Inside Texas Politics: Doing the "Oops" Thing

On this week's edition of WFAA-TV's Inside Texas Politics, I talked with host Jason Whitely and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy about more results from the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. With Democrats' state convention coming up in a few days, the results — on everything from immigration to equal pay for women to Obamacare — offer the party insights into some of the reasons Republicans are acting the way they are: The state remains solidly conservative.

We also talked about Gov. Rick Perry, who last week admitted he "stepped right in it" with his remarks at a San Francisco conference where he compared homosexuality to alcoholism — then was later quoted as saying he's "more Jewish than you think" and saying he might move to California after his term as governor ends. Revelations that Republican gubernatorial nominee and Attorney General Greg Abbott's office awarded $3 million in state contracts to a private law firm that's also a major campaign contributor might weaken Abbott's salvos at his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, over ethical questions. We discussed the political angles to last week's call for a special session to address the dramatic surge of immigrants at the border and the subsequent release of $1.3 million per week to the Department of Public Safety to bolster enforcement; the possible effects of some of the controversial planks in the Republican platform, formally released last week; and the potential political repercussions of Abbott's decision to keep the locations of chemical storage facilities secret.

Also: Jason and Bud interview state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, about the upcoming convention in Dallas; Tea Party activist Katrina Pierson calls for the ouster of House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio; Jason interviews state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, about some of those items in the GOP platform and whom he will support for House speaker; and, finally, some back-and-forth about the name of a certain professional football team that no one down here likes much anyway.