Posted on 07/03/2011 7:57:06 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Rick Perry and Sarah Palin aren't stupid, no matter what you might think of them. They are riding a comet, and they are in no hurry to get off.
I'm talking about the possibility of running for president.
Neither one will probably take the plunge. Given the realities of modern campaigning and fund-raising, they'd already be in this thing if they were serious about it. Both are content in their real jobs - Perry as governor of a huge state, Palin as a money-making-machine and voice of the hard Right.
But why stop the fun?
As long as they are referred to as "possible" candidates, they have an influence that just can't be beat.
Every speech and political move they make is followed with enthusiasm by the 24-hour news cycle. Witness Palin's earlier bus tour of the East Coast. If she were officially a non-candidate, she'd attract little or no coverage for a stunt like that. But her bus was eagerly followed by packs of reporters who hung around her just in case something happened, like an announcement that she was running.
Turns out nothing happened, except she muffed the reason for Paul Revere's ride. ("Hey, you British! The British are coming!")
It's possible that a wavering candidate can attempt a what-the-heck late fling that defies all the conventional wisdom about how to run for president, but that's risky. It probably won't succeed, and you will probably look like an idiot when your candidacy inevitably craters.
That undoes everything that the earlier tease built up - that you are a serious person who deserves to be considered for the most important job on earth. In the case of Palin, who is wavering on the edge of respectability, that's a mistake you don't want to make.
No, this is something you want to stretch out as long as possible. You give major speeches on important issues. You go to meetings and conventions you'd otherwise blow off. If national interest is waning, you hint that you might be jumping in after all.
And it's always possible, of course, that lightning will strike and party elders will beg you to ride to the rescue if no strong contender emerges. In Perry's case, this raises his stock for a VP selection, though he probably doesn't want that either.
Eventually, the game will end. A front-runner will emerge, or the primary season will be so close that the Hamlet act runs out of steam.
But for a few weeks, or a few months, you are one of only a handful of people who might someday be ... the president of the United States. That's a heady feeling, and in fact you'd almost be a fool not to flirt with the idea.
Besides, if nothing else, you can always tell the grandkids about it some day.
No?
Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion.
Is this not nearly double government spending?
Not if one factors in inflation and population growth:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7262019.html
During Perry's tenure, the state's biennial budget has grown from $101.7 billion to $182.2 billion, including federal funds. Adjusted for inflation and population, the state budget has grown by more than $12 billion.
He's balanced budget without raising taxes. Sounds pretty good to me.
Not if one factors in inflation and population growth
Oh yes, inflation...That's so convenient.
BTW, I thought the with larger the populations, more are paying taxes, hence more tax revenues?
lol
Wa happened?
Give us one governor that has been in office for four years or longer that has increased spending.
You're creating unrealistic standards to bash candidates you don't like.
So if the population continues to grow, more people/businesses paying taxes etc, means government must tax and spend more?
So, this is OK? What about at the federal level? Same thing?
Downright eerie how Perry’s people talked about Merck product on same day Merck gave Perry money
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790722/posts
Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor plan is a hard sell
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961128/posts
Senators: Perry evading law with expired appointments
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889198/posts
Texas Eminent Domain Bill Vetoed By Govenor Perry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852635/posts
Campaign to impeach Gov. Perry launched online
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1884086/posts
Tempers Flare At Trans-Texas Corridor Hearing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1969878/posts
Secretive Bilderberg meeting set for Turkey
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1842676/posts
Karl in a Corner
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_scott_ho_080408_karl_in_a_corner.htm
Second, Rove’s opponents would regularly find that they had suddenly become the target
of a criminal investigation, and details concerning the investigation would be
aggressively fanned to the press. Rove mastered this technique in a contest
for the Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s post that he managed for now-Governor Rick Perry.
It Started in Texas: Karl Rove’s Political Prosecutions
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000569
1. Rove was hired to run the campaign of Rick Perry, the current governor,
for the powerful Texas office of Commissioner of Agriculture, then held by
Democrat Jim Hightower. Shortly thereafter, it was clear that a major
FBI investigation had been launched into the workings of the Texas Agriculture
Department (TDA), focusing on Hightower and his senior lieutenants, who had been
pursuing a populist, anti-corporate agriculture and pro-small-farmer agenda.
Jim Hightower talks about his new book, “Thieves in High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country and it’s Time to Take it Back”
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/08/21_hightower.html
HIGHTOWER: Rick Perry, back then (currently Texas Governor), was his client, so to speak,
and Perry had been recruited. He was sort of a nothing Texas legislator who had been brought
in — again as an affable fellow without any brain muscle. Perry was essentially sent to
wander around out in West Texas during the campaign so he would be out of the way,
while Rove worked this FBI agent and raised money from the chemical industry
and other corporate interests that opposed me. Rove had George Bush go on
television against me. Then Rove ran a series of television ads that
established a new low in negative advertising.
For example, they showed a long-haired guy setting a flag on fire,
and throwing it on the ground. And then my picture came up out of the fire, and said
“Hightower supports flag burning,” which, of course, I don t. But it doesn t matter,
you know. I had to go around answering: “Why do you support flag burning?”
Rove had another ad of me campaigning with Jesse Jackson, who I supported in 1988
in the Presidential campaign. And Rove ran this ad that essentially was a smear
on Jackson and then tying me to him. The ad so angered the Black Caucus in the State Legislature
that they convened their own press conferences in Houston and Dallas to assail it. But again it was too late.
All this was happening in the last three weeks of the election. So, I mean, that s just who the guy is.
