NC Democratic Party hosted O'Rourke Town Hall in Charlotte
According to the NCDP's chair, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke "knows good politics"
The NC Democratic Party held a town hall style event this past week.
"I know each and every one of you want to see good politics and we're about to hear from somebody tonight who knows good politics," yelled NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton in her typical fashion at the crowd seated around her.
Clayton was introducing Robert Francis O'Rouke, better known as Beto O'Rourke.
The event was held at Lenny Boy Brewing Co. in Charlotte and O'Rourke, who has a past DWI, started out by telling folks if they were too hot, "buy a beer," and to "drink responsibly, of course."
Early on, O'Rourke talked about the "trouble" the country was in and that what Democrats have done in the past likely "produced" that trouble.
"And because we see that our country is in trouble, and because we love our country we want to do everything we can to save it," O'Rourke said. "Because we understand that what we have done so far has failed to avert the trouble we are in right now."
O'Rourke continued, "And look, if we're honest... I am a lifelong Democrat...but some of what we've been doing probably produced this trouble in the first place. So, we seek something different."
The former Texas Congressman spoke for quite awhile, defending transgenders, DEI and other staple Democrat topics, and referred to the One Big Beautiful Bill as a "dogshit bill." He also alluded to white supremacy and racism by describing states where Republicans hold majorities as "former states of the Confederacy."
Following an attendee complaining about Mecklenburg Rep. Carla Cunningham's support of a bill requiring cooperation with ICE at around 41 minutes in, O'Rourke ran with that topic and talked about the southern border. He claimed Democrats want citizens to be safe while segueing into an attack on ICE agents, calling them "masked, plainclothes thugs" who want to "scare and intimidate people."
O'Rourke went further, saying that if sheriffs and police were "aiding and abetting" ICE, that those officers were contributing to the "destruction of our Constitution and due process."
O’Rourke’s remarks come as ICE agents and other law enforcement have increasingly been attacked and targeted by Democrats and allied groups.
A little over a week ago, ten people were arrested on three counts each of attempted murder of a federal agent following an attack on an ICE facility in Texas, during which an officer was shot in the neck. In the same vein as attacks on ICE, an illegal alien was arrested for staging a fake deportation kidnapping.
During a Q&A period, a Black woman in the crowd told O'Rourke he "made an epic fail" in messaging, saying that "not one time did you mention Black people until it came to John Lewis, risking our lives, risking our health, killing ourselves to get to that ballot box."
"The number one mistake that the Democratic Party has done is you have completely alienated Black voters to the point that when I go into my community and I talk to people about becoming a Democrat, I might as well just move on,” the woman told O’Rourke.
The woman said young people, and specifically young Black men, have told her that the Democrats have “no solutions” for them. The woman then shifted, saying that Black people are not stupid if they don't vote and stay home on election day, instead claiming Blacks not voting was because the Democratic Party has "never brought reparations as a platform."
Watch the full event on Facebook.
More To The Story
So, O'Rouke knows "good politics?"
He lost three big races back to back: the 2018 Texas Senate race to Ted Cruz, the very short-lived bid for president in 2020, and the 2022 Texas gubernatorial election to Greg Abbott.
Guess those loses were “good politics,” as were O'Rourke's hand gestures in public appearances after announcing his bid for president, which were mocked by the right and left alike, with Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon even doing a parody sketch of the gestures.
President Trump also harshly mocked O'Rourke when he ended his presidential campaign, calling him a "poor bastard," and saying he "quit like a dog."
Additionally, Cruz's first radio ad against O'Rourke stamped him as a liberal while lightly mocking O'Rourke's change in name from Robert to Beto.
Newsweek did an article on him after this third wipe-out against Abbott, in which the outlet asked what was next for O'Rourke after his "third devastating loss."
I had bookmarked that article because there was a section that stuck in my head about O'Rourke 'selling his soul' to the National Democratic Party's "brand."
Artemio Muñiz, the chair of the Texas Federation of Hispanic Republicans, said that he was intrigued from a purely political standpoint when O'Rourke began his race against Cruz, because O'Rourke was skateboarding at Whataburger and he appeared to take inspiration for his logo from the popular restaurant's logo.
But in the presidential race he felt O'Rourke "sold his soul" to the national Democratic Party brand.
"That's a big no-no in Texas," Muñiz said, adding that the takeaway should be if you're going to run in Texas, you have to respect the state's brand, not what New York and California donors want you to say. - Newsweek, Nov. 9, 2022
O'Rourke didn't sell his soul. As a far left progressive, his soul was already there. The party had already been taken over by its most left-leaning members. No sales job necessary for the former "Cult of the Dead Cow" hacker.
O'Rourke left his U.S. House District 16 seat, which he held from 2013-19 and which was an easy win for him year over year being a deeply blue district, to rack up those back to back losses and he hasn't had a campaign gig since.
But O’Rourke "knows good politics."
Then there's the arrest record: DWI related car wreck (Sept. 1998) in which he tried to flee the scene and attempted misdemeanor burglary (April 2005).
The latter charge occurred on the University of Texas El Paso campus and involved him jumping a fence, spending a night in jail and the charges eventually dismissed. O'Rourke later used that arrest to push for the end of cash bail.
He was also dinged by the FEC in 2018 for campaign finance violations after the attempt at Cruz's seat. The items flagged were foreign donations (illegal) and a few that were over the donation legal limit. Prior to that, in 2013, he had a little incident with a Twitter stock IPO.
All “good politics,” right?
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