Bryan Burrough was in town earlier this week to sell a few copies of his must-read tome The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes. Been looking forward to the book ever since September, matter of fact, when Vanity Fair excerpted a chapter that made mention of H.L. Hunt strolling through downtown Dallas in 1948. You can read another excerpt on Tina Brown's Daily Beast, where Burrough has also posted a piece titled "The Death of Texas Power," in which he insists that "the power of Texas oilmen and politicians has sunk to prewar levels," with prewar referring to, ya know, World War II. He writes:
George W. is gone, as is his father, as is Tom Delay, Dick Armey, Phil Gramm and a dozen other Texas troublemakers. Now, with Bush out of office, all that's left of Texas political power is a sullen Boone Pickens and fifty-odd Congressmen no one's ever heard of. Here's how bad it's gotten. The most visible Texas politician in America right now is Ron Paul. Ron. Frickin. Paul. Jesus.Poor Kay Bailey.