RICK PERRY'S PAST LIKE SO MANY OTHER 'REPUBLICANS'
Rick Perry's bad medicine
Michelle Malkin - Syndicated Columnist - 8/18/2011 11:20:00 AM
Texas, we have a problem. Your GOP governor is running for president against
Barack Obama. Yet, one of his most infamous acts as executive of the nation's
second-largest state smacks of every worst habit of the Obama administration. And
his newly crafted rationalizations for the atrocious decision are positively
Clintonesque.
In February 2007, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a shocking executive order
forcing every sixth-grade girl to submit to a three-jab regimen of the Gardasil vaccine. He also
forced state health officials to make the vaccine available "free" to girls ages 9 to 18. The drug,
promoted by manufacturer Merck as an effective shield against the sexually transmitted human
papillomavirus (HPV) and genital warts, as well as cervical cancer, had only been approved by
the Food and Drug Administration eight months prior to Perry's edict.
Gardasil's wear-off time and long-term side effects have yet to be determined. "Serious
questions" remain about its "overall effectiveness," according to the Journal of the American
Medical Association. Even the chair of the federal panel that recommended Gardasil for children
opposes mandating it as a condition of school enrollment. Young girls and boys are simply not at
an increased risk of contracting HPV in the classroom the way they are at risk of contracting
measles or other school-age communicable diseases.
Perry defenders pointed to a bogus "opt-out" provision in his mandate "to protect the right of
parents to be the final authority on their children's health care." But requiring parents to seek the
government's permission to keep an untested drug out of their kids' veins is a plain usurpation of
their authority. Translation: Ask your bureaucratic overlord to determine if a Gardasil waiver is
right for you.
Libertarians and social conservatives alike slammed Perry's reckless disregard for parental rights
and individual liberty. The Republican-dominated legislature also balked. In May 2007, both
chambers passed bills overturning the governor's unilaterally imposed health order.
Fast-forward five years. After announcing his 2012 presidential bid this weekend, Perry now
admits he "didn't do my research well enough" on the Gardasil vaccine before stuffing his bad
medicine down Texans' throats. On Monday, he added: "That particular issue is one that I readily
stand up and say I made a mistake on. I listened to the legislature ... and I agreed with their
decision."
Perry downplayed his underhanded maneuver as an aberrational "error," and then -gobsmackingly -- he spun the debacle as a display of his great character: "One of the things I do
pride myself on, I listen. When the electorate says, 'Hey, that's not what we want to do,' we
backed up, took a look at what we did."
Are these non-apology apologies enough to quell the concerns of voters looking for a
presidential candidate who will provide a clear, unmistakable contrast to Barack Obama? Not by
a long shot.
How Obama-like was this scandal? Let us count the ways:
Trampling the deliberative process. Since Day One, President Obama has short-circuited
transparency, public debate and congressional oversight. How can Perry effectively challenge the
White House's czar fetish, stealth recess appointments, selective waiver-mania and backdoor
legislating through administrative orders when Perry himself employed the very same process as
governor?
Not only did Perry defend going above the heads of elected state legislators, but his office also
falsely claimed the legislature had no right to repeal the executive order. "The order is effective
until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it," Perry
spokeswoman Krista Moody told The Washington Post in February 2007.
When both the House and Senate repealed the law six weeks later, Perry did not -- as he now
claims -- listen humbly or "agree with their decision."
Human shield demagoguery. In response to the legislature's rebuke, the infuriated governor
attacked those who supported repeal as "shameful" spreaders of "misinformation" who were
putting "women's lives" at risk. Borrowing a tried-and-true Alinskyite page from the progressive
left, Perry surrounded himself with female cervical cancer victims and deflected criticism of his
imperial tactics with emotional anecdotes.
He then lionized himself and the minority of politicians who voted against repeal of his Gardasil
order. "They will never have to think twice about whether they did the right thing. No lost lives
will occupy the confines of their conscience, sacrificed on the altar of political expediency."
Perry, of course, has now put his own ghastly Gardasil order on that same altar -- but with no
apology to all those he demonized and exploited along the way.
Cronyism. Most noxious of all, Perry wraps his big government health mandate in the "pro-life"
mantle. But the do-gooder theater is a distraction from the business-as-usual back-scratching and
astro-turfing that are Obama hallmarks. Perry's former chief of staff Mike Toomey is a top
Merck lobbyist. Toomey's mother-in-law headed a Merck-funded front group pushing
vaccination mandates. And Merck's political action committee pitched in $6,000 to Perry's reelection campaign in 2007.
The PerryCare executive fiat was not simply a one-off mistake explained away by lack of
"research." It exposed a fundamental lapse in both political and policy judgments, an appalling
lack of ethics and a disturbing willingness to smear principled defenders of limited government
who object to the Nanny State using their children as guinea pigs.
Trusting Rick Perry's tea party credentials is a perilous shot in the dark.
