Rick Perry gets big welcome from Florida conservatives

CBS News ^ | September 23, 2011 | Rebecca Kaplan

[Cincinatus' Wife]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After putting in a disappointing debate performance the night before, Texas Gov. Rick Perry could take comfort on Friday in the ecstatic reception he got from a large crowd of conservatives meeting here to take a gander at the presidential field.

"As conservatives, we know that values and vision matter. It's not who's the slickest candidate or the smoothest debater that we need to elect," he told 500 attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Remember President Clinton? Man, he could sell ice cubes to Eskimos and the next day be against ice cubes."

The remark was a dig at Romney, who struggled with a reputation as flip-flopper on issues during his 2008 presidential campaign. And it also served Perry's purpose of portraying himself as the regular Joe in the campaign, in contrast to the "slickest" candidate, Romney.

Romney, who spoke before Perry at the event, received a warm welcome. But the crowd stood and cheered as soon as Perry took the stage at the Orange County Convention Center. The Texas governor accentuated his usual anti-Washington stump speech with references to former President Ronald Reagan, a conservative icon. "We need to push through to that shining city on the hill," Perry said. "As President Reagan said, we need bold colors, not pale pastels."

He also opened a new line of attack against President Obama, blasting him for proposing to charge retired military veterans $200 a year to stay on the Tricare-for-Life that supplements Medicare coverage. "Our veterans have already sacrificed enough for this country," Perry said. "Leave them alone."

[fieldmarshaldj]

You’re in major-league denial, Essie. Perry is no Conservative. A RINO absolutely. Stenholm was a moderate at best, and no Conservative, either. Perry’s own home county when he represented it in the TX House voted solidly for DUKAKIS for President by almost 60% of the vote at the time he had finished pimping for fellow Socialist Al Gore for President. You should do a little research before you start attaking people, lady.

[Staff Of Moses]

Now for the next Flavor of the month , soon to enter , Chris Christie. The Rino Cowboy will be all but forgotten , hanging out with another former Flavor of the Month , Bachmann.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The Perrybots are living in their own little fantasy world. Their own idol betrayed them by opening his mouth last night and exposing the big lie that he wasn’t another pandering, open borders phony RINO. They’re in total denial.

[deport]

So you can feel about Perry how you do for a number of very legit reasons, but it is very believable for someone in the south to vote for Reagan as a Democrat. Many many millions did.

---

Reagan carried Texas in both 80 - 84. Eisenhower carried Texas in both 52 - 56. Beginning in 1980 Texas went GOP in every presidential election. So it’s not inconceivable that Perry voted GOP in the Presidential races. Often times it was necessary to vote in the democrat primary to have any impact upon your local gov’t.

[Paperdoll]

Last night proved that Perry cannot think on his feet, nor, apparently flat on his back at 3AAM either. My sincere condolences to Perry supporters.

[Liz]

THIS JUST IN Perry gets big welcome from Florida conservatives....(after thumbing his nose at conservatives during his disastrous debate performance).

PERRY MARCHES ON The Perry MO is very calculated and organized-----no matter what the polls say, no matter what the headlines are, Perry alone is "the winner," "ahead," "unbeatable," "loudly applauded," "universally praised," "the best debater," etc, etc, etc.

CASE IN POINT A Perrydactyl posted an article that paints Perry as a "favorite" of the Tea Party.....but the link to the article affirms that Texas Tea Party leaders are unhappy with Perry. Remember that Perry was loudly booed at the Tea Party Debate on the issue of immigration.

CASE IN POINT He tries to look tough on illegals but Perry's first fundraiser in NYC was to an Hipanic group at Papasito's Mexican Grill......a voting bloc he will owe a lot to.

