A Case for Rick Perry
The pool of Republican candidates just keeps growing, and voters are beginning to vet stances and pick sides. In an economy burdened by a $14.4 trillion debt and over 9% unemployment, Americans want someone new at the helm who can turn this sinking ship around. It’s almost funny how one man, who hasn’t even announced his candidacy or even said for sure he’s running, stole much of the thunder from the New Hampshire debate.
With his unabashed conservatism and long record of fiscal success, Texas Governor Rick Perry might just be the man for the job.
Why I’ll be volunteering for Rick Perry
Perry is certainly intriguing. A captivating speaker who can work a crowd like no other, Perry inspires unwavering enthusiasm among his supporters. His speech at the Republican Leadership Conference left the roaring crowd chanting, “Run, Rick, run!”
But he’s not just flash. Having served as a Texas State Representative, Commissioner of Agriculture, Lieutenant Governor, Governor for an unprecedented ten years, and Chairman of the Republican Governors Association for two terms, Perry certainly has the experience – both legislative and executive – desired in a presidential candidate. Throughout his career, he has been one of the most outspoken and effective champions of limited government, free market economic principles, and common-sense laws that benefit people, not politicians.
Thanks to the solid fiscal conservatism Perry has advocated in the past ten years as Governor of the Lone Star State, Texas was the last to enter the recession and the first out. Perry credits Texas’ remarkable economic stability to “keeping taxes low and regulations predictable, and maintaining a fair legal system.” Since he took office in 2001, Texas has created over 700,000 new jobs – more than any other state – and over a third of all new jobs in the past year. The country’s top exporter, Texas remains one of the largest economies in the world and is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other state. The state’s healthy job market is drawing folks from all across the country, attracted by the business-friendly environment and the lack of personal income tax. The state has a balanced budget, but it also has a $9 billion rainy day fund, just in case.
He’s also a strong social conservative, having recently introduced legislation requiring women seeking abortions to have a sonogram beforehand. Perry also backed bills to eliminate sanctuary cities and require photo identification to vote. His support for gun rights prompted one company to make a special handgun in his honor.
Perry’s Texas has a history of reforming and shrinking government and bureaucracy, from tort reform to a less intrusive regulatory environment. He’s not shy about defending the Tenth Amendment against challenges from the EPA, President Obama, and others who threaten states’ rights.
In short, Rick Perry is everything Barack Obama is not. And that’s exactly what voters want.
Concerns about Perry
Despite his unmatched economic successes in Texas, some have concerns about a potential Perry campaign. Is he electable? His strengths may help him win the Republican primary, but do those strengths become a challenge in the general election?
The left will slam Perry for almost everything he’s done, including for once being a Democrat (albeit a Texas Democrat, which 20 years ago was still pretty conservative). But one of Perry’s most contentious legislative initiatives this session is education spending. Scroll through any newspaper’s website and you’ll find articles slamming the governor for cutting education spending and costing thousands of teachers’ jobs. There’s a lot of misinformation about this out there: spending on public education is actually increasing. The increase is simply not as large as school districts had hoped for, as the state has had to cut the total budget back across the board.
Some on the right will slam Perry for being too moderate. There are two particular policy decisions that have drawn fire from conservatives and, while not exactly hot-button issues, seem inconsistent with his limited-government philosophy and threaten to erode his support base. In 2007, Perry signed an executive order requiring that all sixth-grade girls receive a vaccine to prevent HPV and cervical cancer, citing economic and health benefits. Though the order allowed parents to opt out, most opponents said mandating the vaccine stepped on parents’ toes and was a government over-reach into family decision-making. “I always stand for life,” Perry said without apology in defense of this initiative, which was overturned by the legislature.
Still others objected to Perry’s former plans to use eminent domain to create the Trans-Texas Corridor, a 4,000-mile shipping pathway including toll roads, rail lines, and utility lines. Intended to improve transportation of commercial goods with minimal expenditure of taxpayer money, the part public, part private infrastructure project sparked heated criticism. The plan was reworked into smaller projects in 2009 and scrapped in 2011 in response to public outcry over the intended acquisition of land, involvement of private companies, and potential for heavy tolls. Perry still defended the decision: “I don’t think it was a mistake at all…we had to come up with some concepts and some ideas of how to move people effectively and efficiently.”
And despite his continually putting pressure on the Obama administration to secure the Texas-Mexico border, not all conservatives in the state are pleased with the governor’s lack of support for Arizona’s tougher immigration stance, which he said “would not be the right direction for Texas.”
