Liberal trial lawyer -- Recon Marine officer

I love stories like the one we published Sunday about Tony Buzbee giving $3.5 million in fancy cars to The Jesse Tree, a faith-based social services organization.

I love stories like that one because they stand prejudices on their heads and spin them like tops.

Among the traffickers of simpleminded stereotypes, Buzbee would be a “liberal trial lawyer.” Like a lot of other educated people, Buzbee dislikes such labels. He said he was socially liberal but not fiscally liberal. He said he votes on issues, but forced (by me for these purposes) to choose a flavor he would choose liberal.

I’m confident a lot of people who’ve read about his litigation against corporations would hang that label on Buzbee.

And apparently the label means something important to some people. Rick Perry has pretty much built his campaign for governor around calling Bill White a liberal trial lawyer in e-mail blasts three or four or 40 times a day, for example. If nothing else, Perry is a smart political operator. He must think the label will do a lot to convince some people to vote against White.

Liberals, of course, hate “‘Merica,” and “the troops,” and mom and apple pie, and Chevrolet and all the other things that real Americans, conservative Americans, love.

Conservatives, meanwhile, apparently have cornered the market on patriotism, service to the nation and all other virtues.

Then along comes Tony Buzbee, who may very well be a liberal trial lawyer, which in the pantheon of conservative bugaboos ranks near Satan himself.

Which leads to the part of the story I liked so much.

Whatever else Tony Buzbee is, he’s a combat veteran. He's a former Marine Corps officer. He served his country. He not only served, but served in combat. He not only served in combat, but served as a small-unit leader in the infantry. That is as far out on the tip of the spear as one can get.

I drafted Buzbee to make a couple of points.

First, none of the political parties has an exclusive franchise on military service. Second, reality always is more complicated than a simpleminded label can accommodate.