FreedomUSA
Rick Perry - Record vs. Rhetoric
It's been said that conservatives fall in love, Democrats fall in line. That is, conservatives insist
on having a candidate they can honestly recommend, Democrats just mindlessly vote for whom
they are told. The same can be said of RINOs. They think (actually, refuse to think) just like
Democrats. That's how a fraud like Rick Perry can be RE-elected Governor THREE
times! (Rick Perry replaced W when W became President.) In 2002, 2006, 2010 Rick Perry lied
his way back into office. Here's the REAL Rick Perry:
Adulterer Rick Perry’s record:
*
Cheats on Anita – has sex with hookers and sluts, while spouting Christian
buzzwords. Google “Why Anita Perry Never Smiles,” Google “Rick Perry Adultery.” Perry is
womanizer as much as Bill Clinton. As Ross Perot said of Clinton, "If your own wife can't trust
you, why should we?"
*
Uses Prayer Rallies and religious events for his own personal political gain – Perry only
calls for his presidential prayer rally (6/5/11) AFTER Newt Gingrich’s campaign had imploded
in mid May 2011. Perry was not calling for a *prayer* rally in Jan, Feb, Mar, April 2011. It is
really sickening to watch this false prophet Perry cynically use Christians and religious events
for his personal political ambitions. The Bible says to go pray in a closet; Rick Perry says "pray
in a stadium and glorify myself." Disgusting. (2011)
*
Likes to Borrow lots of Money – Perry, just like the Wash DC Republicans, likes to
Borrow lots of money and then he pretends paying the debt service is not a huge tax. Perry
borrows huge amounts of money for toll roads, tuition bonds for college buildings,
water projects. Perry even supported Texas borrowing $3 billion for cancer research.
Toll Roads and Trans Texas Corridor – Is it socialism, fascism or communism? Rick keeps
trying to ram Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) down Texans’ throats. Massive land grab. Toll roads
are gargantuan.
TAX INCREASES, debt time bombs and an attack on property rights. Rick Perry has instituted
a huge tax increase in Texas in the form of toll roads; going from zero debt on roads to $30
billion in toll road debt in 10 years as Perry sells off Texas’ public infrastructure to private
monopolies. They will financially blow up later, just like real estate market did, because of the
high leverage. (2003-2011).
For more info: email Terri Hall at (terri@texasturf.org) .
Also, (www.texasturf.org), the anti-toll road group.
Contact Linda Curtis – of IndyTexans at
(ljcurtis@indytexans.org); she can tell you how Perry is controlled by monopolistic corporations
definitely NOT interested in “free market” enterprise or “competition.”
(http://www.indytexans.org/)
Here is her case for impeaching Perry as governor:
(http://impeachperry.indytexans.org/tenreasons.php)
*
Business Margins Tax – backdoor state income tax approved by Perry. (2006)
*
HPV vaccine mandate – Attack on parental rights. Tried to force every 12 year old girl in
Texas to take Gardisil shots because his former Chief of Staff Mike Toomey is a lobbyist for
Merck. Perry literally tried to mandate this by executive decree as if he were a Hillary Clinton
dictator until the Texas legislature crushed it overwhelmingly. (2007)
*
FLDS El Dorado raid (2008) – Another massive attack on parental rights and peaceful
home schoolers; Religious Oppression. 438 children ripped away from parents and traumatized
for months. Out of control Child Protective Services goons raid, approved by Rick Perry, and
based on a CRANK phone call from Colorado alleging child abuse; breaks up dozens of
families. Of ALL the outrageous things Perry has done, this may be the WORST as he
criminally traumatized and endangered dozens of peaceful families. (2008)
(http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2009/07/25/the-unrelenting-march-aga...)
*
Was Democrat Al Gore’s Texas campaign manager 1988! Then Karl Rove recruited
opportunistic Perry to switch parties so Perry could win Agricultural Commissioner as a
Republican in 1990. Rick Perry is a Trojan Horse for statism cloaked in Tea Party rhetoric and
Christian Bible talk buzzwords. (1988)
*
Played politics with the death penalty case of Cameron Todd Willingham – Perry refused
to give him a stay. Willingham had been convicted of murdering his family via an arson
determination that was based on junk science. Even worse, Perry later removed 3 members of
board of the Texas Forensic Science Commission that was investigating the case and put political
pressure on the head of the panel. (2009)
(http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Cameron_Todd_Willingham_Wro...)
*
Defeated Justice Steven Wayne Smith – makes robo phone calls against most conservative
Supreme Court judge in modern Texas history. Smith was the equivalent of Robert Bork,
probably the best judge we had in Texas in 50 years. His crime was beating RINO, Xavier
Rodriguez, an appointee of Rick Perry in a primary. Perry got in a funk and vowed to bring
down Justice Smith next time and he did. Rodriguez also made some pro-abortion rulings.
(2004)
*
Was FOR the 2008 TARP bailout – wrote a letter on 10/1/08 with Joe Manchin supporting
it!:
(http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/01/was-rick-pe...)
At 9:07 PM later that day the US Senate voted for the TARP bailout. Then 2 months later Slick
Rick writes an WSJ op-ed on 12/2/08 with Mark Sanford opposing bailouts!!
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122818170073571049.html)
*
Helped to kill anti-TSA groping bill – Classic case of this fraud Rick Perry – claims to be
for states’ rights – in reality wants to run Big Government. The three amigos Perry, Lt. Gov.
