Corn Dog's Coat -- and Big Bad Jew

The video above from the Daily Show includes excerpts from John (Corn Dog) Cornyn's video, "Big Bad John," -- already a thing of legend -- previously posted and discussed on The Rag Blog.

But the best part is a faux spot for Cornyn's alleged opponent, a tea-sipping Semite. (He's a big city boy from an Ivy League school... / He's running for Senate / He's an elitist Jew... Big Bad Jew.)

Thorne Dreyer / The Rag Blog

Cornyn's Coat Calamity

Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, is hot under the collar because Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, mocked a coat he wore in his latest TV ad. Not fair, said Cornyn: that was a traditional Tamaulipeca jacket, and Schumer's a racist for saying anything and he needs to apologize to the entire Hispanic community (including, we can only presume, Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who is running to kick Cornyn out of Senate). So, nothing to do with the fact that he got completely destroyed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show this week?

For anyone humming along, the song in Cornyn's ad spoofs Jimmy Dean's mining disaster classic 'Big Bad John'. What may make music historians ponder is the way that Cornyn's press people have turned a song about a "quiet and shy" blue-collar worker into self-aggrandizing bluff and bluster ego fluff about how a professional pol "Fought heathens and hellions" and "Kept Texas in power, made lesser states squirm."

Funny, there's quite a few Texans squirming at Cornyn's cornball cowboy antics. Not least the strained rhyming of "more" and "foe". For the full cringe-worthy experience, try the original Cornyn version.

Richard Whittaker / June 27, 2008

Source. / Chronic / Austin Chronicle online

See the full "Big John" video on The Rag Blog.

And go to Ride 'em, Corn Dog! / The Rag Blog / June 17, 2008

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Dems Just Love That "Big Bad John"

Ride 'em Corn Dog : Already a Classic

Cornyn video is campaign gold mine;
Race in virtual dead heat
By John Moritz / June 27, 2008

AUSTIN — The sight of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wearing cowboy threads while an ol’ boy with a Lone Star twang sings his praise was designed to fire up his party’s base.

There was only one hitch in Cornyn’s get-along: The wrong party got fired up.

Turns out the video bio of Cornyn shown at the state GOP convention this month was panned as corn pone by more pundits, bloggers and other smart-mouthed know-it-alls than could fit in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

And it’s the Democrats who are making sure that anyone with a laptop has a chance to see and hear the campaign clip they call "Big Bad John," complete with a takeoff on Jimmy Dean’s classic song with the same name.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee posted the video on its Web site and suggested it shows that the urbane and courtly Cornyn is, well, all hat and no cattle.

Here’s a sample of the lyrics: "He rose to the top, in just one term. Kept Texas in power, made lesser states squirm. Big John."

"We figure it helps our cause more than his," the Democrats say on their Web site.

The posting came on the heels of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show spoofing the spot, with host Jon Stewart suggesting that Cornyn’s outfit might have come from a store for oversize kids.

Some left-leaning Web sites have called the video Cornyn’s "Michael Dukakis in the tank" moment, recalling the blistering reviews drawn by the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee when he wore a helmet and stood up while riding in a military armored vehicle.

The then-Massachusetts governor ended up looking more silly than soldierly.

Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court justice and state attorney general, is in what one poll shows to be a tight race with Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston.

A poll of 1,000 likely voters by the nonpartisan Texas Lyceum, a statewide leadership group and think tank, showed Cornyn leading Noriega 38 percent to 36 percent.

The remaining 26 percent of respondents were undecided.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Daron Shaw, a pollster at the University of Texas at Austin, said he made an extra effort to ensure that the random sample was reflective of the state’s demographics.

Other polls have shown Cornyn with wider leads.

The same poll showed Republican presidential hopeful John McCain to be running ahead of Democrat Barack Obama in Texas by 43 percent to 38 percent.

If the senator was worried that the video’s reviews would make his campaign more difficult, he wasn’t letting on.

"I think it’s hilarious," he said with a laugh during a conference call with reporters Thursday.

"This was a good-natured introduction we did at the Houston convention a couple of weeks ago."

When the video was shown at the convention, Cornyn told delegates: "My staff convinced me that it would be a good idea. Maybe I need a new staff."

