Maybe Not the Best Choice of Words

Gov. Rick Perry has been in California, campaigning, wrangling donations and debating. All of these are things presidential candidates do, so I’m not surprised he is doing them, since, you know, he is a presidential candidate.

And I know some are verklempt at the fact that Perry is gone at a time when it seems like half the state is on fire, and sure, maybe a guy who carries a gun when he jogs is also bad ass enough to wield a shovel or a fire hose. Or maybe not. Maybe as governor he’s not going to emulate Corey Booker and go out there and do it himself. Different governing styles and all, you know.

But I do think I can take exception to his finance people’s description of his success in gaining donations in California. According to the Chicago Tribune, when asked, they said:

Members of his finance team says “it is going like wildfire” and their California schedule backs up the claim.

Really? That? Not, “It’s going well, thanks,” or even, “We’ve found that people are enthusiastic donors?” Maybe it’s a picayune thing, but it really is a poor choice of words, especially when back home, four Texans have died and the fires are only about 30% contained.

Leading Off (9/9/11)

So Maybe Luis Sepulveda Was Right. Back in March 2010, Carlos Medrano faced off against Dallas County Justice of the Peace Luis Sepulveda. When he emerged the victor of the Democratic primary, it was by 154 votes. Sepulveda cried foul and alleged voter fraud, but ultimately lost a court case. But apparently there was enough evidence to result in several indictments for various members of the Medrano family - including Carlos himself yesterday.

Oh, The Places You’ll Sleep. In the annals of How Not To Quiet a Child, doping milk with antihistamine and then serving it to the children who weren’t keen on napping has got to be found in volume one, right?

Rah Rah Clustercuss. Have you been following this Big 12/ Texas A&M mess at all? To recap: The Aggies want to go to the SEC, and told the Big 12 (which is not 12 anymore, but whatevs) that it wanted out. The Big 12 said, “Fine, but you aren’t coming back.” Then the SEC  unanimously agreed to take the Aggies. But then Baylor said, “Um, no. And we might just take you to court for that.” And then we find out from Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe that the SEC has to get waivers from each Big 12 school to continue with the process. And then this happened.

A Roundup, Buckaroo. Did you watch President Obama’s jobs speech last night? Are you at all curious how local and state elected officials feel about that speech? Yeah, me neither, but here’s a roundup of that anyway.

Things You Want to Avoid This Weekend. 635. Happiness overload from the weather. 635. Dining inside if there’s a patio available. 635.

Two Thursday Things Mostly About Last Night’s Debates

As Zac mentioned in Leading Off, a debate was had for all twelvety hundred Republican presidential candidates. I watched it, and man, they really don’t like Obama. You know who was the second person to get the most verbal slapping? Rick Perry.

The Dallas Morning News‘ Trailblazers blog offers up this picture. Yes, it looks like Perry and Ron Paul were getting in to it. But better than that, Bruce Tomaso gave us a new phrase when he said, “So maybe the governor was hissed?” I am now totally going to use this. Last week, I got hissed at the post office for not holding my mail for the third time. Tuesday I got hissed at the traffic and this guy in an SUV that tried to hit my car. See how that works? What gets you all hissed?

And then, on a semi-related note to the debates, is this. Have a happy 45-minutes-left-on-your-workday, friends.