Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He made a statement about going after Texans guns. No way he could recover from that in Texas. Which is a real shame since Abbott is one of the worst governor's in history.

OP here... yes, I get the "going after their guns" concern, but I've heard him talk about really reasonable gun control as a 4th gen Texan. With Uvalde, El Paso, etc., I would think Texas would be more open to him. I also. just read a story that the county where Uvalde is went 60% for Abbott, so what do I know???

There’s *nothing* reasonable about telling Texans “hell YES we’re gonna take your AR15!” . And that’s what he’s going to be forever known for. There’s no walking that back. Do you know how many millions of Texans own an AR15? It’s THE most common rifle in Texas. Had Eugene Stoner been a Texas resident when he invented it in 1956, the state legislature would’ve made it the official firearm of the state of Texas.

Not defending this logic but it is the reality there. This is why he lost.

Eh, I'm not convinced of that.

I was born in El Paso and spent several years back there in my 20's. What other posters are describing here is true - Beto probably got his nickname from his nanny or housekeeper, and then he's the rich kid that left. So he has El Paso roots, but amongst a very small proportion of the population of even his hometown. We used to say El Paso was the biggest small town you would ever live in - and that was mainly due to socio-economic status. It's also a unique and isolated part of Texas that doesn't really fit into the other cities. I'm trying to remember the last time we had a prominent Democrat from Dallas or Houston try to mount any kind of statewide challenge. Because if you had roots and a career in those cities you might be able to reach across party lines.

I don't have the same visceral reaction to Beto that others do, but the fact that so many people feel the same way is an indication.

In some way, I think it's probably a good thing he was not elected governor. He would have been a failure simply because he would not have been able to accomplish anything with the Legislature and appointments only do so much. I also think he would have been in physical danger.

All that said, he got 48% of the vote against Cruz's 50% and 43% against Abbott's 54%. Those aren't exactly blowout numbers for the Republicans, but Beto wasn't the guy. If Democrats want to win a statewide election in Texas I think they will have to invest long and hard and the candidate must come from Dallas or Houston.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slightly off topic but can anyone explain to me why conservatives are triggered by Beto having a nickname? I often see them correcting it to *Robert Francis as if that’s some kind of own.

I think it is because Beto is a nickname for Robert among Spanish speaking people--that is what I have been told. I have never heard it personally as a nickname for anyone else ever so I don't know if that is true. But, if that is an real thing-Beto as a Spanish nickname--I think Republicans are trying to show he is a poser --an Irish guy posing as a guy of Spanish distraction.

Oh that makes sense. I also have never heard the name Beto and didn’t know it was Hispanic.

Anyway, those in Raphael Cruz’s party don’t have much room to talk about misleading nicknames.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beto is a repeated failed candidate. So tired of hearing about him and watching him suck all the oxygen out of the air in terms of media coverage that could be spent on other better candidates who can actually WIN.

What does he even do? Honestly it seems he has been doing nothing but running for one election or another for the past 10 years and doing nothing but losing.

Look, nothing personal but clearly he's not a good politician and it's time to step aside and give other people a chance.

I loved Beto the first two times he lost, but I also am now tired of him. I think it was a huge mistake for him to run yet again, wasting donation money on a lost cause. Same for Abrams. Both them were rising stars, and now seem to be just money wasters and two/three-time losers.

I don't mean this in a rude or sarcastic way, but I don't think there was anyone else in TX politics that could have come as close to Abbott as Beto did. I get feeling like he's a perennial candidate, but in a state like TX, which hasn't elected a Democrat statewide since the '90's and Democrat is going to be facing a big hurdle and name recognition is important. Castro has never been able to capitalize, and he's the only other Dem I can see with a chance of success.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beto is a repeated failed candidate. So tired of hearing about him and watching him suck all the oxygen out of the air in terms of media coverage that could be spent on other better candidates who can actually WIN.

What does he even do? Honestly it seems he has been doing nothing but running for one election or another for the past 10 years and doing nothing but losing.

Look, nothing personal but clearly he's not a good politician and it's time to step aside and give other people a chance.

I loved Beto the first two times he lost, but I also am now tired of him. I think it was a huge mistake for him to run yet again, wasting donation money on a lost cause. Same for Abrams. Both them were rising stars, and now seem to be just money wasters and two/three-time losers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of the problem in places like Texas is that being Republican is more of a cultural identity than a political belief system for many people. Lots of them don’t even know the positions of the people on the ballot, but they vote Republican because that’s what their family does and their friends do and their neighbors do and their church tells them to do. They will always vote Republican because they do not want to be ostracized by their communities. (yes, there is an element of this for Democrats too, but studies of the phenomenon have found it is much more pronounced and wide-spread among red state Republicans.

