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Texas Democrats took off their masks, put on big smiles, and cracked open a beer as they headed out of town Monday. Is their flight an attempt to deny quorum on a vote over election reforms in Texas? Or is it a chance to party? You decide.
A picture taken of the escapees certainly does not depict a concerned bunch of legislators concerned for their constituents. They are apparently not concerned being mask-less on a flight. Social distancing? Heck no, where is the bar menu? It is a chartered flight after all. This little chartered flight has been planned for at least a month.
ON PLANE TO DC: Texas Democratic lawmakers are leaving state to break quorum to stop Republican voting bill. Veteran Capitol observers say this is unchartered territory. Photo from Democrat on the plane. https://t.co/YOuOMb0A2m pic.twitter.com/abWoARvFIC
— ScottGordonNBC5 (@ScottGordonNBC5) July 12, 2021
The hypocrisy. Get ready. You must give Democrats credit, they protest in style.
“Pictures show the Democrats smiling aboard a plane, holding up peace signs and without masks. Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rick Scott (R-FL), have been vying to end the federal mask mandate, which requires domestic travelers to wear a mask on commercial flights, regardless of vaccination status…According to a February report…the federal rule extends to ‘charter operations and at transportation hubs including FBOs,’ although ‘private conveyances for personal, non-commercial use are exempt from the rule, meaning passengers of private Part 91 operations are not required to comply.’”
Oh it gets better. Twitter asks the hard questions we all want to know of these legislators boarding their party plane…with booze.
Did they need an ID to buy that Miller lite? pic.twitter.com/K6IjfxFIFg
— Jeremy Grey (@jeremygrey11) July 12, 2021
You know, ID. That thing Texas Governor, Greg Abbott wants voters to have when they vote.
One must ask the hard question. Is this a serious attempt to “protest” and thwart a vote or an excuse to drink? Seeing the party bus photos, it is a legit question.
Speaking of voting. Texas Democrats are denying others, their Republican colleagues in the Texas legislature, the chance to vote. Isn’t that…voter suppression?
Because Democrats always change the vernacular to suit their Socialist agenda, let us remind ourselves of the Democrat word salad that happens when talking about elections. When we say, “election integrity” or “voter integrity”, Democrats say “voter suppression” or “Russian interference”. The latest addition to Democrat word salad is “The Big Lie” when discussing anything about conservatives’ doubt regarding the cluster of fun election 2020 was.
You will see Democrats completely flip out, lose their minds, froth at the mouth, and go running to CNN to tattle on Republicans for attempting such crazy things!
These brave and drunk Democrats received very sober and serious shout outs from their fellow Democrats. Kamala touted their “courage”. Yep, Kamala, it takes real courage to hop on a charter flight, order drinks and play Angry Birds for three hours.
Here’s a rich one.
Texas Democrats are risking arrest to protect the right to vote. We owe it to them — and to every American who has sacrificed to protect our democracy — to step up, pass the #ForThePeopleAct, and put an end to voter suppression. And we can’t let the filibuster stand in our way. https://t.co/eaOVSthy1L
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) July 13, 2021
Risking arrest? For what? Public drunkenness? Not wearing a mask? This is courage? This is stupid is what this is.
Speaking of stupid. Let us not forget the stupid move Democrats in Washington attempted with HR1—legalizing all the cheating they did in 2020.
The fact is, the election integrity bill before Texas’s special session legislature makes it easier to vote, harder to cheat.
Texas Democrats might want to think long and hard how long they plan to stay in D.C. Gov. Greg Abbott will get the vote done one way or another.
“Abbott suggested he’s willing to call special sessions ‘all the way up until election next year’ and offered harsh words for the Democrats…’As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,’ he told [local media]”
We have seen this before, and we will see it again. Democrats flipped out when Georgia passed their voter integrity reforms that – you guessed it – made it easier to vote and harder to cheat. We give a lot of credit to Texas Democrats though. Their flip out was a chartered, boozy flight to D.C. to rub elbows with other Democrats for their “courage”.
For other states proposing election integrity reforms, you have inspiration from Texas Democrats. Get a chartered party for your protest attempt!
Featured Image: Greg Abbott, by Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons Share Alike 2.0, cropped.
Amanda Green says: Actually, they can be arrested. This tactic of fleeing the state isn’t new. They do it because the sergeant-at-arms can appoint law enforcement officials to find and take the missing legislators into custody and return them to Austin to do their duties. By leaving the state, they ensure state law enforcement has no jurisdiction. But what they are really risking is loss of more funding for their office, staff and pet projects, not to mention re-election. Abbott and and very likely will continue to call 30-day special sessions on voting rights until the next election. He has the authority to under the state constitution. If the Dems continue to run away and are so blatant about it as they were this time, voters in their districts will get tired of it. Especially with the images of them going without their masks on planes at a time when we are reading story after story of passengers being expelled and blacklisted by airlines for not being masked and if we see them out and about in DC.
In response to your questions in your headline: yes and yes.
When the Democrats boarded the bus and then jumped on the plane, they announced their intent to break quorum along with a number of pleas for more money. Of course, the national Democrats will probably open their coffers and support these Democrats for a while.
The thing is, Abbott has promised to string out the special sessions until they have to come back (even into January 2022). So these guys can choose between being in office, having paid staff, and staying out of Texas. They cannot stay out of Texas and have their staff paid. If they stay our of state, they might lose their seat.
DrSamHerman says: Mark:
I believe Abbott already canceled the money for their legislative support staff through his line-item veto after the Democrats slipped out in May to prevent a vote.
Another thing of concern is who is actually paying for their juvenile junket? If the state is funding it, then I hope the money can be recaptured via lawsuit and/or the offending legislators criminally charged. As of now, under Article 3, section 10 of the Texas Constitution, the remaining House members can vote to impose any penalty they want, up to and including fines and jail time independent of the Executive branch.
SFC D says: Texas democrats, these are the “leaders” you voted into office. When the time came to represent you, they turned tail and ran. And you will re-elect them. This tells me everything I need to know about all of you, none of it good.
CycloneSteve says: Interesting idea…
Fire their staff, take them (& the staff) off the health insurance & retirement programs, if the legislators take free flights, drinks, food and room, consider it bribery. Clearly, pressure can go both ways.
GWB says: Is their flight an attempt to deny quorum on a vote over election reforms in Texas? Or is it a chance to party?
I’m curious why that is even an issue of hypocrisy. Would you expect them to be in a cave somewhere eating locusts and wearing hair shirts? They see this as a victory (it isn’t) and why would they not then party? Heck, they do it all the time on the taxpayer dime, even when there’s not perceived victory afoot.
GWB says: Texas Democrats are risking arrest to protect the right to vote.
No, they’re risking arrest to protect the right to fraudulently vote.
BTW, the choice of Washington, D.C. was calculated. Besides the press coverage, there is no way the Capitol police (under control of a Dem Congress) will ever execute a cross-jurisdictional warrant to arrest any of them.
But, as I asked in Amanda’s post, I wonder if Abbot can keep them away long enough they violate their residency requirements. I would LOVE to see that happen. (Also, it would be nice if there were a felony involved in this, just so you could remove all right for any of them to ever again carry a firearm.)
SFC D says: Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and James Bowie would be so proud of these Texans, who so bravely and selflessly… ran away.
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