Posted on 06/22/2014 6:33:27 AM PDT by RKBA Democrat
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking seriously his preparation for a possible presidential run, meeting with domestic and foreign policy experts. He is also campaigning for governors. In Iowa, for example, he said, “I’m not worried about [GOP Gov.] Terry Branstad. But we have an important Senate race there.” Branstad, who’s at the top of the ticket, “will raise the tide for everyone.”
Perry is more at ease, less forced in conversation than he was four years ago. He even looks and sounds different. Gone is the Texas swagger (and much of the twang). In his distinctive black eyeglasses, he looks more like a middle-aged businessman than a Texas pol. But that doesn’t mean he is without controversy. He got himself in hot water last week by comparing homosexuality to alcoholism. But unlike in 2012, he quickly corrected course at a GOP gathering in D.C.:
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Please Please Don’t let us get another RINO as the Republican Presidential Nominee.
Why is it RINOs like Perry want to pretend to be a real conservative?
Why don’t they run on the things they have DONE not the things they SAY they wan to do...
Because Perry has a governed as a Social Enginering, Big Government, Crony Capitalist. But he loves to claim credit for the economy in Texas, which he does not have a darn thing to do with.
But, but, but you are just one of those who is "too rigid in their ideology", or so say the Perry faithful.
I agree with you 100%. We're not even into the primary yet and we're being told to abandon our ideology for a liberal RINO. We know what Perry is about and we reject it. The Republican party can do better. And if it can't, it may very well suffer the same fate it did in 2008 and 2012.
Norm, you and I have this discussion before. You’re entitled to your own opinion not your own facts. Perry supports strategic fencing. Should he do more? Yes. Could he do more? Yes. Is there plenty of room for criticism? Yes.
Comparisons to China and Israel are strawmen.
A common refrain of detractors of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s record on stopping illegal immigration is that he is against a border fence. Perry himself has spoken on the record against a fence. Yet, being against building a continuous fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is not akin to having a position against border security, or for a left wing agenda of “open borders.” Perry has a strong record of action to secure the U.S. border with Mexico that is much more comprehensive than all of his opponents in the G.O.P. primaries. His record includes advocating strategic fence placement, better surveillance, and deploying more “boots on the ground.”
If you have ever visited or lived near the border regions of Texas, you will agree with me that constructing a fence along the entire 1,200 mile Texas-Mexico border is not only horribly expensive, but very disruptive to the environment, private property, and the Rio Grande. This does not mean that Perry is against all fences. Governor Perry supports strategically-placed fencing in urban areas. Building a continuous fence along the U.S.-Mexico border has unintended consequences. Consider this report from the Los Angeles Times:
In and around Brownsville [Texas}, the fence slices through two-lane roads, backyards, agricultural fields, citrus groves and pastures for more than 21 miles, trapping tens of thousands of acres, according to some property owners’ estimates. (The Homeland Security Department did not keep track of the total.) Narrow gaps allow back-and-forth access for cars and tractors, pedestrians and Border Patrol agents, but they are as much as a mile apart.
A Department of Homeland Security Border Patrol Agent in Del Rio, Texas once told me, “A fence only slows them down enough so that we have a chance to catch them. It does not stop them.”
Although Perry doesn’t believe the fence is the total solution, he does advocate, and has a record of acting upon, placing more patrols to the border. Rick Perry organized the Texas Ranger Recon force, sending 150 Texas Rangers (Motto: “One riot, one Ranger”) along with helicopters and Texas National Guardsmen to the border, all paid for with Texas state funds. Some examples of deployment operations were “Operation Linebacker” and “Border Star” (2009).
Although border security is a federal responsibility, according to the Office of the Texas Governor (via Politifact), Perry spent about $30 million from his office’s budget on border security operations in fiscal years 2006-07. The Legislature allocated $110 million for border security in 2008-09 and more than $110 million for 2010-11, for a total of $250 million through 2011.
Perry is pragmatically against the border fence, as envisioned by advocates who are not experienced in Texas border topography or politics. He IS a strong advocate for securing the border, as his record reveals. His real world experiences prove to him that simply building a fence alone will not get the job accomplished. Click here to download Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s comprehensive plan for border security in Texas, 2010-1015.