Dewhurst and Speaker Strauss worked in unison to kill the anti-TSA groping bill that had
overwhelming public support. Perry submitted 200 other bills ahead of the anti-groping or
radiate bill, thus ensuring the bill would die at the end of the special session of the Legislature.
(2011)
*
Supports No Child Left Behind Act and Dept. of Education (Hey, does the Constitution
give the federal government control of your local school? Fine with 10th Amendment fraud
Rick Perry who issued a press release touting NCL.)
(http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/4392/)
*
Instituted state CHIP program for Texas - a widely abused program and one more step to
socialized medicine, more taxes and rationed healthcare. (CHIP - Children's Health Insurance
Program – an entitlement to health care for children of families with income under $80,000/year)
*
Supports Sobriety Check Points! Unconstitutional trashing of YOUR 4th Amendment
rights where everyone is pulled over with no probable cause and no reasonable suspicion. (Perry
supported SB 298 bill) 2009
*
Supports the Patriot Act – By now folks you should have figured out the Patriot Act is the
criminal government nuking your 4th Amendment rights. Fine with Rick.
*
Rick Perry is a Neocon – The neocons, with their endless, undeclared and bankrupting wars
and hawkish policy are the most discredited group in American politics. The first foreign policy
advisors Rick Perry turned to in 2011 were Bilderberger neocons Donald Rumsfeld, Doug Feith
and William Luti. Asking neocons how to run US foreign policy is like … asking Casey
Anthony for tips on how to run a daycare center.
(http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/07/rumsfeld-in...)
*
Vetoes Texas Eminent Domain Bill – taking your land for his toll road schemes more
important than signing property rights protection overwhelmingly passed by Legislature. (2007)
*
Signs Hate Crimes bill -- Attack on free speech and creates thought crimes, includes sexual
orientation as a class! (2001)
*
Governor for NINE years , then reads about the 10th Amendment a few years ago. Trying
to piggy back on Ron Paul and the Tea Party movement. Completely insincere because for 9
years Perry never said an ill word about federal encroachments, No Child Left Behind, etc.
(2009)
*
Endorses liberal cross dresser and gun grabber Rudy Guiliani for President (2008) – tells
Mike Huckabee I love you like a brother, but you can’t win so I am going with gun grabber Rudy
Julie Annie, he’s a sure thing! The Bilderbergers said I can be VP if I grovel enough and am for
toll roads, globalism, open borders, big government, big pharma and, of course, the Federal
Reserve. Also, told Mike Huckabee to quit the presidential race just as Huckabee was getting
hot in the primaries in late January, 2008.
*
Secession flip flopper – Bilderberger Rick Perry, April 2009:
"We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington
continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come
out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot." In
other words, he's against it until he's for it.
*
Globalist bootlicker – Bilderberger toady (2007). For United Nations, NAFTA, CAFTA,
Trans Texas Corridor.
*
Token opposition to illegal immigration – probably because the illegals will be building all
his toll roads!
*
Does not stand up for elected State Board of Education every time it gets castrated by the
liberals in the legislature Throws crumbs to conservatives on SBOE, but when they really need
him, hides under desk, sticks fingers in ears. Did not veto SBOE redistricting map which was
designed to castrate conservatives. (2011). Contact textbooks legend Donna Garner on this:
(donnaggarner@gmail.com)
*
Texas Enterprise Fund – basically, Rick Perry’s slush fund for politically connected
insiders , another WASTE of your tax dollars. Gave $20 Million to Country Wide Financial
which went bankrupt. Many company executives who get access to this slush fund are – you
guessed it – Perry contributors. Rick Perry has a massive cronyism problem.
*
Slick Rick and his 24 billionaire contributors – Rick Perry was born poor with no silver
spoon in his mouth. But instead of making his own money, Slick Rick has the Texas taxpayer,
24 billionaire contributors, corporate monopolists, Merck, toll road operater CINTRA custom
make and custom fit a silver spoon for his mouth.
(http://blogs.forbes.com/clareoconnor/2011/07/20/rick-perry-for-pres...)
*
Supports $5 titty bar tax on every patron of a strip club – Wife Anita pushes this. “Wife”
Anita on salary for $65,000/year at the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault and titty bar
tax is their #1 legislative agenda item. TAASA receives state money already and wants to get
grubby hands on titty bar tax expected to generate millions. Titty bar tax was ruled
unconstitutional by lower courts. (2010) Adulterer Rick has sex with strippers/prostitutes on the
side and does not pay $5 titty bar tax.
*
Supported whopping $3 Billion Cancer BONDS, the Lance Armstrong cancer tax – more
taxing, borrowing and spending. (2007) Perry is for Texas borrowing money to go into the
cancer research business.
*
Tried to intimidate FEMALE state trooper who pulls him over for speeding while he was
lieutenant governor, telling her “Why don’t you just let us get on down the road?” as she was
writing him a ticket. Perry was using his position of power to try to get out of a speeding ticket.
(1999)
*
Tells a Houston tv reporter Ted Oberg “Adios, mofo.” (2005)
*
Wants to use Texas Teacher and State Employee Retirement Money on risky TOLL
ROADS!
