Daily Archives: July 18, 2012

Houston Politics

An Ode to Bipartisanship

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Things are so divisive in the 2012 election cycle, we forget that it wasn’t always this way. Even if Democrats really REALLY disliked George W. Bush, they did try to work with him at times, and did not sabotage every initiative he launched. A bill would pass, and Democrats would disagree, they would even run against it, but they didn’t filibuster every major piece of legislation in existence.

Take a look at this clip of President George W. Bush signing bipartisan legislation into law… the Obama-Coburn act. Judging from the campaign trail assaults, you would have thought these men never knew each other. But there they are.

Also what happened to the GOP’s vehement defense and support of disclosure measures? You sure wouldn’t know it from today.

Houston Politics

Mayor Annise Parker on the Colbert Report!

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According to Chis Moran of the Houston Chronicle, Houston Mayor Annise Parker will be on tonight’s episode of the Colbert Report. She’s slated to talk about Houston, and about being one of the nation’s most prominent openly gay politicians.

Though not at the national level, Houston Mayor Annise Parker presently serves the largest single electorate of any openly gay US politician. Though US House Representatives like Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank and Jared Polis are on the national stage, their electorate is much smaller… approximately 700,000 people. The city of Houston is over 2 million people, and has now elected mayor Parker twice. That’s a huge share of the population, especially when you consider that her electorate is in the Conservative “stronghold” of Texas.

Mayor Parker’s record could be broken this fall, as Rep. Baldwin is running for a Senate seat in Wisconsin. It’s already hotly-contested by anti-gay forces in the GOP.

But for tonight, I will definitely be watching Stephen Colbert give the fair mayor a few good laughs. I wonder if he’ll ask her about running for the US House or Senate?

(Annise Parker and her Partner Kathy Hubbard. David J. Phillip/AP)