In the video below, Eagle Pass, Texas Mayor Chad Foster explains the perils of erecting a border fence, including concerns about eminent domain, environmental problems, costs, and lack of effectiveness. The video was taken in 2007 when the City of Eagle Pass was suing the federal government over the fence.
Oh, it’s well over that amount per day.
You must have missed all the "is Ted Cruz a natural born citizen" threads.
I agree I am absolutely not entitled to my own facts. Rick Perry personally said he opposes a border fence. South showed you the quote.
Smart fencing does not and never has worked. Nor is it a real fence. That too is a fact.
A real fence eliminates the ability of Democrats to turn off smart fencing. That is a fact.
Do you disagree with the reality of these ‘facts’?
I have no idea why he said that about Hillary Clinton. It’s repugnant and I won’t defend it.
If they fabricated a real fence instead, their claims of being opposed to illegal invasions would not ring so hollow.
Because they ring VERRY hollow.
“Comparisons to China and Israel are strawmen.”
No. They are not. Please show exactly how they are or retract.
Yet you WILL defend the man who said it.
Imagine if you will, the RNC wants to hammer Hillary on her horrendous record as SoS, but the DNC and the Hillary campaign run ads showing that quote from her opponent!
Those who oppose Perry based on his horrendous record have been told by those who are willing to overlook it that we are petty in our opposition and that he is a great man. We have also been told that his horrendous performance in the debates were due to his taking medication. Is he on medication still, or is he just not capable of avoiding putting his foot in his mouth? And if it is the latter, is that who we want facing Hillary in the debates?
Yes, I disagree with your reality. The quote South40 provided conveniently left out the part where Perry said he supports strategic fencing.
“We know that Hamas and Hezbollah are working in Mexico, as well as Iran, with their ploy to come into the US. The idea that we need to have border security with the US and Mexico is paramount to the entire western hemisphere. So putting that secure border in place with strategic fencing, with the boots on the ground, with the aviation assets, and then working with Mexico in particular, all of those together can make that country substantially more secure and our borders secure.”
I have even heard the claim that fences don't work. That. of course, is a lie as they have worked very well here in SoCal.
Today, Henry is assistant chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. He says apprehensions here are down 95 percent, from 100,000 a year to 5,000 a year, largely because the single strand of cable marking the border was replaced by double — and in some places, triple — fencing.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5323928
No, I corrected a blatant, intentional misrepresentation of the facts by you.
I didn’t conveniently leave out anything. I posted a direct quote from Perry wherein he said he opposes a border fence. And I did so to disprove your comment that he hadn’t.
In your day to day life, if you incounter people who say things so bad that you find them repugnant, do you embrace them or do you look at them negatively.
Because in my mind, when anyone says something so opposed to my belief structure that I find it repugnant or any other word describing great revulsion, I do not mark that person in the ‘good’ box. That person defined themselves to me. And I will never look at them the same way again. Because that is human nature. You MAY eventually get by it. But none of us ever eliminate that impression ‘repugnant’ leaves on us.
When a political type makes me apply such a label, I think it is suicidal to support them because they defined themselves to me as someone to oppose so that I do not subject myself or others to more ‘repugnant’.
You have corrected nothing. All you have done is display how the Perry faithful are willing to overlook his failings and his liberal past. I say past but he praised Hillary just last week and you're obviously willing to overlook that also.
Then you are lying to yourself and the rest of us; and thus not worth arguing with over this. Simply opposed.
The Great Wall of China took well over 300 years and 500,000 men to build. The United States is not quite 240 years old itself.
Israel’s separation barrier is approximately 400 miles long, which is one-third the length of the Texas border and one-fourth the length of the U.S. border. The terrain in Israel does not include 1200 miles of water. The barrier is primarily intended to prevent terrorist attacks. The Arabs are not digging sophisticated tunnels under the barrier complete with electricity and rails to transport drugs and illegal immigrants.
Different purposes. Different terrain. Different resources. Different time periods.
I merely corrected a statement about Perry’s support of a border fence. I didn’t say I support him for POTUS after that remark.
I’m lying to myself and you that Perry said he supports strategic fencing?
How is that exactly? I provided a direct quote. It’s not a lie.
If you don’t believe Perry, that’s one thing. To call me a liar is another thing and is above you, Norm.
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