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Texas
Related: About this forumBriscoe Cain repeats as one of the worst members of the Texas legis
This is a honor that is well deserved https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/2021-the-best-and-worst-legislators/#cain
Representative Briscoe Cain
RDeer Park
When Dade Phelan tapped Cain to chair the House Elections Committee, some speculated that the Speaker must have been trying to sink the politically charged election integrity legislation. After all, in his first two terms, Cain showed an aptitude for little more than getting dunked on by his colleagues. Last session, he was relegated to the chairmanship of the backwater Select Committee on Drivers License Issuance and Renewal. So why would Phelan give the Legislatures chief bumbler such a delicate assignment, under a harsh national spotlight?
As it turned out, Republican leaders didnt need a dealmaker to push through one of their top priorities; they just needed someone whod eat dirt for them. And, boy, did Cain eat dirt. In committee, this small-government crusader seemed unable to describe his own bill, refused to take questions from the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, and got into a tussle for the gavel with his vice chair, Democrat Jessica González. Then he abruptly recessed the committee, violating House rules and robbing hundreds of witnesses, some of whom traveled long distances, of the opportunity to testify that day. One Republican member began referring to himself as Briscoes babysitter. For his part, Cain blamed the committee kerfuffle on COVID-19 protocols that kept him from getting to know González. I do wonder if things would have been different, he said.
Things got even worse when his bill reached the floor. One of the viral moments of the session came when Representative Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, explained that language in Cains legislation regarding the purity of the ballot box was a Reconstruction-era phrase used to justify the disenfranchisement of Black Texans. Cain suddenly looked like a panicked Boys State participant. That day, he was locked out of negotiations over his own bill.
Cain was unchastened: he continued to insist he was defending the state against the specter of voter fraud. But he also seemed to be enjoying it. At a House football game, he tried to reprise his glory days as a high school cheerleader by doing a cartwheel. The next day, he arrived at the House on a crutch.
RDeer Park
When Dade Phelan tapped Cain to chair the House Elections Committee, some speculated that the Speaker must have been trying to sink the politically charged election integrity legislation. After all, in his first two terms, Cain showed an aptitude for little more than getting dunked on by his colleagues. Last session, he was relegated to the chairmanship of the backwater Select Committee on Drivers License Issuance and Renewal. So why would Phelan give the Legislatures chief bumbler such a delicate assignment, under a harsh national spotlight?
As it turned out, Republican leaders didnt need a dealmaker to push through one of their top priorities; they just needed someone whod eat dirt for them. And, boy, did Cain eat dirt. In committee, this small-government crusader seemed unable to describe his own bill, refused to take questions from the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, and got into a tussle for the gavel with his vice chair, Democrat Jessica González. Then he abruptly recessed the committee, violating House rules and robbing hundreds of witnesses, some of whom traveled long distances, of the opportunity to testify that day. One Republican member began referring to himself as Briscoes babysitter. For his part, Cain blamed the committee kerfuffle on COVID-19 protocols that kept him from getting to know González. I do wonder if things would have been different, he said.
Things got even worse when his bill reached the floor. One of the viral moments of the session came when Representative Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, explained that language in Cains legislation regarding the purity of the ballot box was a Reconstruction-era phrase used to justify the disenfranchisement of Black Texans. Cain suddenly looked like a panicked Boys State participant. That day, he was locked out of negotiations over his own bill.
Cain was unchastened: he continued to insist he was defending the state against the specter of voter fraud. But he also seemed to be enjoying it. At a House football game, he tried to reprise his glory days as a high school cheerleader by doing a cartwheel. The next day, he arrived at the House on a crutch.
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Briscoe Cain repeats as one of the worst members of the Texas legis (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Jun 2021
OP
TexasTowelie
(112,150 posts)1. One of my sisters lives in Deer Park.
I have no doubt that she and her husband voted for this idiot.
czarjak
(11,269 posts)2. An idiot is a genius to another idiot. Fact, that.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(1,956 posts)3. The Briscoe Kid
is always out of line.