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The Glaring Differences Between Palin & Perry Posted on August 19 2011 - 9:14 AM - Posted by: Stacy Drake After his announcement last weekend, Rick Perry’s record has come under considerable scrutiny from the media and the blogs. One of the most notable items of discussion has been about an executive order that Perry signed, mandating young girls to receive the HPV vaccine known as Gardasil. It was so controversial that the Texas State Legislature stepped in and repealed the law just weeks after Perry had pushed it through.Tuesday evening, Michelle Malkin published a very detailed column about Perry’s...

Rick Perry has counted on the staunch support of Texas conservatives during his two decades of statewide triumphs in Texas. He’s an anti-tax, anti-spending, anti-regulation, anti-Washington stalwart. Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com and a leader on the right since the days of Ronald Reagan, called Perry a “committed conservative” whose presidential announcement “brought a wave of relief to conservatives.” Then why are some conservative bloggers and activists warning others on the political right about a Perry presidential candidacy? “Before Republicans start salivating too heavily, it is important to examine Perry closely,” says conservative talk-show host David Zublick. “His conservative...

Rick Perry called the idea of a wall across the entire U.S.-Mexico border “ridiculous” today in a stop in New Hampshire. “You got strategic fencing in some of the metropolitan areas – it’s very helpful,” the Texas governor said. “But the idea that you’re going to build a wall from Brownsville to El Paso is just -- it’s ridiculous on its face.” That was in the context of Perry saying how he'd asked Washington for 1,000 National Guard troops and how current efforts at border security are ineffective. Perry swatted at the Obama administration’s assertion that the “border is safer...

In an interview with an Iowa radio station on Monday, the Republican presidential contender explained his role as the Gore campaign’s Texas chairman by saying that “this was Al Gore before he invented the Internet and got to be Mr. Global Warming.” But in fact, global warming was already a significant theme for Gore in 1987 and 1988 — long before his activism led to several books, a Nobel Prize and a part in an Academy Award-winning film. It was also well before the right gave him the "Mr. Ozone" nickname and talk radio heaped endless mockery on the future...

On Saturday Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce whether or not he will run for president. Many now believe he will. Perry is eager to separate himself from his predecessor in the Texas governor’s mansion, George W. Bush — who is unpopular with both tea party Republicans and the American electorate as a whole. But one area where Perry’s positions are virtually identical to Bush is immigration. When I ran for president in 2008, I tried to pressure the Republican candidates to take a hard line against illegal immigration. For this, Perry called me a racist. When he...

I'm still stuck in DC, and here in the Capitol, sources close to Rick Perry confirmed today that the Texas governor will announce his bid for President this Saturday, while the Iowa straw polls are in session. Perry is due to be in South Carolina that day, and by announcing that he is "90% sure he will run," he can steal much of the thunder from the straw poll winner. Perry's plans are to then fly to New Hampshire where he will announce that "due to the outpouring of support" he is either 99% or 100% sure he will run."...

If Gov. Rick Perry decides to throw his hat into the presidential ring, we can expect enhanced interest in his Democratic past. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the analysis suggests Perry did not leave the Democratic Party so much as it left him, although compared to Reagan, Perry was (ideologically) much less of a Democrat to begin with. During Perry's first term (1985-87) in the Texas House his voting record located him as the 12th most conservative Democrat, rising to 10th in the 1987-89 session and 7th in 1989. From the very beginning, Perry was clearly a conservative outlier within his...

Perry is Bush lite and Sarah Palin in a skirt Todd J. Gillman August 7, 2011 GOP consultant Alex Castellanos dumped all over Gov. Rick Perry this morning on NBC's Meet the Press, calling him "Sarah Palin with a skirt" and a lesser version of George W. Bush - and not in a good way. "He has some challenges. One of them is that people think he's a little bit of a coffee table book. He's kind of Sarah Palin with a skirt. Not a substantive candidate," Castellanos said when host Dick Gregory asked if Perry could give the current...

If Gov. Rick Perry opts to run for president, a passel of polls released this week indicates that he would enter the race for the GOP nomination as a top-tier candidate. Four national polls had Perry running second to fourth among Republicans surveyed in July, surpassing many established — and long-announced — candidates, including Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. "He's top three if he runs," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. "I think it's (Mitt) Romney and (Michele) Bachmann and Perry. The others, so far, have not been able to generate any real...

With speculation mounting as to whether Rick Perry will make a White House run, two national polls released Friday morning show the Texas governor within close reach of front-runner Mitt Romney. The Massachusetts governor edges Perry by 16 percent to 14 percent, in a CNN/ORC International survey and by 17 percent to 14 percent in a Fox News poll. The CNN survey shows an increased enthusiasm for a Perry presidential bid. In May, only 40 percent of Republican respondents wanted him to jump into the candidate pool, a number that's now risen to 50 percent. Fifty-five percent want former Alaska...

