Posted on 08/28/2011 10:01:59 AM PDT by The Bronze Titan
If you’re a Tea Party member, or you have significant sympathies with them, I’d caution you against climbing aboard Rick Perry’s TransTexasCatastrophe. The Media is doing everything possible to paint this guy as a bronc-busting, cattle-roping, Texan, but in truth, there are more than a few things you ought to know about him. He’s no friend to individual rights, except in an election season, and he’s not really the trend-setter he’d have you believe. His record on jobs isn’t actually so swift as he’d have you believe, and he’s got less in common with the average Texan than he does with the Wall Street types with whom he prefers to consort. He’s no friend of Main Street, and he’s certainly no friend to real entrepreneurs, and for all his posturing as one of us, he isn’t, and it’s been quite plain. Those of you from outside Texas can be forgiven for mistaking Perry for a conservative. It’s assumed because he’s a Republican, and he’s from Texas, he must be. Let me now explain a bit of why this isn’t the case.
Friday I heard the increasingly estimable Mark Davis claim that you shouldn’t mind that Perry converted from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party because, as he points out, Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat too. Of course, this is a lie by omission, because what Davis doesn’t mention is that it was a long stretch of years between Reagan’s conversion and his arrival in California electoral politics. This isn’t the case with Rick Perry. He was Al Gore’s Texas Campaign Manager in 1988, and following the loss, immediately reversed course and ran as a Republican. I don’t know about you, but despite Davis’ rather disingenuous interpretation of Reagan’s conversion, painting it as just alike, I’m inclined to believe he left some details out intentionally.
Rick Perry has been a regular guest on Davis’ show on WBAP in the D/FW area for years, and to consider Davis anything like an objective or unbiased voice in this stretches all credulity. Frankly, I hope Limbaugh finds somebody else to be a regular fill in, because Davis is clearly in the tank for Perry, and it runs against Limbaugh’s general premise that he will take no position in a Republican primary, except in general terms on behalf of conservatism.
You may have heard some of Perry’s more recent statements about conditions along the Texas border with Mexico, and you might be inclined to believe Mr. Perry thinks more should be done. He even tried to repair his credibility on the issue by being broadcast on a live feed from a base of operations near the border for an interview on Greta Van Susteren’s show. If you believe that stage-managed bit of theater, I’m inclined to let you know right now that he’s relatively no more conservative in real terms than George Bush, which is to say on the matter of his statist, globalist reflexes, he’s no conservative at all. I’d hate it if anybody else broke the news to you, because I believe bad news is best delivered by a friend. Check out the following video for where Rick Perry really stands on issues of the border:
I realize there’s a tendency to overstate things in the name of supporting one’s position, but it’s really no exaggeration to suggest that Perry isn’t really very close in his thinking to Tea Party Members, not when measured against what he’s been saying since October 2010, but in what he has said all along throughout his career. He’s taken money and support from La Raza, ACORN, and other groups that advocate spending tax-payer dollars for dubious programs and projects.
He’s also a crony-capitalist. If you’re like me, that’s simply something you can’t abide. I love the free market, but Governor Perry’s revolving door between his staff and corporate boardrooms is a well-established phenomenon, and frankly, if you buy into his nonsense, he’s going to wind up exploiting your good intentions too. Companies like Merck and Cintra are more his style, and his staff has reflected this over the years of his gubernatorial reign.
You’ve undoubtedly heard about the Gardasil flap, and likely been willing to dismiss it as a fluke. That would be a serious and potentially tragic mistake. The most ridiculously egregious thing he may have done in his tenure as Governor of Texas was the proposed TransTexas Corridor. You may have heard of it, but may not have any details, so let me expound on that for a moment or two. This was the project that first enlightened me to Perry’s big government answers to all things. The upshot is this: It was to be a vast network of toll roads, but more, it would have included some form of light and heavy rail, pipelines, and all manner of things. On the surface, this might sound attractive, but as with any such project, the devil lies in the details.
The plan included 4400 linear miles of a toll road network, running parallel in many cases to existing Highways and Interstates already in existence. The corridor’s right of way was to be a full 1/4 mile wide. Simple math tells you that even ignoring junctions and interchanges, this would have consumed 1100 square miles of Texas’ territory. You might argue that while it’s a lot of land, Texas is a big state. That’s all well and good if the state already owns the land, but since it doesn’t, it was going to acquire it by use of eminent domain. Again, you might argue that building roads is one function for which eminent domain ought to apply, but once you look at the rules to be applied to this project, you might well conclude otherwise. Rather than basing their offers to property owners on free market value, they instead intended to limit it to “fair market value” as determined by a panel of cronies they would gin up for the chore.