(http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=4969ing)
*
14 Reasons Why Rick Perry Would be a Really, Really Bad president: (http://www.infowars.com/14-reasons-why-rick-perry-would-be-a-really...)
*
News With Views on RINO Rick Perry – Kelleigh Nelson’s July 13, 2011 column:
(http://www.newswithviews.com/Nelson/kelleigh127.htm)
*
My blog on Rick Perry (http://rickperryfraudhypocrite.blogspot.com/2011/07/avoid-tea-party...)
*
The scrutiny of Rick Perry begins here…
June 14, 2011
(http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2011/06/14/the-scrutiny-of-ric...)
- Rick Perry advocated forced injections of Gardasil.
- Rick Perry signed into law the bill that was ACORN's top priority in Texas.
- Rick Perry opposed Arizona's immigration law.
- Rick Perry established a commission to study the feasibility of BI-NATIONAL health
insurance!
*
Gov. Rick Perry: Conservative When It Counts?
by Joe Wolverton II Monday, March 1,
2010
(http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/3041-gov-rick-perry-conse...)
- “The Rio Grande does not separate two nations, it joins two peoples. Mexico and the United
States have a shared history, and a common future.” -- Rick Perry
- Rick Perry supports NAFTA's provision that Mexican trucks (which are notoriously unsafe)
drive in the USA.
- Rick Perry advocates bi-national health insurance.
- Rick Perry advocates in state tuition for illegal aliens.
*
Rick Perry loves to boast that half the jobs created in America in the last two years were
created in Texas. That is true, but Rick Perry had very little to do with it. He's just riding on the
coattails of Texas' long history of having low taxes. (Texas' oil tax certainly helps them,
too. Texas charges a tax on every barrel of oil pumped from the ground. So, the rest of us are
providing the money that Texas would have collected from an income tax if it didn't have
oil.)
Rick Perry has contributed little to Texas’ growing economy. What he has done is burden
Texas' future with many billions in debt by issuing bonds for his big spending projects. We
don’t need another Obama.
Written on August 16, 2011 by da Tagliare
Rick Perry Has Some Explaining to Do
I’ve often been told that you can accurately judge a person by the friends that they keep. Using
this premise, let’s take a look at some of the friends Presidential GOP candidate Gov. Rick Perry
has kept and still keeps.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan had already served his two terms as President and was
ineligible to run again. The Republican Party ran then Vice-president George H.W. Bush after a
hard fought primary campaign against Senator Bob Dole. The top Democratic candidates
included Gov. Michael Dukakis, Sen. Al Gore and Rep. Dick Gephardt among others. At the
time of the 1988 campaign, then Democratic Rep from Texas Rick Perry served as the Texas
campaign head for Al Gore. After Bush handily defeated Dukakis for the White House, Perry
switched parties and became a Republican in 1989, but still kept ties with Democrat Al Gore –
inventor of the internet and crusader for a one-world economy and government.
In 1999, Perry became Lieutenant Governor of Texas and Governor in 2000. As Texas’s
governor, Perry has openly courted relations with a number of Islamic leaders.
One of Perry’s friends with Aga Khan, the multimillionaire head of the Shi’ite sect of Islam
known as the Ismailis. As governor, Perry has used his association with Khan and other Ismailis
leaders to establish cooperative programs with them and the state of Texas, including an
education program to help teach children that Ismailis Muslims are peace loving people.
Perry has also been known to be friends with Grover Norquist. Norquist is married to a
Palestinian wife who is the director of communications for Norquist’s Islamic Free Market
Institute. He has been on the Islamic payroll before and after 9/11. Just fifteen days after the 9/11
attack on the US, Norquist arranged for President Bush to meet with fifteen Islamic leaders who
were supposedly rejecting violence and terrorism. However, a number of those Islamic leaders
have been supportive of Hamas, Hezb’allah and the Palestinian cause to eliminate Israel from
existing as a nation and who have called for the destruction of all those nations who support
Israel, including the US
Gov. Perry claims to be a conservative Christian, just like Obama claimed before he was elected
President and we have seen Obama’s track record of supporting Islamic peoples and nations
while distancing the country from our Israeli allies. One can’t help but wonder if Perry is
following a similar pattern.
Let’s face facts. Islam considers Christians to be infidels and peace loving or not (heavy on the
not) does teach that infidels should be exterminated. Many Islamic leaders have taught the same
and have vowed a Jihad – Holy War – against the US for being a nation of infidels.
So why would a professing Bible believing Christian be friends with people who have openly
supported the destruction of Christianity, Judaism and the United States? I know Scripture says
to love your enemies, but it does not say to make them your friends and to court their ways.
The Republican Party needs to pin Perry down and find out exactly where his allegiance is and
whose side he’s on before any more voters head to a primary, unaware of his background.
Read more: Rick Perry Has Some Explaining to Do | Godfather Politics
http://godfatherpolitics.com/519/rick-perry-has-some-explaining-to-...