Perry is a controversial figure – you either love him or you really, really don’t. The term “Texas fatigue” is getting thrown around a lot – many people don’t want another good ol’ southern boy in the White House, another Bush (regardless of the fact that his policies don’t resemble Bush’s in the slightest). His southern drawl and almost brazen conservatism turn a lot of folks off; some say he’s just too Texas to take seriously. Even if he did win the Republican primary, some doubt he could win the general election.
The verdict
Love him or hate him, Perry injects excitement into everything he does. And though he may be as polarizing as President Obama, he gets the job done. Perry’s made a few mistakes – everyone has – but in the grand scheme of things, he’s succeeded far, far more than he’s sinned against conservatism.
As a proud Texan, I’ll admit I’m partial to my governor (and will gladly support him if he decides to run), but I’d say his chances are pretty good. He already has a diverse group of supporters, from the Hispanic House Republicans of Texas to twenty Arkansas state representatives and a fledgling Students for Rick Perry coalition, and more. Support is growing by the day.
Under Perry’s leadership, Texas has prospered like no other state. Isn’t it time we could say the same thing about America?
00
Comments
Obama: “But… I inherited a Bush economy!”
Rick Perry: “So did I.”
I’m confused. Texas is bringing in jobs — and apparently also bringing in people with them. According to the numbers on the below website, its unemployment rate still ranks up there. Can someone please explain these numbers? http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/states/
Economically, is Rick Perry another big business Republican, (like Bush or Romney)? Can anyone speak to this? True fiscal conservatism and foreign policy issues seem to me to be more important for the federal government (versus state government) than social conservatism, where frankly, I want hands-off. (The gardisil thing really bothers my libertarianism. This is catering to drug company profiteering.)
(P.S. my dream ticket would be Sarah Palin and Allen West).
retire05 — Again with the ad hominem. And not even accurate ad hominem. I’m done with you.
@janitor
Not only is Texas growing jobs, it is growing in population. About 1,000 people a day are moving to Texas, yet the unemployment rate today is at 8% (per US Bureau of Labor Statistics), well below the national average. And it has been at or below the national average for the last 52 weeks.
PS Like Allen West, too!
retire05:
The Rick perry quote that i used is at:
http://blog.chron.com/texassparkle/2011/06/gov-perry-and-the-texas-dream-act/
I don’t care for anyone giving illegals a free pass, so your point about “other states’ is wasted on me. I am also leary when only 9% of Texans favor a Perry run for President in a recent GOP poll. After all, Texans have been “living” with the man for eleven years.
gad-fly, the Houston Chronicle? Why didn’t you just use the New York Times? It’s no more left wing than the Chronicle.
Yep, I’ve been living with Perry for the last 10 years. My spouse still has a job, my home is still worth what it was three years ago, my property taxes have gone DOWN although my appraisal has gone up, I still pay no state income tax, state sales tax is still 6.25%, my car plates cost $43/per year, I still pay no taxes on groceries or medication, the Homestead tax exemption is still in place, and 100% disabled veterans in my state pay no property taxes (thanks, Rick Perry).
Our state budget for the last two years was basically the same as it was for 2000 (adjusted for inflation) although our population has grown 21% since 2000.
But I guess you don’t like those things so please, feel free to pay more taxes, sell your home for less than its worth, pay taxes on your groceries. And be unimpressed that a man who has not even thrown his hat in the ring is doing better than Gringrich, Pawlenty, Santorum and Huntsman.
Remember folks, if you criticize any specific policy, it can only because you are ignorant of other totally unrelated policies which are praise-worthy. You are not allowed to contribute ad-hoc towards a comprehensive and complete discussion, because this might offend some people who assume that omission of encyclopedic completeness in each comment is evidence of a quest for ideological purity and epistemic closure. A failure to immediately agree that someone’s preferred candidate is the “best” candidate is a de facto slander of that candidate’s entire state. Failure to recognize this can only be due to the slanderer being part of some jealous sabotage by residents of other states, who are by definition all liberals. All such assumed liberals are instantly worthy of personal attack.
Remember also, it is perfectly logical to assume that in a system containing thousands of people, if it does not operate optimally, then no one person could possibly be doing their specific job correctly or well, and they are all equally culpable for the systemic failure regardless of their position. Conversely, it is perfectly logical that in such a system that does perform relatively well, the existence of fault tolerance should be ignored and high level actors should be assumed to have performed perfectly and therefore deserve all credit due to their position in the system. Similarly, showing voters you are against widely-unpopular violent crime is politically brave, but being soft on partially-popular non-violent crime is not politically cowardly.
