DeLay: Sure! We Can Secede. And The Senate Will Do All The Work
Disgraced Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews earlier today and offered his full support to the idea, first proposed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, that Texas might secede from the United States. Watch:
Texas was a republic. It joined the Union by treaty. There's a process in the treaty by which Texas could divide into five states. If we invoke that, and the last time it was voted on was 1985, the United States Senate would kick us out and nullify the treaty because they're not going to allow 10 new Texas senators into the Senate. That's how you secede.
We're not exactly sure by what authority the Senate would "kick" Texas out of the union, but we'll look into it--just as a technical matter, of course.
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Josh
Matt
Eric
Disgraced and disgraceful.
April 16, 2009 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, he gives me hope and boosts my spirits, which started sagging when Rick Perry started doing hummina-hummina-hummina. Imagine how great it would be not to have to deal with those punkasses anymore.
April 16, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wouldn't several of those new states be dominated by large urban center, thereby assuring that several likely Dem seats would be created? Yeah, go right ahead with it, Tommy.
April 16, 2009 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not to mention the border state part of Texas. Very Hispanic. Very Blue.
As an aside, Delay proudly shows us all why he was never in the senate- he simply doesn't understand what it is the do there.
April 16, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
The word: Insane.
The name: Tom DeLay.
April 16, 2009 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Texas? Secede? Could we be so lucky?
April 16, 2009 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed,somebody had to say it.
Apologies to our old friend Tena, true-blue Texan from the campaign days.
Putting NASA in Texas (along with parts in many other politically-important states) was a big mission-unrelated sop to them, what would happen with that?
April 17, 2009 2:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
this type of stuff is really over the line.
it seems insane banter and who the hell do they think they are attracting with it?
and why?
isnt it time the media shows a tiny bit of integriy here and calls this insanity what it is?
there are real issues to solve and i dont see the point of getting a small minority of red necks and skinhead types all worked up.
April 16, 2009 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it's all you've got .... OTOH this could be characterized as Constituent Services.
April 16, 2009 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
i'm really, really having a hard time getting my head around all of this. for 8 years, just about anything short of a BJ for cheney was considered treason. for 8 years, none of these guys/gals seemed to give a rat's ass about the constitution (or perhaps didn't even know it existed). for 8 years, protesters were "whiners, babies, unpatriotic, blah blah blah."
and now ...? secession. taxation with representation is unconstitutional. throw teabags around and carry a bunch of really weird signs about ayn rand and the constitution (see TPM photo feature of the teabag-a-thon).
sooooo, sooooo confusing.
April 16, 2009 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, kind of mindblowing. Where is all that support for USA and its wars? Sorry, boys, civil war ended in 1865. You know that Lincoln guy, an early Republican when it meant more than talk radio and cable ratings.
April 16, 2009 9:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
It looks like Texas was annexed not by treaty (which was never ratified by Congress) but by a joint resolution of Congress. This resolution did give Texas the right to divide into 5 states (see http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/treasures/earlystate/annex-01.html). At minimum, I think this would require Texas to amend its Constitution. Then they would need to get it recognized by the rest of the states. Remember, Texas breached the annexation agreement back when it voted to secede from the US the first time, so that might be a starting point to object. I'm sure anyone who is opposed to this could find lots of other arguments. So while its an interesting thought, I say, go ahead, let's see how that works for you.
April 16, 2009 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think what that joint resolution actually says is that the federal government can choose to divide up Texas (but has to get the consent of Texas to do it).
I think its a stretch to read that as saying that Texas can decide on its own to divide. Also, you could conclude that the division has already happened since land from the Republic of Texas became parts of (1) New Mexico, (2) Colorado, (3) Oklahoma, (4) Kansas and (5) Wyoming.
April 16, 2009 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for quoting the text. It looks like you are right: the joint resolution allows Congress to split Texas, it does not allow Texas to split itself. See http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/march1845.html
Note Congress already has the power to split a state under Article IV Section 3 of the US Constitution, so the language in the joint resolution is redundant. See http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp
April 17, 2009 8:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm all in favor of Texas breaking into 5 states.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/markpoyser/uggabugga/2003/texas-five-states.gif
Tom doesn't seem to realize that out of the 4 new states, 3 would be Democratic party strongholds.
April 16, 2009 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
DeLay is the smelly little vermin that had to slink out of Texas in the dead of night because he couldn't remove his name from the ballot to avoid a humiliating ass-whupping at the polls.
OBTW, Texas already used up one secession when they stepped out of line in the 1860s. I believe they returned to the Union under more restrictive terms than allowed under the original treaty. Better double check with the lawyers, though.
April 16, 2009 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure how the Senate _could_ prevent this. Wouldn't they need 60 votes to nullify a treaty?
I first remember learning about TX's right to do this years ago, and cannot figure out why they never have. I think it would be a challenge to jerrymander five GOP majority states out of the current state, people would want somewhat regularly shaped borders for the state they lived in, unlike Congressional districts, or state legislative districts. So I think you could be bet on two of the EIGHT new Senators (Delay's math was wrong, making fives states out of one adds eight Senators, not ten) being Dems. The resulting Senate would then be 61-47, still a healthy majority for the Dems. And that is assuming no other states (like California) don't get jealous and try to divide themselves - though that would require approval from the Senate, and so I presume could be filibustered.
Background on the treaty: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp
April 16, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
First, there is no treaty. The annexation treaty was never ratified by the Senate, making it a complete nullity. Instead, the Republic of Texas joined the United States through a joint resolution.
Second, the joint resolution doesn't give Texas the right to divide itself. Instead, it gives the federal government the right to divide Texas (but requires the consent of the State of Texas to do so).
Third, the State of Texas is not the Republic of Texas, either politically or geographically.
April 17, 2009 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
As long as these Tea Baggers are on teevee I feel very good about the midterm elections.
On second thought, why are these people on teevee?
April 16, 2009 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
can anyone tell me what happened to DeLay's court case?
Despite the charges, and DeLay's Constitutional right to a speedy trial, the prosecutor has still not brought the case before a jury.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay
why is he allowed to comment on anything?
April 17, 2009 2:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, Texas would do great as its own country.
Just wait til the next hurricane slams into Galveston, and there is no federal government help.
All this secession talk reminds me of what my 4 year old does when she's playing with her friends and one of them makes her mad. She takes her toys and goes home. That's exactly what this is--republicans are mad that they aren't in charge anymore, so they are threatening to take their toys and go home.
April 17, 2009 8:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Texas has no state income tax.
How does Mr. DeLay think they're going to run that nation state?
April 17, 2009 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink