For the 430th new “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, we’ll be talking about former Texas Lieutenant Governor and candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas, David Dewhurst.
Dewhurst served as Lieutenant Governor for twelve years from 2003-2015 under the leadership of another CSGOPOTD we’ve talked about more than once, Gov. Rick Perry. After being easily re-elected to his third term as Texas Lieutenant Governor in 2010, Dewhurst decided it was time to move past the state level, hoping to head to Washington, D.C. in 2012 to be a U.S. Senator. He bumbled about during his campaign, managing to be not just defeated in the GOP Primary by someone else CSGOPOTD has kept a close eye on, Ted Cruz, but to somehow have his conservative credentials end up so damaged by Cruz running to his right that he became vulnerable enough to be defeated by Texas state legislator Dan Patrick, and was denied a fourth term in office.
(Apologies to anyone who actually clicked on all those Texans’ profiles, and had to behold how truly insane Lone Star State Republicans have become.)
We’ll do our best to cover just some of the moments where David Dewhurst himself showed that he fits right in with the company of those other CSGOPOTD luminaries from Texas.
- March 26th, 2010: Upon hearing a production of the play “Corpus Christi” is to take place at Tarleton State University, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst immediately objects because the content includes a gay modern equivalent of Jesus, and a plot that includes male-on-male kissing, and activity under a blanket suggesting that people are having sex, and is publicly critical of any state funding going towards the student project in a shocking move against 1st Amendment rights.
- June 11th, 2010: David Dewhurst speaks before Republicans in Dallas, and tells them that Phoenix, Arizona has become second only to Mexico City in the rate of kidnapping. No one seemed to be able to confirm the ludicrous statement in law enforcement, because it isn’t true.
- March 13th, 2013: Lt. Gov. Dewhurst responds to the tragedy in Sandy Hook a few weeks earlier by calling for state funding to be set aside for weapons training for Texas teachers.
- June 26th, 2013: David Dewhurst attempts to stop the filibuster of Texas State Senator Wendy Davis to pass Texas’ SB 5. She succeeds in preventing its passage, as it does not go to a vote before midnight. Dewhurst is quoted telling the women protesting from the gallery, “It’s been fun, but, uh, see you soon.” He then tells the press the protesters were “An unruly mob, using Occupy Wall Street tactics, disrupted the Senate from protecting unborn babies.” Gov. Rick Perry ends up calling a second special session of the legislature to try to pass a similar measure.
- October 15th, 2013: Dewhurst calls for the impeachment of President Obama over the attacks in Benghazi, lying to the public and claiming that the White House was watching them on a live feed as they happened and did nothing.
“This election is about protecting you and your freedoms, which are given to you by God, but which are being trampled on by Barack Obama right now. I don’t know about you, but Barack Obama ought to be impeached. Not only for trampling on our liberties, but what he did in Benghazi is just a crime. I’m very concerned about Benghazi, in which all of the national news reporting indicated that live video was streaming into the White House. That means that there was an overhead platform, probably a drone in the area. At least that’s what it tells me. And for not mobilizing some response to protect the ambassador and those three Americans is just outrageous to me. Just outrageous.”
- October 16th, 2013: David Dewhurst calls for the repeal of the 17th Amendment, which would allow state legislatures to elect U.S. Senators, instead of the voting public.
- December 12th, 2013: At a debate for the Republican nomination for Texas Lieutenant Governor, Dewhurst argues in favor of having creationism taught in Texas schools, and in favor of attempting to pass a law that would nullify the Affordable Care Act.
- May 7th, 2014: During his debate with Dan Patrick, Dewhurst lies at one point and says that Texas State Senator Wendy Davis was “just doing a fund-raiser in Chicago with the international socialists organization.”
- July 29th, 2014: Lt. Gov. Dewhurst is interviewed by Sean Hannity, and discusses illegal immigrants in hyperbolic, and demonizing terms, claiming one quarter of them had criminal records, before also saying that Chinese and Yemeni people were coming in waves:
- September 9th, 2014: Dewhurst goes on Tony Perkins’ “Washington Watch” program to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment, and attempt to throw cold water on any sympathy towards the underage children being saved from deportation when he said, “This whole conversation about the unaccompanied children, ladies and gentlemen, this is a mirage, it is a public relations effort, this is an effort by the Obama administration to divert your attention.“
- September 26th, 2014: Before a crowd in Washington, D.C. at the Value Votes Summit, David Dewhurst makes the outrageous and false claim that Muslim prayer rugs have been found on the Texas-Mexico border, to try to drum up anti-immigrant fears about ISIS.
David Dewhurst’s politcal career is all but over now, as in his past two runoff election losses, he spent millions of dollars of his own personal fortune desperate to hold on and win against Tea Party challengers. And that’s not even including the fact that while he ran against Dan Patrick, one of his top aides, Buddy Barfield got caught embezzling a couple of million dollars from Dewhurst (he’s looking at a 7 year prison sentence). Now approaching the age of 70, and resented among many Texas Republicans for inadvertently setting the stage to make Wendy Davis famous… Dewhurst has no prospects towards any office, it looks like Dewhurst might call it a career. Let’s hope that’s how it shakes out.
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One Year Ago, January 13th, 2015: Joe Read (MT)