This project actually proposed bisecting county and farm roads, and even property, dead-ending what are fairly important thoroughfares for the communities they serve. More, it would have bisected school districts and even towns along its path. Again, you might think that impossible until you understand that this was to be a closed system with few exits or on-ramps, only permitting access at major Highway and Interstate junctions. This threatened to destroy many rural communities, and they rose up against it. Once the details became clear to the public, it was quickly sent back for re-work, and eventually dumped.
Here were the things they didn’t advertise, but you need to know. It was supposed to be operate by a concessionaire, Cintra, for a period of 50 years. It was going to employ tolls of roughly $0.26 per mile. A geographical understanding of the scale of Texas immediately prompts the question: “Who on Earth would voluntarily pay to enter a closed-system roadway at that cost over the huge distances in Texas, when a free parallel alternative is just a few miles away in the form of an Interstate, or Highway?” Good question, and the answer is: Almost nobody. So how did they intend to make this work? In 2004,TxDOT applied to the USDOT for a waiver so that they could charge a toll on the existing I-35. The first leg of the proposed TTC system was called TTC-35, the leg that would run from Laredo to an undetermined point on the Oklahoma border. In other words, it was a corridor to nowhere, but in order to get you to use it, they were going to toll the free Interstate and let it fall into disrepair.
Opponents at the time argued that the existing I-35 corridor could be widened, and this was met with a dismissive rejection by Perry’s Transportation Commission. They said it couldn’t be done in a cost-efficient way. Your confusion at this statement matches that of the average Texan who realizes that this couldn’t possibly be true. How hard is it to add a few lanes here and there? Yes, you’ll have some eminent domain issues, but nothing on the scale of what the TTC proposed.
They also promised it would promote economic development, but what they kept concealed for a while, until they no longer could do so under the law, was that because it was a closed system, Cintra, the corporation from Spain that would build and operate it, would also have exclusive rights to all concessions along its length. More, due to the limitations on exits and on-ramps, it could never be shown how this colossal highway system would provide any sort of economic boon to anybody, because you wouldn’t be able to access most smaller towns from along its length. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the fact that one of Perry’s top staffers was a former Cintra VP, and the fact that one of his own staffers had gone on to work for Cintra had absolutely nothing to do with Perry’s TTC plans. Right?
Ladies and gentlemen, if you’ve fallen prey to the hype about Perry, you may be forgiven, particularly if you’re not from Texas. You’re not aware, as so many here, that Perry isn’t the fellow he’s now being portrayed to be. He’s not a friend to the Tea Party, despite his seeming 2010 conversion, because much like his conversion in 1989, this conversion also seems to be one of convenience. I will assure you, this is most definitely the case.
Perry likes to put on an act about his conservative credentials, and his sympathies with the Tea Party, but if the truth is told, he’s no more one of us than the man in the Moon. You might want to let your fellow conservatives and Tea Party patriots know it too: We’re being hustled again.
Sheesh, is the plan to post this article every 12 hours for the next week?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2769751/posts
I’m a Christian. I’ve even served in missions. We still aren’t a theocracy and should not go out of our way to alienate solid conservatives who aren’t Christian, especially during this critical election.
Yep. The MESSIAH PERRY is the ONLY ONE RUNNING against Obama! Oooppps, gee I forgot! Did you know that Santorum is still running? There's a gal too that's running. And, uhhh, some other folks, but, I guess PERRY is the 'THE ONE' and 'ONLY'.
Bump screw the establishment.
You wouldn't think a blogger posting on Conservatives4Palin's website would call their own candidate a liar. So it's amazing that this blogger thinks it's OK to blame us for believing Sarah Palin's own words about how conservative Perry was as the 2-term governor of Texas running for his 3rd term.
Reading this blogger, you'd think Perry governed texas as a liberal two-timing slug, not the champion of the tea party, or the standard-bearer of good conservative principles like Sarah Palin said he was.
So, even though this blogger appears to be a Palin fan, I am going to choose to believe Sarah Palin, and not some blogger.
Perry walks the walk..He’s got my vote. I want a PROVEN Pro-Life Candidate. anyone that picks a fence sitter or talker can not call themselves pro-life. I believe all our problems started when we accepted the killing of the most innocent in our Society. all bets were off after that.
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Perry is pro-life and opposes government funding for elective abortions. In 2003, Perry signed the Prenatal Protection Act, which explicitly included fetuses in its definition of human life.
