Yesterday, the 80th Texas Legislature officially ended. And if you thought this session was fraught with partisan bickering and political vendettas... baby, you ain't seen nothing yet.

On Monday morning, just after midnight, the long-brewing attempt to dethrone the powerful Tom Craddick, Speaker of House, reached a fever pitch as several Republican anti-Craddick members rose up to move for a vote on whether Speaker Craddick should vacate his position. The Speaker's chair fought back with ease by simply refusing to acknowledge them. The plans of the anti-Craddick camp having been thwarted, the rebels started getting desperate... but by then, it was way too late.

Rep. Pat Haggerty (R-El Paso) blew the ram's horn and demanded that all those opposed to Speaker Craddick's reign head for the door. 54 of them did so in a symbolic gesture of rebellion against "absolute power." Outside of the House chamber, these brave guerrilla warriors, these courageous high-protectors of Freedom, were greeted with passionate (and ironic?) applause for their efforts by spectators.

Truth: As wondrous and gallant as the "insurgency's" final act of protest may have been, it only really seems to have had two effects, both of them negative:

- Disruption of the hearing of bills on the calendar, and...
- Ensuring that the next legislative session will be hamstrung by political infighting.

The problem here is that, for all the talk that we heard from the "insurgency," what they really ended up doing was hurting the process way more than Craddick has heretofore done on his own (and that's saying a lot). By waving a loaded gun around and then lacking the gumption to pull the trigger, the 54 members that met such fervent applause last night outside the House chamber achieved nothing. Sure, they tried.

Like him or not, the fact of the matter is that Speaker Tom Craddick is an incredibly powerful man who will fight -- and fight dirty -- to keep his office. He and his people play for keeps, and their network in this state is vast and well-funded. By making the attempt to remove this man from power, and then failing to succeed, the 54 representatives that walked out of the House on Monday morning have fired the first shots of a war that has the potential to drag the House into a big, nasty mess next time around.

Maybe the Great House Insurgency of 2007 should have heeded the age-old advice of a wise sage when laying their plans for Mr. Craddick:

"Do, or do not. There is no try." - Jedi Master Yoda

*Image courtesy of Wikipedia.