Ted Cruz

Texas Politicians Use Gosnell Verdict to Remind You How Much They Want to Outlaw Abortion

If there's one thing everyone in America can agree on this morning, it's that Kermit Gosnell is disgusting and belongs in an especially dank and fetid section of some sort of subterranean prison. In a case that millions of talking heads have been shouting at you about from your TV, the Philadelphia ... More >>

Wait, Why in the Hell Did Facebook Donate Thousands of Dollars to Ted Cruz?

It's pretty frequent these days to experience Impotent Facebook Rage (IFR), in which the social media giant does something so profoundly irritating or angry-making that you immediately vow to get off the site altogether. And yet, you don't cancel your account cold turkey (or at least I don't), proba ... More >>

Steve Stockman, L.A. Filmmaker, Can't Stop Getting Mistaken For Steve Stockman, Crazy Congressman

The first tweet hurt Steve Stockman's feelings a little. It read, in full: "YOU ARE A STUPID FAT FUCK." "I haven't actually put on any weight lately," Stockman writes in an email. "And though I'm not thin, I think 'fat' would be an overstatement." The next few tweets, all similarly furious, were ... More >>

Barry Smitherman Retweets Image of Noose, Accompanied by Names of Senators Who Voted To Consider Gun Safety Proposals

RT @psychscriv: Make sure none of these people have seats in 2014. twitter.com/PsychScriv/sta...We are in trouble when these Rs side w/ Sen Reid— Barry Smitherman (@SmithermanTX) April 11, 2013 The U.S. Senate voted only to consider gun safety legislation Thursday, which includes expanded ba ... More >>

Senator Ted Cruz Wants Everyone to Shut Up About Guns. Senate Tells Him to Stick It.

What does it mean that Republicans and independents joined Democrats yesterday to shut down Texas Senator Ted Cruz's anti-gun reform filibuster? It means Cruz lost a lot more than his filibuster. At a certain point -- Cruz's point -- the gun reform debate ceases to be about guns and becomes instea ... More >>

Aggie Jokes: A&M Student Senate Looks Ready to Pass a Bigoted Anti-Gay Bill

Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. Awwww, man. Why Texas? Why must you always be the turd in the punch bowl of progress? Buzz is talking -- this time -- about Tex ... More >>

Obama Birthers Turn Their Attention to ... Texas Senator Ted Cruz?

Ted Cruz has barreled into Washington with the force of a crazy, toupee-haired meteorite smashing through the Capitol dome. But for all his rhetoric about Obama and communists and how they are pretty much the same thing, Cruz has distinguished himself from fellow wingnuts by keeping relatively silen ... More >>

As Supreme Court Debates Gay Marriage, Texas Politicians Explain How it Violates God's Law

The attention of the country, or at least that segment of it that's politically aware enough to pay attention, is focused squarely on the U.S. Supreme Court,which this week is debating a pair of potentially momentous cases. Hollingsworth v. Perry, which was argued today, could do away with Californi ... More >>

Ted Cruz Takes It As A Compliment When You Call Him a Crazy Wacko Bird

They called him crazy. And "crazy-pants," and "unhinged," and, at times, a "gay-hating conspiracy theorist." But when you call freshman Tea Party-darling Senator Ted Cruz any of those names, just understand that whilst you are merely boring, petty glue, he is rubber. Proudly crazy rubber. At a sp ... More >>

The 10 Weirdest Members of Congress

Ted Cruz Stands By His Claim That Harvard Law Was Crawling With Pinkos

It's an impressive feat to show up in The New Yorker as a freshman Congressman, and kudos to Senator Ted Cruz for pulling it off. Cruz has been facing widespread criticism for, among other things, his aggressive questioning of Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for Defense Secretary. Jane Mayer ... More >>

Here's Why Neither Texas Senator Voted for the Violence Against Women Act

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It now heads to the House for what will likely be an ugly battle over its renewal; President Obama used part of his State of the Union address last night to urge the House representatives to pass it. Th ... More >>