In 2005, Perry, a social conservative, signed a bill that limited late-term abortions and required girls under the age of 18 who procure abortions to notify their parents. Perry signed the bill in the gymnasium of Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth, an evangelical Christian school. In 2005, Gov. Perry signed a parental consent bill into law.[71] Perry has signed legislation prohibiting abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy, and has also signed into law a bill that required abortion providers to offer informational brochures to women considering abortion.
In May 2011, Perry signed a “Mandatory Ultrasound Bill” which stipulates that, prior to every abortion, the abortion practitioner or a certified sonographer must perform a sonogram before any sedative or anesthesia is administered. Before every abortion, the abortion practitioner must give an explanation of the sonogram images of the unborn child. The woman has the right to waive the explanation only in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality, and judicial bypass for a minor. The abortion practitioner must also allow the woman to see the sonogram images of the unborn child and hear the heartbeat along with a verbal explanation of the heartbeat before an abortion can be administered. Critics stated that the law was “government intrusion”, pointing out that in the first trimester, only the intrusive transvaginal sonograms (in which a probe is inserted up the woman’s vagina) may be performed, and stated that such a procedure would be inappropriate for victims of incest or rape, which the law does not exempt.
Also in 2011, Perry signed a bill that prohibited taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood,[75] along with a bill that created a “Choose Life” license plate to promote infant adoption in Texas.
I wonder if this blogger had the same complaint when Laura Ingraham let the pro-choice, pro-gays-in-the-military Tammy Bruce substitute on her show. Probably not, because Tammy Bruce is in the tank for Sarah Palin.
Are you comparing ANY of the Republican candidates to Hitler??? If America gets to the point that those who oppose Obama dig up Hitler to run against him - then I'm out of here!
OK, would you vote for Giuliani?
I respect purity too but surviving to seek purity means Rick Perry for 2012, because he can boot Romney and Obama. The evidence is everywhere. I believe the reality on the ground is that purity will not be attained in one election, but a slog by which the ending will be determined by the next generation. November, 2010 was the beginning of the beginning. Electing Perry over Romney and Obama is one more foot print toward a fiscal and emotional recovery from the Obama kill course. Congress must first stop and reverse this Marxist course as well as what is now institutionalized socialism.
“If you’re Tea Party you can smell the stink of Perry’s charade eleven hundred miles away.”
My Tea Party signs are in the garage (where I keep them for re-use).
So far, I like Perry....and YES, I have done some research on his actions.
Suggestion: If you are going to calmly talk policy differences, that’s one thing....but to use only ad hominem is usually a liberal tactic. Please avoid it. Even though you are a NEWBIE, you should know this.
Probably because it is retarded for tea party “chapters” to endorse political figures. It takes the tea party movement and makes it a lobbying group, which will destroy its influence. So the only “chapters” endorsing people are publicity whores trying to capitalize on the movement in order to further their own aspirations.
No one speaks for the tea party, and that is how the tea party will be most effective.
You can’t compare Arkansas economy in the early 90’s to the current Texas economy.
You didn’t keep up with the last gubernatorial election did you?
DO you really think Palin has a chance after the DNC destroyed her in Alaska? It’s not going to happen. It was posted up thread that more than half of the Tea Party Nation doesn’t think she’s qualified for the position.
“From my point of view, anyone claiming the title “tea partier” who is not in agreement with what I have said is the noob.”
You REALLY do sound like a liberal. Lol...
Tea Party has the name it has because it is fundamentally an anti-tax movement.
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You are wrong.
ad hominem is usually a liberal tactic.
you are a NEWBIE
Please tell me you can see the irony here.
Keep up the good work Titan, exposing slick Rick’s record is a good thing, and I’m glad we have people to vet the candidates.
You are mighty quick on the draw for a Christiawn. I did not say you were a naysayer. I said absolutely NOTHING about you. I was talking about the Tea Party generally, and the evil we are up against today. I did not in any way say that this is a theocracy! I am an educated spiirit filled Christian woman with some years on her. Again, please read “The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Emanuel. The best, most well documented, and beautifully written book on early American history I have ever read. It’s time we got back to those days!
Well, for the purposes of debate (I don't think Giuliani has a chance to be the nominee this time around) - but to answer your hypothetical question - YES!!! If it came down to Giuliani or Obama - damn right I would vote for Giuliani!
Right now, America's house is ON FIRE! We have got to put the fire out, or we will be homeless.
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