14 Reasons Why Rick Perry Would Be A Really, Really Bad President
The American Dream
August 14, 2011
Photo: Gage Skidmore
Supporters of Texas Governor Rick Perry are not going to like this article at all. Right now,
Republicans all over the United States are touting Rick Perry as the “Republican messiah” that is
going to come charging in to save America from the presidency of Barack Obama. Many
believe that if Rick Perry enters the race, he will instantly become the frontrunner for the
Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Perry certainly looks the part and he knows how to
give a good speech, but when ordinary Americans all over the country take a hard look at his
record, they may not like what they see. The truth is that Rick Perry is a big-time globalist, he
has raised taxes and fees in Texas numerous times, he has massively increased the size of
government spending and government debt in Texas, he has been trying to ram the Trans-Texas
Corridor down the throats of the Texas people and he tried to force young women all over Texas
to be injected with the Gardasil vaccine. No, Rick Perry is not going to save America. In fact,
he would likely be very, very similar to both Bush and Obama in a lot of ways.
Right now, Rick Perry is trying to portray himself as a “good conservative” so that if he enters
the race he will be accepted by Christian conservatives. If Rick Perry did win the Republican
nomination, he would have a great chance of winning the general election because he would very
much be an “establishment” candidate.
But before Republicans get too excited about Rick Perry, there are a whole lot of things that they
should know about him.
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.
WATCH VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgkWjLlibdU&feature=player_embedded
#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 a highly controversial 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.”
WATCH VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkMkJ5s1j0I&feature=player_embedded
Rick Perry has a record that should make all Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and
Independents cringe.
He is not the “conservative Republican” that he is trying to claim that he is. He is simply another
in a long line of “RINOs” (Republicans in name only).
If Rick Perry becomes president, he will probably be very similar to George W. Bush. He will
explode the size of the U.S. government and U.S. government debt, he will find sneaky ways to
raise taxes, he will do nothing about the Federal Reserve or corruption in our financial system
and he will push the agenda of the globalists at every turn.
Look, the truth is that another four years of Barack Obama would be a complete and total
nightmare.
But so would four years of Rick Perry.
America deserves better than the “lesser of two evils”.
Unfortunately, the American people have been dead asleep and have been sending incompetents,
con men and charlatans to Washington D.C. for decades.
Hopefully things will be different in 2012.
WATCH VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBXSdoYqvk&feature=player_embedded
Rick Perry’s immigration problem
by admin on August 16, 2011 · 4 comments
Texas Governor Rick Perry announced on Saturday that he is running for president in 2012.
Gov. Perry will undoubtedly run on his strong economic record in Texas. After all, 38% of all
jobs created in the United States have been in Texas since the “recovery.”
However, what Rick Perry cannot run on is his very questionable, liberal immigration record.
Perry appears to be a strong conservative candidate, but when you dig deep into his record, a
different narrative emerges.
Perry has an immigration problem.
In 2001, Perry signed into law the very first Texas “Dream ACT.” It allowed the children of
illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at any Texas university, as long as they graduated from
a Texas high school.
Rick Perry defended the Texas “Dream ACT,” saying, “To punish these young Texans for their
parents’ actions is not what America has always been about.”
Perry then jetted off to Mexico and bragged to the Mexicans that Texas passed this law, saying,
“The message is simple, educacion es el futuro, y si se puede.” Education is the future, and yes
we can.
Do you want a president who offers in-state tuition to illegal immigrants and then goes to
Mexico and brags about it? Absolutely not.
Next, Perry slammed Arizona for passing Senate Bill 1070, which allows law enforcement
officers to question suspects about their citizenship. The law also makes it a state crime to be in
the United States illegally.
“I fully recognize and support a state’s right and obligation to protect its citizens, but I have
concerns with portions of the law passed in Arizona and believe it would not be the right
direction for Texas,” Perry said, “For example, some aspects of the law turn law enforcement
officers into immigration officials by requiring them to determine immigration status during any
lawful contact with a suspected alien, taking them away from their existing law enforcement
duties, which are critical to keeping citizens safe.”
SB1070 lets state law enforcement officials do the job the federal government should be doing. It
is fully constitutional and actually protects the rights of illegal immigrants more than the federal
government does. For Rick Perry to criticize it, especially when he is the governor of a border
state, is ridiculous.
This article was written by HENRY D’ANDREA; full article at WASHINGTON TIMES …
EnviroKnow
Energy policy, climate change and the decline of the American coal industry.
Rick Perry Was Al Gore’s Texas Campaign Chairman in 1988
Political observers have noted that Jon Huntsman is likely to take some flack from conservatives
for having served as President Obama’s Ambassador to China until recently. But Huntsman isn’t
the only prospective GOP candidate who has worked for a prominent Democratic politician in
years past.
Rick Perry, who entered the Texas legislature as a
Democrat in 1984, served as Al Gore’s Texas Campaign
Chairman in the 1988 presidential campaign. Soon after
the campaign, Perry switched parties and was elected
Texas Agriculture Commissioner as a Republican in
1990. “Going through that (Gore experience) was part of
what started me through the process of changing parties
in 1989,” Perry later said. “I came to my senses.”
At a 1999 campaign event during his successful run for
Texas Governor, a Dallas Morning News reporter asked
Perry about his previous work for Al Gore. “I certainly
got religion,” Perry said. “I think he’s gone to hell.” You
can listen to an audio recording of the exchange here.
