Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Pete Sessions: "He doesn't know the territory"

A Sessions Watcher in Oak Cliff alerted me to this page on Pete Sessions' website, where he summarizes key neighborhoods in his district.

The section on Oak Cliff is so far off-the-mark you'd swear he's never set foot in this part of the District. I took this screen shot for posterity (click image to view full size):


Oak Cliff residents will be surprised to know these "facts" about their part of town...
Oak Cliff

Oak Cliff’s estimated population is 280,000, and Oak Cliff includes the popular “M-Streets” and Lakewood neighborhoods. On March 17, 1903, voters in Oak Cliff approved annexation to the city of Dallas. Little known about Oak Cliff is that it was home to the Southland Ice Company, what would later become the first 7-Eleven Convenience Store. Oak Cliff also contains The Sixth Floor Museum, the memorial site of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
Good grief! Okay, let's start with the "M" streets. While Oak Cliff does have some streets that start with the letter "M," the "popular" M-street district is around Upper Greenville Avenue. That area of Dallas is north of downtown, about 10 miles from Oak Cliff!

Oak Cliff does have Lake Cliff Park, but that's not Lakewood. Lakewood is in East Dallas around...y'know...the lake. White Rock Lake, which is nowhere near Oak Cliff.

Pete Sessions gets partial credit for including two actual facts about Oak Cliff, the fact that it was annexed in 1903, and that "it was home to the Southland Ice Company, what would later become the first 7-Eleven Convenience Store." True. The first 7-11 was at 12th and Edgefield. The building still stands, and is now home to LULAC.

But then he screws it up by mentioning the Sixth Floor Museum. D'oh! Pete, that's in an area of Dallas known as "downtown." The Sixth Floor Museum isn't in Pete Sessions' district, anyway. The Sixth Floor Museum is in TX-30, Eddie Bernice Johnson's district.

Reminds me of the patter song in "The Music Man" where all the salesmen talk about knowing the territory:
1st Salesman
Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker, ya can talk...
ya can talk all ya want but is different than it was.

Charlie
No it ain't, no it ain't, but you gotta know the territory...

2nd Salesman
Now he doesn't know the territory

1st Salesman
Doesn't know the territory?!?

3rd Salesman
What's the fellow's line?

2nd Salesman
Never worries 'bout his line

1st Salesman
Never worries 'bout his line?!?...

...Charlie
He's a fake, and he doesn't know the territory...

4 comments:

John Peterson said...

I live in Richardson and I you are right on about the Oak Cliff description being almost completely incorrect.

Sorry this portion is a bit off topic, but I'm looking at the tag line for this blog and I'm wondering, how would you define a right-wing extremist? What specifically are the defining attributes. Is there a group of votes for certain legislation that makes a Congressman a right-wing extremist? Is there a certain distinct group of political positions?

BTW, in the interest of full disclosure I'll post a link to my blog so you know who I am. Anyway, all I ask is that you don't jump to conclusions and that we all try and respect where the other guy is coming from, even if we disagree.

JOhn
http://www.RichardsonRepublican.us/johnpeterson

Anonymous said...

To me, a right-wing extremist is somebody who votes the way Pete Sessions does--one of only a handful to vote against a bill that benefits a majority of Americans, who votes for the interest of Wall St. over Main St., or who gets all bent out of shape over "family values" issues (like Sessions did over the "wardrobe malfunction" incident on TV) but then goes on to host a fundraiser at a strip club. Michele Bachmann is another right-wing extremist, who took her partisanship even further than Pete Sessions ever would by going on TV saying that some members of Congress who are "anti-American."

Sessions isn't the worst of the lot, but his votes & attitude fit the bill, along with reports from Austin that he refuses to meet with Democratic Party members of the State house and senate. That kind of thing is ridiculous. Members of congress should serve the state and the people over narrow party interests.

Cool website. Thanks so much for taking your petition to Sesions' office in September. Interested in challenging him in the 2010 primary? :)

Anonymous said...

Also, take a look at my November 5 post "The Tide is Turning": http://sessionswatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/tide-is-turning.html

That's the kind of Republican PETE PAC sends money to, the ones who dial up the hateful rhetoric in campaigns, a campaign tactic that is, fortunately, on the way out.

By the way, Pete Sessions did team up with one Democrat--Barney Frank--to loosen restrictions on internet poker. So at least one time, he's worked across party lines, but I'm not sure how that benefits the district!

John Peterson said...

Haha... I'm not running for Congress anytime soon. I like my position as Precinct Chair. Thanks for checking out my website and our trip to Pete Sessions office. Even though Pete ended up voting the other way on that one, the people in his office were very nice and respectful of our views.

On right-wing, so basically a right-wing extremist votes with their party most of the time. From that we can gather that, the right-wing can basically be seen as the Republican party and the left as the Democratic party.

BTW, the reason I'm going back through this thread is that I came across the "ideometer" on GovTrack.us and it also pegged Mr. Sessions as being far-right on that meter.

Anyway, I think it's a bit simplistic to put all Republican positions on the right and all Democratic positions on the left. I think the Nolan Chart does a little better job of capturing both economic freedoms and personal freedoms and putting them on distinct axis'. When I see someone as right-wing on that chart that tells me that they are a social conservative, but more of a centrist on economic issues. That might not be too far off for Mr. Sessions, I'll have to do more research on that.