What's Come Over Robert Talton?

I was living in his district a few years before I’d even heard of him. This “extreme social conservative” has been little noticed except by certain trial lawyers who found him friendly, probably because many of his constituents have been injured working in the local chemical plants and refineries. One theme of his tenure has been sex-related; whether the issue is education, reproductive health, birth control, or gay rights, he can be counted on to take the Rufus T. Firefly position, “I’m against it!”Maybe we can blame Texas Monthly’s naming him to their “10 Worst Legislators” list in 2003 for his sudden ambitious streak. The next thing I heard, he wanted to replace Tom DeLay as dist.22 rep. Now he wants to be Speaker of the Texas House. Could it be that he’s a stalking horse, put in to divide the opposition to Speaker Craddick?