Why so many people are coming to see Beto O'Rourke (WP)

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-demand-from-texas-voters-in-the-era-of-trump-compassion/2018/08/30/f26cc678-a077-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html

Why so many people are coming to see Beto O’Rourke: A revolt against Trump and a demand for compassion
By Jenna Johnson
August 31 at 6:00 AM

FORT DAVIS, Tex. — Dozens of Texans gathered in a grassy courtyard between a historic hotel and a foodie bistro. They brought their kids and their dogs and set up in camping chairs in the patches of shade they could find.

They were waiting for Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso who is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and doing so by campaigning in all of Texas’s 254 counties, hitting many repeatedly. What started as a familiar campaign tactic has turned into something of a phenomenon, with O’Rourke greeted along the way by large crowds yearning for a specific sort of message.

Here in Fort Davis, located in a far-west Texas county where 1,191 people voted for president in 2016, more than 300 showed up on a Sunday evening. In Muleshoe in the deeply conservative Texas Panhandle — home to a statue of Old Pete, a mule that attended George W. Bush’s 2001 inauguration — more than 50 showed up for a meeting during the middle of the workday. In Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast, more than 1,000 packed into a sweltering bingo hall on a Wednesday night; dozens more listened from outside, and more than 100,000 people watched online.

Although Democratic enthusiasm has exploded across the country, few candidates have found the fervent level of interest O’Rourke has consistently attracted, drawing surprisingly large crowds in unexpected places. At a time when politics has become increasingly nasty and divisive — when President Trump has been blamed for ended friendships and a deterioration of civility — O’Rourke has laid down a potent counterargument: compassion.

O’Rourke, 45, says he’s intent on running a positive campaign, one focused not on Trump or the famously acerbic Cruz but on soothing hot anger with a promise of something different. Even if he doesn’t often say their names, his supporters know his candidacy is a direct critique of those Republicans.

“Everyone seems to be more concerned about how wealthy they are than the well-being of their fellow humans,” said Jim Hines, 70, a self-described “rabid liberal” and retired river guide who saw O’Rourke in Fort Davis. “A lot of it comes back to Trump being such a bully and spreading a message of hatred and trying to divide everybody, and that takes away your compassion for other people when you see them more as an enemy than as a fellow American.”

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[joet67]

1. Not sure if it was mentioned, but people are probably tired of

Mr. Haney's schtick. He needs to go back to Hooterville. *Mr. Haney=Ted Cruz

[manor321]

2. There are actual enemies, though

Nazis and white supremacists are enemies. Christian dominionists are enemies. They all want democracy dead. They are, in fact, enemies of America.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I signed for a rally at the junior college where I live on September 11.

I'll see if I can report and provide photos of the event. I am not certain if Beto will be there or if this is merely an organizational event.

[Scurrilous]

4. K&R