It's wrong to call Perry a racist

Star-Telegram ^ | October 4, 2011 | Bob Ray Sanders

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I will not make a habit of defending Gov. Rick Perry. I promise.

It would not be in either of our best interest -- certain to cause some of his supporters on the right to question further his conservative credentials, and most assuredly making my liberal friends wonder about my sanity.

For some it was bad enough that I recently commended our governor for his stance on providing a college education (at in-state tuition prices) for noncitizen children of illegal immigrants. It's one of the few things Perry and I agree on.

But the latest brouhaha surrounding suggestions of Perry's racial insensitivity forces me once again to rise to his defense.

Believe me, as a native Texan who happens to be black and whose roots go back 150 years in the Lone Star State, I know racism as well as anyone in this country. And I've never been one to shy away from denouncing those who exhibit racist attitudes or tolerate bigoted behavior. For several years, I taught a course at Texas Christian University called "Race, Gender and the Mass Media."

Combine that experience with decades of observing American politics, and perhaps no one is more qualified than I to make this pronouncement: Rick Perry is not a racist. That is, no more than any other American shaped by his/her national, regional, cultural, ethnic and religious influences.

Let's put this notion to rest immediately because, as we say in Texas, that dog won't hunt, not even on the plains of northwest Texas where Perry shared a lease on 1,000 acres.

[editor-surveyor]

Wow, what debating skills!

[editor-surveyor]

CajunLaRaza it is!

[Impy]

I don’t know what you’re going on about and I’m not interested. I was commenting on your disgraceful attack on people that oppose illegal immigration as “anti-immigration bigots”. Shame on you.

[BillyBoy]

Heh. CajunLaRaza does seem to fit better. Reminds of a conversation I had with a freeper named "Libertarianize the GOP" and he went on and on about how the GOP was founded by marxists, Lincoln was a tyrant, south shoulda won the civil war, pro-slavery RATs were the real conservatives, etc. I gave him a more fitting screenname "Libertarianize the DNC"

[CajunConservative]

Why should I debate you since your mind is made up? You don’t get to determine what is a conservative. I could post more in depth definitions on each conservative political position but it wouldn’t matter because you don’t seem to want to step out of your particular view.

[BillyBoy]

Two over-the-top Perrybot posts (by different freepers!) on the SAME thread. First, the claim that Obama was a "conservative" Democrat and the second claiming that Perry attacks come from "anti-immigrant bigots". Many, the 'bots are like a moth to a flame on this thread.

I created a new graphic just for the 'bots:

[Dengar01]

Perrybots so far make the Rudybots look sane!!! So far I'm heartless, I'm a bigot, I'm racist, I'm anti-Texas (nearly every Perrybot is supporting him simply due to the fact they are Texans!)

So by that logic I should vote for Obama? I mean he's from Illinois, he was my Senator, he is a White Sox, Bears, Bulls and Hawks fan like me!!! So I MUST vote for Barack Obama!!!

Now, he is a marxist, he hates white people, he is more corrupt than any other President, his wife spent $10 mil on vacations at my expense, his Attorney General gave guns to Mexican drug gangs.

But I need to overlook that simply because he is from the state of Illinois. I'm sorry how illogical I was for not supporting Obama before the Perrybots showed me that supporting someone from your state is more important than anything else!!! /MEGA SUPER DUPER SARCASM

[South40]

You do not decide the definition of what is a conservative.

Maybe not. But I know that when it comes to defining what conservatives should and should be doing, I agree 100% with the man who owns this forum.

There’s no way in hell any conservative can justify pandering to illegal aliens.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2790087/posts?page=132#132

[hocndoc]

The emphasis was on “bigot,” with your love of “FAIR,” etc.

[bobby.223]

Darn, that is good!!!

[Eagle Eye]

The openly willful ignorant posters strike again.

If you wanted to know what it meant, you’d know.

[Eagle Eye]

I thought Romney’s about not ‘resorting to poisonous language that doesn’t unite’ should be something you take to heart.

[South40]

Perrybots so far make the Rudybots look sane!!! So far I'm heartless, I'm a bigot, I'm racist, I'm anti-Texas (nearly every Perrybot is supporting him simply due to the fact they are Texans!)

