FYI: Graci Garces, candidate for H-Town City Council District I, is Commentary’s client.
It isn’t even May and the Ben Mendez for Houston City Council District I Campaign is already on the defensive. This past weekend they sent out an email trying to tout his Democratic Party street cred. Mendez was a contributor to the John McCain for President Campaign against President Obama and Mendez has also given to the Republican National Committee. Folks learned about the Mendez GOP donations last week via the twitterverse.
Mendez said this in his email:
City of Houston Mayoral and City Council elections are nonpartisan.
I agree, you don’t get to have a D or R next to your name on the ballot but partisanship is a major factor in City of Houston races. District I voted for The President by over 70% this past November. District I voters are not going to take kindly to a candidate giving money to Republicans.
In the Mendez email, Mendez claims to be a former “union member.” When a lot of Democrats in 2008 were working for hope and change, Mendez was giving his personal dough to a RNC whose platform references organized labor officials as “union bosses.”
In his email Mendez says:
Mendez wears many hats. As an advocate, this allows him to open the doors of communication and encourage bipartisan dialogue to address local, state, and national issues, such as immigration reform.
Mendez gave his personal dough to John McCain who at the time was running for the presidency on an immigrant bashing platform. Stay tuned!
Everybody knows that Mickey Mantle hit the first dinger at the Astrodome when it opened on April 9, 1965 but do folks know who was the leadoff batter for the Yankees that evening?
This is what resulted when GOP leaders relentlessly attacked The President for four years during his first term:
America’s blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.
Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press.
They asked for it!
Here is the entire piece.
I’m thinking NBC News’ Justice Department correspondent Pete Williams is feeling pretty good these days after getting a shout out from The President the other night at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Check out what The President said:
“If anyone wonders, for example, whether newspapers are a thing of the past, all you needed to do was to pick up or log on to papers like the Boston Globe. When their communities and the wider world needed them most, they were there making sense of events that might at first blush seem beyond our comprehension. And that’s what great journalism is, and that’s what great journalists do. And that’s why, for example, Pete Williams’ new nickname around the NBC newsroom is ‘Big Papi.’”
Commentary likes Tom Brokaw even when he gets on his high horse. Brokaw once again took a shot at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He thinks the dinner is more of a celebrity-fest of sorts. Here is what he told Politico:
Brokaw touched off the debate over the dinner when he told POLITICO’s Patrick Gavin in an interview that he won’t be attending this year’s gathering and that the last straw for him was when Lindsay Lohan was invited in 2012. The veteran newsman bemoaned the number of celebs at the dinner and worried how it all looks.
“What kind of image do we present to the rest of the country?” Brokaw asked. “Are we doing their business, or are we just a group of narcissists who are mostly interested in elevating our own profiles? And what comes through the screen on C-SPAN that night is the latter, and not the former.”
Here is how one of Brokaw’s colleagues responded:
New Yorker editor David Remnick, whose magazine threw a Friday night soirée on the roof of the W Hotel, told POLITICO he doesn’t think the White House Correspondents’ Dinner undermines the press.
“Look at what we publish,” he said. “Does it seem like it corrupts us?”
Over the years, Remnick noted that the New Yorker has published groundbreaking stories on torture, drone strikes and other sensitive topics in D.C.
“If one party can corrupt you,” he said. “You probably shouldn’t be in the game.”
Celebs are part of the political culture these days. They raise and give money to political candidates and political and public causes. They help create awareness for certain issues. They are invited to state dinners. Many are part of the entertainment industry economy that creates jobs across the country. They get their good and bad covered by the media.
I wonder if Brokaw was watching the “Today Show” this past Friday when NBC News Department’s highest paid employee Matt Lauer was interviewing Martha Stewart and asked Martha if she was dating anyone and Martha responded that she nearly went on Match.com. I wonder if he watched this morning when Lauer had Martha in studio and they talked more about Martha wanting to go out with a fella.
Stop the presses! Martha Stewart is going on Match.com!
Here is the entire Politico piece on Brokaw.
Commentary likes George Jones and I think “The Grand Tour” is probably his best tune in my opinion. NPR did a feature on it a couple of weeks ago. Commentary only went to one of his concerts sort of over 30 years ago in San Antonio. Here is from a SA Express News article the other day:
In 1981, George Jones cancelled a concert at Randy’s because he was “ill” (and yes, the story used the word with quotes).
The next year, he performed at Freeman Coliseum. Well, the term “performed” may have been generous because he told the 2,500 fans, “I’m drunk, but I love y’all.” The feeling was not mutual; they responded with boos. Only 450 fans made it to the end of a concert where he forgot lyrics and sang some songs twice. The promoters refused to give refunds because he did appear on stage.
According to the story (above) in the News on Aug. 16, 1982, Jones left town the next morning “on a motorcycle, his girlfriend and a bottle of tequila in the sidecar and his road crew trailing in a bus…”
The fans forgave him, as he appeared in other concerts in the following years.
I was at the Freeman Coliseum gig. I think was there because the concert had a political event tie-in. I couldn’t understand much of what he was singing. It was hilarious. I felt a little bad for the promoters and sponsors of the gig.
Express News story here.
Mickey Mantle of course batted leadoff at the first game ever at the Astrodome.
In the Chron today there is another – YAWN – story on what to do with the Dome. For now the story is only available to subscribers.
When you are 7-18 there is nothing good you can say as they head into Yankee Stadium for three.
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