Category Archives for Joe Straus

Right-wingers Fail Again to Replace Joe Straus as Texas House Speaker

The Texas House of Representatives started the 2013 session today the same way it ended 2011 — with state Rep. Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, as speaker. This represents the third session in a row in which far-right groups like Texas Eagle Forum and Liberty Institute/Texas Values along with Tea Party activists have failed to keep […]

Also posted in Texas Legislature, TFN | 1 Comment

Far Right Fails in GOP Speaker Vote

A large majority of Republicans in the Texas House have rejected demands by far-right groups by indicating that they will support the re-election of Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, as House speaker. The vote in the Republican House caucus represents a major defeat for far-right pressure groups like Texas Eagle Forum and Liberty Institute (the Texas […]

Also posted in Texas Legislature | 4 Comments

Race-Baiting E-mails

One of the state’s right-wing extremists who has been among the most vocal in demanding the replacement of Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, as speaker of the Texas House appears to have a stunningly ignorant understanding of civil rights history. In a new e-mail commentary about the speaker’s race on Friday, Peter Morrison insists that the […]

Also posted in Peter Morrison, Texas Legislature | 6 Comments

Backlash Against the Right in Speaker Fight?

The fight among Texas Republicans over who should be speaker of the state House of Representatives is getting hotter. We suggested on Tuesday that over-the-top efforts by far-right pressure groups and their extremist supporters to replace Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, may well alienate other Republicans. That point was made clearer in a letter from […]

Also posted in David Barton, Donna Garner, Texas Legislature | Leave a comment

Anti-Straus Forces Step Up Pressure

Religious-right groups are taking the highly unusual step of calling a public rally next month at the state Capitol in Austin to demand the removal of Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, as Speaker of the Texas House. This  newest intimidation tactic comes after a weeks-long religious campaign against Straus in which Straus opponents have noted that […]

Also posted in Texas Legislature | 1 Comment

The Right Lies Again in the TX Speaker Battle

TFN Insider has already reported about the religious campaign the far right has been waging against Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Now PolitiFact offers a clear example of how the religious right is also spreading distortions and falsehoods in the effort to replace Straus with another speaker far more likely to obey their […]

Also posted in Donna Garner, Liberty Institute, Pat Carlson, sex education, Texas Eagle Forum | 5 Comments

A ‘Christian, Conservative’ Speaker

That’s what one State Republican Executive Committee member says he — and, supposedly, other Texans — wants as the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. The Texas Observer reports that SREC member John Cook said the following to another committee member in a Thursday (Nov. 30) e-mail: “WE elected a house with Christian, […]

Also posted in Texas Legislature | 5 Comments

Bigotry and the Texas Speaker’s Race II

Has the religious right’s effort to topple Texas House Speaker Joe Straus become an anti-Semitic smear campaign? Quorum Report (subscription required) has now posted various e-mails from groups and individuals opposed to Straus, who is Jewish. Excerpts: “Straus is going down in Jesus name.” “[W]e finally found a Christian conservative who decided not to be […]

Also posted in Peter Morrison, religious right, Texas Legislature | 13 Comments

Religious Bigotry and the Texas Speaker’s Race

Harvey Kronberg of the Austin-based political news website Quorum Report says religious-right pressure groups are running a deceitful campaign in the contest among Republicans for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Many religious-righters claim Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican, hasn’t been conservative enough for them (a bogus charge, other Republicans say). And […]

Also posted in religious right, Texas Legislature | 2 Comments

Religious Right Targets Speaker Straus

Battle lines are forming in the newest “culture war” flash point in Texas: the state House of Representatives. In fact, religious-right pressure groups are working furiously to replace Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio with a hard-right Speaker of the House. Each day brings a new attack in the far right’s “scorched earth” strategy, with […]

Also posted in David Barton, Liberty Institute, Texas Eagle Forum, Texas Legislature | 2 Comments