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New Abbott foe has a big name; Paxton falls flat; Rockets are winners where it counts.
In the 2006 satire “Thank You For Smoking,” a handsome tobacco lobbyist played by Aaron Eckhart dines once a week with two toxic contemporaries, lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries. If there were a 2021 remake, the anti-vaxxer contingent would add one more member to this meeting of the Merchants of Death: a ruthless advocate for the dreaded COVID-19 vaccine! The character would be played, of course, by Houston’s own affable, indefatigable Dr. Peter Hotez. Those who would rather believe in vaccine conspiracies than in vaccine science have long trolled Hotez, a bow tie-wearing vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine, even before his diligent warnings throughout the pandemic made him a household name and earned him a stint as grand marshal in this year’s H-E-B Thanksgiving Day Parade. Recently, his high visibility on TV and elsewhere prompted a Twitter skeptic to ask Hotez: “How much money have you made due to the pandemic Peter?” Hotez didn’t hesitate: “It’s a very good question,” he tweeted, and then gave a very good answer: “My cable network news interviews: $0. My podcast interviews: $0. My writings: $0. Our COVID vaccine $0. My grand rounds honoraria: about $800-$900.” And there you have it. The grand total for what must be hundreds of hours spent answering reporters’ questions and trying to save lives by educating Americans about a deadly disease and a life-saving vaccine is enough for a nice family dinner and a bow tie shopping spree at the Galleria. It is we, the American people and Houstonians in particular, who are richer for Hotez’s knowledge and efforts. We can hardly say the same for his trolling Merchants of Doubt.
Watching Gov. Greg Abbott veer farther to the right in his contest against extreme, has-been primary challengers, we have been wondering: Why is Abbott so scared of these guys? Does the governor, who is relatively popular among Republicans and has raised more money than any U.S. governor in history, know something we don’t know? Perhaps so. Perhaps he knew the whole time that he would end up facing a more formidable name on the ballot than former state Sen. Don Huffines or former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West. Perhaps he knew that, just before the filing deadline this week for the March primary, Rick Perry would enter the race. No, not that Rick Perry. Not the Patriot of Paint Creek, also known as the longest serving governor in Texas history and President Donald Trump’s energy secretary. Ricky Lynn Perry, a Parker County resident and staffing agency employee. But no matter. Name ID is name ID — even if it’s not really yours. Abbott’s campaign quickly dubbed it “another stupid pet trick.” But it still wasn’t clear how the coincidence came to be. True, an anti-establishment conservative Austin lawyer named Tony McDonald is serving as candidate Perry’s campaign treasurer. And true, a Tony McDonald from Travis County was listed as an endorser on the website of Perry’s leading opponent,
Huffines. But what does that prove? “Maybe that’s another Tony McDonald from Travis County?” McDonald told the Texas Tribune playfully. “You know those sorts of mix-ups happen. …” Oops! They do indeed.
One-in-a-million isn’t exactly how we’d usually describe Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but the term accurately captures how good his office is at rooting out voter fraud. In a podcast last November, Paxton said he didn’t have enough resources to chase down this so-called epidemic infecting our democracy, so the state upped the budget for his election integrity unit from $1.9 million to $2.2 million and added two more lawyers. The results were reported this week in the Chronicle: The unit closed three cases in 2021, down from 17 in 2020. More than 11 million Texans voted last November. Twenty cases in the past two years? $2.2 million for three closed cases? And Paxton had tweeted in October that his office was “working more voter fraud cases than Texas has ever seen.” When your average yearly case count reads like the Texans’ points-per-game average, it’s a sign that you’re chasing the wrong problems.
We hate to be a Scrooge when it comes to our home teams, but the Rockets haven’t been doing much winning on the hardwood this season, with only nine wins in 29 games. While they aren’t playing much defense on the court, they’re certainly doing a good job keeping the omicron variant out of the paint. Every Rockets player has reportedly received COVID-19 booster shots, giving the team an extra layer of protection at a time when the variant is spreading like wildfire through the NBA. At least 34 players have been benched in the past three days because of health and safety protocols, leading to some games being postponed. Let’s face it, the Rockets aren’t exactly in a position where they can afford to lose any warm bodies that can dribble a ball, so kudos to the roster for getting that third jab. Maybe good health will lead to another winning streak in the New Year.