Texas Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina spoke to an enthusiastic Kingwood Tea Party crowd in far-northeast Houston Saturday interested in hearing her plans to reform the Lone Star State.
Medina made no reference about her Glenn Beck interview. However, the 20 or so random people with whom this reporter spoke before and after her speech seemed to accept Medina’s follow-up response released by her campaign a couple of hours after the Thursday morning radio interview. As Char with Texans for Nullification Today said, “If you go back and look at the radio transcript, when Glenn asked if she believed the government was involved in bringing down the World Trade Centers, Medina’s first two words were, ‘I don’t.’ If she’s guilty of anything, it’s for being verbose and not using a teleprompter.”
The Tea Partiers seemed to be far more concerned about the possibility of having to elect the “lesser of two evils,” incumbent Gov. Rick Perry or Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, as the next state Governor. Medina pounded on hot button topics such as Perry’s support of the mandatory HPV vaccination, the Trans Texas Corridor and his support of state college tuition rates for illegal immigrants, as well as Hutchison’s support of the Federal Bailouts, Amnesty for illegal immigrants and pro-abortion rights.
The former nurse turned businesswoman was met with raucous applaud when she said she was “unequivocally Pro-Life in all cases.” She referenced Florida’s Terri Schiavo saga, and how in contrast all life in Texas would be protected under a Medina Administration. Medina denounced the Federal government’s “interference” in Texas rights to decide on Abortion and other issues reserved to the States by the US Constitution.
State Sovereignty was a reoccurring theme in Medina’s speech. “Many of you stand with me in saying enough is enough. We’ve had enough tyranny and corruption from our federal government,” she said.
From refusing to recognize Roe v Wade in Texas, to keeping the EPA “off the backs of Texans,” Medina was emphatic in her refusal to allow “illegal Federal actions” if she were governor. Although Medina said she would be willing to support a Texas Resolution declaring State Sovereignty, she said she didn’t see the need to do so, as Texas currently has the right under the Tenth Amendment now – a governor with the courage to “stand up and say no” to the Federal government is all that’s needed.
Illegal immigration was another topic that met the approval of the Tea Party crowd. “When you cross the Texas border, you’re on private property. You are welcome to our state, but you need to go through the gate, not the river.” She indicated that because the Federal government is not meeting its obligation to properly enforcing the international border, she would be compelled to communicate her intensions to the Mexican government, while building up and eventually deploying the Texas National Guard to seal the Texas-Mexico border.
Medina’s passion on Gun Rights and a balanced Budget resonated with the Tea Partiers, as she pointed out the record of opponents Perry and Hutchison. “We need to elect citizen leaders, not more of the status quo,” she said. As Texas is currently $33 billion in debt, triple of what Perry inherited when he first took office, it would take until 2047 to pay that debt off. At the state and federal level, government must end its “insatiable appetite to spend our children’s money.”
