Posted on 09/06/2011 2:13:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A thousand homes and 100,000 acres have burned in just a week. A friend of mine who lives just outside Austin was forced to flee with her family last night as the flames encroached, and not until this afternoon did she learn whether her home had survived. (It had.) Go figure that this guy thinks he should do his job rather than gladhand people on the trail for a few days.
Presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he does not yet know whether he will attend Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate…
“I don’t know. That’s a fluid situation at the moment. Again I go back to we’re going to be taking care of the folks here … We’re really focused on the events at hand and the other side of that is we’re pretty good at multitasking,” said Perry on CBS’s “The Early Show” Tuesday…
“This is not the time to be talking about politics. There’s another 14 months ahead to talk politics. Right now I’m substantially more focused on making sure that these people … folks all across this state are being taken care of. Getting out of harms way, saving lives is the big issue for me right now,” Perry told CBS.
Serious question: Is there a single person whining at him for missing DeMint’s forum who wouldn’t also be whining if he had attended the forum that he had shirked his duties as governor?
“It’s obvious that Rick Perry is skipping the DeMint forum because he knew he was going to be asked tough questions about his previous support for gay marriage in New York, as well as his policies in Texas in favor of illegal immigration,” says one representative of a rival camp. “He’s looking for a reason to not actually be compared to the other candidates,” says an official in another camp. “He was grasping for a reason not to show.”
There are eight more debates scheduled before the Iowa caucuses, three of which will be held within the next 15 days. Plenty of opportunities left to quiz him about immigration, an issue on which he is in fact very vulnerable, and on gay marriage and the Tenth Amendment, which won’t hurt him at all given his appeal to evangelical leaders. Ultimately he’s the only one who suffers from having to miss these things since every absence gives Romney and Bachmann a chance to shine unhindered and to attack him without fear of retort. They may have no choice tomorrow night: According to NBC’s new poll, Perry leads Romney by fully 15 points, 38/23, with Bachmann a distant fourth (behind Ron Paul) at eight percent.
Sorry. :\
You might want to think about that premise some more.
Thanks SeekAndFind. This should be in the dictionary under “doing the right thing.”
I don't really make fun of presidents' for their vacations. Never criticized W or any of his predecessors for their vacations. I would criticize Obama to some extent because he seems to be taking so many more than any president I recall.
But getting all worked up about presidential vacations has never been something I do. It's not Obama's vacations that are screwing up the country, cut his policies and insane spending.
Its the right call. I had an overseas posting as country manager for a company, and one of our offices burned. Instantly I was the incident commander. Perry has no choice here.
Not in the least. He can attend that debate by taking a half day or less, and communicate with those in charge back in Texas as much needed.
How do you know she hasn’t informed them? Haven’t seen her commenting lately. They haven’t even aired her speeches as other news networks did. Maybe she and they agreed to some kind of a secrecy clause until she announced. Or maybe when they had their big meeting this summer she said she’d let them know when she knew. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean the two of them haven’t talked or don’t have some kind of agreement. Honestly, I doubt they’re going to say, “Hey, we gotta tell CA Conservative because we don’t want anyone to think we haven’t talked.”
Cindie
So, what is his choice? You are responding to #4, but in the second 100 posts a good number say he now plans to attend the debate. Haven't seen anything official.
Slick, Texas has been on fire for about 4 months. Billions in damages. Lives lost. Homes destroyed.
No help from FedGov.
You can stick your 'sudden victim mentality' sideways, where the sun never shines.
There's real problems on the ground here. Even if CBS doesn't cover it for you to watch on the evening news.
/johnny
Prayers for you and your neighbours. Australians know how devestating these fires can be. I am sure the whole community will pull together.
And, it's fortunate for Perry.
He was going to have to answer some very tough questions and face some very tough accusations.p>All would center around immigration and pay for play.
Still, with what's going on in Texas he needs to spend debate night in Austin. If he doesn't, it shows where his heart is.
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. I'm from here. I know what that really means.
/johnny
You have them nailed. I am amazed how supposedly conservative Freepers act just like liberal Democrats when their pet is threatened. Talk about hypocrites .....!
“Confirmed: Perry scheduled to leave wildfires for GOP debate”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2774545/posts
Just what he should do.
If you aren't from here, well, who cares what you think anyway?
The fires are bad. Biblical kind of bad. Perry will get dinged either way by idiots. And supported by conservatives and Texans. Who cares what liberals and idiots say?
/johnny
Well for you it seems visuals are everything, except a live feed from Austin would also show his immediate responses, demeanor and body language, in real time, with all the visuals needed. Questions would be asked of him, and live feed instantly opens up on Perry at any venue he chose.
But whatever. I personally hope he attends the debate. I can only hope the hard questions follow.
Thank you.
We were camping at nearby Buescher State Park. And while the folks at Bastrop State Park had no time to get their RV’s out, at least we had time to hook up and go.
Not that we could go the way we wanted... the highways were closed. But we eventually took enough back roads around the fires and made it home.
I've seen the mercury hit 115 here recently, and my back yard looks like a nuke hit nearby. And still no rain.
At the visitation before my Mom's funeral tonight, folks were praising the Lord that we've had a cold front and it will be in the mid 80s this week.
/johnny
Well, he just skipped the last one. He’s not exciting, but I think many of his ideas seem fine (the only thing I really don’t like about him is his TV preacher hair-style!). I haven’t seen him debate, so I don’t know how he is. But I think he should, as you say, project a little more confidence about his skills.
I guess the micromanager, “I have to be there” mentality comes from the way the press attacked Bush for not grandstanding during Katrina. Bush did exactly the right thing...stayed away himself and made sure the governor and the mayor had all the federal resources they needed, although they actually refused them and then blamed Bush later...but I think political figures, especially GOPers, get very nervous about natural disasters and the like because they know this is going to be a “gotcha” moment for the press.
However, if you’re a GOPer, it will be a “gotcha” moment no matter what you do - so Perry should just put somebody in charge, make it clear that he has all his support, and go on with the debate.
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