Dan Patrick calls Scribner a ‘dictator,’ then blames Obama?
Once a hokey TV sportscaster, then a fire-breathing radio talk host, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is still just putting on a big show.
On Thursday, the Republican state convention became the latest setting for The Daily Dose of Dan, with Patrick calling Fort Worth school Superintendent Kent Scribner a “dictator” and saying the Obama administration is “using the Fort Worth school district as their experiment in Texas.”
Patrick’s windiest comments of a high-velocity day came in a KERA/90.1 FM interview, where he called Scribner’s recent guidelines protecting transgender students’ rights “the propaganda of the left” and “a page right out of the president’s book.”
Almost in the same breath, hours before word came that the Obama administration will enforce similar rules under civil rights law, Patrick claimed his comments aren’t political or meant to inflame voters.
But campaign strategist Vincent Harris of Austin-based Harris Media already explained that.
Transgender fairness policies, gender rights and “bathroom bills” are all the talk for Republicans this year because “that’s what gets people fired up,” Harris told a Lubbock TV station this week.
With the tepid response to New York Republican Donald Trump as a presidential nominee, down-ballot Texas Republicans need to build up a big, scary bathroom bogeyman to gin up voter turnout.
In a separate interview, State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, said he wants Scribner fired for the new guidelines protecting transgender students’ equal access to restrooms and other facilities.
Then, Huffines said: “This isn’t about bathrooms. This is about the liberal Democrat agenda!”
In the KERA interview, Patrick doubled down on previous criticism of the Fort Worth schools, calling the district “one of the worst” and saying, “They can’t keep a superintendent.”
Time and again, Patrick mentioned Scribner in the same sentence with Obama.
Instead of focusing on student achievement, Patrick said, Scribner issued the guidelines because “this is an issue the Obama administration wants — this is what they’re pushing.”
Asked to cite a specific connection, Patrick gave Scribner’s 2011 appointment to a White House commission on Hispanic education.
“I look at the facts as they are,” Patrick said.
He called Scribner “a dictator who parades himself as a superintendent” and said Fort Worth school officials “need to stop the lies.”
Later, Patrick was asked whether he fears that Texas will be the focus of business boycotts like North Carolina if the Legislature tries to restrict transgender Americans’ freedom.
“We’ve seen this act before from the left,” he replied.
“They threaten. They intimidate, posture.
“People see through that today.”
Do they?
Bud Kennedy: 817-390-7538, bud@star-telegram.com, @BudKennedy. His column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Dan Patrick calls Scribner a ‘dictator,’ then blames Obama?."