Someone has to.
Not since Lyndon B. Johnson has there been another pol who could so dominate everyone around him by sheer force of personality. Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, who this month announced his retirement, is probably the smartest person I've ever known, which is partly what makes both the good and the bad of him so outsized. We won't lose Bullock for a while yet, but we are certainly losin' a tall tree here. At 67, he has had part of one lung removed and bypass surgery, did untold damage to himself with alcohol, is slightly deaf and is manic depressive - and he still works harder, thinks faster and knows more than anyone else in Texas government. And maybe in Texas.