THE MORNING RANT: Senators Cornyn & Cassidy Were My Fault, Because I Voted for Both of Them as the “Most Electable Candidate”; also, the Amazing Rhythm Ace of Spades

Dear Texas and Louisiana voters: With a combination of gratitude and shame, I’d like to thank you for cleaning up the mess I helped create by putting Democrat-aligned RINOs in the Senate to represent your great states. I apologize for my role in putting duplicitous, faux-conservatives in a position to betray the actual conservatives who elected them, and I hope others will learn the lesson I learned – never, ever vote for the most “electable” candidate if it means empowering someone who may align with the left against conservatives.

Politics is not a sporting event where we simply cheer for whomever is wearing our team’s jersey. John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy were allegedly Team Republican, but they have spent the past nine years working with Democrats to undermine the man whom Republicans voted for in the past three presidential elections.

To my ever-lasting disgrace, while living in Texas I voted for John Cornyn in the 2002 Republican primary, because he was the “moderate” and “electable” Republican who was most likely to defeat the “popular” Dallas Mayor, Ron Kirk, in the general election. Cornyn won the primary and the general election, and he then proceeded to stab conservatives in the back for the next 24 years. The power of incumbency could no longer protect him this year, as disgusted Texas Republicans voted for Ken Paxton by a landslide in the Texas senate primary.

Even worse, while living in Louisiana in 2014, I voted for Bill Cassidy in the US Senate primary since he was the most “electable” Republican candidate running against the “moderate” and “popular” three-term Democrat incumbent, Mary Landrieu. Not only has Bill Cassidy been hostile to the MAGA agenda, he actually joined Senate Democrats in voting to convict President Trump in the farcical impeachment trial in early 2021. After Cassidy’s 12-year run of duplicity and betrayal against the Republicans who elected him, he too was just voted out of office, finishing third in the Republican primary.

These two senators who are routinely praised by Trump-haters for being men of high character are already making clear that they will finish out their term with middle fingers fully extended toward their constituents. They plan to represent national Democrats and the DC swamp for their final months in office, not the states that elected them to office. The “respectable Republicans” who advocated for Cornyn’s and Cassidy’s re-election are cheering on this score-settling, and blaming Donald Trump for the despicable character now on full display by Cornyn and Cassidy.

There are plenty of other Cornyns and Cassidys running in Republican senate primaries across the country. Down in Georgia, Derek Dooley has already gone off-script and revealed that he plans to go “full Lankford” once elected and oppose Trump’s border-control policies. But there is already a Democrat Senator from Georgia (Jon Ossoff) battling Trump’s successful closure of the border, so there is absolutely no reason for Georgia Republicans to elect a guy wearing our jersey to vote in Washington like Ossoff. (Mike Collins is apparently the Georgia Republican senate candidate who is most likely to authentically represent MAGA if elected.)

The Amazing Rhythm Ace of Spades

One of the fun things at the Ace of Spades blog is getting to know some of the unexpected people who are loyal readers. For me, one of them has been James Hooker, a founding member of the country-rock group The Amazing Rhythm Aces. After the Aces’ run had ended, Mr. Hooker spent two decades as the band leader for country-folk singer Nancy Griffith.

I was a fan of the Amazing Rhythm Aces when I was a teen in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, incorporating the Aces’ music into my “Long-Haired Country” mix-tapes, along with the likes of Asleep at the Wheel, Rusty Wier, Charlie Daniels, and David Allen Coe. I was also a big fan of Nancy Griffith throughout her career, and my favorite song of hers was “Gulf Coast Highway,” a song co-written by Mr. Hooker and Ms. Griffith.

I was pleasantly surprised one day when I received a Twitter follow from James Hooker, who acknowledged being an Ace of Spades fan. We subsequently traded occasional pleasantries about music, or simple holiday greetings.

Mr. Hooker recently shared with me a new recording that is political in nature, “Mr. Smith (He Don’t Live Here No More).” The title refers to the straight-arrow, corruption-fighting senator played by James Stewart in the 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Mr. Hooker wrote the song about 15 years ago – but never recorded it – back in the era when the Tea Party had apparently been defeated by the Washington establishment. In reality, however, it was just creating further voter disgust that set the stage for MAGA.

That disgust toward swamp politicians who betray their constituents – e.g. people like John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy – is captured in this song, which is also a great, bluesy song stylistically, irrespective of the lyrics. The good news is that voters are now taking the initiative to terminate the political careers of these types of politicians.

Since we’re talking about the Amazing Rhythm Aces, here they are playing their biggest hit, “Third Rate Romance.” (James Hooker is in the peach-colored shirt playing the black piano.)

And finally, here’s Nancy Griffith along with James Hooker playing their sweet, sad song “Gulf Coast Highway”

Thank you, James.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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