The Top of Texas Democratic organization is, it turns out, populated almost entirely by people named James. Jim Perkins from the Potter-Randall Democratic Club introduced Jimmy Healy from Hutchison County. And Jim Otto from Randall County.
And the people who aren't named James are named Rosalie Powell. Really. Perkins introduced Rosalie Numero Uno and Rosalie Numero Two-oh raised her hand.
Pete Laney -- famous from his brief residence in the Holiday Inn of Ardmore, Oklahoma-- says that he thought, when the Republicans took over the Texas house, that it would take Democrats ten or fifteen years to come back. "But they screwed it up so bad...we're gonna come back this time."
There is some discussion about the gerrymandered congressional district that has people from the real top of Texas-- the Panhandle-- all the way down to Midland in the same district. Apparently, the Midlandites are under the impression that we have to speak loud enough to hear each other from our respective cities without amplification: they keep shouting "Speak up!' and then shouting into their cell phones, the ringtones of which are themselves turned up higher than an Aerosmith concert.
And then Rick Noriega comes in. Noriega's a rock star. He's a rick star. He describes a phone interview he did with a morning drive show in Midland. The hosts greeted him by saying, "Representative Noriega, welcome to John Cornyn country."
Without missing a beat, Noriega asked, "Did I call Washington, D.C.?"
Noriega is currently on leave from the Army National Guard. After the convention, he will be going straight back to serving his Guard time. After November-- if Texans know a good thing when they see it-- he'll go to Washington, D.C., which will no longer be John Cornyn country.
spacedark
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