That brand of logic also extends to noting the age of participants in sexual acts which occur OUTSIDE the classroom as some kind of refutation to the idea that vaccinations are important for diseases actually transmitted INSIDE the classroom.
Overall, as long as an effort is made to insult people, this makes otherwise tenuous assertions incontrovertible.
Today’s lesson was brought to you by moonbat logic, which should be recognized as such wherever it appears.
And now for some negatives: http://www.infowars.com/14-reasons-why-rick-perry-would-be-a-really-really-bad-president/
I am not sure if all of these are legitimate reasons, but the point of debate is to ferret out those issues. Like with any candidate there is the good, the bad and the ugly. The important issue is do the negatives outweigh the positives?
The following are 14 reasons why Rick Perry would be a really, really bad president….
#1 Rick Perry is a “big government” politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.
#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.
#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?
#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry.
#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a “track record” of not raising taxes. That is a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than they were before Rick Perry was elected.
#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.
#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore’s campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.
#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that same time period.
#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year….
• We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.
• We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.
• We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.
#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.
#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all 50 states.
#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.
#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.
#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with an untested and unproven vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when “apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck’s hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work.”
retire05:
The Chron did not say the words in the quotation – Governor Rick Perry was the culprit. Logic man! Can you comprehend logical thinking? Perry needs to learn to pronounce “il.le.gal a.li.en.”
You also have a way of twisting the poster’s remarks. This time you want to convince me that your wife’s longevity on the job is due to the good works of Gov. Perry — I don’t think so! Many states have lower taxes and Texas is certainly not at the bottom. But you still have simply ignored my point that only 9% of Republicans polled want Rick Perry to be their next President.
RE: 14 reason’s against Perry, many of those are misleading when not accounting for the influx of population especially #8, #11, and #13.
I have no idea why Babs would uncritically repeat any statistic pushed by Paul Krugman…
She should know something is amiss … the man is practically allergic to being right about anything… but when it comes to #9, Texas education is actually excellent when your statistics account for demography. See Iowahawk’s dismantling of the Krugman “Texas education stinks” canard here:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-badgers-1.html
and here:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/badgering-the-witless.html
@dscott, @captain obvious, @all
Best source to validate/invalidate Texas stats is WILLisms.com All well-sourced.
RE: 14 reason’s against Perry, many of those are misleading when not accounting for the influx of population especially #8, #11, and #13.
Which is why I’m not sure if ALL the reasons are legitimate. Texas population increased 21% I believe. So some kind of proportional increase in government expenses must be anticipated on top of cumulative compounding of inflation. But does that add to a 90% increase?
Indeed, not agreeing nor disagreeing with point #1, just helping to ferret out a little more context =) Thanks publiuspen, will take a gander.
Katie – excellent post! You fill me with hope for the future. I hope there are more smart young conservatives out there just like you.
Fair points have been made regarding Gov. Perry’s negatives, mistakes, screw-ups, etc. But I ask everyone to think “big picture” on this. There is no such thing as a flawless candidate. Perry is making people feel good about being conservatives. More than that, he’s making people feel good about being Americans. American business and industry – to use a good ‘ol Texas rodeo analogy – are penned up in the chute, afraid of what lies ahead in Obama’s America. President Perry will throw open that gate and set the American economy free again. THAT is what we need. That’s what will pull us out of this hole and get the country back on the road to prosperity.
To the Perry skeptics, or undecideds: Google any recent Perry speech. Try not to get goosebumps listening to him. Try not to feel – for the first time in a long time – absolute, unapologetic pride in America and hope for the future.
We’ve apologized enough for who we are. Under a President Rick Perry, our days of apologizing will come to a swift and decisive end.
Katie, Im in the DFW area- I’d be honored to volunteer with a Rick Perry Presidential campaign, should the need arise. And here’s hoping it does!
dscott, InfoWars? Really? You are using the site of a 9-11 truffer and a radical nut which is what Alex Jones is? You must really be grasping at straws to sink so low.
To begin with, your #l say Perry was governor in 2000. Yeah, for about three weeks in December, 2000. Alex never bothers to mention that. Nor does he bother to mention that if you took that 2000 budget of $49 billion, put it into todays dollars, it would come to $64 billion. Add a 21% increase in population and you would have to reach a budget of $78 billion to equal the same spending.
