Too Extreme for Texas Republicans?

Less than a year. That’s how long Cathie Adams, former head of the far-right group Texas Eagle Forum, lasted as chair of the Texas Republican Party. At their state convention in Dallas on Saturday, Republicans replaced Adams with Houston attorney Steve Munisteri.

The State Republican Executive Committee elected Adams as party chair last October. At the time, we noted just how extreme Adams’ political positions are. She has questioned the personal faith of political opponents, such as former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and President Obama. She has suggested that the United Nations was bringing us to the biblical “end times.” She advocates positions that threaten religious freedom and mixes anti-science and peculiar anti-government paranoia on issues involving education, the environment and public health. Adams was also an unhinged anti-Clinton fanatic in the 1990s and is rabidly and venomously anti-gay.

Of course, we shouldn’t assume too much here about whether her replacement is any better. Much of Munisteri’s campaign for party chair focused on concerns such as party financial problems and other administrative issues involving Adams’ short term as chair. Adams’ divisive stands on “culture war” issues really weren’t at issue (at least not directly). Indeed, Republican convention delegates who elected Munisteri (who helped found Young Conservatives of Texas) appear to have also approved a party platform as far to the right as other state GOP manifestos in recent years. We’ll have more on that soon.

5 thoughts on “Too Extreme for Texas Republicans?

  1. C’mon folks. You know why she lost it. She lost it because she is a woman and because it is not proper for a woman in a holy enterprise (like the Texas GOP) to teach or lead men. This is because her “kind” of human being and the bad judgement naturally associated with that particular sex brought death and pain upon all mankind. Yep, the best policy is to stick it to her and stick it to her good whenever an opportunity for payback presents itself to the male “kind.” Ain’t it great to be a victim of your own philosophy?

  2. I apologize TFN. I was trying to post quickly so I could get my son to his swimming lesson tonight. In my haste, I clicked the “Submit Comment” button without realizing I had not filled in my name, e-mail, etc. Sorry.

    I will not do the post again. It just occurred to me that being a woman might have worked against Cathie Adams big-time, considering the crowd she runs with. If she had been Cathington Adams, I bet we would not be having this conversation. Betcha!!!

  3. The moderates at the convention were uniformly for Munisteri, who donated to pro-choice Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, which was the basis of an attack flyer placed in every chair at the convention. Her victory came in large measure from newcomers, many from the Tea Party movement, who are not particularly driven by social issues. Cathie Adams tried to argue that Munisteri would dilute the party platform on these social issues, and the delegates did not care.

  4. I agree with Mainstream. The Tea Party is not panning out for the far right Republican fruitcakes the way they had supposed it would. Their candidates have been losing (e.g., Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked boy who lost in Kentucky) just as often as winning. I recall with some humor how these GOP Christmas desserts descended on the Nashville Tea Party Convention, like buzzards on a dead deer, with the arrogant certainty that they could turn the Tea Party into a tw0-bit whore for the Republican Party. You know. The old, “We are one of you. Just give us your votes, and we will make your dreams come true (fingers crossed behind their backs).”

    This is one thing I like about the Tea Party Movement. I may not agree with them on everything, but they cannot be bought by crooked politicians. They stand by what they believe and they do it with dogged integrity. How refreshing is that!!!!!!!

  5. The GOP in general, and even Fox News, did everything they could to stir up the unhinged and fringed element out there, then started creeping to the middle as of the beginning of the year. They’re hoping they can latch on to a few of those “independents” in the middle, and still keep their radical fringe excited.