Well, it’s an election year. Just like any other Texas election, the Republican candidates jostle among themselves to prove which of them is the meanest sumbitch. They pull no punches; in most districts, the winner of the Republican primary will be the de facto winner of the general election.

The race that caught my eye is for U.S. Representative for District 3. This is the district in which I reside and in which I must suffer to see the Republican yard signs in about 1 out of every 3 houses I pass. All of my adjacent neighbors, people I consider kind and often make small talk with, have signs in their yard that say SELF for United States Congress.

Self is challenging incumbent Republican Van Taylor, one of the two Texas Republican representatives that had the cojones to vote for the January 6 commission. This vote, along with the vote to certify the presidential election results (Note: Trump won Texas) has earned him a few primary challengers.

I haven’t seen any poll numbers, but I can tell you that the Republicans of Collin County have SELF yard signs. All of them. I’ve seen 50 or so signs for this guy and not one sign for Van Taylor or any of the other candidates that have declared. He is likely to win the primary based on this anecdotal evidence.

In a ploy to out-sumbitch the rest of the candidates, Self has decided to raise a fuss about a major donor to the Collin County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner. In this annual fundraiser, a dinner is catered and B list Republicans are often paid to headline the event. The 2022 Guest of Honor and headliner is Glenn Beck.

Keith Self wrote the following letter, in which he excoriates the Collin County Republican Party for taking money from a law firm that *checks notes* serves LGBTQ clients. The letter is so poorly written that it is difficult to follow. He is declaring his opposition to marriage equality, and somehow gets a couple of digs at his opponent and shows off his pro-life bonafides, all in one rambling letter. I’ve shared some below, with my comments in bold:

. . . I was disappointed to learn that one of the largest donors to the Collin County Lincoln Day Dinner is a law firm that seems to advocate, almost exclusively, on behalf of homosexual couples. It is not my intent to cast aspersions [That is literally the point of the letter] but I could not sit idly by without saying something. I also feel compelled to remind those in authority that our GOP platform recognizes marriage to be between one man and one woman.

Our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior has guided Tracy and me throughout our lives. We had the opportunity to have children at one time, but we could not adhere to the rigid rules that the doctor imposed that could have required abortion. [Isn’t this kind of over-sharing? And completely irrelevant?] I share this with you because we deem every life precious, even the lives of those who do not share our values. [We value those who do not share our values, but don’t dare take money from people who are friendly to them?]

What we don’t view as precious are the agendas of those who use positions of power to advance agendas contrary to God’s word. God’s word is clear on homosexuality, but just as clear that Christ came to save.”

The law firm in question is called O’Neil Wysocki. Michelle O’Neil responded as such:

“I am stunned and ashamed for Keith Self and for those who support him in his hateful, bigoted, sanctimonious campaign. 30 years ago I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of this country. I have advocated for thousands of people from all walks of life who needed and deserved a voice in our justice system. I have advocated for those in the LGBTQ+ community to have justice in our legal system for literally longer than I have been a lawyer. I am proud that I have done so. I do not support HATE SPEECH or hateful thought or unconstitutional injustice to any citizen being cloaked in the name of the Christian faith OR a political party.”

Her response is nice, but why on earth are they donating to the Collin County GOP? I guess that’s a question for another day. If I was trying to raise funds for the Democratic party, now would be the time to call O’Neil Wysocki.

Keith Self might be just another sumbitch trying his damndest to appeal to the most hateful and backward of his political base, but his is a serious campaign. The “loud crowd” in Collin County are clear that they want Van Taylor gone. Van Taylor, who is just as anti-gay as the rest of them, signed an amicus brief in the Obergefell Supreme Court case declaring that just because Texas has to allow same-sex partners to marry, they certainly do not have to treat them equally or offer benefits that opposite-sex marriages receive.

Self’s strategy here is to position himself to the right of all of the other candidates. His website opposes Taylor’s membership in the Problem Solver’s caucus that “tries to negotiate big-spending agreements between Democrats and Republicans.” (Why is there a dash between big and spending?)

He is going to send even more National Guard members to guard the border AND close the border to commercial traffic altogether. He will oppose burdensome regulations on private businesses. He will pass regulations that ban private companies from banning Donald Trump’s speech. He will mandate that there can be NO mask or vaccine mandates and make sure doctors are “encouraged” to prescribe meds for COVID that are popular on social media and right-wing blogs. I think this week’s COVID cure from the right-wingers is to drink your own urine. I wish I was making that up. That link is from Reuters, for Pete’s sake.

Last but not least, Keith Self will demand an audit of the 2020 Presidential election in Texas, where Trump won by 5 1/2 points.

This might be amusing if every gay child in Collin County wasn’t passing dozens of homes with his signs in the yard on the way to school each day. Each house with a sign in the yard is one more voter who “opposes” who these children are, how they were born. I hope I am wrong in my prediction that Self will win the Republican primary in March. The race to the bottom continues each election, with no end in sight.