AUSTIN — Employing deeply religious language that national experts say affords both power and peril for his political career, Gov. Rick Perry in late May told a private group of East Texas business leaders that he was “called to the ministry” at the age of 27, suggested that the governor's office was his pulpit and that God put him “in this place at this time to do his will.” According to a transcript of the meeting, organized to raise funds for Perry's Aug. 6 “day of prayer and fasting” at Reliant Stadium, the governor stated that property rights, government regulation...

Should Rick Perry conclude that voter discontent has left him an opening to enter the presidential race, the Texas governor would be among the Republican field's most conservative candidates. Rick Perry rejects the idea of global warming and the theory of evolution, arguing for natural climate variations and intelligent design of the universe. He branded Social Security and other New Deal safety net programmes "the second big step in the march of socialism," according to a book published last year. The "first step" was a national income tax, which he has said stands alongside the direct election of US senators...

John King CNN interview: 5:19 minute video: Could Rick Perry shake up GOP W.H. race?GUESTS: Erick Erickson [Red State] and Mimi Swartz [Texas Monthly] discuss the potential presidential candidacy of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.Swartz: “Formidable campaigner. People on the East Coast underestimate him at their peril. He’s relentless. Perry will fight to the death if he wants this.” King: If he gets in, who gets hurt? Erickson: Pawleny has most to lose. Bachman loses. Hurts Romney -- explains in detail. Palin and Giuliani won’t get in if Perry gets in. Swartz: quoting another pundit re: Bush/Perry -- Bush aristocratic –...

Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry leads Barack Obama 45 percent to 42 percent among North Carolina voters in a potential presidential matchup, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute. Republican (81 percent Perry - 8 percent Obama) and Democratic voter (17 percent Perry - 69 percent Obama) support falls along party lines between the potential candidates. Unaffiliated voters, the fastest growing voter segment in the state, would choose Perry over Obama by a 53 percent to 32 percent margin.

Speaking this morning to the Texas Municipal Police Association in Austin, Gov. Rick Perry returned to one of his favorite subjects over the last few years, saying the Obama administration has inappropriately handled security issues on the Texas-Mexico border. Perry, who told the Des Moines Register in recent days that God may be calling him to run for president, has long said Washington has not deployed enough manpower to the Texas-Mexico border. He repeated that criticism this morning, saying he wants 3,000 Border Patrol agents along the border in Texas and 1,000 troops from the National Guard. He said...

If Texas Gov. Rick Perry runs for president, he'd bring along strong conservative credentials. He's advocated laws that require a sonogram before an abortion and that force police to enforce federal immigration law.

Is Rick Perry Running? ‘Absolutely,’ Says Texas Monthly Editor July 15, 2011 1:56 PM ABC News’ Rick Klein (@rickklein) reports: Look for another entry into the Republican field: Texas Gov. Rick Perry is poised to jump into the race for the presidency in the coming weeks, Texas Monthly senior executive editor Paul Burka told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today. “Absolutely. He's running,” Burka said. “He's been talking about it with his family -- his family's behind him. His friends are behind him. And I really think this something that came -- that started in 2010 when he was running...

Mr. Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat... A raging liberal he was not... He was one of a handful of freshman “pit bulls,” so named because they sat in the lower pit of the House Appropriations Committee, where they fought to keep spending low. But Mr. Perry cast some votes and took a few stands that seem to be at odds with his fiscal conservatism today. The most vivid example is his support of the $5.7 billion tax hike in 1987, signed by Gov. Bill Clements, a Republican, opposed by most Republican members. The bill...

.......The conventional wisdom has been that a sizeable portion of the party’s base wants to defeat Romney. Rather, the Republicans interviewed said, many in the party are satisfied with Romney but waiting to see if a stronger candidate emerges. “People are for him in the same way they were for Bob Dole” in 1996, said Tom Perdue, a longtime Georgia strategist. “They’re for him, but they’re looking far over their shoulder hoping somebody else is going to step up.” He said that some major Atlanta donors backing Romney have told Perdue privately that they would “jump ship really fast” if...

.....Multiple Republican sources tell NH Journal that Perry is calling top-shelf Republican leaders in the Granite State. One Republican state Senator who received a call from the Governor confirmed that he has been discussing his entry into the presidential sweepstakes with leading state Republicans for the past few days. .....Should he decide to run, Perry is viewed as a serious competitor who could shake up the race. Perry is a fiscal and social conservative with tea party ties and a strong fundraising base.