No Kay Blog

The big pharmaceutical companies are surely celebrating their victory, but Medicare participants aren't. Here's the response from the AARP (emphasis added):

"Working Texans were poorly represented today in the U.S. Senate on this all important issue," said AARP-Texas State Director Bob Jackson. "Score one for the pharmaceutical industry and the power of their lobby."

Jackson said the bill would have put downward pressure on Medicare drug prices. Given the overwhelming support in both Texas and the U.S. for giving Medicare the power to negotiate, he said AARP will continue working so that the will of the people will eventually be heard.

"We are particularly disappointed with Sen. Hutchison's vote as this is a reversal from her previous vote in support of negotiating drug prices. Nearly 11,000 Texans called her offices and another 1,400 sent e-mails or faxes urging her to support the bargaining for lower prescription drug prices," said Jackson.

Sincere, non-snarky credit where credit is due: Sen. Hutchison was one of the 17 Republicans who broke ranks to pass legislation to ease the Bush administration's stem cell limits, with a final roll call vote of 63-34.

Note that Cornyn voted against that bill, though both of them voted for the "other" bill, Republican-sponsored and not veto-threatened legislation that also passed, with a vote of 70-28. When Cornyn tells everyone next year that he "voted for stem cell legislation", please remember it was this limited "sham" alternative.

For your enjoyment, a snarky, lambastic translation of selected quotes from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's recent address to a politics class at the University of Virginia. (Bonus: the picture of Kay featured in the story, though scaled down on that page, is an awesome 3,141 pixels wide by 1,902 pixels high. If you're looking for new wallpaper -- not computer desktop wallpaper, but real wallpaper-paste, on-your-house-walls wallpaper -- then this is perfect.)

When asked if she was interested in serving as vice president, Hutchison, responded with an emphatic "no," adding, "Who wants to be vice president?"

"Okay, time's up -- nobobdy? Nobody at all? Okay, I'm in," she kept herself from adding.

"It is the checks and balances, the rule of law ... [and the] resilience of our economy" that has kept our democracy strong, she said.

"Listen kiddies, the only checks and balances that I've ever needed to keep my democracy strong are the kind of checks that have lots of zeros on them, and the kind of balances the bank mails you once a month. And oh yeah, the law totally rules, doesn't it? Can we just say that, and leave it at that? I don't know why all these pesky Democrats want to waste time with nasty investigations and such. Seriously, someone's career could get hurt here."

Hutchison also stressed the "unhealthy atmosphere" and "partisanship" she believes exist in today's politics.

"We need some cooler heads right now," she said.

"Those Democrats are being mean to us. And we never did anything to them! Can't we all just get along? You know, like when we derailed the entire U.S. government to impeach Clinton for being naughty?"

Hutchison offered her opinions of potential candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

While she did not have a position on who will be nominated as the Republican candidate [not even to stress yet again that she won't run for Vice President in '08, which took a lot of willpower - ed.], she did offer some insight into likely Democratic candidates.

"I think Hilary [sic] [Clinton] will get the nomination, but I'm not willing to bet 25 cents on that," Hutchison said. "She has such a powerful infrastructure."

"I'm a woman, and Hillary's a woman. I have more campaign money than I know what to do with, and she has even more than that. Sheeeeit, that chick's loaded. You don't even know. I mean, wow. Seriously."

The senator also discussed frequent speculations that former Vice President Al Gore will make a potential run, and noted Sen. Barack Obama's strong chances.

"Personally, I'm hoping that dude who lost a couple elections ago tries again; that'd be a hoot. And that black guy? That is the only thing the guys up at the RNC are praying for harder than Hitlery to win the Democratic nomination."

Students were invited to ask questions concerning all facets of politics.

One student asked if states' rights were being infringed upon by modern government.

"I think the Federal government is encroaching upon states' rights too much," Hutchison responded. "I think we're going in the wrong direction and I am now a states' righter."

