"Quiet, ya daft bitch!"
LOL, I just love the mental picture of that screaming harpie blowing a gasket, busting the eardrums of the weasel reporters with the ears to cups pressed against the wall...
"I called Continental and they had a 7 o'clock flight, and I said, `What a neat deal. I can get out of this hotel, and nobody will see me,' so that's what I did," he said.
The earliest flight from Albuquerque to Houston on Continental is 9:00 a.m. I wonder why the little fib . . .
"Besides, I miss my mommy. my puppy, and sleeping in my own bed!"
Prairie
Can anyone make this story work? Whitmire said he flew Continental. Perhaps this was a mistake. But there is no way that anyone leaving Albuqueque in the morning can arrive in Houston by 10 a.m. using commercial airlines.
Either he flew a private plane or he is lying. Actually, he is lying even if he flew a private plane. This is no mistake.
"Quiet, ya daft bitch!"
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=1049148
Category: Metro | State
UPDATED: Texas 11 senator plans return to state
By Guillermo X. Garcia
Express-News Austin Bureau
Web Posted : 09/02/2003 3:04 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 37-day Democratic protest against redistricting by 11 Texas senators appeared to be unraveling Tuesday after one of them said he was planning to return to Texas today.
Sen. John Whitmire of Houston, the dean of the Senate, said he wanted to go back to Austin for what he realizes would be a losing fight with the GOP majority over redistricting — but that he was prepared to flee the state again if he couldn’t make that happen on his own terms.
“I believe it is time for a serious cooling-off period and a serious discussion for arriving on an exit strategy,” Whitmire said.
He spoke as he arrived at the hotel where his 10 fellow Democrats have been since July 28, when they fled Austin to prevent the Legislature from taking up the latest Republican push to redraw the state's congressional districts.
Whitmire, who spent the Labor Day weekend in Houston “conferring with colleagues from both sides and with my constituents,” said he has an airline reservation to return to Houston this evening.
It was unclear how his fellow Democrats would react. None were immediately available for comment. They were at a working lunch when Whitmire arrived.
He said he planned to talk with them “about going back to Texas, because there is no exit strategy to remaining in New Mexico indefinitely.” But he also said he remained adamantly opposed to redistricting and committed to fight against the effort.
“But the time has come to return, put up one heck of a fight on the Senate floor” and then hope that the redistricting bill the Republican leadership wants will be ruled unconstitutional in federal court.
Whitmire, who said he decided at 3 a.m. last Thursday that he would board an early morning flight to Houston, said he is confident Gov. Rick Perry will not immediately call another special session, which would be the third this summer.
“But if he does, my spies will notify me. I have an escape plan, and if need be, I'll leave (Texas) again. I have not given up, I have not surrendered.”
He said he feared that “the bipartisanship that has been the hallmark of the Senate has been damaged almost beyond repair. I as the dean have a duty to see that does not happen, and I intend to do all I can to prevent that.”
He denied being in contact with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst or other Republican leaders or that they influenced his decision.
“I am working on a plan that will restore the collegiality to the Senate, and I am fearful that if the two-thirds rule is permanently removed, the Senate will no longer exist as we know it,” Whitmire said.
The rule is a longstanding Senate courtesy that allows 11 of the 31 senators the ability to block debate on a bill. The Senate Democrats utilized that rule to block the chamber from considering redistricting during the first special session.
The 11 Democrats fled Austin when Dewhurst announced he was suspending use of that rule for the recently concluded second special session.
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said of Whitmire, “The governor would welcome him back, along with his other Democrat colleagues.”
Dewhurst issued a brief statement saying he hoped Whitmire's comments “will result in a plan that leads our Senate colleagues back to Texas and back to work on a number of important issues.”
Perry, in a morning interview, again declined to say when he would call lawmakers back for a third special session.
“Again, I will allow you all in the media and the public to know at the appropriate time when I decide – if I decide – to call another special session,” the governor said.
ggarcia@express-news.ne