In the often absurd world of Texas political media it's sometimes hard to tell whether a news agency is seriously considering leading a meaningless charge or just trying, unsuccessfully, to use sarcasm and hyperbole to mock the Texas system. The Texas Monthly drive(?), led by diminishing political writer Paul Burka, to right the wrongs of the 77th legislature and replace chili with brisket as the official dish of Texas is one of those times. Maybe they're serious, maybe they're not? Any suggestion that they aren't is sure to draw a quick insult but no real clarification. That's the thing about these imported New Yorkers, they don't handle sarcasm well at all. (Obviously I could care less if people subscribe to them or not, and I obviously would not call for people to cancel their subscriptions over chili.)
Whatever the cause, there was reason enough for The Chili Appreciation Society, International (who knew?) to write to Burka telling him to go stick his head in a smoker. This resulted in Burka reaffirming the intention of Texas Monthly (another of the many fading Texas institutions) to push for an actual legislative change in 2015.
As for me, I like both chili and brisket. This is not an issue where one has to choose sides, as in the Gubernatorial election. Nor is it fair to call either names. While the Democrats and Republicans have given us Governor good hair and abortion Barbie, when it comes to chili there's no reason to go passed either "A Bowl of Red" or "wet" (as opposed to "dry"). Why we would need to tie up resources to change something this inconsequential is beyond me but, whatever floats your political boat.
On a positive note, if Burka is preoccupied during the next Legislative session with this issue, maybe he'll be too busy to provide us with his on again/off again anger at the inner workings of the chambers, and we can spend more of our time focusing on the devolution of the Texas Lock-Step Political Media into full-on News-ish mode? With Hearst Corp all but ceding Austin coverage to the Texas Tribune and the DMN, it will be interesting to see where the future of (sub-par) Texas political coverage settles. My bet is an increase in advocacy in place of journalism. No longer are young, idealistic, progressive reporters going to be satisfied reporting the news, when they've been told by older, idealistic, progressive editors (with out-sized egos and pretty impressive eyewear) that they should instead focus on driving the agenda, to make the news.
To conclude however I think it's best to take a strong, hard look at this chili/brisket issue. I note that this was silent until the revelation that New York City now considers itself a Bar-B-Q Mecca surpassing Texas. When your political reporting is driven by a longing for attention from New York and DC, it only makes sense that your political causes would reflect their current tastes.
Of course, at the end of the day none of this really matters, much like most reporting from Texas Lock-Step Political Media. After all, what we're all waiting for is the old white vote to die-off, thus ushering in a wave of Democrats so bent on fixing the Republican damage that they fail to realize what's actually been working. This reporting might speed things up however, chili being more nutritious of a meal than is fatty brisket.
Wait.....So they ARE trying to kill of Republicans..........
