Posted on 09/01/2011 6:46:10 AM PDT by Hawk720
As he has risen to the top of national Republican presidential polls over the last few weeks, Rick Perry has been forced to confront his past — including the years he spent as a Democrat.
In particular, Perry has been fielding uncomfortable questions about his support for Al Gore in the 1988 presidential race. Perry, who did not switch to the Republican Party until 1989, served as a high-profile Texas supporter of Gore’s presidential bid.
More than two-decades later, as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, Perry frequently cites Gore’s support of the Strategic Defense Initiative, a Ronald Reagan-era anti-ballistic missile proposal that later came to be known as Star Wars.
“I was a Democrat in my days in the Legislature in the 80′s and I was under the false idea that somehow or another that conservative Democrats could save the Democrat Party. They couldn’t,” Perry said in an interview with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “Al Gore appeared to be the most conservative — a strong Strategic Defense Initiative guy — and frankly we thought that he would be the most conservative Democrat. You, know, we were wrong.”
Last weekend, at a campaign appearance in Ottumwa, Iowa, Perry called Gore a “strong Strategic Defense Initiative proponent.”
But Gore’s support for the Strategic Defense Initiative while he was running for president in the late 1980′s was not nearly as enthusiastic as Perry implies.
In fact, just weeks before Gore launched his presidential bid in the summer of 1987, he dismissed the defense proposal as “an electronic Astrodome over the United States” in an interview with the Associated Press.
In a January 1988 interview with Florida’s St. Petersburg Times, Gore was asked whether he would support increasing research funds for the initiative. His response: no way.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Exactly and well said....
Those on the Right need to understand something. Almost any Republican is better than Obama. Okay so you agree with Perry only 60% of the time. That’s a whole better than Obama. Yeah it’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better. If that is are only choice, then that is what we need to do.
It seems Tipper knew the joker better than we did..She waited until the fool got finished with politics (I should say running for office)and got out of the crazies life..No wonder the poor woman was on drugs the whole time she was married to the bloated baboon..
That phrase now fits most GOP politicians, not just 1980s Algore.
And it sure fits Rick Perry.
I used to be a Dem. Like former smokers who turn into the worst anti-smoking zealots, former Democrats/liberals are some of the fiercest Republicans/conservatives.
Do you have any sense of historical development or historical tradition? Do you really think that one man defines an entire Party or even two entire Parties by his election? Do you really think that the Republican Party is defined by a single Republican say, Ron Paul, that believes that there is absolutely no problem with a nuclear armed Iran?
Back in the 1980's, there was still a battle for the soul of the Democrat Party between the liberals and conservatives. Back in the 1980's, conservative Democrats like Scoop Jackson still existed.
Back in those days, in the South, a "Republican" was a Yankee that usually followed the policies of what today some call "RINO's".
Study your political history. What is called a "RINO" today is what a REAL Republican used to be.
Back in the old days, a Democrat was what a Southerner WAS because that is what every every single person in their family had been for generation after generation.
In the South, being a Democrat was TRADITION.
Back in the old days, the Democrat conservatives defended the bastions of their old Party and TRADITION against the Marxist invaders until the last possible day, like Lee defended Petersburg.
The Republican base today is the South. Back in the old days, that base used to be called "Conservative Democrats".
And what is the old Republican base called today?
RINO's.
Go figure.
Do you have any sense of historical development or historical tradition? Do you really think that one man defines an entire Party or even two entire Parties by his election? Do you really think that the Republican Party is defined by a single Republican say, Ron Paul, that believes that there is absolutely no problem with a nuclear armed Iran?
Back in the 1980's, there was still a battle for the soul of the Democrat Party between the liberals and conservatives. Back in the 1980's, conservative Democrats like Scoop Jackson still existed.
Back in those days, in the South, a "Republican" was a Yankee that usually followed the policies of what today some call "RINO's".
Study your political history. What is called a "RINO" today is what a REAL Republican used to be.
Back in the old days, a Democrat was what a Southerner WAS because that is what every every single person in their family had been for generation after generation.
In the South, being a Democrat was TRADITION.
Back in the old days, the Democrat conservatives defended the bastions of their old Party and TRADITION against the Marxist invaders until the last possible day, like Lee defended Petersburg.
The Republican base today is the South. Back in the old days, that base used to be called "Conservative Democrats".
And what is the old Republican base called today?
RINO's.
Go figure.
Said it before, I believe there are actually "conservatives" these days who are so suffering from "battered voter syndrome" that they would sit at home and let Barry Soetoro win a second term rather than vote for Reagan now, what with his record on selling arms to terrorists, cutting and running from Lebanon, signing amnesty for 3 million, allowing 12 million abortions in his eight years, and saddling us with a New World Order "read my lips" liar who got us Bill Clinton.
I think Edmund Burke would be labeled as a hypocritical Irish drunk.
Therefore, your comments are predictable...and more often than not....laughable.
Thanks MCB. Couldn’t ask for more...
Sucking the air out of the Conservative room, has never been part of my master plan for Conservative dominance. It does sound like a great master plan if you’ve got the opposite in mind.
I seriously don’t why we can’t try some different rather than another Bush. Beyond me.
The constant flow of information from the internet has changed how we look at things. It's moved the goalposts quite a bit.
The passage of time hasn't helped people's memories either. Reagan was a great President and a popular one. He was also a deal maker and a compromiser from way back. There's no question that if we held him to the same standards we use today, he'd be considered a RINO sellout on FR by his second term. His ability to speak over the media against their bias created a mythology of its own, but that wouldn't work in an internet age.
He'd have gotten off much better than many of his contemporaries. Having an alternate source of media would have been far worse for the Democrats than the Republicans. Still, we're probably best to remember that things weren't always as rosy as we remember them.
OTOH, we need to remember that Reagan was indeed the best conservative "pro-America" president we've seen recently.
And that, to me, is the real point. We should remember that he wasn't as great as hindsight paints him. And thus we need to be more realistic about what we demand in a politician (who is, after all, a careerist, money-backed politician or you can't run).
We don't need to look to ABC to make it a problem. Some people here on FR make a problem of it already.
Perry's intellectual depth ranges all the way from A to B.
He sees only what's in front of him.......completely blind to the consequences of his actions.
He doesn't need voters---he needs a keeper.
True. The sad irony, however, is that you can't see that Al Gore's camouflage and subterfuge is exactly what Rick Perry is doing today. He HAS to pass himself off as a conservative, at least until November 2012.
Well, there you go again.
Rubio is waiting. Ryan is out. Palin is.....?
I’ve got a shovel....let’s go dig up and reanimate Ronaldus Magnus!
Seriously, let’s reconvene this discussion when Palin eventually endorses someone, or runs. I don’t see her urging people to stay home and teach the GOP a lesson.
Liz, I appreciate the effort, but I'm afraid it's too late. "Freeper Madness" is in full swing and unfortunately the only cure is the hangover after the fact when the damage is done and it's too late... /g
The insiders have finally found their man and enough conservatives will be fooled for long enough. We'll follow him into the final consolidation of that "fundamental reshaping" of America that Obama so greatly expedited, and by the time the promises and soothing blandishments of "rolling back" the damage are shown to have been lies we'll be fully cooked.
I never woulda thunk I'd live to see that the Pied Piper would be wearing cowboy boots, though...
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