The Dallas Morning News Decides To ‘Pay The Ransom’ And Endorses Greg Abbott

Davis-Abbott

Texas Observer ran an interesting piece over the weekend entitled “Dallas Morning News: Elect Greg Abbott, Pay The Ransom.”

In that article the Texas Observer reports that the state’s newspapers have been rolling out their endorsements and on Thursday night The Dallas Morning News became the first major newspaper in the state to give an endorsement in the governor’s race – in this instance to Republican Greg Abbott.

Having grown up in Texas, that revelation in and of itself is not particularly surprising. The Dallas Morning News has been conservative my entire lifetime.

As the Texas State Historical Association reports,

The paper supported Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower for president over Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, and Richard M. Nixon over John F. Kennedy in 1960. It was neutral in the contest between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater in 1964, but endorsed Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, Gerald Ford in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, George H. W. Bush in 1988 and 1992, Robert Dole in 1996, and George W. Bush in 2000.

The Dallas Morning News also endorsed both John McCain and Mitt Romney in their bids for president against Barack Obama.  Curiously, in 2010 they broke with its tradition of supporting Republican candidates for governor and endorsed Democrat Bill White in his effort to deny Rick Perry a third full term in office. As The Texas Tribune reported at the the time, the The Dallas Morning News cited Perry’s “cowboy swagger,” “impervious air,” “strident tea party tone” and “strong-arm style” in making their decision and “forcefully rebuked the incumbent while praising the challenger as a ‘solutions-oriented leader’ and a ‘fiscal conservative with a progressive bent.'”

However, The Dallas Morning News‘ endorsement of Abbott over Davis is interesting in one regard. As Texas Observer reported “There are plenty of perfectly reasonable arguments in favor of Abbott, and the Morning News gives some of them. But one of their reasons for endorsing Abbott is fascinating. Here it is.”

Where Davis would be likely to encounter ideological battles at every turn, Abbott has the best chance to inspire legislative progress.Davis has fought valiantly. But for all her progressive promise, and alignment with this newspaper on many issues, Texas cannot afford to provoke the kind of partisan stalemate her victory would probably bring, much like the gridlock that has paralyzed Washington. [emphasis added]

The Texas Observer explains:

Elect Davis, and GOPers will be so mad they won’t cooperate on anything, just like what happened when Barack Obama took office. This is a really beautiful encapsulation of some of the most depressing features of American politics right now—a reminder that we do government primarily these days by hostage-taking, in contravention of the ostensible norms of representative government. It’s also an assertion that the hostage-takers should win, and a demonstration of why they will keep winning. It’s monumentally demoralizing.
 
[…]
 
The Morning News endorsement anticipates […] that the conservative Legislature seizes the levers of state government and goes to war against Davis, refuses to budge on any issue, refuses to put together a budget, refuses to consider new and important legislation, until its demands are met and Davis effectively surrenders. In effect, if the people of the state elect Davis to lead them, conservatives in the Legislature—probably led by Patrick [Dan Patrick, the Republican nominee  for Lieutenant Governor of Texas]—will take Texas hostage.
 
So the Morning News’ instinct is to reward the hostage-taker, pay the ransom, and keep the state safely gripped by one-party rule. On the one hand, it feels like a pretty bleak misperception of how small republican government is supposed to work. It’s especially odd because the endorsement urges Abbott to be “a moderating influence” for his party—a bit like a liberal urging his radical-left friends to “work inside the system.”

Currently Abbott is running well ahead of Davis in public opinion polls and on Monday the real fight to become Texas’ next governor begins.

As The Dallas Morning News reports, “Beginning Monday, Texans can vote early for two weeks, and both campaigns are launching extensive efforts to push friendly voters to the polls. The candidates’ voter turnout operations, developed largely outside public view, are the last bastion of pure politics.”

Samuel Warde
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