Posted on 09/14/2011 1:13:56 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Lynchburg, VA -- Stepping up efforts to consolidate his support among evangelical Christian conservatives, Texas Gov. Rick Perry took his campaign to the heart of the Bible Belt at Liberty University, where he strayed from his conventional stump speech and delivered what sounded more like a Sunday sermon than a political pitch.
[snip]
Perry made light of his academic struggles, joking that he was in the top 10 of a high school graduating class of 13. After attending Texas A&M and doing a stint in the Air Force as a pilot, Perry said went through a period in which he questioned the purpose of his life, he said, and that his journey brought him to God. His speech was peppered with references to scripture.
"I wasn't one of those people who knew at the age of 12 that he wanted to be a doctor or lawyer or for that matter, a governor or a president," Perry said. "I spent many a night pondering my purpose, talking to God and wondering what to do with this one life among the billions that were on the planet. ... My faith journey is not the story of someone who turned to God because I wanted to. It is because I had nowhere else to turn." He said he believes, "America is going to be guided by some set of values. The question is, whose values? ... I would suggest that most of the people in this audience believe it should be those Christian values that this country was based upon. "
His speech, one of the longest and by far the most personal he has delivered since he got into the race for the GOP nomination a month ago, also included the standard call to arms for young people to engage in political affairs. "You are the generation that grew up in the shadow of 9-11. Now your duty is to make the most of the life you've been given," Perry said. " ... Don't leave it to a bunch of Washington politicians to tell you how to live your life. This is your future that we're debating today. Don't be silent."
[snip]
Jerry Falwell Jr., the founder's son and the school's chancellor, stopped short of endorsing Perry, but showered him with praise, applauded his record as a social and fiscal conservative in Texas, and even compared him to former President Ronald Reagan. "Thirty years ago this fall, as a Liberty freshman, I sat here mesmerized as a conservative governor from a large state told a much smaller convocation gathered about his vision of America," he said. "Ronald Reagan was that governor and he was selected president soon thereafter, and over the following eight years, he returned America to prominence and prosperity and became one of the greatest presidents in the history of America.
"I have a feeling today that history is about to repeat itself."
I think I was sitting almost right next to Bob Costa, but I didn’t go introduce myself to all the press people, except for a few of the bloggers. My daughter and I were there together, and she didn’t want me to abandon her to the old folks sitting at our table. :-)
BTW, she’s a big Palin fan like I am. She thinks Rick Perry looks like a Cylon. If you get the reference, you’ll understand what she means.
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