And while Gore was a moderate at the time on some issues (abortion, gun control, prayer in
schools), he was already a committed environmentalist. 11 years before Perry chaired Gore’s
presidential campaign in Texas, in 1976, Gore held the first Congressional hearings on climate
change. Gore’s reputation on environmental issues was so solidified by 1988 that the first
President Bush took to the habit of calling him ozone man.
Rick Perry prides himself on his anti-environmental credentials as Texas Governor. But if and
when he decides to run for President, whether it is in the next few weeks or in 2016, he’ll
undoubtedly have to explain all of this to the Republican base.
Update — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Governor Perry has likely already decided
he’s running:
A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for
President, though the official word from Team Perry is still a definite maybe.
Interestingly, Perry’s apparent rationale for entering the race has to do with Romney’s flip-flop
on climate change:
Our normally reliable Republican source reports that Mr. Perry has surveyed the field and
decided to get in the race later this summer, perhaps around the time of the national prayer
meeting that Mr. Perry is hosting on August 6 at a Houston football stadium. Our source also
reports that Mr. Perry is aiming to compete in the Iowa Straw Poll, even though it occurs just a
week later, on August 13. The thinking is that apparent front-runner Mitt Romney “does
not reflect the Republican Party” and is therefore vulnerable to a credible challenge from
the right, especially after Mr. Romney’s recent squishy remarks on global warming.
Update 2 — AmericaBlog’s Matt Ortega calls this “a potential hiccup in a Perry bid for the GOP
nomination.”
Update 3 — Jed Lewison at Daily Kos has now picked this up.
Monday, August 08, 2011
BETWEEN THE LINES
The case against Perry
Exclusive: Joseph Farah shares what he'd have said about marriage as candidate for prez
Posted: August 05, 2011
8:39 am Eastern
Joseph Farah
Some people still don't appreciate why Rick Perry's remark to Republican fat cats condoning the
New York Legislature's vote to approve same-sex marriage should disqualify him from
consideration for the Republican presidential nomination.
Here's an example of one quizzical letter I received on the topic: "Logically, how is Rick Perry's
response on gay marriage incorrect? Regardless of how anybody feels about it, marriage isn't
addressed in the Constitution. So it is supposed to be left to the states, right?"
Perry had told a group of high rollers in Aspen that New York state's action was "fine with him,"
and there was nothing Washington could do about it because of the 10th Amendment.
Many conservatives have swallowed this idea – either in their misguided enthusiasm over Perry
or because they don't understand why conservatives are always losing ground in the culture war.
Imagine if a Republican presidential candidate said: "The Constitution doesn't say anything
about abortion, so it is reserved to the states to decide."
Technically, both of these statements are absolutely true. However, there's something missing –
the context in which the federal government deliberately nationalized both issues. In the case of
Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court took no notice of the 10th Amendment in declaring
abortion to be not a matter of life and death for an unborn baby but a matter of "privacy" and
women's rights. In the case of same-sex marriage, federal judges have intervened to overrule
popular ballot propositions affirming marriage as an institution between one man and one
woman.
Apparently, in the eyes of Rick Perry, the 10th Amendment only offers protections for social
radicals to redefine marriage and life at the state level, not to guard 6,000-year-old social
institutions and the most innocent and vulnerable of human life.
I know. I know. After my criticism, Perry attempted to do damage control. He explained how he
actually favors amending the Constitution to protect the institution of marriage.
Let me tell you what I would have said if I were thinking about running for president and
someone asked me about New York state's decision on same-sex marriage:
"New York lawmakers took the cowardly way out in passing a law redefining the institution of
marriage. They could have left the matter up to voters in the state, as 31 other states have done.
Each and every time a state has allowed voters to have their say, they have overwhelmingly
affirmed marriage for what it is and always has been – the union of a man and woman, a Godordained institution since the Garden of Eden. It's not a state matter or a federal matter. It's a God
matter. And no man should attempt to put asunder what God has created.
"Furthermore, I will do everything in my power, now and in the future, to defend and protect the
institution of marriage. Yes, I will support a constitutional amendment. Yes, I will appoint judges
who will uphold the institution of marriage when it is challenged. And, yes, I will always speak
out affirmatively for marriage – using whatever pulpit I have, including the big bully pulpit of
the presidency."
That would have been the kind of unequivocal and strong statement I would expect from
someone thinking about running for the GOP nomination for the presidency.
Even with all the backpedaling Perry has done since his gaffe, he still has not even remotely
approached that kind of affirmation of the most important institution in American society.
It has forced me to look deeper into Perry's worldview and character. I have come to the
recognition that he is not up to the challenge of succeeding Barack Obama – a position that will
require a very strong leader of conviction and determination.
Too often throughout Perry's public life his brand of "conservatism" has been nuanced,
ambiguous or worse – on illegal immigration, globalism, political alliances, TSA groping, the
TARP bailout, mandatory vaccinations, parents' rights, the role of the federal government in
education, eminent domain, the homosexual agenda, hate crimes, etc., etc., etc.
Cross Perry off your list of acceptable candidates to oppose Obama in 2012.
