You have to think of Texas as being about 1.752 generations behind the rest of the country to figure out why they'd belch up a guy who'd call us "heartless"! (Bwahahahahaha!!!! ~ those guys still think like Democrats and Rockefeller Republicans)
While it's true that Texas is a "little" different from the rest of the US, please don't blame hapless hard-working Texans for foisting Perry on us.
Perry connived his way into the presidential race----and you get the distinct feeling he connived his way into the governor's seat. That steady stream of illegals pouring into Texas tells us native-born Texans don't have much say in Senor Ricky's unbroken string of re/elections.
CASE IN POINT The Texas Dream Act passed 10 years ago when Perry was desperate for votes---and began a curious unbroken string of election wins.
Perry's been described by some Texans as a kind of a Punxsutawney Phil. When it's time for election he's out there, packing/campaigning in a cowboy hat, pushing all the right Texas buttons. After he's elected, he disappears into his cave until it's time to wake up again.
When he does that disappearing act, big-hearted Rick gets down to the real business of governance----enriching himself.
Senor Ricky gets away with mucho BS in Texas. As one Texas FReeper posted: "I live in Texas. Perry’s an embarrassment......an arrogant jerk who thinks the rest of us are heartless if we don’t agree with giving tax dollars to Illegals.......rather than helping actual Americans." Perry's got a lot of skeletons in his closet.