Posted on 01/07/2012 1:40:13 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
After his embarrassing result in Iowa, Rick Perry seemed to get the message the polls have been sending him for months: Republican voters just aren’t that into him. On caucus night, said he’d go back to Texas and figure out what comes next.
But within hours, Perry was sprinting into South Carolina, to make at least one more stand.
Given that the TPM Poll Average shows Perry pulling just 4.8% support in the state, a clear question arises: What on earth is he thinking?
The answer is, team Perry really thinks they can make it happen in South Carolina. The campaign says it really is all-in in the Palmetto State.
“At the end of the day, Gov. Perry is the only Washington outsider in this race, and the only candidate proposing real, substantive conservative reforms that will overhaul Washington, get America working again, and reintroduce fiscal sanity,” spokesperson Liz Mair told me. “Those are key attributes that South Carolina voters care about, especially fiscal, social and Tea Party conservatives who make up a sizable chunk of the electorate in the Palmetto State.”
Perry, of course, has made government reform a huge part of his agenda. He wants a part time Congress, he wants to cut lawmakers’ salaries, he wants to eliminate departments. It’s the kind of thing that supporters say could really resonate in South Carolina.
Mitt Romney’s new surrogate, Sen. John McCain, has been making that case out a line against Rick Santorum in South Carolina, where he points out that unlike the state’s senators, Santorum was pretty friendly to earmarks.
“I think it’s wrong for America and so does Sen. DeMint and so does Sen. Lindsey Graham who have been staunch fighters against earmark and pork barrel spending,” McCain told the South Carolina crowd. “And I know you’re proud of that.”
Indeed, South Carolina Republicans have a long history of backing the kind of candidates who want to turn their government upside down. Gov. Mark Sanford (R), who was popular before he took that Appalachian Trail trip, once brought live piglets down to the state house to protest what he said was the porky ways of state lawmakers.
But if Perry really thinks he can ride this wave in South Carolina, that tactic hasn’t yet been evidenced yet. His first ad in the state is a retread of a bio spot [Values] from November that doesn’t even mention his government reform plan.
But it does mention something else Perry backers say plays well in South Carolina: his military background and Christianity. Unlike New Hampshire, where Molly Ball showed how hard it can be for a values candidate to make a connection, South Carolina is a land where mixing in some ol’ time religion into your stump speech is very much appreciated in a lot of places. In addition, the state is home to a lot of veterans and active-duty military. Perry is a vet himself, and can speak their language, too.
The combo went down very well for Perry in South Carolina in months past. In August, I spent a couple days following Perry around the state. He was so famous back then a guy literally stopped on his way to pick up his wife who was going into labor to have her talk to Perry on a cell phone.
So, Perry’s dialing up South Carolina voters again. And he’s betting the house that they’ll still enthusiastically pick up the call.
Pure crap. They are profiting from nothing. They are paying the same fees as all other Texas taxpayers.
Maybe Rick wants to make a try in a state that doesn’t allow cross-overs, and has Republicans only voting in the Primary for a republican.
Iowa and New Hampshire are jokes.
But Santorum is going to have momentum.
Santorum has been looking good. What I'm concerned about is that when all guns are turned on him he will go under regardless of how competent a campaigner he is or how decent a guy he is.
I think Perry is largely inoculated and has the resources to fight back against the establishment.
Nothing crap about it. So living here and getting all of the bennies is of no profit to the criminal illegal aliens? Really? Then why do they come here?
Robbers, burglars, dope dealers, etc also pay sales taxes when they buy things with their proceeds. Want to give them a pass as well? If not, why not?
I hope Perry can make a comeback in SC
Santorum is going nowhere
What's "crap" is how the Feds have stuck border states with this problem and then walk.
ICE blamed for Texas parolee law delayThe state has been unable to enforce a new law designed to increase the deportations of illegal immigrants from the Texas prison system amid concerns that federal immigration officials are unprepared to handle the anticipated influx of convicted criminals, state officials said.
Under the new law, which was scheduled to take effect Sept. 1, state prisoners who are granted parole and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials must either be deported or leave the country voluntarily - or risk being returned to state custody to serve out the remainder of their sentences.
The law was crafted to address a vexing problem identified by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which reported granting parole to some illegal immigrants and turning them over to ICE - only to later learn that they were not removed from the country, said state Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano.”………………..
Mexico’s drug war is giving growers a break EL BARRIL, Mexico — The Mexican government is allowing domestic marijuana and opium poppy production to climb to record levels, as soldiers who once cut and burned illegal crops here in the vast Sierra Madre mountains are being redeployed to cities to wage urban warfare against criminal gangs.
