John Cornyn: Dishonesty and lack of integrity is no impediment to being a Republican

Shortly after President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization into law, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) released a glowing press release claiming that a “Cornyn bill” to “eliminate nationwide rape kit backlog” was signed into law. The so-called “Cornyn bill” is the SAFER Act, which was incorporated into the VAWA renewal, and which “provide[s] funding for state and local governments to conduct audits of untested DNA evidence and create[s] a national reporting system to help track and prioritize untested rape kits,” according to Cornyn. By all appearances, it seems like a wonderful law. There’s only one problem.

Cornyn voted against it.

It takes a very special kind of shameless liar to do what John Cornyn did in his bid to cover his tracks and have it both ways. He voted against the Violence Against Women Act because of a provision allowing tribal governments to prosecute non-Native American men who commit rape on a reservation. Then he claimed to have been the champion of a key provision of VAWA. What Sen. Smarmy conveniently neglects to mention is that he voted against VAWA, which means he voted to reject the same “Cornyn bill” he’s claiming credit for.

What I find interesting is that I don’t recall Cornyn having the wherewithal to lie so shamelessly when he was Texas’ Attorney General. Evidently, I misunderestimated his dishonesty and lack of integrity. I remember him being an empty suit keeping the AG’s seat warm while he scoped out ways to feed his burgeoning ambition. Cornyn did manage to leave a fair amount of wreckage in his wake; just ask the people of Tulia, TX. Sure, a bunch of almost certainly innocent people are still languishing in prison…but, hey, I’m a U.S. Senator! How cool is that??

I suppose we could look on the bright side. At least Washington hasn’t changed John Cornyn; he’s still every bit as venal and dishonest as he was in Texas.