A Majority of Texans Favor an Assault Weapons Ban, But Their Politicians Don't

Texas, the Second Amendment bastion of sport shooters, concealed carriers and Stand-Your-Grounders, also favors a ban on assault weapons by a surprising margin -- 49 percent to 41 percent, according to Public Policy Polling. Texans oppose arming school teachers (56 percent to 31 percent), but also ... More >>

Texas Conservatives Observe 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade With Ridiculous Press Releases

Today is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark court case that originated in Texas with Norma McCorvey and ultimately led to the Supreme Court sweeping away a number of state and federal abortion restrictions. Because of Roe, terminating a pregnancy in the first trimester is between a wo ... More >>

Parkland's Future CEO Can't Heal Hospital Without Support Missing from Austin and D.C.

Warren Fagadau, a Dallas ophthalmologist who has been involved in health insurance reform efforts in Texas, has a piece on the op-ed page of The Dallas Morning News today about the qualities our public hospital in Dallas should look for in its ongoing search for a new chief executive officer. His vi ... More >>

Cathie Adams, Dallasite and Former Chair of the Texas Republican Party, Says "Obama Fried His Brain on Drugs"

Cathie Adams served for less than a year as chair of the Texas Republican Party before being unseated in 2010, but she's long been a fixture on Texas' right wing, particularly as a leader of the virulently anti-abortion Texas Eagle Forum. It was in that role that Adams spoke alongside now-Senator T ... More >>

As the National GOP Leaps into the 20th Century, Ted Cruz and His Texas Pals Cling to the 19th

Last Thursday, New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks said Republicans, smarting from Mitt Romney's defeat, have learned their lesson and are undergoing what Brooks described as a "glasnost," a term defined by Merriam-Webster as, "a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political a ... More >>

Five Texas Takeaways from Election Night

Now that our election night hangovers have been slept off, we can now cut through the chatter and attempt to forecast what last night's election results mean to you, Dear Reader. Dallas County is really, really blue Republicans had a strong showing in local legislative races, easily fending off cha ... More >>

The Future of Texas' Public Schools. (Spoiler Alert: With Dan Patrick, That Future is Bleak.)

Houston Republican Dan Patrick -- a conservative radio shock jock and founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the Texas Senate -- is vowing to lead the charge in the next session of the Texas Legislature for a school voucher system that would give away tax money to private and religious schools. That's ... More >>

George P. Bush's "Future in Texas is Unlimited." And George W.? He's Taken Up Painting.

The latest New York magazine goes all-in on the Bush family, assessing the political hopes of Jeb before finally deciding that it's actually George P., Jeb's half-Mexican son and a rising star in Texas politics, who has the highest political ceiling. "George P.'s future in Texas in unlimited," says ... More >>

John Jay Myers, Texas' Libertarian Senate Hopeful, Barred from KERA's Debate

Last night's Senate debate between Ted Cruz and Paul Sadler got surprisingly heated, with the two men snapping at each other about illegal immigration, healthcare, where Barack Obama was born and whether Ted Cruz is, in fact, a troll. Meanwhile, John Jay Myers, the Libertarian Senate candidate who ... More >>

Libertarian Senate Candidate John Jay Myers Files A Complaint With the FCC, Will Still Not Be Debating Tomorrow Night

A few weeks back we told you about John Jay Myers, the Free Man-owning, big government-distrusting Libertarian candidate for Senate, who believes he's being unfairly excluded from a Belo debate that will feature his two major-party competitors. After a small protest in front of WFAA's Young Street h ... More >>

WFAA Probably Won't Let Libertarian John Jay Myers Into Senate Debate, So He's Protesting Its Downtown Headquarters

John Jay Myers owns the Free Man, a Cajun joint in Deep Ellum. He also runs a wholesale embroidery business, has a "deep, deep mistrust of the government," would like to legalize medical marijuana, and thinks we should bring all the U.S. troops home. And he believes Texans are being denied a chance ... More >>

