Posted on 08/07/2011 4:24:22 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
In 1986, I was running the Texas Democratic Party primary, and in walked an attractive rancher who submitted his filing to run as a Democrat for state representative for a district in rural West Texas. That rancher is now the state’s Republican governor, Rick Perry. I have known him for 25 years off and on, and I know his staff very well. And Perry is about to become a dominant force in the Republican nomination process for president.
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a column for National Journal saying that we need to watch out for Perry, that he would make a formidable presidential candidate, even though he had expressed no interest at the time in running. But the political environment and the Republican field made me think that Perry could have a legitimate shot.
Many people have asked me what kind of candidate he will be, or how I think his campaign will do if he makes the leap and enters the race.
Having observed and known the governor, both as a Democrat and as a Republican, through 13 election cycles, I offer a primer on Perry in five key points:
1. He is an extremely astute politician with a keen sense of where voters are, and he has great instincts on message. Perry has ruthless discipline and communication. They say in politics, “Don’t let your boot off an opponent’s neck till Election Day.” Perry doesn’t take his boot off till a year after the votes have been counted and the opponent has faded into oblivion. He is actually a better campaigner than George W. Bush (Perry’s predecessor as Texas governor) was when he first entered the national scene.
2. Perry has surrounded himself with a very loyal staff. His aides believe in him, and he in them. He is involved in campaign decisions, but he delegates well and doesn't stop being loyal because a mistake might be made. This is a huge advantage in the ebb and flow of presidential campaigns.
3. His statements related to possible Texas secession actually helped him in his recent race in 2010, and will help him in a national campaign in the Republican primaries and caucuses. In an environment where Republican voters despise the federal government, anti-Washington rhetoric is music to their ears. Conversely, this talk will hurt him in a general-election race. Moderate voters in the Midwest will see it as off-putting.
4. Although he has run many times for both district and statewide office in Texas, Perry has never been fully vetted by the media. He underwent some scrutiny in his races for governor, but he has never endured the full-court press that happens in a presidential race. What the media discovers will not be as important as how he and the campaign handle the intense spotlight for the first time. Perry and some of his staffers are known to have thin skins. They will need to grow calluses if they are to succeed in the show.
5. Perry has never lost a race. While many immediately list this as a positive (and it is laudable and suggests huge talent), losing at some point in your career makes you better when the inevitable problems hit. I have learned more from my losses in life and politics than from my victories. It’s the losses that really cause self-reflection and growth. President Obama and former Presidents Bush (father and son), Clinton, Reagan, and Nixon learned enormous amounts from setbacks in their political careers, and those losses eventually helped them win the White House. We know Perry can win. The real question is: Can he suffer defeat and rise to the next battle?
It’s anyone’s guess how Perry will do if he enters the race for president. So far, he has risen in the polls and been applauded more and more by Republican activists while he stays on the sideline. So it’s hard not to wonder whether he’s better as an abstract proposition than as an actual candidate. We shall soon find out. My guess is that Perry’s trajectory will go in one of two opposing directions: He will march consistently and strongly and become the nominee, or he will crash in a spectacular manner. I don’t see any middle ground. Either way, this is going to be great theater. And interestingly, looking ahead to a possible run against President Obama, the last really close general-election race Perry had was in 1998 for lieutenant governor, and the media strategist for his Democratic opponent, John Sharp, was a familiar name--David Axelrod.
I made no judgement, CW. Just the facts. From Texas. This islam thing has sort of taken me by surprise though.
I don't know why it would. Perry knows how to bring people together.
Well, Happy Rain, you've never like the idea of Rick Perry but that's okay. I have more faith in my fellow man and 2012 voters.
I put the video links in Post #3 so people can get used to how the next president of the United States talks and THINKS.
later
We've been dealt a hand here in Texas (and if you've read my threads you know much of this) where we have a federal government that has not answered the call to protect the 1250 border miles Texas shares with Mexico. Gov. Perry does not believe a fence is the answer to illegals crossing the U.S.-Mexican border. He believes conservative ascendancy will. So we do the best with what we have ($100M/yr of our own state money put up to help secure an international border). We have a lot of crime to combat and pay for because of the illegal activity (drugs, human smuggling and trafficking) generated by an unsecured international border.
We can't refuse to educate or give health care, as everyone in every state is faced with the same situation, but since Perry is a border gov, he's held responsible for illegal aliens, where everyone vents their frustration about the problem using him as a whipping boy (and to make political points and take pot shots). Perry's asked for drones (went to Israel and asked how they protect Gaza Strip), has asked for 3000 people here on the TX border (crickets). Perry has set up an elite Texas Ranger unit to work on the border. Then we find out the Feds have been "running guns" across the border and we've had people killed because of that.
The Texas Dream Act was set up because we have a lot of kids here from the way the feds have allowed this to snowball. Students who have been in Texas for 3 years and graduated from a Texas high school get instate tuition (no benefits -- they pay their way) The entire Texas Senate voted for this in 1991. (The Texas Dream Act does NOT have all the hidden goodies the U.S. Congress "Dream Act" was trying to get into law.)
Perry has said: “If you show up illegally, without your card or you’re here as a criminal element, I’m for throwing the book at those folks, but the issue of people who want to legally, thoughtfully and appropriately come to America to work and help us build our economy — we should quickly come up with a program and an identification card to do that.”
The Texas legislature meets every 2 years for 140 days and the governor is allowed to call Special Sessions. He called a Special Session because he had put "sanctuary cities" on the agenda and the legislature dropped the ball -- but the Senate and then the House left again -- giving Gov. Perry nothing to sign (Texas legislators also have elections they'll be facing and no doubt didn't want a vote on this shadowing their re-election bids).
