years, the California and Boston high tech industries sagged, and many companies moved to Texas, bringing a wave of newcomers who did not know Richards, and didn't know how bad Texas was before she was elected. They did know the Bush name, though. And W did a great job of linking her to Clinton, who had a 38% approval rating at the time and was being blasted daily by the media.

We all underestimated them, or perhaps, overestimated Texas.

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. Another reason I'm so pissed at myself..

for taking this long to get involved.

Duly noted.

[jobycom]

10. I know that guilt

.

[Liberal_Dog]

9. Actually...

she was elected Governor of Texas in 1990. Speaking her mind did win something.

[jobycom]

12. No, it was more that speaking his mind destroyed her opponent

Clayton Williams held press conferences where he told reporters "the weather is like rape, if it's inevitable, lay back and enjoy it." Or, when asked if he had ever been to Mexico, "I used to go to the border to service the prostitutes."

Then there was the time he was caught on tape setting up a public attack at a party on Richards, which he tried to pull off as spontaneous indignation.

Clayton Williams lost that election. He was leading by 12 points in the polls a week out from the election, but Richards won, largely on the women's vote, because the polls assumed women would vote the same as their husbands, and many, many did not.

She then went on to win the hearts and minds of Texans, but before that stunning (and I mean it was out of the blue) victory, she was not well known.

The favorite candidate, incidentally, didn't run. He was a businessman from New England who many people felt couldn't win, because he had almost no roots in Texas. His father, though, was the president, and so some people liked him. Yes, W. So W and his daddy began to fake roots in Texas. When W bought the Rangers, it was commonly opined that it was part of his Texasification for his future gubernatorial run. Ann Richards, when asked if HW was Texan, replied that she had roots, but he was a potted plant.

No one believed he could actually do win. I remember the day he announced. Democrats everywhere laughed. We all said "Thank goodness, we thought they would mount a real challenge."

Never underestimate the power of a liar.

[comsymp]

13. Don't forget the tax thing that hurt Claytie-

he did an interview like the weekend before the election in which he admitted that, what was it, 1986, that he, a millionaire, didn't pay any taxes? Seems like I remember reading that that really hurt him as well...

And The Great Texas Fry-Off (as I think Molly Ivins called it) didn't really help Ann either- again to your point of her running on the moderate side...

[jobycom]

14. Oh yeah, I had forgotten that. Thanks. nt.

[comsymp]

15. All credit to Ms. I...

Used to be my fantasy ticket: Richards/Ivins- can you imagine??? Maybe Molly could buy a summer place in Wyoming to avoid that same-state problem, too.


ON EDIT: totally OT, but i haven't been able to get her column about "oh god, let's not talk about vietnam again" off my mind for months~

[sundog]

3. i saw the last part of it

she was fab-- they'll replay it tonight, so i'll watch the whole thing... it's really refreshing to hear a high profile politician from this part of the country speak out against w

[Mika]

8. Ann said that she trusts touchscreen voting

Alls she knows is she votes on a electronic voting machine when she walks into the voting booth and she just trusts that its counting her vote. :crazy:

:argh:

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

11. Did you also hear when Larry was an ass to that lady who called and

talked about how the Gov. of PA was going to deliver it to Bush (think she was talking about how Diebold was going to deliver OH to Bush, but she was mistaken...same idea, though)? I wanted to bitch-slap Larry!!

I thought Ann was on target with most everything she said, but, I, too, thought it was crazy she said she trusts the electronic voting machine to count her vote accurately. What the frick?!

[Cleita]

16. Perhaps she was really saying it better count her vote

accurately, or if she can't trust it anymore, well..... Ann sometimes talks on two levels.