As Perry said, this is a Texas decision.
Gov. Perry believes in States Rights.
Do you?
He's not running for governor now, he's running for President. Somehow, the state's rights spin doesn't quite work in this instance.
He could have come out and said that he went along because it had strong support from the people of Texas, but he understands where national critics are coming from and he would re-examine his state policy stances from a national perspective.
But he didn't. Instead he showed where his heart was. On the wrong side of this issue for millions of conservatives. And it shows in his slide in the polls. Like I said, he had one shot to try and present himself as being willing to migrate his views on this subject to a national level. Not only did he fail to do that, but he also gave a strong impression that he would be unable personally to do that, and any subsequent stated shift in position would be pandering or flip-flopping.
First impressions are lasting impressions, and Perry made a horrible first impression with that comment. One that is going to be exceedingly difficult to overcome.
If Perry had any stones, he would have enacted laws very similara to Arizona and Alabama. Instead, we get a public 'not right for Texas' while he quietly supports them behind the glare of the media and Hispanics.