80th Texas Legislature Begins with Less Hoopla

While awaiting this past Tuesday to see who would be selected speaker of Texas' 80 th legislature, I find it quite interesting to see what would happen to those who publicly opposed Tom Craddick , Speaker of the House and former lieutenant of the befallen former Minority Whip of the U.S. congress, Tom Delay. The question is, exactly how far down in the pecking order they actually sink, ala fellow republicans Rep. Brian McCall and Rep. Jim Pitts. But, I must admit, I wanted to see if Mr. Craddick's own party loyalists would actually go forward with their public comments in saying that they would not only challenge Mr. Craddick's tenure, but that they had commitments in writing to even win the speakership. They even had the gaul to release the list of those that supported them. My ole rural professor once told me in a democracy, it's healthy to have a festive dialog with your foes. But, in this case, no one seemed to be up to the challenge, except those who knew that they had no chance of winning, HELLO, Rep. Senfronia Thompson. No pun intended. But, Ms. Thompson, there is something to said about your gutsy bravado. Reps. Thompson, McCall and Pitts, you are likely to be reassigned to unwanted sub-subcommittees. As for Rep. Thompson, you at least stood up for what you believed in before gracefully bowing out and regardless of whether you actually meant it or simply jockeying for chief spokesman for the democratic house minority, is that the 63 year old three term west Texan Craddick never forgets whose perceived as a challenge. They'll pay a heavy, heavy political price. And for all you right leaning Clintonian democrats that supported Mr. Craddick, a few top names didn't even win their primaries; Rep. Ron Wilson and Rep. Al Edwards, two of some of the longest serving democrats in the Texas state house, both black, coincidentally.