Gay rumors complicate Rick Perry’s presidential prospects
http://rt.com/usa/news/gay-rick-perry-campaign/
Naked City The Real Sins of Gov. Perry
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-02-27/198958/
On Tuesday morning, a small group of protesters (almost outnumbered by reporters and photographers)
gathered at the Governor’s Mansion for what was disingenuously billed as a “support rally” for Gov. Rick Perry,
under the theme, “It’s OK to Be Gay.” As any Austinite with access to e-mail or a cell phone knows by now,
for a couple of months rumors concerning the governor’s personal life have been flying furiously around the Capitol,
the capital city, the state, and indeed most of the Western Hemisphere.
The variations are multiple and quite inventive – we won’t recount them here –
but at their core is the tale that the governor’s marriage is in trouble, that his
wife Anita has/will/may decide to divorce him, and that the issue is Rick’s alleged infidelity,
with one or another member of his administration of undetermined gender.
(Rumors of this sort, about multitudinous politicians, circulate all the time,
but the current Perry rumors are indeed extraordinary in their baroque detail and remarkable persistence.)
I don't care what the spending level is if the budget is balanced and there aren't any tax increases.
Of course, that isn't possible at the Federal level given the runaway projected growth of entitlements.
Perry has balanced the budget without tax increases. That is pretty sound record, especially given the economic and job growth in Texas.
Cutting tax cuts actually can increase tax revenue by increasing economic growth so there is no reason to raise taxes.
Balancing the budget without raising taxes would be fine with me even if spending increases.
It seems some Texans disagree with you.
This is slightly dated, but worth the read.
__________________________________________________________
BALANCED BUDGET? – STATE DEBT DOUBLED UNDER PERRY
I’m tired of being lied to. While our state leaders continue to boast about the glowing state of the Texas economy, there are some pretty dark clouds on the horizon, not just coming from Washington D.C. but right here at home.
Governor Perry has offered no resistance to the doubling of Texas state debt on his watch. And what’s more, with a little research, we learn that we’ve exhausted 85% of our constitutionally mandated debt limit.1
The “Perry Math” claims a balanced budget which equals good times in Austin, but basic math, the kind we teach in Texas schools, proves something quite different when it comes to our state budget. All Gov. Perry can honestly say is the state of Texas is making the minimum payments on our debt.
Another thing he hasn’t warned us about: According to our Texas Constitution, the amount of money spent to pay back debt in Texas cannot exceed 5% of our general revenue2. As of August 31, 2008, our debt payments were at 4.09%3 and the Legislative Budget Board puts that number at 4.27% in May 2009.
That means 85% percent of our credit limit is used up. Our debt went from $12 billion in 2000, to $31 billion in 2008. In eight years, under Governor Perry’s leadership, we more than doubled the amount of our state debt!
Spending all we take in and doubling our debt is no balanced budget and it’s certainly not limited government.
While many Texans have had to greatly reduce our personal spending; cutting costs at the grocery store, carpooling to work, and picking up part time jobs to make ends meet, the spending continues and the debt increases under Governor Perry’s leadership in Austin. That is unacceptable and We Texans cannot stand for it.
The values we hold as Texans should be reflected in our governor, not hidden behind “Perry Math” and closed door meetings. Texans can’t afford this.
http://countycitizen.com/?p=1413
Friday, January 29, 2010
News-Journal.com
Christina Lane
On the eve of the second Texas Republican gubernatorial debate, Gov. Rick Perry told East Texans that under his administration, Texas has set a blueprint to recover from the economic crisis that he believes Washington should follow.
Perry spoke to about 100 East Texans on Thursday at the Longview Community Center. Perry is seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Debra Medina, former chairwoman of the Wharton County Republican Party.
"The single most important job a governor does is create a climate where people have the opportunity to succeed," said Perry, who's held the post since being sworn in Dec. 21, 2000.
Perry said under his leadership, Texas passed a balanced budget, cut taxes for businesses and retained about $8 billion in the fund balance "for a rainy day."
"It didn't happen by accident," he said. "It happened because fiscally conservative decisions were made in this state in the last two years."
###
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979376215
RICK PERRY BALANCED BUDGET - PROBABLY RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT May 27, 2011 02:44 PM EDT (Updated: May 27, 2011 02:51 PM EDT)
Thanks to his adherence to tough fiscal discipline, Governor Perry has helped shape a job creation environment unlike any other state’s. With low taxes & government spending, predictable regulations, a fair legal system and increasingly accountable schools, Texas has led the nation in job creation with more jobs gained than any other state in 2010 and over the past ten years. As a result, Texas is consistently ranked as the nation’s best place to do business and create jobs.
Perry has pursued an aggressive border security strategy that is putting more boots on the ground, more helicopters in the sky, and more resources into the hands of Texas peace officers standing between Texans and the exploding drug-related violence across the border.
He refused to raise taxes when Texas faced a record $23 billion budget shortfall in 2010. Instead, he was the first Texas governor since World War II to sign a budget that lowered state spending (and has now done it twice). As governor, Perry has used his line item veto to cut over $3 billion in proposed spending.
I gave you an article from an independent Texan...
You gave me:
Perry said...Perry spoke...He said...
Anyway,
Have a good 4th!
That would be an incomplete answer not an improper answer.
Where does your Palin hate come from? I want to really understand people like you.
“Some HAVE said that they would only vote for Palin..”
Saying and doing are two different things. The election is 16 months out. Find someone who says he/she will sit out the election or WRITE-in Palin (assuming a very tight race nationwide and in their particular state). A third party run by her is a different issue. We Palin supporters are very loyal and protective of her from attacks by the press or PDSers here on FR. That doesn’t mean most of us will fall on the sword if she decides not to run.
OBAMA MUST BE DEFEATED or the country is a goner. We’re already perilously close to goner.
Apparently you are *proud* of the fact that you are no smarter than a fifth grader.
And just as fatuous, too.
Cheers!
Hoist, meet petard.
Cheers!
I doubt you read on the level of a fifth grader.
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