Because you know me and know I am not. Why is my question such a bad thing. The guy was a liberal democrat and loved Al Gore of all people and I am the troll.....sometimes you guys make absolutely no sense. Answer the question or f off.
Deceitful statement. The guy was a Democrat but was not a liberal Democrat--in the south, they actually had such critters as "conservative" Dims. However, no more.
>>>>>>Answer the question or f off.
Okay.
You know me. I don't run from honest questions. I just find your opposition to Perry over the top. Lots of folks were Democrats in 1988-1989 and some of them were so-called conservative Democrats, aka. Scoop Jackson Democrats and pro-life Democrats. Some even became Republicans.
My strong opposition to Romney is no secret. It goes back to Jan2007 when he announced his run for potus. Right now, can't say I'd vote for Rick Perry. I question his immigration stance, which is mixed at best. But if the choices were Perry or Romney, I'd take Perry in a heartbeat. Especially with Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain fading fast.
Rick Perry started as a Democrat in West Texas (essentially THE only party). He served in the Texas legislature - was known as one of the "pit bulls," conservative members who sat in the lower pit of the House Appropriations Committee and bitterly fought spending increases.
Perry changed parties in 1989, joining Phil Gramm and other conservative Texas Democrats, who now had a true ideological party with a burgeoning Texas GOP.
When Perry campaigned for Lt. Gov. [1998], he and his campaign staff were in it to win and his hard-nosed style was against the "friendly" advice and request of GWB [in re-election bid for Texas Gov] and Rove to run easy against Sharp, a popular democrat (and Aggie friend of Perry's from their A&M years together). Rove wanted to broaden Bush's base for his upcoming White House run. Perry told them where to stick their advice, because he knew the voters would vote for Bush for Gov. and then cross back over and vote for Sharp (D) for Lt. Gov, if he just walked through the motions like the Bush-Rove team asked him to do.
Perry won the seat for Lt. Gov. -- the first Republican elected to that office since Reconstruction. Now 13 years later and into his 3rd term as Texas governor, the GOP holds a super majority. So Perry has earned his conservative spurs -- fighting both parties!
[The Bushes and Rove supported Kay Bailey Hutchison's primary challenge against Gov. Perry in the 2010 election too]
We need to fight the battle before us but it has occurred to me that Rick Perry (who later would become the first Republican, Texas Lt. Gov since Reconstruction) would have more naturally gravitated toward supporting a conservative democrat (which Gore was -- especially compared to the other primary candidates for the Dem ticket in 1988).
Despite being a Democrat, Al Gore did adhere to many conservative principals re guns, God, Life, debasing culture, etc. And he'd served in the military. Rick Perry has said he believed Gore was the best of the lot running in the Democratic primary, which included: Al Gore, Joe Biden, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, Paul Simon, Jesse Jackson, and Michael Dukakis. Perry said when the party chose Dukakis, that ended his belief that the Democratic Party could be saved. He became a Republican in 1989.
As for the Bushes, it may be that 25 years ago a lot of people in Texas and the south didn't see GHW Bush (son of a Connecticut senator and banker, who moved to Texas at the age of 24 and through his father's connections, was an oil millionaire by the age of 40) as a southerner or a fiscal guy (Perry has said he would not call GW Bush a fiscal conservative).
So it is not right or correct or fair to blast Rick Perry with the meme that "he stood next to Al Gore to repeal Ronald Reagan's platform." Rick Perry has always been known as a budget cutting man -- Democrat or Republican.
It's just hyperbole and spin to say otherwise.
And regarding my RINO status because I support Rick Perry: Years ago in Wisconsin, my family held a fundraiser in our home for Joe McCarthy. I was raised conservative and have been a life long conservative -- currently, a Texas conservative who cheers Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and all the conservative heroes building 10th Amendment backfires in their states.
Answer it yourself and quite asking such dumnass questions like a troll. What is your major malfunction? Reagan was originally a dem - in California. Perry was a dem in Texas in the 1980s.
Of course Rick Perry has been a Governor for 10 years and in political life for a long time. So it's there for all to see not just what he has said but what he has done. Perry lays it out there. By now everyone should have done their own homework and decided whether they can support Rick Perry or not.