Congressman Sessions: At least he wasn't proposing resurrecting the Southern Strategy

Congressman Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, has had a rough week after seemingly comparing GOP tactics to the Taliban.

Sessions sat down with the DC-based The Hotline to talk policy. Before he got dragged off by a staffer, Sessions managed to get this bon mot out about what Congressional Republicans can learn from Afghan warlords:

“Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban, … And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person’s entire processes. And these Taliban – I’m not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. No, that’s not what we’re saying.”

So, just so everyone is clear, Sessions is not saying that his vision for the Republican Party is a bunch of misanthropic, anti-democratic, fundamentalist gun-nuts whose loyalties are negotiable. That said, he does share their hatred of technology, having filed a bill in 2005 to ban free wi-fi.

Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle shot back yesterday that while the economy heads deeper in the tank,
“Sessions is looking to one of the most evil, extreme and violent organizations in the world for inspiration and guidance to block progress.”

This article appears in February 6 • 2009.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.