THE SKELETONS ON RICK PERRY'S CLOSET
Texas governor Rick Perry looks, at the moment, like the man many Republicans have been
waiting for. Perry has yet to enter the presidential race - he looks likely to do so in August - but
he is already polling close to ostensible frontrunner Mitt Romney.
The buzz around Perry isn't just driven by the polling. It's grounded in the fact that Perry could potentially
bridge the divide between the Tea Party conservatives and the party establishment. To borrow a phrase from
Perry's predecessor in the Texas governor's office, who went on to bigger things: Perry could be a uniter, not a
divider, that the GOP is desperate to find.
Consider: Romney, like fellow Massachusetts politician John Kerry before him, cannot seem to escape the
perception that he is ultimately an establishment figure - and is thus viewed with skepticism (or worse) by
many in the Tea Party and social conservative circles. Rep. Michele Bachmann, by contrast, is beloved by
many Tea Partiers and social conservatives, but she's largely dismissed inside the Beltway as a fringe figure
with little in the way of legislative accomplishment or policy chops.
CBSNews.com special report: Election 2012
Perry can potentially bridge that divide: He aggressively embraced the Tea Party as it was getting off the
ground, pushing a message of limited federal government (he's a strong critic of the federal health care
overhaul). And his Texas swagger - the often cowboy boot-clad governor once shot a coyote that menaced his
puppy during a jog - doesn't hurt. In a McClatchy-Marist poll last month, Perry was the most popular GOP
presidential contender among Tea Party supporters.
And Perry is an evangelical Christian who knows how to win over social conservatives through both his
policies - he signed into law a bill mandating that a woman seeking an abortion see a sonogram first - and his
public acts. On August 6, he's hosting a much-publicized prayer and fasting event to heal "a nation that has not
honored God in our successes or humbly called on Him in our struggles."
Yet Perry is also an establishment figure who is well-liked by top party figures. He runs the Republican
Governor's Association, a post that affords him important contacts across the country and the ability to do
favors that can eventually be called in, thanks in large part to the RGA's fundraising prowess. During Perry's
long tenure in Austin, Texas has been one of the nation's few bright spots when it comes to job creation,
affording Perry credibility in making the case to business leaders and average Americans that he be a better
steward of the economy than President Obama. Perry would enter the race with an extensive donor network, a
coterie of well-respected aides and the likely tacit support of a Republican establishment that sees Bachmann
as a hopeless general election candidate and Romney as far from ideal.
But the enthusiasm over a possible Perry candidacy has thus far clouded one inconvenient truth: While the
governor is currently the model of a Tea Party politician, his past includes plenty to give Tea Partiers and
social conservatives pause if and when they decide to take a closer look.
That fact was highlighted last Thursday, when former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took a very pointed
shot at Perry. "For all his new found commitment to hyper-conservatism," said the former GOP presidential
candidate, "he'll get to explain why he supported pro-abortion, pro-same sex marriage Rudy Guiliani last
time."
Perry's support for Giuliani - whose moderation on social issues alienated social conservatives and contributed
to his dramatic flameout in the 2008 presidential race - isn't his only potentially problematic endorsement. He
doesn't much like to talk about it these days, but Perry was actually a Democrat until 1989; the year before he
converted to the GOP, he served as Texas chairman for then-presidential candidate (and current target of
conservative disdain) Al Gore.
Then there are the issues, chief among them immigration. Perry, who presides over a state with a large and
growing Hispanic population. has been criticized by Texas Tea Party groups for not pushing hard enough to
pass a "sanctuary city" ban and other hard-line immigration legislation. In 2001, he signed the Texas version of
the DREAM Act allowing children of illegal immigrants access to in-state college tuition. As Arizona Sen.
John McCain's reelection campaign illustrated last year, any perceived softness on immigration issues can
become a major headache in a Republican primary.
There are niche issues that could hurt Perry, like his support for the (never-created) Trans-Texas Corridor, a
toll-road despised by small-government types that would have meant the appropriation of an estimated 81,000
acres of rural land. Or the executive order he signed in 2007 requiring thatTexas sixth-grade girls be
vaccinated against the human papilloma v..., a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. (The
order was ultimately blocked, but the order outraged many conservatives.)
And then there's the elephant in the room: Texas' debt problem. In the 2010 governor's race, Democrat Bill
White pointed out that Texas' debt has doubled under Perry. Since 2001, according to the Star-Telegram's
Mitchell Schnurman, Texas' debt has grown at a faster rate than that of the U.S. government. Perry assumed
office in December 2000.
All this could lead Republican voters to the same conclusion about Perry that many have made about Romney,
whose position on a number of issues has shifted over the years: That he is a political opportunist without core
beliefs. Some conservative bloggers have already seized on a list of 14 reasons Perry "would be a really, really
bad president." The list points to many of the issues mentioned above as well as tax increases. One blogger,
citing the list, derides Perry as "a big-time globalist."
Perry's past breaks with Tea Party-orthodoxy could potentially stay below-the-radar if he enters the race. But
Perry's rivals for the nomination are unlikely to ignore them, particularly if Perry is as strong a candidate as he
looks. The question for Perry, if he runs, is whether he will be able to convince Tea Partiers and the rest of the
GOP base that, occasional missteps notwithstanding, he is ultimately one of their own..
