Hal over at Half Empty recorded my speech to the convention.  I have no idea how much he’s going to charge me for a copy of it, but I suspect it will have something to do with me coming over to his house and cleaning the tops of his ceiling fans.

My speech to the delegation of SD18, which consists of 21 counties in Texas and is bigger than Delaware, New Hampshire, and some other foreign state combined, was not recorded because we only had 1 minute to speak.  Like the other candidates, I gave the delegates a copy of my qualifications to be national delegate prior to the convention.  That’s why we only got a minute.  Nobody ran against me but they let me give my speech anyway.

They expected comedy.  They did not get it.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am nothing.

I was a teacher of special needs children, so I can speak of the power and magic of education.

I have been married for 42 years so I can speak to President Obama’s commitment to marriage equality.

I am a small business owner so I can speak to the President’s jobs plan.

I held my 25 year old son in my arms as he died of cancer, uninsured.  I can speak to the financial devastation to families even aside from their unimaginable emotional devastation before the Affordable Health Care Act.  It is not Obamacare.  It is Obama Cares.  I can speak.

By choice, I live in the most racially diverse county in this state so I can speak to the Voter’s Rights Act.

I can speak because I have charity and love.  And, like ALL Democrats, that makes me something.

I hear candidates whine and bellyache all the time that they can’t say anything in one minute. That is caca del toro.

Other fun fact:  My own cousin, the executive director of the state Democratic party, had me thrown out of the VIP room.  For the rest of his entire life, Christmas will be hell for him.  Plus, next time I see him, he will need to take on the nickname of “Limpin’ Bill.”

Y’all, I come real close to feeling sorry for David VanOs, who fancies himself the only progressive in Texas.  This convention, he used his wife Rachel to run for State Party chairman so he could get to speak to the convention.

I generally follow the rule of never punching down in politics, but as I’m gonna explain later, this was the most progressive platform and progressive party chair we’ve had in the past three decades and to marginalize the hard work that went into getting that done just because you didn’t do it yourself is … oh dear God, y’all, they came on stage ringing cowbells.  Not in the ironic kind of way, but just to be loud.

Cowbells:  For people who want to be heard but have nothing to say.

I turned to my candidate, who spoke last, and said, “Just in case you were pondering giving me a cowbell, I need to let you know that I don’t do cattle calls.”  Luckily for me, he had brought no bells or whistles – just tough, passionate women to nominate him.

Anybody who was bored at this convention did not attend the right caucuses or the right parties.  We worked hard, we played hard, and the entire state party and State Democratic Executive Committee shifted like a California tectonic plate on helium.

More to come once I get unpacked.

I am going to have breakfast with a few friends this morning and then I’m heading home.  After unpacking and talking to Momma, I’ll tell you all about the convention.  You’re gonna be so proud of Bubba.

I discovered that I have a couple of readers from Texas.  If they want to tell their convention experiences, this is the place to do it.

Great convention, y’all.  We have the most progressive platform in fifty years.  You are gonna be happy.  I promise.

I am going to Charlotte, North Carolina, in September to nominate President Barack Obama for four more years.

I was also elected chair of the Disability Caucus, which makes me a voting member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, where I will spend the next two years canceling out Chairman Lloyd Criss’ vote. (That’s a local joke that Only people who know Lloyd and me will get, which is pretty much everybody at the convention.)

I’ll be back on the job on Sunday.

Lookie here.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) may approve a request to allow campaign contributions from voters’ text messages as soon as Friday, an adviser to the commission’s chairwoman said.

The donations would be limited to $10 to $50 a billing cycle. So, guess who this will benefit like a spring shower in the middle of a drought? Democrats. We’re young. We’re hip. We know how to send text messages.

Picture up the Tea Party folks text messaging. Hell, they can’t even spell. Maybe we could sabotage their spell check to change the spelling of S-a-r-a-h P-a-l-i-n to Obama. Since they can’t read, they’d hardly notice.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.

Bubba served on the Temporary Platform Committee meeting all day today but helped get marriage equality, repeal the death penalty, and decriminalization of marijuana in the platform.

The permanent platform committee will meet tomorrow so keep your fingers crossed that we elect some leaders to the platform committee and not folks who have lost every damn election in Texas for almost two decades because they were scared to stand for something – anything.  They think everybody’s favorite color is beige.

Blue, dammit.  My favorite color is blue.

We have a way out there TeaParty rightwing nut guy named Ted Cruz who is in a Republican run-off election for the United States senate with just a regular rightwing nut named David Dewhurst.

This is Texas, where Hispanics make up the fastest growing population in the state. So, Univision wants to sponsor a debate en Espanol.

Guess which candidate doesn’t speak Spanish?

Hint: It ain’t Dewhurst.

Guess which candidate touts his Hispanic background.

Hint: That also is not Dewhurst.

This is Texas where everybody with a triple digit IQ speaks Spanish. I hope Cruz takes some Spanish lessons. Then he can be nuts in two languages. That would be amusing.

Thanks to Anthony for the heads-up.