Posted on 07/24/2014 6:11:07 PM PDT by Kaslin
Over the past three weeks, one Republican has gained more national attention than any other: Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX).
He has been everywhere - calling up the Texas National Guard, appearing on network interviews, headlining Sunday shows, touring the southern border with Fox News' Sean Hannity, appearing on The Blaze with Glenn Beck. Perry has penned national op-eds on border security in The Wall Street Journal and The USA Today.
Gov. Perry greeted President Obama on the tarmac, met with him in Dallas, and spent the next day on the southern border--a marked contrast with President Obama who spent the day at fundraisers and excoriating Republicans at a partisan speech in downtown Austin.
How did Gov. Perry fully seize this opportunity?
It began on July 3 when House Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) held a field hearing on the border in McAllen, with Gov. Perry providing witness testimony which dominated the hearing.
When it comes to border security, Gov. Perry knows what he is talking about, after serving as Governor of Texas longer than FDR was president.
In fact, several months ago, the state of Texas began a $1.3 million per week border security surge through the rest of 2014. According to Gov. Perry, the state has spent over $500 million since 2005 on increased border protection and efforts to fight gangs and drug cartels.
Perry has surged by making three smart demands.
First, he cleverly pressured President Obama into a meeting with him while he was in Texas, by refusing to accept a perfunctory and patronizing White House offer of a 30-second handshake at the airport. Perry refused, asking instead for a "thoughtful policy discussion." The White House caved and reluctantly agreed to the meeting.
Second, he asked President Obama to visit the border while he was in Texas. The White House stubbornly refused and that question dominated the national media discussion that entire week. Even Democrats like Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) went public, criticizing President Obama for not visiting the border. The result was the White House being on defense all week.
To put as fine a point on it as possible, Gov. Perry spent the day after his meeting with Obama on the border, receiving a briefing from border patrol officials and touring the border by boat and helicopter, with Fox News and radio host Sean Hannity in tow. The effect was a split screen comparison between Perry, on the border, seeing it firsthand, acting as an executive, and Obama, engaging in a partisan attack in a speech on the economy and conducting photo ops at a coffee shop and a barbecue restaurant in Austin.
Third, Gov. Perry requested 1,000 National Guard troops to be temporarily deployed to the southern border to send a strong message to Central American countries and help the border patrol with the influx of illegal immigrants pouring into the country. President Obama has not explicitly agreed to this request. He appears to want to trade this for his supplemental appropriations request, which Congress is currently considering.
Gov. Perry got tired of waiting and on Monday he order up to 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the southern border, to serve as a force multiplier and help ease pressure on the border patrol, who are scrambling to deal with the unaccompanied children.
Good policy makes good politics, and Gov. Perry is not letting this opportunity go to waste. He is using this national story to collect data and engage the grassroots - an online petition on border security that he created now has over 100,000 signatures in the first week. The political benefit to Gov. Perry will likely last.
He has successfully re-positioned himself as the leading GOP voice on border security - valuable political real estate in the Republican Party. Border security issues will remain on the front burner through the 2014 election and likely through the 2016 election. Gov. Perry has aligned his national leadership on an issue for which he has expertise and knowledge, with his own executive record that he can reference. While Senators may talk about votes on immigration and border security, Gov. Perry can detail what he has actually done.
He is on the front lines in this crisis, at a time when few Republicans in Washington have stepped up to propose their own solution.
Perhaps most importantly, Gov. Perry re-positioned himself on an issue where he had been crosswise with the Republican base in the 2012 primary. Now, instead of focusing on thorny issues like in-state tuition, Gov. Perry can redirect the focus to border security.
Gov. Perry continues to prepare for a potential presidential bid, with more international travel planned, public policy issue briefings and political travel. In fact, Gov. Perry made his fourth trip ton Iowa this past weekend. He was received in Iowa far bigger star in Republican politics this week than he was three weeks ago, with a burst of new momentum, a national platform and a second look from the national media.
Perry ain’t done a damn thing.. Wth
Damn, that was the shortest sentence ultimate smack down in FR history South!! You are HEARTLESS!!!!!
