I’ve been trying to gauge Perry by what other Texans think of him. It doesn’t seem that most Texans on this board are all that excited about a Perry presidential run. Why?
“I’ve been trying to gauge Perry by what other Texans think of him. It doesn’t seem that most Texans on this board are all that excited about a Perry presidential run. Why?”
Just odd stuff, and that he’s almost an open-borders clone of Bush-43.
The odd stuff was this insane tollway/train/truckway/pipeline/power-line plan where he was grabbing 1000 foot wide corridors for something like 5000 miles throughout the state. The first phase was (and still is, to some extent) to sign contracts with private companies to build and then operate the tollways for 75 years. That in itself might be ok, but those companies won’t do it (or at least won’t hand over billions to the state to do it) unless they get monopoly protection, so these deals had non-compete clauses that prohibit the state from upgrading any nearby roads or highways that might affect their captive traffic (as far as I could see, an upgrade could be as little as re-paving). I don’t like that, and I suspect that the people having to pay 30 cents or more per mile (with no practical alternatives) to use these monsters won’t be all that thrilled either. Yes, we need capacity, our population doubles in 40 years - but adding lanes to existing highways and few well-placed new ones will pretty much take care of the problem.
Or does our population have to double in 40 years? It does if you’re an open-borders type. We have a State House and State Senate that is 2/3 Republican. They are part time, only meeting in January through May in odd-numbered years. It’s tough to get stuff during that time, even with a such a big majority. So they didn’t (other than voter ID). But things are different during special sessions that sometimes occur after the regular session. In our case, we had one just in June. Things are much easier - you identify a few topics, smooth out the rules (i.e., no supermajorities to pass) and if you have a conservative cause it should get through. We had our session, and sure enough, the Republicans, this time, managed to block Sanctuary City legislation from passing. Now the governor could call them back a second time, as he did when he wanted to impose a new business tax on us, and, in that case, a third time...eventually the legislature bends as they don’t want to spend their lives in Austin getting paid next to nothing. But he didn’t do that with Sanctuary Cities...he let it go after the first session, said he was ‘disappointed’ and now wants to to be president. We also have our own version of the Dream Act that he never touched, and lots of other open-borders stuff. Again, we’re 2/3s Republican, we would be putting Arizona and Alabama to shame if we had a real conservative running the state.
As to his overall performance...it’s pretty hard to mess up here. Oil prices have been high, we avoided the housing bubble thanks to our state constitution preventing cash-out refi’s, we have no income tax, our effective sales tax on new cars is around 4.5%, and we’re a right to work state. Bush-43 did fine as governor, Ann Richards did fine as governor, and just about anyone else without an agenda to wreck the state would have done just as well. The fact that he stumbled into the right job at the right time does not automatically qualify him for president.
His political instincts are a bit weird too. He started as a Democrat, which was fine here in the South. Phil Gramm and Ronald Reagan also started as Democrats. But Reagan had them figured out before 1970 and became a Republican. Gramm took a bit longer, but switched in 1983, after spending two years in the House watching the way the Dems treated Reagan. Perry took a lot longer. He stayed a Dem and even ran Al Gore’s Texas campaign for President in 1988. Now Gore was reasonably moderate at that time, but the Dems in the House were on the warpath to impeach Reagan at the same time, because of Iran Contra. Apparently, the ‘conservative’ Perry didn’t see a problem with that, as he stayed a Democrat until Reagan was finally out of office in 1989. That’s the hardest one for me to understand...if Perry is what he claims to be.
By the way, did you see his college transcript from Texas A&M last week, came out to a 2.16 GPA. We don’t need a genius running the country, but it would be nice to get someone that’s a bit above the 10th percentile.
I’ll repost this from another Perry thread:
Well, he’s been a 3 time governor of a very Republican state who has overseen the 16th largest economy in the world, if that tells you anything.
In order to do that, he’s had to placate the ever growing Hispanic population here. It’s call *Political Reality*
You will hear about the Dream Act he signed in 2001 which allowed children of illegals to attend Texas colleges with in-state rates. True
You will hear he is an open borders advocate. False He has continuously asked for troops on our border and sent State troopers and Texas Rangers to back up local LEOs
You will hear he favor Mexican citizens over US ones. False
You will hear rich Republicans got him reelected. mostly true.
You will hear he’s proposed a plan to build several thousand miles of new roads making shipments from China and Mexico easier and more efficient. He did but, Texans didn’t like it so, he listened.
You will hear he wanted to force young girls to take a cervical cancer drug. He did try to mandate it but, again it was not well received and had a parental opt-out clause. He Listened.
Otherwise he’s an actual, born and raised Texan from a modest background who serve in the USAF and graduated from TAMU.
BTW: He NEVER lost an election and I wouldn’t put this one past him.
BobL and many of the other Perry haters are Palin fans. (and can’t seem to get over it)
Your gauge is broken, inactive, biased, all the above?
Perry is strongly supported. The more he's vetted the better. His coattails will be massive.
I supported the idea of Sarah Palin running, then I reassessed her and the field. Perry was making his move. The more I researched Gov. Perry and I did a lot (thanks to the flurry of anti-Perry cabal -- who would ping each other because they need to appear like a large percentage of the commenters to a thread to do their "job") the more I found the facts and the truth about Rick Perry and posted it.
When do you see Sarah Palin announcing? How realistic is it for her to launch a national campaign at this late date and have people move to her over? She keeps things too private, which is off putting. That may be fine with the MSM but it makes potential voters nervous and uneasy about her depth, ability and sincerity to run for the White House.
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Texans elected him to the State House three times in a row...I think that answers the question.
He was quoted as saying that the then president vincente fox of mexico and he shared the same vision for our two countries... you know... open borders and super citizen status for illegals... and billion$ of dollar$ sent home to mexico... citizenship for illegals and all that goes along with that vision.
LLS
Pay attention to the Perry detractors who personally attack him. Cincinatuswife actually has good links if you want to really objectivly consider the man. You will hear wild accusations but remember he is an Eagle Scout, ex Air Force captain and C-130 pilot, member of the American Legion and just called for a national day pf prayer and fasting for our nation. He also called for the state to pray for rain to douse the wildfire ravaging west Texas.