Political Musings from a Proud Texas Liberal
Amy Manuel is a proud Texas liberal from a long line of proud Texas liberals. Her mother called herself a “yellow dog Democrat” and attended her first Democratic Convention at the tender age of 3 because Amy’s grandfather was a delegate. Her dad was a precinct captain for LBJ and once took 2 of her sisters away from their own birthday party so they could meet President Johnson at the airport. She’s kept up her family’s tradition by raising 2 fine young liberal sons James and Cullen. She took James to DemocracyFest in Austin in 2005 when he was still in high school. She took Cullen with her to Equality Texas Lobby Day in 2011 when he was a high school senior. Her secretly liberal husband is a mechanical engineer. At work where he’s surrounded by conservatives, David’s been known to espouse a liberal opinion by first adding that this is “Amy’s opinion.” Shhhh. Don’t tell his co-workers.
On her show Political Musings, don’t expect to “hear both sides” or expect her to be anything but the proud liberal Democrat that she’s always been.
Amy’s had many different occupations over the years. She’s been a dance teacher, a computer programmer, an Uber driver, a realtor, a substitute teacher, a Sunday School music teacher for several different synagogues, a census team leader, a waitress, and even a carhop. She’s worked as temp at a variety of offices and also done retail sales. Much like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy spent many years as a part time bartender. She can make a mean margarita or if The Dude shows up, she can fill his order for a White Russian. (I hear there’s an orange Russian in the White House.) Through it all, much like Representative Adam Schiff, she’s been a proud and nerdy pencil-necked geek.
In 2004, Amy dove head first into politics as a political activist and by 2006, left corporate computing to run for county commissioner. She tried a 2nd failed run for public office in 2009 when she ran for Denton City Council. Then in 2018 she made a final failed attempt by running for Denton County Clerk. She was the first Democrat in 30 years to run for county clerk in Denton County. She now swears she’s done being a candidate. Don’t ask. She’s not doing it. She will help you with your campaign if you are sufficiently liberal.
When the #txlege is in session, Amy can frequently be found lobbying with various groups for social justice, education, the environment, women’s reproductive rights and other important issues in the halls of the state capital. It was political activism that led her to her first job in talk radio.
Amy Manuel joined hosts Jack Bishop and Rich Hancock in 2009 on the now defunct AM 1360 Rational Radio. From 2015 through 2018, she and Jack hosted The Intersection Tuesdays thru Fridays at 11pm on another internet network. The Intersection continues without Amy, though she will occasionally call in.
Since 2017, Amy has hosted Political Musings on the Fishbowl Radio Network Red Stream every Monday from noon to 1pm CST. Tune in for her political musings, an occasional interview, and plenty of fun music on the theme of the day.