PERRY SURFACES Perry did not officially enter the Iowa straw poll......but he calculatedly timed throwing his hat into the ring on the same day Bachman won the Iowa straw poll----stomping all over Bachman's hard-won victory. Perry cunningly manipulated the Iowa vote from Texas. That strategy was supposed to put him ver the top. Instead he got a pathetic 700-800 write-ins ...while Iowa winners who did the right thing-—spending time and money there-—— got 4000 votes each. The Perrydactyl's were cued to "say" Ricky won Iowa. And there Perry was----front and center---waving to Iowans, taking pics in front of prominent Iowa banners---manipulating the media to make it look like he was the winner.

Perry's comments in two debates makes it clear that if we, as United States citizens, do not agree with his pandering, we are racists. Perry has spent most of his political career pandering to ILLEGAL aliens...... handing out govt freebies, enticing hordes of them them over the border, looking away as the savage Zetas cartels setup drug operations in Dallas, etc, etc, etc.

Must be "hundreds of millions" of reasons why Perry would thumb his nose at his own country and its citizens.

Keep in mind, a rank political opportunist like Perry does not lift his little finger unless he gets a payoff.

[BarnacleCenturion]

“So it’s not inconceivable that Perry voted GOP in the Presidential races.”

I don’t think so. Perry strikes me as a Dukakis man.

[BfloGuy]

Perry's Florida CPAC speech was GREAT -- he starts out slow, winds up and then hits it out of the park!

He is a very good speaker. His South Carolina announcement speech is what first attracted me. I wish he were a better debater, though. He's not cutting it in the "think on your feet" department.

[C. Edmund Wright]

There is no hole in my argument - because I was not arguing. I simply said that many millions of southern Democrats always voted Republican in presidential races consistently over a period of many years - and because of that fact - any ASSUMPTION that Perry did not vote for Reagan because he was a Democrat was a flawed assumption. And it is - a flawed assumption - though it might be true as a specific fact.

Since I don’t believe you were in the booth with him, and I know I wasn’t, we’ll never know how he actually did vote. But we can establish that Democrats voting for Reagan and in fact for other Republicans for President was extremely common place. Because it’s a fact. And that is the full extent of my argument, and thus it has no holes.

[BfloGuy]

CBS likes him.

Oh, I'm sure they just adore him. (/s for the humor-impaired FReepers amongst us*).

* and they're legion

[dforest]

I don’t think it would have mattered when Perry got in. He needs to ask for his filing fees back and refile for Calderone’s job.

[C. Edmund Wright]

And many many Democrats did as well......

[milagro]

Me too. I wish he were the BEST candidate ever to run for President--but clearly he is not. He IS, however, a far better choice than Obama--or Hillary (and I am really afraid she might well be the Dim candidate for 2012).

Perry's stance on immigration is not a simple--"send them all packin'". It can't be--or he would never have been elected as Governor, and WILL never be elected as president. And as for "the fence"--there are many arguments against building a fence along the border, many of them put forth by landowners on whose property the fence would have to be built.

Just wish Perry would go on offense by articulating his positions on these issues, instead of just playing defense!

But--to NOT VOTE for ANY Republican candidate in the 2012 election would be for me a VOTE FOR continuing the destruction of this nation, and I would call that tantamount to "giving aid and comfort to the enemy".

[C. Edmund Wright]

Well put.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Nive shot.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Oops. Nice

[shield]

They were called the Reagan Democrats

[ElkGroveDan]

Did Perry ever actually vote for Reagan since he was DemocRat party hack in the 1980s?

...and just as importantly did Reagan ever vote for Eisenhower since he was a DemocRat party hack in the 1950s?

[C. Edmund Wright]

They were, and folks like Perry fits that profile perfectly.

[milagro]

Thanks. Perry REALLY needs to have a good debate coach--I think his ideas are good, but boy has he come off poorly in these debates.

But I REALLY do not like Romney--and when it comes to "Rinoism", he has Perry beat by a mile. And I fear that if Romney is the candidate, a whole lot of conservatives will not vote. And that will be--as we found out in 1986 and 2008--disastrous!