Texas democrats may be keeping busy wallowing in the shallow victory of the recent indictment of Governor Rick Perry, Rick Perry himself is doing what he does best—his job.
Today, Governor Perry gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. detailing the dangers inherent in Barack Obama’s tacit open borders immigration policy. The apparent beheading of U.S journalist James Foley by ISIS terrorists in Syria has energized the debate over whether or not Islamic terrorists could use America’s porous southern border as an an easy access point.
Via the New York Times:
While Mr. Perry said that there was “no clear evidence” recruits from terrorist organizations had entered the United States illegally, he pointed to the number of violent crimes committed in recent years by illegal immigrants.“I think there is the obvious, great concern that — because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of not being secure and us not knowing who is penetrating across — that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be,” he said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation.
According to CNN, Perry didn’t spend much time addressing his legal problems, and instead focused solely on the crisis down at the border:
Even during his brief remarks in Washington, Perry seemed to be focused mainly on the idea of one day serving as commander-in-chief: following a brief mention of the case against him in his home state, the Governor focused his attention on the crisis at the border, calling it a threat to national security. Perry said there should be no conversation about immigration reform, “until the border is secure.”
Whether or not ISIS could enter the United States through Mexico is still up for debate, but what’s important about what Perry is doing here is that he’s not allowing fellow Republicans or the media to control his own narrative. He has owned the indictment, the booking, the mug shot, and the democrats’ own strategy, and now he’s moved on.
Perry is scheduled to make appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina later this month, and as of the writing of this article, has announced no plans to change his schedule. This is smart on the part of Team Perry—if he allows himself to be derailed by an indictment he himself has claimed is bogus, the narrative will immediately switch to how his 2012 presidential campaign derailed spectacularly, and all chances at a run for 2016 will be squashed permanently.
Texas is standing firmly behind her Governor, and Perry is acknowledging that by bringing his policy concerns directly to the activists and analysts who will help him draft good policy if he wins the nod in 2016.
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