Source. / Star-Telegram

Also see Ride 'em, Corn Dog! / The Rag Blog / June 17, 2008

Thanks to Harry Edwards / The Rag Blog

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Ride 'em, Corn Dog!

Are you ready, boots? Sen. John Cornyn's personalized/emblemized black leather cowboy boot. Courtesy Michael Weiss / Wonkette.

"Big John" Cornyn. Now that's a big one, all right. The junior senator from Texas with the ultra-conservative voting record -- known to Dubya as "Corn Dog" and to the rest of us as the president's "lap dog" because he faithfully does his master's bidding -- may be meeting his match when he faces soldier-statesman Democrat Rick Noriega in the general election.

In the meantime, let him think he's "Big John." Just hope he doesn't fall off that horse.

Thorne Dreyer / The Rag Blog

Texas Senator Cornyn Backs Away
From Wild-West Themed Campaign Video
By Jason Linkins / June 16, 2008

"My staff convinced me it was a good idea...Maybe I need a new staff."

Those words were spoken by Texas Senator John Cornyn after his staff produced the attached video. Intended as an introduction to the Republican Party of Texas state convention, the video, featuring awesomely overwrought voice overs and the most stoned gospel chorus ever assembled, basically depicts Cornyn as a dull-witted rodeo clown who never descends from his horse or stops dressing like Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy.

The Austin-American Statesman finds Cornyn gamely attempting to defend the terrible video, saying, "It's actually an attempt to bring a little humor to a subject I take very seriously. We're going to have to think differently this year, work smarter and harder, and bury the 'same-ole, same-ole' politics of the past." By which he means: do everything in super, super, super, super slow-motion, apparently.

Source. / The Huffington Post.

Holly Shulman, press secretary to Rick Noriega, the Democratic nominee challenging Cornyn in November, responded: “Cornyn’s call for change today is ironic given his long record of serving Washington special interests instead of Texas families. Texas families are demanding real change - and real solutions to their every day problems. Texans need a senator who will take action, not just be a rubber stamp for the Bush administration’s failed policies as this junior senator has been for the entirety of his time in office.”

Judge the cowboy — uh, video — for yourself.

W. Gardner Selby / Austin American-Statesman / June 16, 2008

See the video at The Huffington Post

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Corn Dog Cornyn : War Yes, GI's No!

Sen. John (Corn Dog) Cornyn, R-Texas, aka "Lap Dog to the President." Graphic by Bill Narum / The Rag Blog
John Cornyn Funds the War But Not Those Who Fought It
By Karl-Thomas Musselman/ May 23, 2008

The first paragraph from this article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says it all.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, voted to approve $165 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but provided one of 22 votes against the domestic spending measure that is paired with the war spending bill. The Senate bill would add about $50 billion through 2017 for veterans' education benefits.

John Cornyn provided one of just 22 votes against this bill which was an expanded version of the GI Bill, called the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, to increase education benefits for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Even Texas' other Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison voted for it along with many of the Republican Senators up for re-election this year who are trying to moderate their positions in an election year.

But not John Cornyn. Here's what he's had to say about this bill.

"The anti-war crowd is determined to use our men and women in uniform for their political advantage, even if our national security is jeopardized in the process," Cornyn campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said.

And again on his reasons to oppose it.

The updated GI Bill would hurt re-enlistment rates because troops will be eager to take advantage of it.

The Austin American-Statesman replied to this line of argument on their editorial page today. Simply put...

While those arguments will no doubt be repeated often between now and November, they are as empty as the arguments that the World War II era GI Bill cost too much. How much is too much for people we ask to walk into bullets?

Supporting the troops is more than plastering a yellow decal on a car. Real support means a commitment of money. Mere money doesn't match the commitment we asked the troops to make.

President Bush is now threatening to veto the legislation. But Cornyn has already indicated he's willing to vote against overriding the veto. You should sign Rick Noriega's petition calling on Cornyn to vote to override that veto.

As Rick Noriega said...

"If that GI Bill was good enough for the Greatest Generation, why is it not good enough for the latest generation?

Source. / Burnt Orange Report

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