Political Slime of the Year Award | Last Word

A lot of republicans hold Ronald Reagan up as their patron saint these days, but many of them here in Texas are not obeying the 11th Commandment he famously promoted.

The seemingly endless run-off campaign that ended Tuesday featured a veritable mudslide of biblical proportions.

So who gets the prize for hurling the wackiest and most rancid glob of untreated sewage in the pursuit of being elected to a position of honor and statesmanship?

Was it Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson for digging up 30-year-old psychiatric records on State Sen. Dan Patrick - after Patrick knocked him out of contention for the lieutenant governor’s job?

Was it 29-year-old Chart Westcott, who wants so badly to succeed attorney general candidate Dan Branch as a legislator from Dallas that he appears to have broken the law in his quest?

Westcott accused his opponent, attorney Morgan Meyer, of being a drunk driver and included a phony mug shot in a mailer.

In fact, Meyer had been charged with drunk driving twice years ago when he was a law student.

Once it turned out he wasn’t driving, and he was acquitted the other time as well.

A Virginia judge agreed to expunge the records.

Now the Commonwealth of Virginia has charged Westcott with a misdemeanor for exposing them.

Probably more damaging is this: former Cowboy great Roger Staubach withdrew his endorsement.

Actually, I would give the award to a third candidate, T.J. Fabby of Red Oak, between Waxahachie and Dallas.

What did Fabby do?

He accused his opponent, former Waxahachie Mayor John Wray of – and I’m not making this up – taking money from an admitted … Muslim!

According to the Dallas Morning News, Fabby said this in an online interview:

“Here we have a espoused believer of Islam that’s not just backing a little bit of money, but lots of money to these politicians. It’s something that people need to be made aware of.”

In fact, businessman Ali Sharaf is a regular contributor to Republican politicians.

He gave $5,000 to Wray – a credible amount but hardly massive in a state where million-dollar investments in politicians are not unheard of.

In the past five years Sharaf also gave $11,000 to Attorney General Greg Abbott and more than $20,000 to Gov. Rick Perry.

That didn’t make Fabby gun shy.

He said that taking money from Sharaf makes Perry “an enemy of the state, of ours.”

It went hand-in-hand with Perry’s assaults on individual liberty, such as his promotion of the Trans Texas Corridor and mandatory HPV vaccines, Fabby said.

So why does this charge put Fabby above digging up ancient psychiatric records and misrepresenting drunk driving records?

Because Patterson and Westcott only slandered politicians.

Fabby slandered an entire a religion of 1.6 billion people around the world.

A tiny percentage of them are stuck in the Middle Ages with the same attitude toward “infidels” as many of the Crusaders had – that they should be slaughtered. 

But that does not make the word Muslim synonymous with “terrorist.”

We grieve for the outrages at the Trade Towers, Fort Hood, Boston and elsewhere. 

But to suggest that to take contributions from any Muslim is to associate with the enemy ignores the fact that nearly 2.8 million Muslims live peacefully and prosperously in the United States.

And guess which state has more than any other, at nearly 500,000?

Yes, Texas.

If even a substantial minority of this half million had treachery in their hearts, Texas would look more like Iraq.

So here’s to you, T.J. Fabby.

You win the Political Slime of the Year Award.

I’m happy to report that Fabby lost.