Tea Party faithful wonder if Rick Perry walks the walk

Rick Perry has been widely touted as a Republican presidential candidate who could appeal Tea Party voters, but some in the anti-tax movement wonder if his record as Texas governor stacks up to his rhetoric.

After all, they say, there are reasons to think he's a spendthrift. He once campaigned for Democrat Al Gore, reviled by the Tea Party for being Bill Clinton's vice president and for his campaigning on climate change, and he even spoke kindly about Hillary Clinton's healthcare reform efforts.

So as Perry plans the 2012 White House bid many observers expect he may announce as early as this week, some Tea Party faithful wonder what to make of him.

"They're vetting, they want to know if he is for real," Dallas Tea Party leader Katrina Pierson, said, adding she has fielded questions about Perry's record from Tea Party members as far flung as California, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Tea Party voters could have a big impact on the Republican nomination if they vote heavily in early U.S. primaries, which historically see low voter turn-out.

Perry "speaks the Tea Party language," said Sean Theriault, a political science professor at the University of Texas. But such rhetoric could alienate independent voters, who play a crucial role in U.S. presidential elections.

"I think the Republican nomination for him would be much easier than the general election," Theriault said.

Perry, who followed George W. Bush as Texas governor in 2000 after Bush was elected to the White House, has earned headlines for saying that perhaps Texas should leave the United States and for holding a prayer rally this month that drew 30,000 people.

He was an early booster of the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement, which takes its name

What about those pesky Bilderbergers, will they allow this?

The Bilderberg Group works by having TWO Candidates, one "Democrat", one "Republican", that are both acceptable TO THEM. Bush-Gore, Bush-Kerry, McCain-Obama, Obama-PERRY.

They could care less who the American people vote for. Meet the new boss - same as the old boss.

They DO NOT approve of Sarah Palin. You may have noticed that the Controlled Mainstream Media has been trying to destroy her since the day she got the VP nod.

Um... there's kind of a reason for that. LOL

Rather than rehash the bad ideas that Gov. Perry has tried to push in Texas over the years (TTC, shots, tax increases, etc.) these are my biggest beefs with him as a GOP candidate for POTUS:

He’s had a decade to do something of substance to shrink the role and size of the State government and he’s done basically nothing.

He’s had a decade to do something of substance to take on the federal government and force it to respect Texas’ sovereignty as defined by Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution and the 10th Amendment, and he’s done basically nothing.

And the really sad thing is, he’s had the perfect opportunity since Obama became POTUS to really step up to the plate and finally change the way he governed in a more conservative direction, especially during his re-election campaign last year.

If he were a real conservative, rather than a slick talking establishment RINO, during last year’s primary campaign leading up to his reelection he would have “stolen” Debra Medina’s legitimately conservative small-government platform (getting rid of property taxes, eliminating the business tax - which is basically just an income tax - that he enacted a few years before, nullifying unconstitutional federal programs like Obamacare, the EPA, and federal gun laws, cutting off gov. benefits to illegal aliens to “disincentivize” illegal immigration, just to name a few) and begun implementing it since HE WAS ALREADY GOVERNOR AND HAD A GOP STATE LEGISLATURE.

Instead, he just keeps doing the same old, same old stuff as governor... and the state government is bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive than every before, and the State of Texas is less sovereign now (in practice) than it was when he became governor. If he’s not even going to move us in the right direction as Governor of Texas... what reason is there to think he’ll move us in the right direction as POTUS? He’s just an establishment Republican who’s perfectly content to keep the existing status quo in place (just like McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Pawlenty, to name a few)... which is the opposite of what we Tea Partiers should be looking for.

As small-government conservatives, Tea Partiers, and the modern-day standard bearers of the principles of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers We should be holding out for someone like Senator Mike Lee (Utah) or Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) - yes I know neither of them is running - who is actually willing to talk about how to start dismantling huge chunks of the federal government, rather than someone like Rick Perry who (based upon how he has governed for the last decade) seems to think that pretty much everything the US government did/set up during the 20th century is basically alright (you know... just needs to be “scaled back” or “reformed” a bit),

Well said FM. I for the life of me can’t understand why some, (not all), who have posted in years past about how terrible a problem the illegal immigration thing is, (and IT IS! It is the most insidious cancer, of more than a few, eating away at our Country at this time, the number one thing that has to be squared away ASAP), how we should stop it, close the borders, no amnesty, no anchor babies, no work programs and on and on and then here comes the illegals best pal and supporter, Rick Perry, and they are all for him!! What the heck happened? Is the issue no longer important to them because of the the affection for Perry or what?

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