Okay, this may turn out to be my favorite story all year.
Remember when Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick said it would be some kind of damn honor for old people to up and die of the virus if it meant saving the economy? And remember how Dan and Gov Greg Abbott decided to reopen Texas and now we’re the nation’s hot spot and all our ICUs are full so if you’re in a car wreck, take an aspirin and call the doctor in the morning. Remember that?
And remember how Dan and Greg are saying we should open the schools for little children next month because, well damn, they don’t take up much space in the ICUs. You could pack two or three of them in one room.
And remember how you didn’t hear a peep from them about the Texas Republican Party holding an in-person meeting in Houston next week because they didn’t want to piss off their base?
Well, sit back and grin, my friend.
The Republican Party of Texas is moving forward with its controversial in-person convention during the coronavirus pandemic — but elected officials including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will be giving their scheduled speeches virtually.
“All the elected officials are switching from a live, in-person speech to videos,” Kyle Whatley, the party’s executive director, said during a town hall livestreamed Tuesday night.
As our friend Anna the Geek told me at 11:00 last night when this news broke, “I keep thinking of the line ‘Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make’ from Shrek.”
So, the Republican Party of Texas came up with some story that is taller than it is wide about how Dan and Greg are doing as a sacrifice to help the convention go faster and get party business done. They said this will help to “get everybody in and out of there as safely as possible.” They decided absolutely not to come up with a story about how this would help that.
Congratulating themselves on weaseling out of this death watch.
Thanks to Anna the Geek for being the first to let me know!
UPDATE:
Whole New UPDATE:
The Texas Republican Party on Tuesday rejected Mayor Sylvester Turner’s formal request to call off its in-person convention, putting the GOP on track to hold Houston’s largest indoor event since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
James Dickey, chairman of the Texas GOP, in a statement said the party has been “proactive in implementing safety measures” and had “extensive conversations” with Houston First, the public nonprofit that serves as the city’s convention arm and operates the George R. Brown Convention Center. The convention is set to take place there from July 16 to 18.
“With these precautions currently in place, the Republican Party of Texas intends to proceed with an in-person convention next week in Houston,” Dickey said.
The ball is in your court, Mr. Mayor.
And it’s settled.
And they can’t whine because not even their elected officials were willing to attend. Well, they can whine and most assuredly will whine. The best response is to call them losers.