And does he ever! Both candidates agreed to a debate, but Paxton has yet to accept one. He’s had multiple opportunities offered, but has (apparently) chickened out of each one. Well, Talarico has zinged Paxton with a new offer, and Paxton has yet to reply. Do we need a new acronym for Paxton? How about PACO? Paxton Always Chickens Out. It’s so appropriate because Paxton is dodging everything.
Paxton runs away from the press any time a hard question comes up. Actually, he runs from the press in general. We can bet that he doesn’t want to answer any questions because his time as AG was all about scandals. There’s the impeachment. There’s the grifting. There’s the divorce, which has now gone public, and it’s a huge mess. Trump’s pick is a walking disaster. And he’s making the Republican treasury hurt, because they need to spend the money elsewhere.
James Talarico is now leading Paxton in the latest poll. This is not a surprise, actually. Paxton keeps shooting himself in the gut. He isn’t doing anything to support himself. The PACs aren’t doing much to help him because he’s a hot mess. There doesn’t seem to be anything good about Paxton. The Republicans in Texas are finding that out big time. There’s really nothing much that can be done to help him, and his behavior is making it worse. Paxton is a disaster on legs. Paxton is an embarrassment to Republicans, but there’s no going back.
And now, some quotes from Raw Story regarding the voicemail:
“Hey Ken, it’s James. I’m calling to invite you to a debate on Fox News. Texans start voting in less than a month, and they deserve to hear from both of us before they do. I’ve accepted four local TV debates, but we haven’t heard from you, and we’re running out of time,” Talarico can be heard saying in a video published Friday of him leaving Paxton a voicemail.
“So, if Fox News is where you’ll be most comfortable, I’ll be there because I think it’s that important. Bret Baier can moderate, we can both take questions, and Texans can hear from us directly. So, give me a call back, and I look forward to hearing from you.”
That is not happening. Ken Paxton knows he is in trouble, and he’s in over his head, and he’s going to do as little as possible, trying to save himself. But doing as little as possible makes him look weak and afraid. He probably is, come to think of it. But Trump picked him, and Cornyn lost the primary, so now they’re stuck with him. They chose Paxton over Cornyn, and now they’re trapped with a catastrophe on legs.
They may not have considered everything about him in the primary. Cornyn would likely have won the Senate race. That was the safer, knowledgeable choice. He’s in Congress right now, and he knows the Republican side of everything. Instead, they have a candidate who runs away. That optics hurts Republicans. This is spreading beyond Texas. It will show everyone what a horrible choice Paxton is. And it may cause red people to look at their candidates, *really* look at them. They may not like what they find. And they might change their vote. Even Florida is in play. There are more close races out there. Blue wave, here we come!
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