Posted on 07/30/2011 1:04:11 PM PDT by freespirited
Gov. Rick Perry, a no-apologies conservative known for slashing government spending and opposing all tax increases, is about as Republican as you can get.
But that wasn’t always the case.
Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat, in a somewhat forgotten history that is sure to be revived and scrutinized by Republican opponents if he decides to run for president.
A raging liberal he was not. Elected to represent a slice of rural West Texas in the state House of Representatives in 1984, Perry, a young rancher and cotton farmer, gained an early reputation as a fiscal conservative. He was one of a handful of freshman “pit bulls,” so named because they sat in the lower pit of the House Appropriations Committee, where they fought to keep spending low.
But Perry cast some votes and took a few stands that seem to be at odds with the fiscal conservatism he champions today. The most vivid example is Perry’s support of the $5.7 billion tax hike in 1987, signed by Republican Gov. Bill Clements but opposed by most of the GOP members...
Almost a quarter century later, Perry, as governor, was faced with a similarly sized budget shortfall. But he took a markedly different tack in 2011: He opposed any new taxes, and signed a budget that made the first reduction in overall spending on public education since at least 1949.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.chron.com ...
They very actively tried to undermine LBJ. The Kennedy faction demanded from him that he keep JFKs entire cabinet, and thus agenda.
“The Great Society” were not LBJs ideas, though he was tasked with “arm twisting” them through congress, mostly against his fellow southerners, who remained in congress despite being stripped of power in the party apparatus.
Most of the war effort was handled by “Robert McNamara’s band”, who worked with direct management of the war by congressmen and senators. McNamara’s philosophy was that the war could be run like a business.
As you look at the timetable of the changeover from the old school to radical leadership, you can see almost to the day when the radicals turned, as a group, against the war. Generally solely for political reasons. Oddly enough, though Humphrey was too left wing for the southerners, he was far too right wing for the radicals, who only found their candidate in 1972 with George McGovern.
So though the southerners split right, first, the radicals were itching to drag the party left.
It all goes to who went against the war, and when.
>>Didn’t we get enough CFR globalism from Texas with the Bush family?<<
You said it.
Sure the Kennedys wanted back in bad enough to undermine him, nobody would argue that but your take on LBJ and his presidency and who he was is your own fantasy. You have LBJ so wrong it’s crazy, and pretty much the rest of it is off base too.
>>Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat,<<
>>Perry, a young rancher and cotton farmer, gained an early reputation as a fiscal conservative.<<
Which labels the man as an opportunist, a man who doesn’t have the courage to stand by his own principles, a man who is for sale to the highest bidder, a man I wouldn’t invite to dinner at my table.
A generation ago party identity was not formed at a national level. In the South almost everyone was democrat. Where I live now, if you want to win local office you have to run as a democrat (until this past election!). That is changing now, but back in the day Southern Democrats were generally conservative.
As I said, you betcha. What is interesting about the words spoken by Sarah is the following segment...
This was said just this year by Sarah outside of Baltimore during her recent bus tour. She wasn't saying these words in the context of the long decided Governor's race. She was referring specifically to the Republican Presidential primary.
Below is a link to the source of Sarah's words, it's a very enlightening read. Enjoy!
You are indeed correct....the county I live in Texas (Fannin) the home of Mr. Sam....Sam Rayburn, the longest serving speaker of the house in our country....was the bastion of Democrats...now known as “Dumbcrats”....because the elections of 2010...not a person at the county level running as a Democrat won....zero...none...zada.... This has happened across the south as the crazies have taken over the Democrat party....
My parents were democrats for years.. until the democratic party went to far to the left. Now they vote republican. I think obama has turn alot of democrats into republicans.
There is no rebuttal.
I have never thought of the man known as “the most effective Senate majority leader in history”, and who had won the Presidency with 61% of the vote, as a passive, mousy man who was no match for the young punks of the dead Kennedy administration.
Politician Perry switched parties in 1989, I don’t know anything about a transformation in the 90s, or a transformation at any other time
See post 14.
Your post is, for the most part, accurate.
I was born in Atlanta in 1952 and it was still the “Solid South” where you would vote for a yellow dog as long as he was running as a Democrat. (thus the term)
It was extraordinarily hard for a people who have voted ‘Democrat’ for generation after generation to finally give up and join the “enemy” camp.
The first Republican governor of Georgia wasn’t elected until 2002 and if anyone wants to call Zell Miller a liberal.....well....be my guest.
And let’s not forget the Al Gore of 1988. He was pro-life and loved that tobacco that he grew and suckered...blah, blah, blah.
Rick Perry gets a pass, and barring any revelation that has yet to surface, he probably gets my vote as well.
For years, Texas Democrats were more conservative than Rockefeller Republicans.
The fact that the man has no core beliefs, other than he would sell his sole to lead the parade.
In Georgia (outside the Atlanta Doughnut) they still are!
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