[GOPcapitalist]

Before the attack fest of Perry loyalists starts, let me say this: Perry's opponent Tony Sanchez is a left wing extremist who I would never support for any public office in Texas. I will likely vote for Perry this november as what is increasingly fitting the mold of a lesser-of-two-evils campaign, but will do so holding my nose and with a giant asterisk noting that Perry leaves much to be desired as a candidate. I say this as a _former_ staunch Perry supporter who actively campaigned to elect him Lt. Gov. in 1998 and intended to do the same this year. As for his job performance and politics, quite frankly I am DISGUSTED with him and consider him to be a full fledged RINO at this point.

This is not due simply to the platform thing. That is simply the latest. I am talking about Perry's track record, which has been disturbing for quite some time. Just a few of the bigger highlights that come to mind:

- Perry signed the Democrat-passed Texas Hate Crimes Law in 2001.

- Perry appointed a liberal Democrat state representative as his first Texas Secretary of State. That democrat, Henry Cuellar, used his Perry-appointed position of Texas SoS as a springboard to mount a DNC-backed challenge to U.S. Representative Henry Bonilla. Bonilla is a conservative Republican congressman who has successfully held a marginally Democrat district along the Rio Grande for the last decade. Cuellar is his biggest Democrat challenger since he first won the seat.

- Perry's blown through the budget surplus he inherited with massive new state spending from the last legislative session.

- Perry campaigned for and passed a state constitutional amendment to provide millions of dollars in taxpayer funded infrastructure development to illegal immigrant settlements along the American side of the Rio Grande.

And now he's spitting on our Republican platform!

I'll concede that the Texas GOP has a very conservative platform and could reasonably understand Perry differing from it on a few planks such as the UN one (even though I'd personally prefer he did not). But some of these are CORE REPUBLICAN ISSUES that he is opposing! Perry flat out declared his opposition to the heart of the platform! He opposes us on:

- overhauling the tax system
- repealing the minimum wage
- eliminating affirmative action in government contracting
- Shifting education regulatory power from the bureaucrat Texas Education Agency to the elected State Board of Education
- establishing strictly merit-based state college admission procedures
- ending bilingual education
- sentencing without parole for repeat felons
- ending the Motor Voter vote fraud scheme

Most if not all of these are core conservative republican issues, and Rick Perry just publicly announced his opposition to every one of them!

Add that onto hate crimes, big spending, and his other liberal behavior in office, and I don't think it can be denied that Perry is a RINO.

I know this is an election year and realize I will probably be criticized by the "party loyalty at all costs" crowd for speaking out against Perry. But that's fine with me. My speaking out against Perry constitutes nowhere near the display of blatant disloyalty to ones own party shown by Perry himself both today and in the past.

Perry's behavior should be cause for concern for anybody living in Texas, especially Republicans. He is facing a strong challenge this year which we cannot afford to lose. But if it is lost, it will not be due to Tony Sanchez's merits. The republican majority in Texas will not vote for Tony Sanchez. They simply won't show up to vote in the strong numbers of the past with the reason being the absence of a worthy Republican candidate to fight for.

Flame or comment away.

[lodwick]

No flames here. Excellent report. Thanks much. bttt

[deport]

Good, bad or indifferent here's the choices of candidates... to which I gues you can add a 'write in' or choose to sit it out.......

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Statewide Candidates for 2002 General Election

I = Incumbent

Governor
REP - I Rick Perry	DEM - Tony Sanchez	LIB - Jeff Daiell	GRN - Rahul Mahajan

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[MissAmericanPie]

They certainly slipped that Constitutional amendment through without any press. If we ever hope to bring D.C. to heel maybe we should see if it's possible to start small and control the State government.

[Richard Kimball]

This article explains why a sitting governor only has around 50% approval rating. I can't believe the slate of candidates the Texas GOP has offered this time around.

[Squantos]

Voting for Perry .........nuff said.

Stay Safe !

[F16Fighter]

It had of late become a fad to masquerade as a Republican like Sen. Jeffords, Chafee, Snowe, and former NJ Governor Christine Whitman, but NYC's Mayor Bloomberg and apparently as in this case with candidate Perry, have kicked the monicker "RINO" up a few more notches...

Voters are now having to choose between a weasel or a snake. The "Republican" Party is amidst of being ideologically hijacked.

[solo gringo]

After reading most of your post i think you are wrong in most of them I think you should change your post name GOPassassin that sounds better per your post VIVA PERRY

[Mulder]

What do you expect from someone who supported Al Gore for President in 1988?

[Torie]

Running on repealing the minimum wage should be a winner. By overhauling the tax system, do you mean having Texas adopt an income tax?

[Humidston]

FYI, Oldtimer.

Excellent catch, GOPCapitalist. Interesting read....