I'm all that and then some. Because I disagreed with La Raza Rick's nanny-state Gardasil mandate, one of the more moronic Perrybots told me I "hate Texas females and want them to die of cancer".

You are right; the PerryBots do make the RudyBots look sane. Heck, the PerryBots even make the PaulBots look sane.

[driftdiver]

ahh you know you are lying. no surprise for a Perry supporter

[driftdiver]

I’ll sign on, seems a whole lot of crazy pills were dispensed

[hocndoc]

Y’all sure did gang up on CajunConservative, but still no comments on my post #149 or #150

How about the guy’s own resume from his journal website:

http://www.thesocialcontract.com/answering_our_critics/tanton_resume.html

EDUCATION

B.S., Michigan State University, 1956, Chemistry
M.D., University of Michigan, 1960
M.S., University of Michigan, 1964, Ophthalmology
Diplomate, American Board of Ophthalmology, 1956

EMPLOYMENT

Ophthalmologist, Burns Clinic Medical Center, Petoskey, Michigan, 1964 to 1998
Consultant, Federation for American Immigration Reform, Washington, DC, September 1, 1981 through June 30, 1982 (leave of absence from medical practice)

ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Michigan Natural Areas Council, Secretary, 1962-1963
Bear River Development Commission, City of Petoskey, Organizer and Chairman, 1965-1972
Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association, Organizer and President, 1965-1971
Great Lakes Public Affairs Committee of Planned Parenthood, Chairman, 1970-1971
Petoskey Regional Audubon Society, Co-organizer and President, 1967 and 1969
Hartwick Pines Natural History Association, Organizer and President, 1969-1972
Sierra Club, Petoskey Regional Group, Organizer and Chairman, 1970-1972
Sierra Club, Mackinac Chapter Population Committee, Organizer and Chairman, 1969-1971
Sierra Club, National Long-range Planning Committee, Member, 1970-1973
League of Conservation Voters, 11th Congressional District, Organizer, 1970-1974
Governor’s Advisory Council on Natural Areas, Member, 1971-1972 (appointed by Governor W. Milliken)
Wilderness and Natural Areas Advisory Board, Department of Natural Resources, Member, 1972-1975 (gubernatorial appointment)
Plaintiff, Tanton vs. DNR, an environmental lawsuit, 1971-1972
Little Traverse Group, Co-organizer and Executive Committee Member, 1972-1988, President, 1979-1981
Little Traverse Conservancy, Co-organizer and Board Member, 1972-1988, President, 1979-1981
Zero Population Growth, member, National Executive Committee, 1973-1978
Zero Population Growth, Chairman, Immigration Study Committee, 1973-1975
Zero Population Growth, National President, 1975-1977
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Advisory Commission, 1978-1980, Chairman,1980 (appointment by Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus)
Federation for American Immigration Reform, Organizer and Chairman, 1979-1987, Board, 1979-present
Population/Environment Balance (formerly The Environmental Fund), Board Member, 1980-1990
U.S., Inc., Founder and Chairman, 1982-present
U.S.ENGLISH, Co-founder and Chairman, 1982-1988
American Academy of Ophthalmologists, Low Vision Rehabilitation Committee, Member, 1988-1994, Chairman, 1989-1993
American Alliance for Rights and Responsibilities, Co-founder, 1989
The Emergency Committee on Puerto Rican Statehood and the Status of English in the United States, Co-organizer, 1990
E Pluribus Unum, Co-organizer, 1992
The Social Contract, a quarterly journal, Founder and Publisher, 1990-present; Editor 1990-1998
ProEnglish, Co-organizer, 1993-present

[South40]

Don't ever ping me again. I want ZERO pings from you. You lost all credibility when you posted some terribly written pro-Gardasil/nanny-state BS that you wrote yourself. I'm not interested in anything you have to say and I'm certainly not interested in whomever you are promoting this day. I find it as irrelelvent as most everything you post. I don't care who Tanton is -- ¿comprende?

And I did not "gang up on CajunConservative". I responded to a post by JR to JR and I did not even mention CC's name.

DO NOT PING ME AGAIN!

[McGavin999]

OMG, that is stunning information.

[McGavin999]

They can’t answer you, you caught them out.

[Jim Robinson]

Never heard of him.