The news that least 51 of the 67 Democratic members of the Texas House — the number needed to break quorum — fled the state on two chartered planes to Washington, DC
should not have come as a big surprise to any seasoned observer of Texas politics.
In 2003 51 House Democrats crossed the Red River and holed up in the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma, to try to stymie the constitutionally mandated congressional redistricting. The move put them out of reach of Texas state troopers who were under orders to bring them back to the Capitol, in handcuffs if needed, the moment they stepped foot back in Texas.
The lines were eventually redrawn anyway, and Democrats were decimated in the next election.
And this time, in an epic bit of karma, at least five of the “fully vaccinated” Democrats who – contrary to Biden administration CDC rule – were photographed laughing it up without masks on an aircraft, were later diagnosed with COVID-19.
The Hill reported on Saturday, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a statement saying that a member of the caucus who was fully vaccinated had tested positive for COVID-19. Two additional members who were also vaccinated tested positive on Saturday after taking a rapid test, the caucus said.
On Sunday, the caucus reported that two additionally vaccinated members had tested positive, bringing the total number of cases to five.
Houston’s ABC13 spoke with one of the five who said she started experiencing symptoms of the illness on Friday night.
"I honestly thought I just had a cold," Texas Representative Celia Israel said. "Cause, I'm fully vaccinated. I had the Pfizer vaccine earlier this year. So, I had aches, loss of appetite and a slight fever."
Israel said on Saturday morning before the group started their meetings, she took a rapid test which immediately came back positive.
As Wayne Dupree posted on his must-read website, “It seems like this group of wayward buffoons is getting symbolically smacked in the face with a new ‘karma shovel’ every day.”
Naturally, we wish them good health and a speedy recovery, but the diagnosis raised a number of questions.
Not the least of which is if they were all “fully vaccinated” how come they ended up catching the COVID virus?
Did the five quarantine after the diagnosis?
Has there been contact tracing?
We know of three contacts the group made: Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, are they in self-quarantine after coming in contact with the infected Texans?
Photographs show the Texans in a mask-free meeting with Senator Schumer, again free of the rules and mandates imposed upon the rest of us humble Americans who might be allowed into the U.S. Capitol to meet with our representatives in Congress.
However, Vice President Kamala Harris’ office said she will not quarantine after meeting with Texas Democrat lawmakers who recently tested positive for COVID-19.
In a statement on late Saturday, Harris spokeswoman Symone Sanders said it “was determined the Vice President and her staff present at the meeting were not at risk of exposure because they were not in close contact with those who tested positive and therefore do not need to be tested or quarantined.”
So, let’s review the rules for Democrats to stop the spread of COVID-19.
You have to wear a mask on an airplane – they don’t.
You have to quarantine if you have COVID-19 – they don’t.
You have to be contact traced if you have COVID-19 or are exposed – they don’t.
You have to self-quarantine and retest if you are exposed to COVID-19 – they don’t.
We think what’s been revealed by the Texas Democrats’ excellent adventure in Washington, DC is something most conservatives know instinctively, but rarely get the scientific evidence to prove – hypocrisy is endemic to Democrat politicians, and like COVID-19, there’s no cure for that.
Texas Democrats
Washington DC
quorum
Texas voter intergrity bill
redistricting
fully vaccinated
mask mandates
Celia Israel
Contact tracing
Kamala Harris
Nancy Pelosi
Chuck Schumer
quarantine
COVID-19