"I know this doesn't make a damn lick of sense, since my buddy George and those crazy-ass friends of his have run most of the Federal government -- except the military, obviously -- into the ground, but I heard some smart-looking people say this at a DC dinner party some years ago, and thought it sounded good.

"Also, if people wind up actually believing me about not wanting to run for Vice President, then it looks like I'll have to settle for Governor. So I better start saying things about, you know, states and stuff."

The guest lecture was not all business, though. Hutchison acted as a guest star in an episode of "Walker Texas Ranger" in 1997, prompting one student to ask about her experience working with Chuck Norris.

"Acting is a whole lot harder than it looks," Hutchison responded as the crowd laughed. "It was fun."

"It was hard, but since then I've had, um, lots of practice, uh, you know, acting. Almost every day, in fact. Apparently, I'm pretty good at it." [winks]

Via "Avenging Angel" on Daily Kos, a link to this short Crooks And Liars video clip of Sen. Hutchison on MSNBC. In it, she's discussing the political difficulties faced by leaders who drag their countries into tragic, unnecessary and never-ending wars, even when "the economy is going as well as it has been."

Her pro-war cheer continues:

We've got to see the progress, and know that we have done the right thing, that America has stayed strong, and that we are fighting for freedom for our children, every bit as much as in any war we've ever been in.

The Crooks And Liars post is titled "Kay Bailey Hutchinson hitting the mini-bar", and includes these snarky comments: "Sen. Kay Bailey must have had a few cocktails before she went on MSNBC," and "They will say anything, really—anything at all."

But I think this is really just clever wordsmithing on Kay's part. Replace "freedom" with "wealth, privilege and power", and replace "our children" with "my children". See? From that standpoint, it's an absolutely sober and 100% true statement.

I'll be the first to admit: I'm usually not very complimentary of Sen. Hutchison. I do tend to be critical of the way she represents some Texans (e.g., rich oil dudes, Halliburton, etc.) more than others (e.g., you, me, most people we know).

But today is different! Today Google News Alerts has brought these two gems into my inbox. Let it never be said that I never had kind words for Kay.

From the Galveston County Daily News, columnist Cathy Gillentine has this glowing review of our senior Senator's participation in the recent Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade:

Our own Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison went riding down the street on a beautiful horse, looking every inch the Texan she is, superbly dressed in Western attire, superbly hatted.

In equitation parlance, she would be described as “having a good seat.” Which is not at all disrespectful, even of a senator. Especially not of a senator from Texas.

She looked very comfortable on a horse. According to the TV commentators, she comes down to Houston every year to ride in the parade.

Good for her. She is a doll, and we all ought to be proud of her.

See there? What could possibly make us more proud of our representative to the upper chamber of the world's lone superpower than, "she is a doll"? (Fits in neatly, actually, with those who think of her as a prom queen/cheerleader/sorority girl...)

Today's other bit of high praise has to do with more weighty policy issues:

The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association[1] praised efforts by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison today to urge the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to finalize implementation of the expensing tax provisions for refinery expansions contained in the 2005 energy bill.

..."The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has important tax provisions that will encourage refinery capacities expansions," said NPRA Executive Vice President Charlie Drevna. "These important regulations have been in the pipeline for more than 20 months. Refiners need these regulations in place to be able to make important investment decisions that will increase gasoline supply, provide additional energy security and reduce the potential stress for consumers in the future."

"In the pipeline"! Did you catch that? What a stitch! ROFLMAO!

But seriously, thank GOD for Sen. Hutchison's work on this. Those poor little oil companies, so close to bankruptcy, will now finally be freed of some of that onerous tax burden, and can start cranking up new refineries. Go ahead, breathe a sigh of relief. We'll soon have additional energy security. Plus, we won't have all that extra tax revenue to have to figure out what to do with. Whew. That was a close one.

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1. For the record, "NPRA members include more than 450 companies, including virtually all US refiners and petrochemical manufacturers. Our members supply... products includ[ing] gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants and the chemicals that serve as "building blocks" in making everything from plastics to clothing to medicine to robber barons[2]."

2. Okay, maybe I changed that description a tiny bit.