MEDIA UNFILTERED

The favored few in many industries had more control than they ever should have and now we get to see and hear and experience what we were missing by having to run everything by small groups of the elite.

Now if a individual of group believes they have enough music talent to produce viable commercial music, the blessed few can still turn them down, but what use to be a roadblock can now be treated as a detour. People are producing their own records and the popularity of the internet has bypassed all of the self proclaimed music geniuses and given artists the ability to go straight to to the listening public. What a great time to be alive if you are in the music industry!

The same can be said about writing. The days of mailing rough drafts to different publishers and waiting in hopes of a positive word coming back some day is no longer the beginning and end to every writing career. Thanks to advances in technology an individual can write and go to print without any help from the big time publishers. What  a great time to be alive and be a writer!

The same is true in politics. The days of one sided reporting by the media making it impossible for a candidate to be beat are over. The arrival of the internet and blogs that not only include commentary by non-celebrities has changed things. Some blogs even invite opinions and information from the entire public and that in itself has revolutionized politics.

The well connected that could control the media in the old political world may promote the idea that blogs have given birth to “dirty politics”, but any student of history knows politcs is no rougher now that it was back in the day. If one is familiar with the tactics Thomas Jefferson used to defeat his old friend John Adams in their second contest for the highest office in the land, there is not likely to be a complaint that politics is more cut throat now than ever. And John Adams’son, John Quincy set the bar as low as anything done today in politics the way he won in his first contest against Andrew Jackson.

No the internet has not ruined politics, it has just made it more democratic. Now when a well connected candidate or powerful officeholder chooses to point out the spec in their opponent’s eye, the impossibility of hearing about the log in their own eye has changed to an expectation of a public airing of their log. That is why we think it is a great time to be alive and be a voter! Voters that have grown weary of the chosen few winning elective office regardless of their behavior and their past can celebrate. Those who like to cast their vote without knowing anything can simply tune out. And those who are self righteous about the whole thing can face the fact that running for office is like a job interview. And they are not the only one interviewing…

STREUSAND CONTINUES TO INSULT VOTERS IN CD 36

In a shocking introduction to at least 8 out of the 9 counties in congressional district 36, Be n Streusand, the candidate who placed a distant second in the primary, has repeatedly insulted the entire district.  All we can assume is Streusand is using attention getting techniques he has learned in his time on the radio to get name recognition, since he has refused to change his inflammatory rhetoric toward the voters. 

The “technique” that gained him 16% of the votes in the 2014 Republican primary is to insult the voters that live in the district and possibly appeal to Democrats who have flocked to vote in the Republican primary in rural counties and perhaps to use a different method in Harris County. The candidate who had twice as many votes as Streusand in the district clobbered him by even more in 8 out of 9 counties. Since his opponent is so popular in these counties, it is thought Streusand is trying to appeal to all of the democrats who are voting in the Republican primary so they can have a say in contested races. Streusand seems to assume they will try and defeat the largest vote getter of the Republican primary so the democrat will have more of a chance in the general election.

What has Streusand said in rural counties that is so insulting it has gained a great deal of attention by those who normally pay little attention to election time rhetoric? In at least thirty different events where Streusand has spoken in a rural county he has explained to voters that the reason he is running is “there is no one in this district that is capable of doing what needs to be done”. 

Of course, that comment is an insult to everyone who will be voting in the district, but it did not stop 2 out of his 11 opponents in the primary from endorsing him. 8 of the other 9 have endorsed Briabn Babin and one has not endorsed. The two who have endorsed the man that has told us all that no one was capable in the district of doing the job evidently have made Streusand’s extensive payroll or they regretted thinking they were good enough to run for congress. 

Another version of Streusand’s insult to the district voters is that “No one living in this district has the intestinal fortitude to do what it will take in Washington”. No one here knows for sure whether Streusand used this technique when he ran in his own district and voters rejected him despite him spending millions of dollars in a losing effort. It is believed he has a different less insulting message for voters in Harris County and that they will never hear what he has said over and over again in the rural counties. Though we disagree with his strategy if he thinks the tremendous increase in democrats voting in rural county primaries will yield an effort to defeat who they think is the most difficult candidate for Democrats to beat (Brian Babin, the overwhelming winner in the primary), it is an unusual tactic. 

When a top Streusand staffer was confronted about the insults, he eventually responded that he has tried for weeks to get his candidate to drop that kind of language. “He just won’t listen”. That description of Streusand from his own team makes me think he may not listen to us voters either.

I guess it is live by the sword die by the sword. Streusand has never held elective office and touts his experience in debating a radio audience as his example of unyielding courage that is needed in Washington. The difference may be the voters do not go away when the next caller calls in and a congressman does not have an “on” and “off” switch. In fact, this kind of shocking statement may be good for radio ratings but we seriously doubt the people in the Harris County portion of this district are as impressed with Ben Streusand as Streusand says they are.

Or perhaps the fact that his opponent in this primary enetered at the last moment and Streusand did not change planned speeches after a more experienced candidate joined the race.

Check out the following youtube videos and listen to a resident of CD 36. And next time you see ben Streusand tell him he is wrong about where we live. the people in CD 36 are hard working Texans and we have more than enough good candidates than to have to import a slick talking mortgage banker from that brags that he has always lived in the big city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxnxAaQmu1I

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knHhGrN33E4

At least Hillary moved to New York BEFORE she ran for Congress and she had not lost elsewhere like Streusand did in CD 10. CD 36 is a district full of strong Texans. we do not need to import candidates. As the primary results indicated, Streusand is not the strongest candidate in this field any more than he was in CD 10 when he ran there 2 years ago.

Honky Tonk Candidate Challenges Liberty County Judge

If you are not from Dayton and are unfamiliar with the people running for the 2014 Liberty County Judge election, there is a man who spends his weekends in honky tonks singing by the name of Jay Knight who is running against airplane pilot and incumbent Craig McNair who spends a few weekends a year visiting his daughter.  Both men are from Dayton.

Craig McNair and family have been a respected fixture in the Liberty County political scene for nearly a decade.  Craig's sister Karen McNair recently ran for Liberty County District Attorney and narrowly lost to Logan Pickett.  Karen McNair works for the Liberty County Attorney's office and is a very respected part of that office and the future in Liberty County.

Because Knight has raised certain questions, voters need to ask themselves a few questions:

1. Should Liberty County listen to Jay Knight and his little buddies as they constantly complain and spread rumors that Craig McNair and his wife Lisa are spending some of his weekends and free time with his daughter?

2. When Jay Knight admits he has for years spent his weekends and days off in honky tonks playing the fiddle, does he and his buds really want the voters to focus on how the two of them spend their free time? It is ridiculous. but it is the only rationale Knight can come up with to change County Judges. What else can he say, that he will raise taxes enough to pay for what each taxpayer wants from the county? No. People want a County Judge tohold taxes down and wait until the economy is better to add services.

3. Does Liberty County need a man that believes Honky Tonking on weekends is better than spending time with your family? Do we need someone who has such an unconventional background for an administrative job like county judge running the Liberty county in between visits to smoky bars and dives?

4. Or, would the people of Liberty County rather have a proven leader who has helped guide Liberty County through troubled times?

Its up to you as voters... do you want an ominous unknown future or one that has been proven?

Welcome!

The Liberty Courier welcomes new readers and looks forward to posting stories which shed light on local, state and national races and related information.  We feel the voters of Liberty County should have all the facts about candidates who wish to represent them- the good, the bad and the ugly.

Should you as a reader have any questions or comments please feel free to let us know.

Thanks,

Editor, Richard Pegues