Now, the budget for 2009-2011 was around $172 billion, $86 billion a year. Considering that the newest budget reduces that amount by $21 billion, to $75.5 billion/year. That is less than the 2000 budget, allowing for inflation.
Get back to us when you have some real information from someone who is not a 9-11 nut.
dscott, InfoWars? Really? You are using the site of a 9-11 truffer and a radical nut which is what Alex Jones is? You must really be grasping at straws to sink so low.
I submit this question for your consideration: Is it better now to address the faux charges of the left when Perry is NOT officially a candidate OR play the defense when he is declared? The left loves nothing better than to keep their opponents defending themselves against baseless charges. The fact the left attempted a pre-emptive strike shows their fear but also their stupidity since they now used up most of their ammunition by leaving us time to respond. How many of you would rather have the practice test before the actual exam in order to get the flavor of the type of questions you will encounter? If Perry and his team aren’t prepared with this gift of pre-emptive criticism then he doesn’t have any business being a leader in the GOP.
dscott, if you think because the faux charges are coming out early, even before Governor Perry announces, that will cool the heels of the left, you are sadly mistaken. The baseless charges will continue, and will be aided by a liberal press.
Also, you didn’t present Alex Jones’ talking points as an example of what the radical left wingers are going to say. You presented them as an alternative to any praise that might be heaped on Perry. When you are disputing someone, you say “This is what so-and-so says, and here is where they are wrong.” You didn’t do that.
Let me know when you decide to be intellectually honest.
Re Alinkkyite attacks and faux charges, let’s just keep telling the truth, the pros and the cons, according to the data. Let’s keep calling out the lies and smears for what they are. I think LegalInsurrection.com is a top site because of this policy; a science (plus other interests) site, WattsUpWithThat.com, also grew exponentially because of this basic policy. Looking for truths, working with real data, and the scientific method go hand-in-hand.
Two further questions for Kathy — additional posts, if possible. First, if Rick Perry does not have to work as hard as other governors because of the “weak-governor” Texas model, with which policies (including limiting government)has he shown his ability to be intensely determined with detailed follow-up? Or have others done most of the work and he has been given the “glory”? (With respect, inspired leadership is a good thing.)
Second, as Chair of the Republican Gov. Assoc. since Nov 2010, what are his most important efforts. Has he been a leader in inclining independents towards Republicans, especially the TeaParty kind? If so, how? How can we measure his effectiveness?
Politico (11/12/10 — I know, I know, leftist leaning) wrote this about Perry taking over the Chair of the Republican Governors’ Association:
“It would be nearly impossible to raise money for the committee and help direct the gubernatorial contests in Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky while running for president.”
Today’s lesson in reading comprehension: “I am not sure if all of these are legitimate reasons” equals “I am a low sinking, intellectually dishonest person, presenting these assertions uncritically as facts because I prefer them to any praise”
Remember kids, if you fail at reading comprehension, you can always insult the people who notice, which proves you’re smarter than them.
Today’s lesson in reading comprehension: “I am not sure if all of these are legitimate reasons” equals “I am a low sinking, intellectually dishonest person, presenting these assertions uncritically as facts because I prefer them to any praise”
Yeah, engaging in ad hominem attacks is intellectually honest…
If you don’t get that the independents and moderates will be the ones who determine the outcome of the elections in 2012 just as they did in 2010 you really don’t have anything to learn from me. The whole purpose of posting the 14 points is to knock them down now so we have our answers now and not come up them on the fly during the campaign when it begins in earnest. You only get one chance at first impressions and this doubly so in a political campaign where your opponents (liberals) have a track record of making false assertions to confuse the electorate. So you have a choice, you can grouse at me for making you investigate and debunk the charges now OR do can do the country a favor by not letting Obama yet again get away with telling people what they want to hear with no intention of delivering?
This is going to be one ugly campaign season with vicious charges and counter charges and lots of bold faced lies. That means strategically you can turn their perceived strength (false accusations) into their weakness by showing them over and over again (demonstrating) to be liars. You either gear up and participate to be part of the solution or sit there poo-pooing how no one is going to believe the crap that’s coming our way. The moderates and independents were completely snowed by such crap in the 2008 elections, it wasn’t the conservatives who fell for the liberal nonsense. Your choice. So far, Karl Rove you are not.
Silly dscott, why can’t you just admit that “I’m not sure” = “I believe 100%”? Why do you have to double down on what you actually said, rather than trying to defend words put in your mouth? More remedial moonbat reading comprehension lessons for you! Prepare for more insults, you… reasonable contributor!!!