A Plea to Republicans: Please Stop Wearing Those Ugly Texas Flag Shirts in Public

Texas' delegation at the Republican National Convention seems to have mostly behaved itself in Tampa this week. Soon-to-be Senator Ted Cruz lobbed overblown rhetoric at the Obama administration, and Rick Perry said he'd "absolutely" consider running again, but that's standard fare. At least no one t ... More >>

Ted Cruz Gets His Honeymoon -- But Only in the Straight, Godly Meaning of the Word

Basic rule of American democracy: Anybody who wins an election gets 10 seconds of credibility. Let's hope in the case of Ted Cruz, lionized today in The New York Times as "A Republican Voice With Tea Party Mantle and Intellectual Heft," we can make it to the second 10 seconds without throwing up. ... More >>

Election Proves Ted Cruz is a Talented Politician, But a Harbinger of Tea Party Dominance? Not So Much.

We knew it already, but Ted Cruz is Texas' next U.S. Senator. Sure, he still has to face Democrat Paul Sadler in the November general election, but this is Texas, where so long as you promise to cut taxes and put a big 'R' somewhere near your name, you're good. The victory, unthinkable a few months ... More >>

Looks Like the Tea Party's Gonna Elect Cruz Fair and Square. So, Let's Change the Game.

Texas will elect it's next senator today. Odds are, you won't vote for him. In fact, a good number of you, even if you're registered to vote, can't vote in the truly decisive race going down Tuesday, because you were dumb enough to vote in the Democratic primary in May. Suckers. So, let's all clap ... More >>

FreedomWorks Will Bring Thousands of Tea Partyers to Dallas Next Week

You might remember FreedomWorks. In 2010, the nonprofit, established and funded by billionaire David Koch, helped shape a sprawling Tea Party movement into the force that swept a large number of very conservative Republicans into Congress. Call it grass roots, call it astro turf. For a hint, if on ... More >>

Dewhurst Challenges Cruz to Spanish Debate. Como Se Dice "Go Back to Mexico"?

Republican candidates in Texas are historically bad at courting Hispanic voters, so it's no wonder senate candidate Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst welcomes a novel approach: a debate in Spanish with his run-off challenger, the Tea Party sweetheart Ted Cruz. We hope this happens. We hope it hap ... More >>

The Modern Texas GOP, a Viper's Nest of Mao-Lovin' Commie Bastards

On the one hand, our former mayor and Republican primary candidate for the U.S. Senate, Tom Leppert, wasn't afraid to break GOP ranks and tell us that his fellow Republican opponent Ted Cruz is a known communist sympathizer. Amazing. On the other hand, now we also know that Leppert himself is a fel ... More >>

If Sarah Palin Hasn't Called You About Ted Cruz Yet, Try Not To Take It Personally

Ever since Ted Cruz announced that Sarah Palin is endorsing him in his bid for Senate, we've been clustered around the office phone (we only have one), waiting patiently to hear a robo-call from ex-Alaska Governor Palin. It never came. That's because, as it turns out, Palin's calls may have been acc ... More >>

Republican Senate Candidates Are Politically Identical

Still deciding who to favor among the Republican candidates vying for nomination to the U.S. Senate? Might as well play eenie, meenie, miney, mo, or choose based on favorite color or music preference, because politically, they're practically the same. Tom Leppert, Senate candidate and former Dallas ... More >>

Tom Leppert and Jesus Christ -- Why, Why, It's Like Looking at Twins!

Via.C'mon, Tom, show us the part where you walk on water.​Oh, oh, oh -- now I get it. All this time former Mayor Tom Leppert sure seemed to be just a stinking hypocrite, a back-stabbing, forked-tongue phony who turned all anti-gay and old-time religious-y after leaving office and deciding to r ... More >>

2002 Dallas Observer Music Awards

These are your choices, not ours, for the best musicians in town

Pazz and Jop

With Unincorporated, the Earl Harvin Trio is no longer a jazz band. It's whatever it wants to be.