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2011
TEXAS CRITICS ALERT NEW HAMPSHIRE COUNTERPARTS
CONCORD, N.H. — In spite of his thundering speeches against big government, Texas Gov.
Rick Perry has a troubled relationship with the tea party, a rift increasingly obvious as he gets
closer to a presidential bid.
Tea party groups from New Hampshire to Texas are collaborating to criticize Mr. Perry’s record
on immigration, spending and his former affiliation with the Democratic Party.
“It’s real easy to walk into church on Sunday morning and sing from the hymnal. I saw a guy
that talked like a tea party candidate but didn’t govern like one,” said Debra Medina, a Texas tea
party activist who challenged Mr. Perry in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. “I still
don’t think he governs like the conservative he professes to be.”
Texas conservatives recently shared material on Mr. Perry’s record with the New Hampshire Tea
Party Coalition, which dedicated a section of its website to the Texas governor. The coalition
offers links to negative media coverage and videos about the man who it says “was Al Gore’s
Democrat chairman” in 1988. Mr. Perry switched to the Republican Party in 1989, around the
same time as other conservative Democrats.
The organization also distributed a series of emails to supporters, including one obtained by the
Associated Press warning, “We should be aware there is more to him than meets the eye.”
A key Perry strategist dismissed the tea party criticism as isolated to a handful of conservative
groups in a fragmented movement.
“There’s no candidate running on either side of the aisle that has his record and relationship with
tea party members,” David Carney said. “But the tea party is not one monolithic group.”
Mr. Carney concedes that Mr. Perry has work to do in early-voting states like New Hampshire.
“We have reached out to some members of the tea party leadership. But until we get the
campaign going, if we have a campaign, and they have an opportunity to talk to the governor,
they’re not going to know who he is and they’re going to be somewhat skeptical,” he said.
They’re particularly skeptical about Mr. Perry’s record on immigration, an issue that resonates
with the Granite State’s tea party movement.
As governor, Mr. Perry signed a law making Texas the first state to offer in-state tuition to illegal
immigrants, and he blasted a proposed border fence as “idiocy.” Texas tea party groups sent Mr.
Perry an open letter this year expressing disappointment over his failure to get a bill passed that
would have outlawed “sanctuary cities,” municipalities that protect illegal immigrants.
Mr. Perry also said that Arizona’s immigration law “would not be the right direction for Texas,”
although he would later support a friend-of-the-court brief defending Arizona’s right to pass its
own laws in accordance with the Constitution’s 10th Amendment.
“That’s a pretty big knock against him,” said Jerry DeLemus, chairman of the Granite State
Patriots Liberty PAC, when notified of some of Mr. Perry’s immigration policies.
Still, Mr. Perry enjoys substantial support from some tea party groups, who say his conservative
credentials are strong, even if not perfect.
“I don’t think there’s a purity test for who is tea party and who isn’t tea party,” said Ryan
Hecker, a member of the Houston Tea Party Society and organizer of the group Contract from
America. “At times, some tea party people would have liked him to be more conservative. But,
generally speaking, he has an excellent record, a far better record than other candidates in the
race.”
Perry’s Democratic past like so many other Republicans’
3:50 PM 07/19/2011
The New York Times caused a bit of a stir last week when the paper rehashed Texas Republican
governor and potential presidential candidate Rick Perry’s years, prior to 1989, before he was a
Republican.
“Mr. 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,”
the Times reported.
The prediction has already proved correct, as Perry’s Republican dissenters are using the fact
that the governor once had a “D” next to his name as another reason not to support his
candidacy.
Yet as opponents seize on the oft-forgotten truth, the list of successful Republicans who started
their political careers as Democrats is practically too long to recite. One of the Republicans’
favorite leaders, Ronald Reagan, started his career as a liberal Democrat, and Reagan and Perry
are not alone.
Conservative darling and current presidential candidate Michele Bachmann first campaigned for
Jimmy Carter in the 1970s as a Democrat. It was not until law school that she moved to the right.
In addition to Perry, five other Republicans currently in office used to hold office as Democrats:
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, Texas Rep. Ralph Hall, Nebraska
Republican Sen. Mike Johanns, and Louisiana Rep. Rodney Alexander. (Dissatisfied
Republicans develop plan for brokered convention)
Additionally, New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez never held office as a Democrat,
but prior to 1995 and up until 1988, she was a registered Democrat.
Dozens more have followed the same path that have come and gone including: former Texas
Sen. Phil Gramm, former Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith, former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and former Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott.
While Perry is receiving criticism for his switch, Perry campaign adviser David Carney told
TheDC that the goal should be to recruit more Republicans from the other side, not criticize
those who have switched.
“[W]hile I was the white house political affairs office we spent countless hours working hard to
recruit more Republicans,” Carney wrote in an email. “In fact, President H.W. Bush welcomed
Rick Perry and dozens of other leaders to the party in a Rose Garden ceremony when I was at the
White House in 1989. It’s their record, values and vision that voters care about.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/19/perrys-democratic-past-like-so-ma...