No Kay Blog

This week's issue of the Austin Chronicle lists their endorsements. These include, of course, an endorsement in the U.S. Senate race. Good ink for Barbara Ann; bad ink for Kay Bailey. What's not to like? I'll just swipe that whole part of the article, and highlight my favorite parts.

Newcomer Radnofsky is exceptionally qualified – welcome news for those of us in the "anyone but Hutchison" camp. The Houston attorney-mediator has done an exceptional job of laying out solutions. She advocates a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. She stands ready to support our troops after they come home, aggressively pushing for greater VA care. She promotes energy independence and pushes for renewable energy. She opposes the enormous Perry boondoggle that is the Trans-Texas Corridor. She supports a sensible immigration policy. And she's also run a dedicated and energetic statewide campaign, with too little help from her party.

Republican incumbent Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has accumulated plenty of powerful seniority since 1993 – but in the service of an agenda that is completely wrong for Texas and the nation. While Hutchison is considered a GOP "moderate" (largely on abortion), she largely marches in lockstep with the radical Republican right. She continues to help promote the Great Lie – that the U.S. invasion of Iraq had something to do with fighting terrorism. Closer to home, Hutchison not only voted for the irrational border fence but supported a nonsensical proposal to allow peace officers from any community to enforce immigration law. On the environment, Hutchison's record is abysmal: According to the League of Conservation Voters (hardly a radical group), on key green votes during her Senate tenure, she has taken the pro-environment position only 4% of the time. She stood staunchly by Tom DeLay, praising him to the end, denouncing his prosecution on "technicalities," and donating $5,000 to his legal defense.

This is not the record of a moderate. Hutchison needs to go.