[LibertarianInExile]

Boy, he sure sounds great, don't he?

The PR machine is coming out full tilt for Perry now that 2010 elections are over. Even old man Bloomberg is shilling for him--reporters were crawling all over Perry's book claiming that government was telling people how much salt they could put in their food (he did not substantiate that in the book) and suddenly, Mikey B is all about salt in food in NYC. Coincidence?

But this stuff he's shoveling about the New Deal and the feds--well, what has Perry ever done to cut Texas budgets and reduce state government? He tried to pass the biggest land grabs in the country outside of the national parks and monuments, which Texan farmers and landowners had to unite to stop. He's still trying to toll across Texas, never mind the gas taxes the state collects. He tried to rubberstamp an unproven vaccine into every Texas schoolkid's bloodstream--without any real public groundswell for this. He has continued to watch the property taxes of Texans go through the roof to pay illegals' bills--a group he won't say an evil word against (it may be he's afraid George P. might get angry).

Be careful with this one. Make him show where he's walked the walk in Texas, where he's going to favor the original Constitution over the globobaloney types and their companies, before believing the hype.

[ontap]

I bet he runs!!!

[farmguy]

The PR machine is coming out full tilt for Perry now that 2010 elections are over

2012 is coming.

[isthisnickcool]

Rick Perry is a t*rd sandwich, Bill White was a douche bag. We smartly elected the t*rd sandwich as go of Texas because White is such a moron.

Rick Perry for president? Please no! The only way I’d vote for Perry is if that piece of garbage Jeb Bush was running against Perry.

Perry is an uber-RHINO. No thanks!

[Carry_Okie]

Perry is an unrepentant globalist, effectively, an intelligent version of GWB. He would be a terribly destructive President, in part, because he would be far more effective.

[lormand]

In Before “Big Hair Perry is a new world order RINO socialist who is doing nothing about the border” reality challenged individuals.

[Sarajevo]

But this stuff he's shoveling about the New Deal and the feds--well, what has Perry ever done to cut Texas budgets and reduce state government?

Nothing. Perry is a stinking big-government RINO. A Bush-Lite. I'm just waiting for the next Perry boondoggle to come down the pike.

[AnnaZ]

I like Rick Perry.

[Frantzie]

Perry is an open-borders RINO.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Perry will be the 2012 Republican nominee, and will destroy Obama.

[Frantzie]

Maybe Perry will touch that other third rail of open borders and illegals invading and bankrupting America.

I will not hold my breath. He is amnesty McCain with a better hair do.

How is that dead guy who got shot by Mexicans in that lake doing?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Texans are going to have to educate the country on Perry because he does have PR machine that is making him sound like the Mother of all Fiscal Conservatives and he has the stature, money and organization to easily be a front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2012.

[The Comedian]

Perry is a mixed bag. Compared to Bill White or Barney Frank, he's Thomas Jefferson. Compared to Alan West or Jim DeMint, he's Karl Marx.

The Good:

1) Perry was commissioned in the United States Air Force, completed pilot training and flew C-130 tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas and went into business farming cotton with his father.

2) In 2003, Perry sponsored a controversial state constitutional amendment to cap medical malpractice rewards.

3) In 2009, turned down approximately $555 million in stimulus money for unemployment insurance.

4) Talks a good game regarding Social Security, illegal immigration, and the 10th Amendment.

The Bad:

1) In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat

2) In 1998, Perry supported Al Gore's candidacy.

3) In 1989, Perry became a Republican 4) Has a terrible record of action regarding mandatory, medically questionable inoculations, illegal immigration, the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, and the 10th Amendment.

The Ugly:

He speaks and runs as a conservative border-line Libertarian, and governs closer to a Rockefeller Republican.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[ElectronVolt]

“I want people to be afraid not to talk about that Social Security is bankrupt and is a Ponzi scheme...So let's fix it.

If something is a Ponzi scheme, shouldn't it be shut down and not fixed?

[Redmen4ever]

Very interesting posts on Gov. Perry.

To reform S.S. we are going to need somebody who appreciates the role it plays in providing a floor under the working class. But, generally speaking, people who are born into Republican families are tone deaf with regard to the working class. They tend to think everybody is able or should be able to buy insurance, save for retirement, and so forth. When, the truth is, there’s a percentage of people who somewhere in between being truly self-responsible and not being self-responsible at all.

We can transform S.S. from a Ponzi scheme into a funded, actuarially-sound and fair system, as well as introduce a degree of choice and privatization. But, it is going to take modern day versions of people like Pat Moynihan and Bill Bradley, and the pre-2000 Joe Lieberman who are truly for the working class and not socialists.

If Rick Perry came over to the Republican Party because he realized the Democrats are no longer the party of the working class within the context of a capitalistic society, then he sounds o.k. to me. Let us, in the Republican Party, represent both those who sign the back and the front of a paycheck, and let the Democrats represent the intellectual elite and the moocher class.

[Professional Engineer]

This was from before the election right? He’s been safely re-elected and has already put away the conservative stripes for another 4 years.

[The Theophilus]

what has Perry ever done to cut Texas budgets and reduce state government?

If he actually tried to use the office of the Governor to do those things, he would be acting outside the Texas Constitution. Texans have deliberately made the role of Governor a weak one.

Perry's greatest power is probably in making six year appointments that still need 2/3rds majority approval. He has line-item-veto (though no governor really uses it), can call out the National Guard, order a convening of the Legislature, and can stay an execution. Beyond that, his influence can only be measured in the quality of his speeches.

The real power is in the Lt Governor's office. He sets the Legislative agenda.

[dforest]

Does Karl Rove like Perry?

[Republic of Texas]

Let not anyone be fooled. Gov. Goodhair is NOT a Conservative. He's a soulless RINO hack.