By Michelle Goldberg
New York Times
Opinion Columnist
On Saturday night, at the end of a hideous week in American politics, there was an unfamiliar feeling in Austin, Tex.: hope.
More than 50,000 people streamed into a city park to hear music legend Willie Nelson perform at a rally with Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso who is running a strikingly competitive race against oleaginous ghoul Ted Cruz.
Many were young – Nelson’s set started after 10 p.m. – wearing Beto T-shirts and waving Beto flags. Nearby, a packed restaurant advertised “Beto beer.” In the air was that slightly delirious energy you feel when a political campaign becomes a movement.
Shortly before the rally, I watched Evan Smith, chief executive and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, interview O'Rourke onstage at a nearby auditorium. It was uncanny how much the candidate recalled Barack Obama circa 2008, and not just because of his gawky magnetism.
Like Obama, O’Rourke is unapologetically progressive but offers a vision of post-partisan national unity. He treats his audience as too savvy for political clichés. When Smith asked him if he planned to go negative against Cruz, he mocked attack ads with distorted pictures and ominous music.
“We’re sick of that stuff,” he said, except he used a saltier term than “stuff.”
Like Obama, O’Rourke is running on hope over fear; he exudes compassion and speaks about “power and joy.” Christine Allison, a Republican-turned-independent, is president of the company that publishes D Magazine, a city magazine for Dallas, and one of O’Rourke’s ardent supporters. “He listens,” she told me, saying that he has what Christians sometimes call a “servant-leader approach to politics.”
If O’Rourke wins – if power and joy are enough to oust a sneering right-wing demagogue like Cruz in a deep-red state – it will ratify a new theory of politics that’s taken hold in Democratic circles since 2016. Like the gubernatorial candidates Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia, O’Rourke is running a campaign based more on inspiration than persuasion.
Rather than making narrowly targeted appeals to swing segments of the existing electorate, he seeks to turn out new voters, including young people and people of color.
“Our contention is that if no one’s ever shown up, and listened to you, and incorporated your story into why they’re campaigning, and the expectations that we’re setting for one another, then I wouldn’t expect you to vote either,” O’Rourke told Smith on Saturday.
So instead of centrist triangulation, O’Rourke – like Abrams and Gillum – is speaking to the aspirations of his base, and betting that other voters will be won over by his honesty.
Opinion Columnist
On Saturday night, at the end of a hideous week in American politics, there was an unfamiliar feeling in Austin, Tex.: hope.
More than 50,000 people streamed into a city park to hear music legend Willie Nelson perform at a rally with Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso who is running a strikingly competitive race against oleaginous ghoul Ted Cruz.
Many were young – Nelson’s set started after 10 p.m. – wearing Beto T-shirts and waving Beto flags. Nearby, a packed restaurant advertised “Beto beer.” In the air was that slightly delirious energy you feel when a political campaign becomes a movement.
Shortly before the rally, I watched Evan Smith, chief executive and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, interview O'Rourke onstage at a nearby auditorium. It was uncanny how much the candidate recalled Barack Obama circa 2008, and not just because of his gawky magnetism.
Like Obama, O’Rourke is unapologetically progressive but offers a vision of post-partisan national unity. He treats his audience as too savvy for political clichés. When Smith asked him if he planned to go negative against Cruz, he mocked attack ads with distorted pictures and ominous music.
“We’re sick of that stuff,” he said, except he used a saltier term than “stuff.”
Like Obama, O’Rourke is running on hope over fear; he exudes compassion and speaks about “power and joy.” Christine Allison, a Republican-turned-independent, is president of the company that publishes D Magazine, a city magazine for Dallas, and one of O’Rourke’s ardent supporters. “He listens,” she told me, saying that he has what Christians sometimes call a “servant-leader approach to politics.”
If O’Rourke wins – if power and joy are enough to oust a sneering right-wing demagogue like Cruz in a deep-red state – it will ratify a new theory of politics that’s taken hold in Democratic circles since 2016. Like the gubernatorial candidates Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia, O’Rourke is running a campaign based more on inspiration than persuasion.
Rather than making narrowly targeted appeals to swing segments of the existing electorate, he seeks to turn out new voters, including young people and people of color.
“Our contention is that if no one’s ever shown up, and listened to you, and incorporated your story into why they’re campaigning, and the expectations that we’re setting for one another, then I wouldn’t expect you to vote either,” O’Rourke told Smith on Saturday.
