The New Face of the Republican Party of Texas

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

The Houston Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, among others, are reporting that Talmadge Heflin is the new executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

Heflin is a 22-year veteran of the House and, in 2003, chaired the Appropriations Committee. He has his name and fingerprints on the budget that cut over 150,000 children from the CHIP rolls, reneged on the state's promise to help pay for its teachers' health insurance, and gutted funding for a wide variety of other necessary programs.

The voters of his district showed their appreciation in 2004 by kicking him out in a race against political novice Hubert Vo. That's right: a 22-year incumbent in a Republican district lost to a first-time candidate in an election where George Bush's name was above his on the ballot.

The 2004 race was close -- the final margin was 33 votes. In 2006, Heflin called for a rematch against Vo, and this time lost by 10 percentage points. Ladies and gentlemen, the voters have spoken!

Since leaving office, Heflin flirted with (read: begged Perry to help him get) the job of director of the Texas Lottery Commission and then became a "visiting fellow at the Center for Fiscal Policy Studies at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank." In other words, he needs the job.

Take a look at that picture. Is that a poster boy for what is wrong with the Republican Party in Texas, or what?