Since President Felipe Calderon ordered his troops into the streets in late 2006, the acreage dedicated to marijuana farming has nearly doubled in Mexico, according to technical reports by the U.S. government and the United Nations, data provided by the Mexican military, and interviews with law enforcement agents and growers.
The acreage devoted to opium poppies has also soared, according to the U.S. State Department, making Mexico the second-leading heroin producer in the world, after Afghanistan, whose crop goes mostly to Europe and Asia.......
“Yes, it is a change in strategy, as the army now gives priority to catching criminals and seizing cocaine, which is far more valuable to the cartels” than marijuana or heroin, said Raul Benitez, an expert in drug trafficking and national security at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The Mexican government, Benitez said, also cares less about marijuana cultivation these days because the U.S. government appears to care less.”………………..
Still no solution for illegal immigrants' long-term care costs…………..”Still, the real problem isn't hospitals, which transfer most all patients, both U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants, once urgent care is no longer needed and the bed is needed for other patients. It's long-term care facilities, unable to afford to accept patients, like Martinez, who don't have insurance. It remains for hospitals, obligated by federal regulation to arrange post-hospital care for those who need it, to find alternatives and to provide care indefinitely if they can't....
No one knows what’s in another man’s heart, but I do not believe Perry wants romney to win. I think Perry is in it to win. If Perry gets whipped here in SC he probably will pack it in as would anyone else.
There are a couple of things about Perry that I don’t like, but I think I’m gonna vote for him in the primary because I dislike even more things about the other candidates.
It’s all the more striking when you consider how much of an empty suit Santorum is. He’s about as inspiring as a rotted corpse in a bikini.
You are repulsive. Stop knocking conservative candidates!!!!!!
You are right about the feds culpability. I also understand the concept of making lemonade when you are handed a bag of lemons. However, it’s quite possible to make very bad lemonade.
Slick Rick is going to stay in it long enough to lock the nomination up for Mitt Romney. After that, Rick will join Mitt as his VP candidate.
How the Texas system works has been explained MANY times, and it does not equate to a “pass” on anything. You duplicitously bring in crimes such as robbery, burglary, dope dealing then suggesting that because they pay sales tax on their purchases, they ought to be given a pass on their felonies. How can anyone take seriously such reasoning?
I don’t want to go into a complete teaching exercise with you because I suspect that you are immune to learning. Suffice it to say that there are substantial hurdles that must be met by anyone wishing to take advantage of the Texas system, and I’m quite sure that any illegal that has been convicted of a felony offense would not qualify, just as such an individual would not qualify to join the United States Armed Forces.
You are aware, are you not, that US citizenship is not a requirement for joining the Army, Air Force or Marines? You are aware, are you not, that service in the US armed forces provides a route to citizenship for these very “illegal aliens” you want to see deported? Does this constitute giving them a “pass”? Or perhaps you think they ought to serve time before being allowed to serve.
As for why these kids came here: their parent bundled them up and brought them. I know that does not make them legal, but is sure doesn’t make them career criminals either.
Hi!
Who is your candidate?
Your 2 month FR anniversary is coming up soon.
What brought you to FR?
Here's the same tiresome pantsload yet again.
“he’s the only candidate who doesn’t look and act like a plastic Ken doll”
He’s also the only candidate who looks and acts like George W. Bush, and 100 years would be too soon for that.
AND, BTW, my man Newt has many flaws but “plastic Ken doll” isn’t one of them.
Actually his biggest fight with Romney was over Mitt having in his hardcover book the prediction...ie the hope...that the rest of the states would immitate MA Romneycare specifically the mandate, and then Romney removing that statement from his paperback version.
But in both instances, Mitt’s responses made himself look petty, ridiculous and sneaky.
Frank Luntz has said that Romney’s performances on those points lowered Romney’s approval among conservative Republicans.
While at the same time, Luntz said Perry sacrificed his own numbers by doing that.
I say he performed a public service to the nation and deserves thanks for his sacrifice.
Excellent advice to the hordes of Perry bashers infesting this thread. And, BTW, despite the language, the poster had a point. Santorum isn't very confidence inspiring. That's the reason that he languished in the single digits for so long. He finally rose because there seemed to be nowhere else to go.
I’m getting the impression that Frank Luntz is a Romney fan (and Sean Hannity too).
The children brought here by adults, over the border, are not the criminals.
Not in logic, not in law.
But then, the ad nauseum repeated falsehood that those who broke the law receive the tuition rate, is what is acceptable to say. If said often enough, people will buy it and repeat it.
The old saying...falsehood circles the globe before truth can get its boots on.
I think Sean was turned by Ann Coulter.
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