Don T wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:53 pm
jason812 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:16 pm
Allen west violated military code/laws and an Iraqi in a war zone to protect his men. Abbott violated everyone's rights during his Covid reign as King of Texas.
I don't have an informed opinion about Allen West as a gubernatorial candidate. However, when asked for his reasons for running for governor in a radio interview I heard (I think this morning or yesterday), his reasons were all focused on matters of national policy, not state policy. His platform seems to be focused on issues which he could best address in Congress or in the Senate. It seems he may be running for a Texas statewide office when he should be running for a position in Washington, DC.
On the other hand, I consider Gov. Abbott to be one of the the best governors (if not the best) I've had since moving to Texas nearly 50 years ago. I am not a single issue voter; there are three issues which I consider most important when evaluating candidates: freedom of religion, the right to life, and the 2nd Amendment. I live in Dallas County (where Clay Jenkins serves as county judge), and Gov. Abbott certainly protected us from Clay Jenkins' despotic rule during COVID. Gov. Abbott's executive orders overruled Judge Jenkins' orders which unconstitutionally restricted churches, gun stores, and gun ranges (among others). So I am very grateful for Gov. Abbott. I don't know of anyone who has a better record on religious liberty or the 2nd Amendment than Abbott.
I realize that Gov. Abbott is subject to criticism for some of the decisions made during COVID. But I would not vote against Abbott on that account because of his strength on other issues (and DeSantis won't be in the primary here in Texas). At this point, I don't know of anyone who would be a better candidate than Abbott
This is a good description of where I'm at on this choice.... We'll learn more about West during the campaign. I look forward to that. Abbott isn't perfect, but, I think he's done a very solid job over the past term and a half. My only major heartburn about the state legislature is House Speaker, over the past few sessions.
K.Mooneyham wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:33 am
For the record, I have NOT stated I will vote for Allen West, nor do I dislike Governor Abbott, as I think he's done a reasonable job in trying times.
That said, I did a few deployments to an outlying country over in the desert with the USAF over the years. I was a lucky guy in that respect, and despite the heat, getting an ear infection from a sandstorm, food poisoning that required antibiotics, and spending long periods of time in some nasty heat fixing aircraft, at least no one was ever trying to kill me or my airmen. Mr. Cotton will perhaps have some terrible thoughts about me, but I do NOT consider what happens in a war zone where some large number of folks are insanely violent terrorists with a plethora of heavy weaponry at their disposal to be the same as criminals here in the USA, even extremely violent criminals. I'm not making light of any of what happened in the least, nor do I think that gang-bangers or other violent criminals are anything trivial. However, I've seen survivors who were severely injured by IED blasts, and that leaves a SERIOUS impression on a person. I can only imagine being the commander of troops who were killed and maimed by terrorist bombs, bombs that were also indiscriminately set so that if local Iraqi civilians were killed or maimed, well, that meant nothing to the terrorists as long as they caused American causalities. I may learn things about Allen West's time in politics here in the USA that would cause me to view him in a very dim light, but I put what happened in Iraq into a box because the things that happened in that place were not things that happen in a civilized country.
Thank you for this post.
