Man Who Believes God Speaks to Us Through "Duck Dynasty" Is About to Be Texas' Second-in-Command

[kpete]

Meet Dan Patrick, the next lieutenant governor of Texas.



As a Texas state senator, Dan Patrick has conducted himself in a manner consistent with the shock jock he once was. Patrick—who is now the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor—has railed against everything from separation of church and state to Mexican coyotes who supposedly speak Urdu. He's even advised his followers that God is speaking to them through Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson.

A former sportscaster who once defended a football player who'd thrown a reporter through a door (Patrick believed it wasn't the journalist's job to do "negative reporting&quot , Patrick became a conservative talk radio host in the early 1990s—Houston's answer to Rush Limbaugh. In 2006, he parlayed his radio fame into a state Senate seat—and kept the talk show going. In office, he proposed paying women $500 to turn over newborn babies to the state (to reduce abortions), led the charge against creeping liberalism in state textbooks, and pushed wave after wave of new abortion restrictions. For his efforts, Texas Monthly named Patrick one of the worst legislators of 2013.

With a victory on November 4, Patrick, who is leading Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte in the polls, would find himself next in line for the governor's mansion of the nation's second-largest state. (Rick Perry, the current Republican governor, was previously lieutenant governor.) But even if Patrick advances no further, he'd be in a position to shape public policy—Texas' lieutenant governor is sometimes called the "most powerful office in Texas" because of the influence it has on both the legislative and executive branches.


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/dan-patrick-texas-lieutenant-governor

[northoftheborder]

1. Thanks for pointing out the vileness of the person way ahead in the polls, but sad that the...

....nincompoops (not on DU) out there are going to blindly vote for the Republican without realizing these facts. He is just the worst, and that's saying a lot. It is meaningful that all the major newspapers have endorsed his opponent Letitia Van de Pute; some of those papers always endorse Republicans. They've also endorsed Wendy. But it will be a miracle if the Dems win. I'm not very hopeful.

[lunasun]

2. Scary

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. He looks like Rush Limbaugh.

Are they related somehow?

[Stallion]

5. Patrick's "Highest Priority" is to Prevent Isis from Entering Texas on the Mexican Border. Really?

that's your primary concern as Lt. Governor (which in Texas may be more powerful than Governor). How about Education, public health, transportation, finance, crime? But Patrick's runs the same commercial over and over that starts with Isis militants preparing to sneak over the Texas border-and he's winning?!?! Take a look at this fool

[underpants]

10. You can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them

Oops wrong Dan Patrick. Sorry.

[Horse with no Name]

6. But then there is this good news

After an energetic Democratic campaign to get new Texas voters to the polls, turnout rates spiked on the first day of early voting in the state.

According to figures released by the secretary of state’s office, Texas’ six largest counties all saw increases in voting Monday compared to the first day of early voting in 2010, the last midterm election.

The voting surge came amid an intense push by groups supporting Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, to register and mobilize millions of new voters, many of whom are minorities. The effort was led by Battleground Texas, a group of former Obama campaign veterans aiming to make the state competitive over the long term. Texas has long had some of the lowest voting rates in the country.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/after-push-mobilize-new-voters-turnout-surges-texas?adbid=756102884485966&adbpl=fb&adbpr=273864989376427&cid=sm_m_main_1_20141022_34180677

[Ampersand Unicode]

7. Will the real Dan Patrick please stand up?

How to tell the difference:



Wingnut




NOT a wingnut

[mountain grammy]

8. He was doing sports when I lived in Houston in the early 80's..

what a huge jerk.

[Gothmog]

9. Dan Patrick is a nut case