So instead of centrist triangulation, O’Rourke – like Abrams and Gillum – is speaking to the aspirations of his base, and betting that other voters will be won over by his honesty.
He defended the right of N.F.L. players to take a knee during the national anthem to protest police killings of unarmed African-Americans, supports “Medicare for All,” and slams Cruz for being in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. He’s campaigning in a conservative state, but refusing to let the right set the terms of debate.
It’s been working better than anyone could have expected. Though O’Rourke is still an underdog — Texas hasn’t had a Democratic senator in 25 years — pollsters describe the race as a tossup. He has raised record-breaking sums without taking any money from political action committees. Soon his campaign will announce its third-quarter fund-raising results, and the rumor is that the total will be staggering, though all O’Rourke would say on stage is that it’s “a lot,” and more than the $10.4 million he raised last quarter.
It’s been working better than anyone could have expected. Though O’Rourke is still an underdog — Texas hasn’t had a Democratic senator in 25 years — pollsters describe the race as a tossup. He has raised record-breaking sums without taking any money from political action committees. Soon his campaign will announce its third-quarter fund-raising results, and the rumor is that the total will be staggering, though all O’Rourke would say on stage is that it’s “a lot,” and more than the $10.4 million he raised last quarter.
To read rest of article, click on link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/opinion/beto-orourke-texas-ted-cruz-barack-obama.html
12 comments:
Mexican wannabe just to get votes.
La pinche jente pendeja believing these pendejos Cruz and O'Rourke talking all their usual political bullshit. They're both as Mexican as a fucking convenience store burrito. As soon as either of these assholes is voted in, they'll forget all about the Valley and Brownsville like they all have done in the past. Pinches politicos de mierda, no valen V.
You are right Oct 2.; however, the population in this region are TOO STUPID to realize that BEETO is PANDERING to them and could care less about their needs and wishes.
You realize, of course, that when she referred to Cruz as oleaginous, she used a synonym for a greaser. Pretty damn sad that a New York liberal hack comes to Texas and tries to beatify an idiot gringo politician using a fake hispanic name by insulting a true hispanic politician with the last name of Cruz.
Beto comes from a heavy weight Irish El Paso political family. He is just following the family business. Due to Ft. Bliss El Paso was a half and half (Mexican and Anglo) population, but in he past couple of decades that balance has shifted to majority Mexican. This ethnic shift has cause the energence of Beto, the wannabe Irish Mexican, who even gave his larva Mexican nicknames.
Cruz is Cuban by way of Canada and Beto is Irish by way of El Paso. If you think either of these jerks give a shit about the people of the Borderland you are saddly mistaken.
Their poitical stance is very different, with Cruz being the stand on your own two feet conservative and Beto being the stick your hand out for government dole. The progressives have a vested interest in keeping our people poor, so they can buy their votes with dimes and nickles of charity.
Hey when u finish reading this look at your pay check stub and tell me what you are getting for that FICA money these assholes are taking from u! What r u getting for your property take money? Don't forget Beto was here for a good DUI deal from Saenz!
I lived in El Paso for 25 years...Beto's dad the judge was rumored to have pissed off the Cartel and subsequently hit from the rear on his bicycle by a very large truck. The Chagra's, big time attorneys and coke dealers are just another example of the criminal element in the "justice system" in El Paso. Beto is a rata just like his dad.
Cruz is not human
Why should either candidate care about the south Texas border region....NOTHING BUT THIEVING MEXICANS that would steal the gold out of your teeth...the Rio Grande Delta is nothing more than one big fucking welfare barrio.
Beto knows exactly what Ms Goldman was saying when she referred to Cruz as a SPOOKY GREASER.
I was considering voting for Beto but if he does not come out and condem Ms Goldman for her racial slur thenhe is not getti g my vote.
How can he be a greaser if he's not human? BETO gets my vote.
Some reindeers, y'know. He used ta hook them onto da sled, and then he
Used ta stand up inside da sled and hold on to da reins, and then call
Out their names, like, "On, Donner! On, Blitzen! On, Chewy! On, Tavo!
C'mon, Beto! " And then, the reindeers used ta take off into da sky and
Fly across da sky, man!
Hey, just a minute, man. Now, how'd he do that, man?
Oh, well, man, he had some magic dust, man.
Cheech & Chong Xmas Song
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