Weekend News Roundup

And boy, what a weekend it was..!

Getting back from National Guard Training Thursday to an additional $25K worth of support from you guys, his press release came Friday from the Campaign, and covered at kos:

Over Three Decades of Texas Leadership Come Together in Support of Rick Noriega’s U.S. Senate Exploratory Bid

(Houston, TX) — U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega will announce his support from current and former Texas leaders spanning more than three decades. Governor Dolph Briscoe, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and State Senator Rodney Ellis, who briefly served as Lt. Governor, will join Houston’s Paul Hobby in calling for Rick Noriega’s leadership in the United States Senate.

Rick went to a meeting of the SDEC (State Democratic Executive Committee) in Austin on Saturday to the same amazing reception he's received at ActBlue (thanks to you of course). Here's how he was received, from Hal at Half Empty:

Each candidate stood up as they were introduced. Mikal Watts and Emil Reichstadt each got what my source called “polite applause”. But when Rick Noriega was introduced the applause, shouts, foot stomps and hoots nearly blew the roof off. Sue Schechter, Noriega’s campaign manager was visiting with my source minutes later, and my source tells me that [campaign manager] Sue was almost speechless with surprise.

What became clear at that moment, and it should be no surprise but it was, was that Rick Noriega is the frontrunner Democratic candidate, not the disadvantaged progressive grassroots underdog as he is being painted. Rick Noriega is not just the people’s choice for the Democratic nominee to take on John Cornyn in November.

He is the choice of a broad spectrum of Democrats from Lefty to Centrist.

Rick Noriega: Frontrunner.

Sunday, Virginia Freshman Senator, Vietnam Veteran, and Armed Services Committee member Jim Webb squared off against our own Junior Senator John Cornyn. Webb was articulate with his facts and figures, while Cornyn recited talking points from his constituent: President Bush. PS. I couldn't stop thinking about how Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream used a play within a play? Well Cornyn was joining from Austin (appearantly not on an HD enabled camera), and was a talkinghead within a talkinghead. Good job Corny. Anyways, On This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

"Senator Warner is a great patriot and a student of history, and he's clearly sending a signal to the Iraqis that our patience is not unlimited, and that's correct," said Cornyn, a fellow member of Senate Armed Services Committee. "But I don't think it's in our best interest to put so much pressure on the new Iraqi government that it absolutely collapses."

"We don't want to allow that to happen, because it would make us less safe here at home," he said.

From Todd Hill at BOR:

Not in our best interests to put pressure on the Iraqi government? They are in RECESS for the month of August while our brave men and women in uniform slog through 120 degree heat in desert terrain. They are doing it because men like Cornyn rubberstamped a neocon debacle of the first order out of Party loyalty and not American national security interests. His rubberstamp has made our country more vulnerable and less safe in a post 9/11 world.