[TexasGunRunner]

Texas is NOT California. While some illegals are certainly getting some benefits in Texas, that is a tiny fraction of the growth in spending in Austin. This has a lot more to do with the increasing over-reach of Texas government.

Here is what I previously wrote about Perry:

I’ve lived in Texas since the FIRST time Bill Clements was elected. I suffered through Mark White, Ann Richards, and winced as Clayton Williams campaign self-destructed. I pushed pamphlets for Rick Perry the FIRST time he ran as a Republican for Agriculture Commissioner.

Rick Perry is alright. He’s been better than any democrat who opposed him, and better than most RINOs who tried to unseat him.

Is he a conservative? He has conservative tendencies in things in which he otherwise has no vested interest. He knows enough about his base to appeal to them in certain areas, but ANYONE who knows him also has the distinct sense he is not authentic or genuine, he is just going through the motions because he is expected to say certain things.

For example, there was a bill introduced to re-assert the Texas’ claims under the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution. I forget the details of the bill, but he tried to introduce it giving some vague platitudes. When it became obvious he really didn’t understand the purpose of the bill, he passed the news conference to the bill’s author, who was passionate and fully comprehended every nuance. Rick Perry was just there, going through the motions.

That explains why he occasionally - somewhat randomly - goes off the reservation and engages in some huge over-reach of government power like the vaccination program or the toll road disaster (everybody in Texas knows TEXANS HATE, nay they DESPISE toll roads). He doesn’t see how these programs are antithetical to limited government.

Between him and Obama (or even him and Romney), I’d take Perry any day. He’d make a competent President. The deficit would go back to just a few hundred billion a year, the debt would go back to growing only twice the rate of inflation, and the size of government would only grow at a slow rate.

I don’t think we can afford that. Undoing the disaster known as the Obama presidency requires a serious effort by a genuine reformer committed to reducing the size of government.

Only two governors likely to run in 2012 have ever actually reduced the size of government: Gary Johnson and Sarah Palin. Gary Johnson is a nice guy, but he is so at odds with Americans on other issues, he is not competitive.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is the AUTHENTIC conservative who can connect with a majority of Americans on a broad range of issues. She is beyond competitive, she dominates.

BTW, I think this is a point many - like Gov Haley Barbour for example - misunderstand when they talk about ‘not making purity a test’. The issue never was purity - nobody agrees with anybody 100% of the time. The issue has always been trust. We can ill afford to elect somebody who says the right things, but goes wobbly and gets jello spined every time there is some stress.

We desperately need to trust the person we support to really do what they say. The issue has always been authenticity - are they really a genuine conservative? Sarah Palin is, Rick Perry is not.

[grey_whiskers]

The key sentence is this:

Rick Perry is alright. He’s been better than any democrat who opposed him, and better than most RINOs who tried to unseat him.

Which comes out and admits that even some RINOs are better than he is.

EPIC FAIL.

Cheers!

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Every word you write is likely true BUT that doesn't state the real issue. The issue is WHO is most likely to defeat Obama. That person is Perry. We cannot afford a fight between us, we must remain unified in our desire to defeat Obama.

At this point, I believe (I may be wrong) that our contest will become between Romney and Perry. Who do you want? I'll take Perry.

[altura]

Thanks for a rational and competent analysis of Perry.

I still cut him some slack on the toll road thing. It wasn’t a bad idea. Let someone else build a road we can’t afford to build and let them collect tolls. Nobody would be forced to drive the road and pay the tolls but I bet they would.

He may not be as passionate a conservative as we would like but I think he’s moving in that direction.

I’d vote for him as veep.

[Finny]

....[m]any - like Gov Haley Barbour for example - misunderstand when they talk about ‘not making purity a test’. The issue never was purity - nobody agrees with anybody 100% of the time. The issue has always been trust. We can ill afford to elect somebody who says the right things, but goes wobbly and gets jello spined every time there is some stress. We desperately need to trust the person we support to really do what they say. The issue has always been authenticity - are they really a genuine conservative?

Very good point, and very well stated.

A liberal friend visiting the house was disturbed to see Going Rogue in my bookshelf. She asked me why I liked Palin, and I gave a REALLY DUMB answer that I would redo if I could, but ... I haven't yet invented a time machine. I could only think to say, "Because I'm self-employed." (This person is a retired teacher married to a retired teacher; they have never braved a marketplace to make a living, and therefore have zero idea of how people like me are encumbered by government, government, govenment; we'd talked earlier about how an independent contractor or self-employed person had to charge nearly double the hourly rate to equal the cosmetic $-per-hour pay plus benefits of a public sector or corporate salaried job; I'm pretty sure it sailed over her head).

I wish I had said: "Because she'll reduce the size and scope of the Federal government."

From now on, that will be my answer to liberals who ask me why I like Palin.