mamas tell all your babies don t mess with texas keep your trash off the roads and she s a fine yellow rose treat texas like someone you love you can never go wrong with willie nelson. my next guest is daring to mess with texas. gale collins, the new york times columnist, of course, author of the new book as texas goes , how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda. this is an outsider s view of texas to try to figure out what texas means to the rest of the country. are you a new yorker? i was born in ohio. you re a midwesterner. we don t have don t mess with ohio tee shirts. that s interesting about texas, the self-awareness of being a texan is very unusual. you don t get that anywhere else in the same way. even though politically there are other states, ohio, florida,
here with us now, columnist gail collins. she is out with a new book, as texas goes: how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda. i want to start with another new york times piece, though, the message from wisconsin it s called, and it goes over the results of the recall election. it says mr. walker s campaign raised seven times as much money as mr. barrett s, much of it in six-figure checks from some of the same business interests. the tactics worked in wisconsin, and in several other states. labor, so long in decline in the private sector, is also losing its clout in states and cities, unable to match or withstand the unfettered bank accounts of industry. the people who kept mr. walker and his policies in power are just getting started. dan senor? well, i think what the public
laroache takes the first pitch he sees deep. nats win 5-3. the washington nationals now, we are pretty deep into the season here, and they are still in first place in the n.l. east. coming up, her new book is how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda. new york times columnist gail collins will join us next. keep it on morning joe. t ther. t ther. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier. the more you know.
gail collins, really a lot of fun in many ways. and let s look at an excerpt as well. and then we ll move on. the subtitle of the book, how the lone star state hijacked the american agenda. policy works have always described texas as low tax, low service. while the state leaders like to brag about the first part, they don t generally broadcast the rest. there are no signs announcing, welcome to texas. you won t pay much, and you ll get what you pay for. but it s hardly a secret. uh-oh. all right. keep going. tell us about the book. you know, this all started when i was listening to the famous now rick perry s secession speech, which was not about secession. it was a speech attacking the federal government in front of a crowd of people with secede signs. and i thought, why are these people so angry? the state has run the country for the past 30 years. if you look at the savings and