Posted on 08/27/2011 12:10:12 PM PDT by el_texicano
Looks Tough Firing Blanks
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:
watch?v=UwD84nKA5y0
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 out 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.
What part of “illegal” do you not understand? You dolt.
Aaaah. I stand corrected. You were just supporting others who posted like DU. My bad.
Grow up, take you meds, and stop the name-calling.
....and what might be that derision of which you speak?
Done! Thanks FRiend! RINO Rick’s supporters won’t care but thinking conservatives will.
The derision of that fella who’d be your Cinc if you was still drivin!”
*
You obviously did a poor job of looking for my candidate choice. So since you seem blinded by some ill will toward me and cannot look for it, it was post #53 where I stated that Palin is our only best choice.
I offered this post to see if the discussion by those to the contrary could defend Perry’s actions.
But apparently the best you all can do is ad hominem attacks. I have no ill will toward Perry, but he is not fit as a chief executive to lead this nation out of the problems we face.
You can call me whatever you wish, but your own comments convict you of projecting to others characters what you yourself is guilty of.
Education Secretary pounds Perry on Texas schools Share
Posted at 4:05 PM Printer-friendly The early attacks on Gov. Rick Perry come as no surprise: He’s a formidable candidate and, as such, is bound to take a beating from the administration and the MSM. At least Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had the sense to criticize Perry for something outside the unassailable fortress of his jobs record. It would have been better for Arne, though, if he had thought through his remarks a bit more. From Bloomberg:
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Texas’s school system “has really struggled” under Governor Rick Perry, a Republican candidate for president, and the state’s substandard schools do a disservice to children.
“Far too few of their high school graduates are actually prepared to go on to college,” Duncan said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” airing Aug. 19- 20. “I feel very, very badly for the children there.”
“You have seen massive increases in class size,” Duncan said of the Texas public school system during Perry’s terms as governor since December 2000. “You’ve seen cutbacks in funding. It doesn’t serve the children well. It doesn’t serve the state well. It doesn’t serve the state’s economy well. And ultimately it hurts the country.”
Note the focus of Duncan’s comments: They turn on the fallacy that more money automatically means a better education. It’s an oft-repeated statistic, but it’s repeated for the simple reason that it makes the point: Since 1985, real federal spending on K-12 education has increased by 138 percent. On a per-student basis, federal spending on K-12 education has tripled since 1970. Yet, long-term measures of American students’ academic achievement have not seen similar increases.
Furthermore, Gov. Perry understands what too many governors don’t: Federal dollars for education — particularly in the case of Race to the Top — come with strings attached, even if those strings are hidden, as in the case of the “voluntary” national standards that accompanied RTTT funding (the adoption of which greatly improved the likelihood a state would score money from the federal government). Perry actually turned down federal dollars because he recognizes the role of the states, teachers and parents in education. The real question is: Who do you want to direct your child’s education? You and the teacher? Or distant, unelected bureaucrats?
Perry has made it possible for Texas to adopt some of the most rigorous standards in the country. In September 2009, Education Week even cited Texas as a leader in the adoption of college-ready standards. Perhaps Duncan feels spurned to have said what he said. It must have shocked him to encounter a politician who would actually say “no” to money for the sake of the freedom and flexibility that actually serve children’s educational needs well.
From hotair.com
I also keep reminding myself that President Reagan was a Democrat, so there is always hope that some Repubs will come to their senses.
Thanks for posting this!
The Perry scam needs all the attention it can get.
Yep, Perry is essentially a cartoon.
Perry sucks exactly as much as Romney, if not more.
He cannot win a national election either, since his record is loaded with conservative-repellants that will throw the election to Obama.
Looks like an America-bot.
Perry has to be exposed; so many here are soft-headed, and get sucked in by jerks like perry.
Yeah part of why my jury is still out. Heads and shoulders better than Romney but that ain’t saying much...
>> “At this point, Perry is far more electable than Palin” <<
.
MSNBC bullshit!
Perry’s record will kill him in a national election, while everything about Palin is well known nationally, and she has no negatives.
You are against us, and for elitist big government.
If you read the post I quoted in my response, it's very clear I logically refuted everything he said. So your claim that I “have no idea what I'm talking about” is illogical (since you give no examples where I was wrong).
The reason I also added “All” to the people I was responding to (instead of leaving it just him) is that I think it's foolish to say all to say that Perry supporters are “in the beltway types”, “elitists”, and “RINOs”, cuz all the polls point to exactly the opposite.
If we're all dupes you should find a better way to tell us. And that's not politics, that's salesmanship, and human nature.
But as I acknowledged in my original post, fanatics would not listen to me. Since you have been “associated w/ campaigns”, good luck w/ this strategy.
I don't think it will get you what you want, but you seem confident in it. As for me, I'm done w/ you and this thread. Trying to reason w/ Palin people is a fool's errand.
Perry is a Democrat, politically.
.
http—www.usnews.com-news-articles-2011-07-25-rick-perry-stands-by-texas-dream-act
http—www.chron.com-disp-story.mpl-front-5090944.html
http—www.nytimes.com-2007-04-26-us-26texas.html
Rick Perry Was Al Gore’s Texas Campaign Chairman in 1988
http—governor.state.tx.us-news-speech-10688-
65 - Fox-Mex
http—blog.chron.com-txpotomac-2011-04-study-70-of-texas-illegal-immigrant-families-receive-welfare-
http—www.americanthinker.com-2011-06-rick_perry_a_moderates_conservative.html
Kelleigh Nelson
Pro-Anchor Baby
Pro-North American Union
Anti-Border Fence
Pro-Sanctuary City before he was against them
Anti-Deportation of Illegal Alien Criminals
http—barenakedislam.wordpress.com-2011-08-10-oh-no-will-governor-rick-perry-of-texas-be-the-pro-sharia-candidate-
Texas became the first state to pass an in-state tuition law for illegals
study 70% of Texas’ illegal immigrant families receive welfare
Dallas Parkland Hospital 70% of the women giving birth were illegal aliens. Almost 1000 per month
Texas Governor Signs Bill for Tougher Hate Crime Penalties
Horns-Perry
http—www.americanthinker.com-2011-08-perrys_problematic_pals.html
http—www.chron.com-disp-story.mpl-special-07-legislature-4465044.html
Rick Perry’s Bad Medicine
http—governor.state.tx.us-news-speech-5156-
http—visiontoamerica.org-3254-rick-perry-has-some-explaining-to-do-
Your posts are the all-time most ignorant on FR.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.