The Boogey Man's Going to Get You Too.

If nothing else you have to give Tom Craddick credit for his ability to spin.

Headline in today’s Midland Reporter-Telegram is “Craddick says trial lawyers want new speaker to remove malpractice caps.”

http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18954138&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=475626&rfi=6

While that may be true, it is certainly not the reason that his leadership is being challenged. But trial lawyers are the right wing boogey man, so if you can paint any issue with their taint then you can get the wingnut base to rally around. The headline could just as easily read:

“Educators Want New Speaker to Ensure Adequate Funding for Public Education.”
“Child Advocates Want New Speaker to Protect Children’s Health Benefits.”
“Open Government Advocates Want New Speaker to Access Public Records.”


But those don’t have the same cache as “trial lawyers.”

This headline is the same as Bush saying we invaded Iraq in order to bring them freedom and democracy. Sure those things are on the list of things that could be accomplished, but he sold the war on WMDs. The real reasons were ousting Saddam and oil. Freedom and democracy were afterthoughts.

Just as tort reform is at best an afterthought to those seeking to oust Craddick. Sure maybe Dunnam and some of his cohorts would like to change the tort reform laws that have been passed, but they don’t have the ability to oust the Speaker. No, the Speaker is getting ousted by members of his own party who have little or no affection for the trials. It is being done because of his autocratic leadership style and his disdain for the will of the House.

But if Rove & Co. have taught us nothing else, we now know that if you say something long enough and loud enough some people will start to believe it and repeat it over and over on the radio until lots of people believe it. Cynics call it “drinking the kool-aid.”

If you believe Keffer, Pitts, McCall etc. want to overthrow Craddick because of tort reform and the trial lawyers, the Curmudgeon has got a bridge for sale.