Texas Democratic Rep. Loses Recount Case

[Khephra]

SAN ANTONIO -- The Texas Supreme Court Tuesday turned down Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's appeal alleging fraud was responsible for his 58-vote defeat in the Democratic primary election.

Rodriguez, a seven-year incumbent, took his case to the state's highest court after the 4th Court of Appeals ruled against him in his lawsuit against challenger Henry Cuellar.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-recount-lawsuit,0,778932.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[David__77]

1. I hope that Cuellar will stay true to the Democratic Party.

I would much rather he defeated Bonilla last time than attacked one of our important members of Congress.

[Wabbajack]

2. Damn

I think he's a DINO.

[SilasSoule]

3. Cuellar is much worse than just a DINO

He's in the turncotat/infiltrator realm.

[Zhade]

5. He's DLC?

NT!

[carpetbagger]

8. He was Rick Perry's appointee as Sec. of State.

I really, really hope Ciro Rodriguez wins the seat back in 2006.

[3 Cents and Change]

4. Ciro is done.

He was supposed to speak at our high school graduation but me and another group of students made sure it didn't happen (brought it up to administration and brought the issue up for all to see) because of some racist comments he's made in the past about hispanics. It was my first political activism experience.

[Wabbajack]

6. He's hispanic

and he made racist comments about other hispanics?

[carpetbagger]

7. Not anti-hispanic, he accused the GOP of being "lily white".

I think he's chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

[lostnfound]

10. So -- an exaggeration, yes; a racist comment -- No. nt

[3 Cents and Change]

13. No, not that.

He called the wife of Phil Gram a coconut (brown on the outside white on the inside). We have a lot of problems with people who accuse hispanics of not being 'hispanic enough'. Congressmen resorting to the same racial slurs like "oreo", and "coconut" just makes it worse.

[lostnfound]

9. Link? That doesn't sound like him.

Sounds like something from a slander campaign (I don't mean you; I mean maybe the comments were taken out of context.)

And I know people who know him personally who have respect for him. Doesn't sound like it fits.

He's a member of the Progressive Caucus, too, by the way.

[3 Cents and Change]

16. Frank Tejeda formed my opinion of him.

"And I know people who know him personally who have respect for him. Doesn't sound like it fits."

We had visited congress about six months before this came up and got to meet with Frank Tejeda. Considering he was from the same party and same region as Rodriguez, his opinion of him was quite low.

I'm sure there are quotes online where he endorsed him just like anybody would do for a fellow party member but I heard it straight from his mouth. I HIGHLY respected Tejeda and my opinion of Ciro comes from that, his 'lilly white' comments, and the racial slur he used against Mrs. Gram.

[pop goes the weasel]

11. sounds like you got snookered

by Cuellar.

[3 Cents and Change]

15. I didn't know who Cuellar was then.

This was 1997.

[w4rma]

12. Ciro is hispanic! What a bullcrap smear. (nt)

[3 Cents and Change]

14. Your point?

He used racial slurs against other hispanics to claim they weren't 'hispanic enough'. Racism is racism. I don't tolerate it and I don't know why you would either.

To be honest, I don't give a shit about the comment now. This was about six years ago when he was just getting into congress.

[UTUSN]

17. Wendy GRAMM (Mrs Enron) Is NOT Hispanic

I did a (very) little Googling to find out her ethnic background and only found "born in Hawaii in 1945". She is a wingnut married to a despicable wingnut. Ciro RODRIGUEZ, otoh, is an honorable fellow and a true Dem. Around here, it's usually the Dems that are defended and the wingnuts who are smeared (with evidenciary links). Although you "don't give a shit about the comment now," you certainly hung it out there (without substantiation).

*********QUOTE*********
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Wendy_Lee_Gramm
Wendy Lee Gramm is chairman of the "regulatory studies program" at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, generally calling for deregulation of the energy industry. She was on Enron's board of directors before its collapse. Enron had been a financial backer of the Mercatus Center.

Previously, Wendy Gramm held several positions in the Reagan Administration, including heading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, when it exempted from regulation Enron trading in energy derivatives.

She has also previously been head of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 'Information and Regulatory Affairs'. During 2002, the OMB drew up a "hit list" of existing federal environmental regulations it believes should be changed or rescinded. Of these, 44 had been suggested by the Mercatus Center.

Wendy Gramm is married to Senator Phil Gramm.

---------------

http://www.apfn.org/enron/gramm.htm

ENRON'S Wendy L. Gramm


***********UNQUOTE***********

[auburnblu]

18. What are you saying?

That you don't believe the poster's assertion's about the comment
Or is the comment fine as long as Wendy Gramm is Asian-American not Hispanic?

[3 Cents and Change]

19. Ignorance is NOT bliss and Google doesn't change history.

I don't give a shit whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. Racist pukes are racist pukes. 'Coconut' is a popular racial slur similar to the 'oreo' slur. Ciro used it in reference to Mrs Gram because she's 'brown on the outside'. Does her being Hawaiian make it okay? Is it now acceptable to use racial slurs against people just because they worked for Enron? Tell me, when is it okay to use racial slurs and when is it not because I don’t put up with that crap from any source.

Do every Google search you want, I lived it and know what happened. In fact, I actually sat and listened to Frank Tejeda have a conversation about it. I'm not going to change or overlook history because you can't find it in Google. I'm not going to overlook history because "around here, it's usually the Dems that are defended". Blind allegiance to a candidate just because he has the D after his name is idiotic.

Regardless, this isn't a Republican vs Democrat issue any way. The district we are talking about is about as solid Democrat as they get. In fact, it's one of the gerrymandered districts the Texas Republicans left when they chopped this state up to segregate Democratic voters. I’m not happy about Cuellar but I never liked that racist Rodriguez.

[UTUSN]

21. I Have Only Heard That Word Used on Hispanics

And I wasn't looking for it on Google, because I knew it wouldn't be there. And to you and the other poster projecting that I am approving of racist terms---uh, no. And it wasn't up to me to provide YOUR substantiation for you. (There won't be anything to discuss here: Nighty-night.)

[auburnblu]

22. It took me what 30 seconds on Google?

http://lists.village.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/spoons/archive_msg.pl?file=postcolonial.archive/postcolonial.0203&msgnum=295&start=35367&end=35514

http://www.littleindia.com/India/feb04/coconut.htm

http://newswatch.sfsu.edu/guide/c.html

The term sadly is used against many demographic groups.
You must hate the internet as it allows people to pierce your shield of "enlightenment". Tolerating bigotry sucks.

[3 Cents and Change]

23. Well, I guess you learned something today...

...because Ciro Rordriguez DID use that term in reference to Mrs. Gramm. Even Frank Tejeda acknowledged it while standing right in front of me. We didn’t petition our administration and speak to the school board based on some lie we made up and we didn’t have to tell them what we were talking about; they already knew about it because it was in the news back then.

If you have to have an internet link for something to be true in your little world, so be it. However, as I said, ignorance isn’t bliss.

[auburnblu]

20. Sadly you'll find two kind of people here

Those who actually value diversity and believe EVERY demographic group deserves respect and deserves a voice.

There are also those who seem to keep score of how many they can call a sell-out and how many people they can defend that use the phrase "not being (insert demographic group) enough".

I wouldn't want someone with bigoted ideas to talk at my graduation either.