ELECTION 2024:...Writing Off Republican Mayra Flores? Think Twice...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | It's one of those lateral associative sorts of things. You see dirt lobbed at a politician you don't like and then you do it. Not that it hurts or even really bothers you, but you have a writing platform and, well, write you must.

Republican candidate Mayra Flores has her fans. That is not up for discussion, as her history tells you quite readily that she came out of nowhere to actually win a congressional seat in the summer of 2022. Today, she looms as a serious existential threat to 34th Congressional District incumbent Vicente Gonzalez.

 Go ahead and go stupid. Lay it on her thick, bro. Make her the butt of your jokes all you want.

She'll be there, still be there when Election Day rolls around.

We at The Sun are not big fans of her at all. What we do believe in is honesty and fairness. To us, a member of Congress is an upstanding, admired citizen out to do good, knowing, first of all, the difference between good and bad. Miss Flores has been bad and does not seem to be learning on the ever-winding campaign trail.

Is that enough to roast her at every turn?

No. Far from it. She's a worthy opponent at the ballot box and we're pretty sure Vicente Gonzalez knows that. Merely exhibiting agog fascination with nicknames and dirt to throw at her is not going to derail her campaign, which, we're told, will be well-funded by the Republican National Committee, a deep-pockets outfit.

Democrat Gonzalez will bring his growing list of accomplishments and, we expect, a similarly fat bank account to the fray. Miss Flores cannot be devalued or run out of town by mere words, however silly those words may be. They do draw attention, but it's always in a humorous, no-account manner.

True, the written word - or uttered orotundities - carries some clout. You throw them out often enough - as does, for example, Donald J. Trump - and some people are going to buy into them. That's human nature at work and at play.

But this criticism of Miss Flores has now boiled over into detestation.

We would say that is not needed, childish and useless at the end of the day. Have your fun with trying to tear her down. You may even wish to believe you're being successful, but that's a self-created mirage. Seeing yourself as someone who's brought himself excruciatingly up to speed on national affairs convicts you. Anyone can lob cold tortillas from the stadium's upper deck, as they do in Los Angeles quite nicely.

This, too, is clear: Some people simply do not have a sense of humor as much as they have a sense of ridicule. 

Contrapuntal snivel will never either define or derail a political campaign. Remorseles repartee is cute and makes one laugh, but that's all it does. It is fleeting and worthless. You may draw some response. That, we know, will only make you laugh and spur you on down the same potholed road.

We say Mayra Flores will get her day in the court of public opinion on Election Day, 2024.

Until then, everything you read and hear will come adorned with either high praise or low-down dirt.

In politics, rootless excitement is free...

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