South Texas will `member Hillary On Election Day
March 4th, 2008, 9:12 am · 6 Comments · posted by Joaquin
We’re declaring Election Day a torta-free zone in Chisme Country.
That’s not to be confused with Clinton Country as declared repeatedly in recent weeks by the Clintonistas of South Texas. Hill and Bill pack plenty of popularity in the Rio Grande Valley, and my gosh it has been like Little Rock of the 1980s around here lately with the whole Clinton clan coming a calling, even daughter Chelsea joining Mom and Dad with Valley visits leading up to today’s primary.
The former Arkansas first family continued their up close and personal South Texas tour on Monday with Big Bill visiting Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo, and who knows where else. Maybe he stopped in for barbecue in Robstown. Hey, nice touch for the former president to do his stump speech at Dean Porter Park while standing on the bed of a Ford pickup. Very Texan, very LBJ-ish, and I’m guessing Big Bill was wearing cowboy boots to clinch the Lone Star effect.
We’ve gone really upscale in our politics lately, no? I mean, usually if it’s early March and election time our political diet is relegated to chewing over the latest Gilberto Hinojosa comments on why he hates Carlos Cascos so much. But this year? Hey, one day you could be chowing down with Barack at Sombrero Festival where Obama enjoyed the above-mentioned sandwich variety we’re not mentioning today. And then a couple of days later, just down the block from Washington Park where a possible future prez was discovering the T-sandwich, there was a former prez channeling LBJ at Dean Porter by a resaca.
I think the take away from all of this political hub-bub is that if Hillary somehow beats the long odds and ultimately snatches the Dem’s presidential nomination from Barack, she owes us. Big time. If not for the undying love y carino of RGV and South Texas types, Hillary would have no shot at carrying Texas. A win in this state is a must for Hillary. Without it, she will likely have to hang up her pant suits on an `08 presidential bid. The good news for the Clintonistas is that Hill & Bill’s numbers in Ohio are on the uptick, and the numbers over the weekend in Texas look to be breaking in Billary’s favor.
Barack’s chilling with the locals at Sombrero Festival was cute and all, but a Houston Chronicle released over the weekend shows Hillary is still drawing about 67 percent support in South Texas. Man, raza, are y’all loyal or what? Monica-gate, lying to the country about it, getting impeached, y que? Bill was the greatest president, ever, dude! Hillary was the first lady, she’s smart, Bill will help her, she knows where the Valley is since she’s come down here to raise bukos of cash at $5 million mansions in north McAllen. You go Hill!
How important is that nearly 70 percent support in South Texas? The Chronicle polls shows Obama beating Clinton, the Hillary model, by around 60-40 in Houston and Dallas. Can you imagine the Clinton carnage if the RGV and So Tex weren’t so sweet on Bill y Hill? We won’t get into all of that boring stuff about how even if Hillary gets more primary votes than Barack in Texas he might still get more delegates than her because this state also does the caucus thing, and Obama is better organized for those meetings. Whatever.
 All I know is that if Hillary pulls this thing off, and has Bill in the corner office helping her run the country, we better get rewarded. Words are nice, Hill, but we’re in the solutions business, baby. Pick up that red phone. I’m talking a veteran’s hospital. Make it happen, Hillary, put those 35 years of experience to work, girl. I’m talking tearing down the border fence, if it’s up. We’ll call you at 3 a.m., if you want President Hillary, with this message: Tear down this wall, Mr. Chertoff! And the whole NAFTA-bashing thing. Lose it, forget it, start caring as much about us as the Rust Belt, labor union types the Dems always go ga-ga over. Feel our pain, too, Hill and Bill!
Enough of the emotions, guys, for today is the day we go out and vote to save the Clinton legacy just like we’re expected to, just like the polls say. And that funny story today about ex-Brownsville mayors, (Eddie, Nacho y Blanca), endorsing Obama? Oh yea, wow, that’s a game changer around here. And speaking of funny, hey George Lopez, the funnyman who is touting Obama, sorry bro, on election day we’re going to `member Hillary.