Oh but he has! He wears cowboy boots!! He shoots guns!! He wears cowboy hats!! That is enough for the low information LaRaza Ricarrdo Perrynista toadies!
Hillary's time at State was a complete disaster. Does what happened in Benghazi mean nothing to Perry? The man is either unbelievably stupid or he is pandering to Hillary, either of which disqualifies him from any serious consideration for president.
Perry lives in a bubble and probably gets his news from Obama.
lol! That might explain why he said Hillary was a "great Secretary of State".
Of all the profound positive or negative things that you could have broadcast as a tag line - you chose to bash Rick Perry. Wow. Seriously Lame.
Lame is those who call themselves conservative trying (and failing) to defend Rick Perry’s pro-ILLEGAL alien/liberal past.
btw...don’t you have a defense of your boy’s praising Hillary? Why focus your comments toward me? Perry said Hillary was a “great Secretary of State”. Whoever gets the Republican nomination will have to go after her for her horrendous record at State. We know La Paza Rick won’t be able to do that because he has already said she was great. Now that’s lame.
Yes or No.....Did Rick Perry himself call that redistribution commie marxist POS Hillary Clinton a “Great Secretary of State”? Yes or No.
He’s made sport of coming to visit, seeking to entice companies with thousands of jobs to pack up and move to the lower taxes and less-regulated environment of the Lone Star State.Texas Gov. Rick Perry is not exactly a beloved figure in California. The swagger and the twang are all too reminiscent, for some, of another former Texas governor-turned-Republican-presidential-candidate, who twice lost the state by landslide margins.
But Perry seemed to come mostly in peace Wednesday night as he addressed members of the Commonwealth Club, a high-minded, old-line civic organization meeting at a grand hotel atop Nob Hill.
Oh the humanity! Perry being diplomatic and doing his best to bring jobs to Texas.
Whoever gets the Republican nomination will have to go after her for her horrendous record at State. We know La Raza Rick won’t be able to do that because, as we know, he has already said she was "great".
There was/is no excuse for his praising her when she is arguably one of the worst to ever hold the position. Benghazi will be a non-issue if Perry is the nominee.
That's good. It counts for a lot and makes it much more likely for me to give him a fair look in 2016 if that's where he's headed.
Yes he did Bob. But in the minds of the Perry faithful that is acceptable because, as I have been made aware, "he came in peace".
Coming in peace could have and should have meant not attacking her. It fails miserably as a defense of him needlessly praising her.
You have a good point. I'm not committing to Perry whatsoever is 2016. I don't agree with everything he says or does. I don't think he the smartest or dumbest politician, and I don't think he the most conservative. But, he's far from the worst. He's been at worst benign, and probably more likely pretty good good for Texas. That's what I want from my governor. If he has to moderate his tone for a particular business setting when he has to respond to hostile questioning - that's better than pissing everyone off when he's clearly not on the POTUS stump at that place and time. You can surely appreciate that if you are a Texan. If you're not, then I'm sure you'll have a different perspective.
My grading of Perry is as governor of the great state of Texas. His decisions have been oriented toward fighting his best for the benefit of Texas, not posturing for POTUS. Yes, in-state tuition will be a misunderstood issue on the national stage since no other state has as much illegal chaos to deal with (except maybe CA) and anything that mitigates the problems in a minimally negative way is worth pursuing. But, that's a FAR cry from La Raza amnesty as you mischaracterize it.
Many times Texans have told me that as a governor Perry has little control on ILLEGAL immigration, and that is true. But that would all change should he become president, and given what I know of his record I believe him to be pro-ILLEGAL alien. You can disagree if you'd like and I respect your opinion. But it is difficult if not impossible for me to believe that a man with a pro-ILLEGAL alien record would change course should he get elected to the highest office. It is my belief he is looking to take his pro-ILLEGAL alien strategy national, and I find that scary.
I'll take 1 Rick Perry over 100 of any combination of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, McLame, Romney, Santorum, Mike Pence, and a whole host of other GOP "front runners".
I agree with this sentiment also.
Irish
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