A Choice That Would Embarrass Hobson

As if you couldn't tell, it's election time. My mailbox certainly can as the above photo shows. And these are just the ones I saved. The TV ads have begun and the typical lies and curious claims are filling the airwaves. But none is as as curious as this one.

That is State Senator Angela Paxton in what in a better world would be a plea to vote for her husband Ken for US Senate. But he is never mentioned as it would violate FCC guidelines if she said what she really thinks. The phrase "Lying SOB" would no doubt feature prominently.

No, she took one for the team urging voters to send the entire GOP side of the ballot into office, no matter what you think of any of them, especially the guy she is divorcing. And frankly, it's that kind of weird election year.

Angela's soon-to-be ex is facing a guy who looks like your lab partner in a high school biology class, State Senator James Talerico. As he grows older, James will someday be glad for his youthful looks, but right now he looks like one of the annoying frat guys from Animal House. Of course, Ken looks like that car salesman who sold you a flood damaged Dodge years ago.

But, let's be honest here, Democrats. If Senator John Cornyn had been re-nominated on the Republican side, you would be mired around 30% in the polls. Paxton is charmingly described as a "Flawed" candidate, which is like saying the Titanic is a little behind schedule.

Ken began the campaign out of the country. As America celebrated it's 250th birthday, he was with his reputed mistress touring the country we broke away from. And since then, his campaign has been bedeviled by leaks of private conversations. Or sometimes, not so private. From Huffington Post...

“Of course the economy is horrible,” Paxton advisor Michele Smith ranted on social media, in response to a post about a leaked audio of Paxton lamenting high gas costs.

In another post, Smith said it’s obvious “the economy is hurting everybody right now.”

All of this right before president Trump arrived in Dallas to tell a heckling crowd...

“In terms of $21 trillion being invested, factories being built all over the country, ships being built, everything is being built. There’s never been anything like it.”

By the way, there is no $21 trillion invested right now, and as for factories?

According to federal figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and analysis reported by outlets like Yahoo News / PolitiFact and Rethink Trade, overall U.S. construction spending on manufacturing peaked earlier (around mid-to-late 2024, driven heavily by prior legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act) and has trended downward or flattened since Trump took office in 2025.

The leaks continued from the Paxton camp including this gem. Again, from Huffington Post...

“There’s no doubt we have to cut some of the mandatory spending,” Paxton said in the recording.

In response to a question about reducing the federal deficit, Paxton said: “Making some reasonable cuts to mandatory spending — you’re gonna have to do it. Or there is no solution. That’s just the reality. We have to suck it up.”

Programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up nearly three-quarters of mandatory federal spending, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Paxton did not specify in the clip which programs he would seek to cut or by how much.

For the record, Social Security and Medicare have their own separate funding mechanism as you see on your paychecks. They don't contribute to the deficit.

Add Ken's philandering, business lawsuits, and impeachment over contributor favoritism, and he has quite a hill to climb.

But, Paxton's camp is now spending big to combat the Talerico surge, making a lot of hay over his arcane and foot-shooting statements about religion. His TV ads, which feature in small print the caveat that Talerico's voice is AI-generated, talk about his comments such as...

“I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.”

 “God is nonbinary” 

“Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” 

Now, all of these have logical, if labyrinthine explanations involving ancient Hebrew references to God as both male and female, the various combinations of X and Y chromosomes and so forth. And absolutely none of those will fit into a 30 second ad. The hates Christianity comment came on something called the “Activist Theology” podcast and referenced dislike for the direction evangelical faith has taken.

But politics doesn't lend itself to nuance, and frankly, no one is going to think back to their ancient Hebrew class and say, "Oh, yeah, that's right." He said it and when taken out of his Byzantine context, it will hurt. Voters aren't going to do a lot of research and will take it all at face value.

Talerico also has an additional burden to bear as he proclaims he is not in the pocket of a bunch of billionaires. He is funded by at least one of them it turns out. Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and, oh, by the way, a former buddy of Jeffrey Epstein, is a big contributor

Not a good look for a Presbyterian choirboy.

And as long as voters aren't doing their homework, , Governor Greg Abbott would love to eliminate your property taxes. All of them. His very own Sgt. Schultz, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick agrees. The only problem is, that's how we pay for public education.

But Governor Ironside has a solution for that as well. Vouchers. Never mind that the majority have gone to people whose kids are already in private school, or that they take money away from public schools. Never mind that Texas schools are mired near the bottom in national rankings when they used to be near the top.

Never mind that overall teacher pay in Texas ranks 33rd in the United States, sitting roughly $10,700 below the national average. And never mind that he doesn't have a real answer for where the money will come from for schools if you take away local property taxes.

Texas education has handled challenges before. My generation of baby boomers had public schools bursting at the seams. This is a photo of my 1967 graduating class of my high school in the small town of Pasadena...

But Abbott has accused his Democratic rival, State Representative Gina Hinojosa of voting 40 times to raise property taxes. Pretty damning stuff until you realize the legislature doesn't set property taxes, local governments do. So, no, she didn't.

She does want to reduce property taxes by eliminating corporate subsidies and government contracts. How much good would that do? Probably not much, but it sounds plausible if you don't look too closely. Similar to phrases like "waste, fraud and abuse" it rolls off the tongue and goes down smoothly but with the bitter aftertaste of uselessness.

So, is Texas fed up enough with gas prices, broken promises and corruption to turn blue? My guess is, no. Despite all I have said here, the knee-jerk move toward the red column lever on the voting machine will prove too hard to overcome.

That may not be the case elsewhere, and Democrats may have a real chance to control one or both houses of Congress.

But in my beloved Texas, their campaign victory parties will be like Angela Paxton's next anniversary. Dinner for one.