 Hillary is the dama that will beat Obama. It starts here, today, because after all, Latinos love name brands. We keep buying Kenmore washers at Sears and we keep voting for the Clintons. We got one more Clinton to go. Chelsea in 2020!
Joaquin Tijerina, Official Chisme Blogger Y Columnista
March 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am
“we better get rewarded” That is the telling sentence in your blog. Thats all you hear at the Obama or Hillary rally, what is in it for me. Its a long long way from the J.F. Kennedy speech in 1960 when he asked what Americans could do for the Country, not what the country could do for Americans. It seems to me that there is something screwed up with our culture when it all comes down to “we better get rewarded”. I think everyone with a fully functioning brain knows Obama can’t win in November, but Hillary can. And if she does win in November then I think she will reward us with all kinds of free programs, including some type of health care scheme.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:39 am
The part about being `rewarded’ was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but having said that, Republicans can dole out these rewards as well as Democrats. That’s why President George W was so nice and generous with Florida and Pennsylvania after his narrow election win in 2000. He knew he would need those two states to get re-elected in 2004, so he lavished attention on those swing states during his first. term.
Repubicans give out as much stuff as do Democrats, especially during the Bush years, and of course the biggest pork barreler of them all, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, is a Republican.
Let’s see, I think I have a functioning brain, and read stories that say early national polls show Obama beating McCain. I don’t think those early polls carry much weight at this point, but they do all show Obama running better against McCain than Clinton.
I would guess there are Americans out there with functioning brains who are being polled on a McCain-Obama matchup, and that’s what they’re coming up with thus far.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Dare I say it, but I think our country may have progressed past the age when a black man did not have a chance to win a national election. This primary season has convinced me that we are beyond that, as long as the candidate doesn’t spend all of his or her time griping about the past and how repressed black people still are in this country (check on that for Obama, he’s not a griper). Griping about our country’s shameful racial history by a black American brings up white guilt, and many white people get angry in reaction to being reminded about the horrible things their anglo ancestors did to the ancestors of today’s black population. The angry stop listening and are not going to vote for that person.
Obama is not in that vein. He’s the black candidate that our Baby Boomer-JFK loving mamas always have hoped for. He’s the black candidate that makes people feel like our country has finally, at long last, made real progress from the slavery of the founding fathers and the Jim Crowe South and the race riots of the 70s and 80s (and 90s). He gives people warm fuzzies and hope that really bad stuff can be overcome. Look at him, he’s living proof.
He’s also living proof of the great ephemeral American Dream. He is the embodiment of the classic ‘boot straps’ idea that if you are smart enough and work hard enough you can overcome what the statistics say you are doomed for. He was born half-black to a single white mom who was middle class, and at times poor, yet he went on to graduate at the top of his class from Harvard Law School with no one to thank but the grace of God and his own sheer will. He’s the opposite of W. in that regard. He has pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Americans love that stuff.
I’m not saying it’s in the bag, McCain presents a formidable challenge because of his independence from the far right of his party, which allows him to attract moderates from both parties, and his moderate stance on immigration, which might allow him to attract Latino voters a la Bush. But, I think a race between Obama and McCain would be extremely close (and exciting).
March 4th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Clinton, Obama, and McCain each voted for the Border Wall, and I doubt any rewards are coming to the Valley from the outcome of the 2008 Presidential Election. We have long been at the bottom of Washington’s and Austin’s list of priorities, and when our day comes, it will be more a consequence of burgeoning population and economic growth spurred by immigration and trade with Mexico. Nobody is going to return any favors, unless once again, it is in their best interest.
Every election, I become more and more disappointed with why people vote for who they do.
March 4th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Hi,
I just want you to know I enjoyed reading this Joaquin! I am the Detroit area now but I lived in Brownsville for 17 yrs. It was entertaining to read the descriptions of the candidates with a Valley slant! Take care.
March 4th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Okay, campers, it’s almost time to caucus. Don’t forget to make your voice heard tonight at your precinct caucus, because it’s like getting to vote twice. See you there and then!