In this just ended session, after about 3 tries to slip it into a bill, a law that required people to show their birth certificate to get a drivers license got through [The amendment, added by Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, to the education funding bill legislators needed to balance the state budget had originally been included in Senate Bill 9, the so-called "sanctuary cities" bill that failed in the special session. It also had appeared in an omnibus homeland security bill by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, that died in the regular session......By putting it into law the state potentially undermines an ongoing lawsuit that argues DPS doesn't have authority to check legal status.]. However, the ink on that law was barely dry before it was overturned by a judge – as usual.
In this last Texas Legislative session Gov. Perry signed the Texas Photo ID Voting Law -- it took 6 years to get it through -- Only 6 states have a PHOTO Voter ID requirement.
Texas has a long history with Mexico and being "Mexican" does not mean that you aren't an American, or a Texan. A lot of Texans have Mexican heritage or are married to someone who does. Perry doesn't lead with his chin. He's a thoughtful man.
Rick Perry is as ready to fix this as anyone and understands it probably better than anyone running -- or commenting anonymously on a chat site.
“Legislation authored by border legislators Pat Haggerty and Eddie Lucio establishes an important study that will look at the feasibility of bi-national health insurance. This study recognizes that the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border compose one region, and we must address health care problems throughout that region. That’s why I am also excited that Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar is working on an initiative that could extend the benefits of telemedicine to individuals living on the Mexican side of the border.”
OH HELL NO!
For the Free Republic Record........ Few modern democrats can claim this honor
Perry was in the Boy Scouts (BSA) and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; his son, Griffin, would also later become an Eagle Scout.[9][10] The BSA honored Perry with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[11]
He is an extremely astute politician with a keen sense of where voters are, and he has great instincts on message, has surrounded himself with a very loyal staff, and has never been fully vetted by the media? Sounds a bit like campaign-mode Obama.
And you say Perry and some of his staffers are known to have thin skins, too? All Perry needs now is an African dad that abandoned him right away, and a white bleeding-heart mom who’d drag him around overseas before abandoning him as well, some communist/terrorist mentors, and a shady non-record of mystery and non-accomplishment in lefty academe, and he is Barack Obama, by this account.
In those terms, I can understand his thinking, but that doesn’t make it okay, especially when he insulted Arizona and was so dismissive of their anti-illegal bill. He could have done something more. he didn’t. And he just recently caved to big donors on illegals. So don’t think that excuses for NOT doing anything works here. It is precisely BECAUSE Texas has such a huge border with Mexico, that priority number one should have been to shut it down, close it off, and stop the bleeding.
I told you I was gathering information on ALL the candidates. Making a list. Checking it twice. Most of the obvious rinos are already crossed off...so I am trying to find the Conservative in the haystack.
I am not looking for perfection, but I do have high standards and THIS is one of the most important elections in the history of this country. DON’T lie to me. Is that really so much to ask of someone who has to bring this country back from utter disaster?
I don’t think so. And DON’T pander. I am going to be VERY choosy in who I support. VERY.
What seems important to me is that the State of Texas approved a massive curriculum change in public school Social Studies last year. In this revised curriculum, no longer does left wing propaganda dominate. Instead, the course reflects the contributions of Americans whose reputations have been suppressed for decades due to a liberal bias. Certainly, there has been a great deal of criticism from liberal leaning think tanks and from Hispanics who angrily declare that the revision is yet another white dominated assertion, leaving “minorities” as afterthoughts. From what I read, the progressives want to villify everything traditional and white in favor of everything race centered. I am not sure how long this “old fashioned” curriculum will be in place without some fool suing the state of Texas, but its appearance in the first place says, to me anyway, something good about the Governor of that state.
“I don’t know why it would. Perry knows how to bring people together.”
How many muslims do YOU trust? Where is Fort Hood?
As late as 1988, when Perry supported him, Al Gore had a feeble 9% rating from the American Conservative Union, making him more liberal than Patrick Leahy of VT and numerous other liberal Demonrats. He also cast pro-abortion votes that year.
Quit lying about Al Gore being a “Southern conservative Democrat” and “pro-life.” He was a typical extreme liberal. Perry flip-flops depending on the situation. He panders to Muslims, La Raza, and anyone else who might vote for him. He is not a reliable conservative at all.
Link?
“Either way, this is going to be great theater”
I’m intrigued that Matthew Dowd can so trivialize an election that will define the future of the United States of America.
Just the opposite of Sarah.
Cheers!
The author of the article says that.
Maybe one man's "thin skin" is another man's "boot on the neck."
Perry had to get out of academic probation to be a student leader. According to Perry's transcript, he rarely earned grades above C – with C in U.S. History, D in Shakespeare, and D in economics. In his animal science major, he got a D in veterinary anatomy, and F in the second semester of organic chemistry. He received A's in world military systems and "Improv. of Learning".
We've heard about the intelligence and sheer genius of obama ad nauseum, just as we've heard about how stoopid Reagan, GWB and Sarah Palin was/is over and over again.
You know more the same will be coming for Perry if he gets in, so be ready for some answers and snappy comebacks.
Perry's case is completely different. He has been a politician most of his adult life. He was elected as a Demonrat, then switched when it became clear that TX was moving to the right. After 8 glorious years of the Reagan Presidency, Perry remained a Demonrat and supported sociopathic liberal punk Al Gore for President, showing a horrendous lack of judgment regarding character. That's a fatal flaw in someone who would make hundreds of appointments as President. Even after turning Republican, Perry continued to favor liberals, supporting ultra-RINO 3x-married pro-abortion Rudy Giuliani in 1998.
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