With that background, a lot of Texas Democrats have basically given up on their own state, viewing it as a lost cause other than at the local level in certain areas. The sad thing is that, for all the hate Beto gets, he’s one of the few people who isn’t willing to give up on Texas. There’s something to be said for that.

This. It's identity politics. It's so socially engrained that white people vote for Republicans in TX; "poor people in bad school districts" vote for Democrats.

If you were to be a vocal Democrat in these circles, you'd eventually get iced out both socially and professionally. It's just uncouth to be a Democrat in Texan power circles and certain neighborhoods.

When I first encountered this I thought it was so weird. My son's preschool friend was at our house, family from TX, and he announced that he was from "a good Republican family." I laughed and said a person isn't born Republican. This was pre-Trump. Little did I know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slightly off topic but can anyone explain to me why conservatives are triggered by Beto having a nickname? I often see them correcting it to *Robert Francis as if that’s some kind of own.

I think it is because Beto is a nickname for Robert among Spanish speaking people--that is what I have been told. I have never heard it personally as a nickname for anyone else ever so I don't know if that is true. But, if that is an real thing-Beto as a Spanish nickname--I think Republicans are trying to show he is a poser --an Irish guy posing as a guy of Spanish distraction.

Oh that makes sense. I also have never heard the name Beto and didn’t know it was Hispanic.

Anyway, those in Raphael Cruz’s party don’t have much room to talk about misleading nicknames.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beto is a repeated failed candidate. So tired of hearing about him and watching him suck all the oxygen out of the air in terms of media coverage that could be spent on other better candidates who can actually WIN.

What does he even do? Honestly it seems he has been doing nothing but running for one election or another for the past 10 years and doing nothing but losing.

Look, nothing personal but clearly he's not a good politician and it's time to step aside and give other people a chance.

I loved Beto the first two times he lost, but I also am now tired of him. I think it was a huge mistake for him to run yet again, wasting donation money on a lost cause. Same for Abrams. Both them were rising stars, and now seem to be just money wasters and two/three-time losers.

Anonymous wrote:Beto is a repeated failed candidate. So tired of hearing about him and watching him suck all the oxygen out of the air in terms of media coverage that could be spent on other better candidates who can actually WIN.

What does he even do? Honestly it seems he has been doing nothing but running for one election or another for the past 10 years and doing nothing but losing.

Look, nothing personal but clearly he's not a good politician and it's time to step aside and give other people a chance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big part of the problem in places like Texas is that being Republican is more of a cultural identity than a political belief system for many people. Lots of them don’t even know the positions of the people on the ballot, but they vote Republican because that’s what their family does and their friends do and their neighbors do and their church tells them to do. They will always vote Republican because they do not want to be ostracized by their communities. (yes, there is an element of this for Democrats too, but studies of the phenomenon have found it is much more pronounced and wide-spread among red state Republicans.

With that background, a lot of Texas Democrats have basically given up on their own state, viewing it as a lost cause other than at the local level in certain areas. The sad thing is that, for all the hate Beto gets, he’s one of the few people who isn’t willing to give up on Texas. There’s something to be said for that.

This. It's identity politics. It's so socially engrained that white people vote for Republicans in TX; "poor people in bad school districts" vote for Democrats.

If you were to be a vocal Democrat in these circles, you'd eventually get iced out both socially and professionally. It's just uncouth to be a Democrat in Texan power circles and certain neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He made a statement about going after Texans guns. No way he could recover from that in Texas. Which is a real shame since Abbott is one of the worst governor's in history.

OP here... yes, I get the "going after their guns" concern, but I've heard him talk about really reasonable gun control as a 4th gen Texan. With Uvalde, El Paso, etc., I would think Texas would be more open to him. I also. just read a story that the county where Uvalde is went 60% for Abbott, so what do I know???

There’s *nothing* reasonable about telling Texans “hell YES we’re gonna take your AR15!” . And that’s what he’s going to be forever known for. There’s no walking that back. Do you know how many millions of Texans own an AR15? It’s THE most common rifle in Texas. Had Eugene Stoner been a Texas resident when he invented it in 1956, the state legislature would’ve made it the official firearm of the state of Texas.

Not defending this logic but it is the reality there. This is why he lost.