No Kay Blog

Via the Radnofsky campaign, vote today to help give Kay's opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a $5000 boost. Find out all about it at Forward Together. It's easy!

On the DCist, the story of Kay's spin on recently proposed Washington, D.C.-only handgun legislation: Kay's Dangerous Digs.

While announcing the introduction of the legislation, Sen. Hutchison both complained of the unconstitutionality of the District's gun laws and of her inability to store her own Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver... by her bedside in her D.C. home. ... She stated:

I have always had a handgun in the drawer next to my bed, and I would certainly again have one if it were legal in D.C. I think every woman in the District of Columbia should have the ability to protect herself in her home.

...Was owning and storing a loaded weapon her only option to defend her homestead? Or was this discourse merely more cynicism in an already cynical ploy to shore up her conservative bases before a rumored run for the governorship in gun-friendly Texas?

...Hutchison owns and lives in a stately Capitol Hill rowhouse in the Stanton Park neighborhood of Capitol Hill... half-way between Maryland Avenue NE and Massachusetts Avenue NE and a stones-throw away from the U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court, and Senate office buildings. Trees line the streets, couples walk their dogs and frequent nearby outdoors cafes and bars, and rowhouse after rowhouse speak to a neighborhood steeped in Washington history and closely linked to the city's most prominent political players and nearby Congress.

...In promoting the legislation, Sen. Hutchison invoked the safety of the city's residents to garner support and sympathy. While there is an argument to be made that the city may well be safer if its residents are allowed to protect themselves and their properties with handguns, it is less convincing when made by a Senator whose primary residence in the District is in an affluent and generally crime-free neighborhood.

Though he seems to be a Bush supporter, publisher of the Brownsville Herald R. Daniel Cavazos takes Hutchison (and Cornyn) to task for their hardline stance on immigration.

Texas senators turn backs on Hispanics and their president

The House bill’s chief author, Rep. James Sensenbrener, recently compared employers who hire illegal immigrants to the slaveholders of the old South. The bill’s other chief proponent, Rep. Tom Tancredo, has been on an anti-Latino rampage for several years, warning essentially that Mexicans are out to take over the United States.

This is the crowd that Hutchison and Cornyn have allied themselves with in deserting their president and fellow Texan on the immigration issue. It cuts deeper than just the immediate political implications of the issue.

It also speaks volumes of where these two senators see themselves in representing their state and crafting the long-range appeal of their party.

...The leading Texas Republicans of our day, Hutchison, Cornyn and the border camera-toting governor and grand panderer, Rick Perry, seem oblivious to all of this and seem indifferent to the fact that they serve a state that will become majority Hispanic by the year 2040.

Thankfully, the latest attempt to enshrine intolerance into the the Constitution met an early end on Wednesday. The Houston Chronicle has some details: Gay marriage amendment falls short again in Senate.

However, that article fails to point out that Sen. Hutchison didn't just support the proposed amendment; she cosponsored it.

According to News 8 Austin, Texas senators say Senate immigration bill falls short. Sen. Hutchison joins in willingly to this election year's biggest wedge issue and distraction: immigration reform. The Texas Republicans are really showing off their compassionate conservatism:

Both [Sen. John] Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said they oppose a Senate bill approved with bipartisan support last week. The bill provides a chance at citizenship for guest workers and an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Securing the Mexico border and cracking down on illegal immigration were the dominant themes of party leaders and many elected officials at the two-day GOP convention. The party's platform states “No amnesty! No how. No way.''

Personally I like the sound of that slogan, but "no Kay" sounds better to me than "no way".

More evidence in this Galveston County Daily News article on biodiesel that Sen. Hutchison can't wait to forever destroy the pristine wilderness in Alaska in exchange for a little oil:

Still, Hutchison said that despite the urgency of this type of clean-fuel initiative, she would vote to open up a portion of the 20 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Last Thursday, the contentious measure yet-again passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives 225-201, but has been repeatedly stymied by filibusters in the Senate.

The government estimates that only 10 billion barrels of oil are beneath the surface of the refuge — so the resulting flow of fossil fuel would only satisfy the country’s daily oil consumption for about 18 months.