More amusing than impactful, but still amusing.
Still a crook any way you look
One of the lawyers who defended Attorney General Ken Paxton during his three-year-old impeachment trial endorsed Democrat James Talarico Monday in Texas’ U.S. Senate race.
Dan Cogdell, a veteran Houston attorney who represented Paxton in his long-running felony securities fraud case and his 2023 impeachment, announced his support for Talarico in an interview with the attorney general’s Democratic opponent on the lawyer’s podcast.
“I defended Ken Paxton for years in the impeachment trial and in state criminal cases,” Cogdell said on his podcast. “But in my view, respectfully, I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas. And unlike Ken, I believe to my core, James, that you believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans — and we need that right now.”
The news was first reported by NOTUS.
I mean, look. Nobody cares about endorsements. In a low-information primary or non-partisan race, where you’re just looking for some way to differentiate between mostly unknown candidates, then sure, an endorsement from a trusted person or organization helps. Anyone who needs assistance in deciding who to vote for in this race probably needs to have the concept of elections explained to them as well, slowly and with small words.
That said, there’s value in Talarico adding to his message the tagline that “Even Ken Paxton’s defense attorney won’t vote for him”. It’s pretty delicious, actually. Seeing Republicans in the story and on Twitter whine about how Cogdell is a Democrat makes it even funnier, as if they truly believe that some dry fact can overcome a good narrative. Maybe if Ken Paxton didn’t regularly need the services of a defense attorney, this would have less of a punch. Whatever the case, let a thousand memes bloom here.