35 Responses to “Will Rick Perry…”

1. Kurt Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 11:35 am

   Perry is more of a social conservative than I would like, but as far as all of the potential candidates out there, he’s the only one with enough of a solid, substantive, conservative record to make him the most viable contender to Obama.

2. Hong Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 12:04 pm

   Perry is the type of social conservative I would like, but I think there is Texas fatigue in this country. I keep my mind open but being a social conservative means he’ll need the money and tenacity to fight both the Democrats in Washington and the MSM.

3. Don Carlos Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 12:20 pm

   Texas fatigue? How about Obama fatigue? Democrat fatigue? Pelosi fatigue? Reid fatigue? (Huntsman gave him $)

   If Rick was jogging with a .380, it was probably something like the S&W .380 Bodyguard (for compact concealed-carry), so he’s a good shot with a short-barreled. A coyote up real close is likely rabid, as are the jornos in Austin. Hard to run miles with a couple of pounds of a longer-barreled bouncing on your hip.

   Go Perry go! I’ll forgive your Gardasil error.

4. Foxfier Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 12:32 pm

   I can’t argue in support of someone with forced STD vaccination of little girls on his record. (It’s more complicated than that, but the complications make it worse.)

5. Don Carlos Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 12:50 pm

   The Gardasil story is fairly complicated, and still largely unknown. There was a huge political push by Merck and feminazis and organized medicine and the leftist medical media (New Engl Journal, etc.) behind it in the Several States, not just TX.

   Immunizing against cancer is on its surface an easy thing to advocate. Oncologists favored it. When oncologists tell you it’s good, what’s a governor to think?
   Perry erred. He reversed. No one bats 1000.

6. vanderleun Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 1:13 pm

   Perry? Not to make things too complicated… No.

7. Trimegistus Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 1:32 pm

   Is his name Obama? No? Then he’s got my vote in 2012!

8. Jennifer Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 3:56 pm

   No.

9. Libby Says:
   June 27th, 2011 at 4:05 pm

   The 2012 election is too important – I’d rather focus on all that he’s done right. Just look at the Texas economy and all of the h*ll he’s giving the EPA. He had my interest after he said liberals are “never going to like us, so let’s stop trying to curry favor with them”.

   Texas fatigue? More like a breath of fresh air after hearing Romney say he believes in man-made global warming, Gingrich disparage Ryan’s plan, etc. We need a bold candidate – and he’s one of only a few who fit the bill.

10. Scott Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    From what I know about him, I like him alot. He’s got some similarities to Reagan: they were both former lifelong Democrats who had a profound conversion and never looked back; and they both served two terms as governor of a huge state.
    Perry does not come off as amiable as Reagan was. I’m afraid the press will paint him as a brash, cocky, Texas cowboy like they did to Bush.

    Perry gave a rocking speech at the RLC (Libby referred to one of the memorable quotes). He also spoke at a Tea Party event a couple of years back that also strongly resonated with me.

    I haven’t read his book, “Fed Up”, but it’s my understanding the thesis is that he advocates for
    shifting power and decision making away from Washington back to the state and local governments and to deregulate. Sounds right to me.

    Unless some skeletons jump out of the closet, from what I know so far he’s someone that I could get excited about voting for — as opposed to a Romney or Huntsman who I would have to hold my noe and only reluctantly vote for simply because they are not Obama.

11. Foxfier Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 5:52 pm

    Unless some skeletons jump out of the closet, from what I know so far he’s someone that I could get excited about voting for — as opposed to a Romney or Huntsman who I would have to hold my noe and only reluctantly vote for simply because they are not Obama.

    Same reason I don’t like him– he seems to share Mitt’s Obamacare outrage of “you can’t make people do that! That’s our job!”

    Perry erred. He reversed. No one bats 1000.

    He did an executive order. He got overruled.
    Has he stated he was wrong on principal? Or even in this specific case? Last I heard, he was still claiming it was a “pro-life issue.”

    I don’t see any difference in the mindset of requiring an STD vaccine for girls to go to school and requiring a specific speed limit to get road funding– it’s just a tool to force something “for their own good.”

12. Don Carlos Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    Ever been immunized ‘for your own good’, foxfier?
    You seem inclined to form a circular firing squad, so I’m gonna let it go. You don’t bat 1000, either, and neither do I. If that’s the worst thing you have against Perry, breathe easy.

13. SteveH Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    I hope he runs because we could use his message. I don’t know if he’d be the best nominee. But if he is then he’s my man.

14. Foxfier Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    Don Carlos -
    No, actually. The vaccinations I’ve been forced to have were due to the high level of public (or military force) reward balancing out the cost of private freedom.

    You seem inclined to form a circular firing squad, so I’m gonna let it go.

    I’ll take that to mean “No, he actually hasn’t admitted there was anything wrong with his actions.”

    I’m not going to excuse a pretty major world-view flaw just because a guy talks good on state’s rights, nor even because the state he’s been governor of has been doing really well economically. I’ve noticed that folks who abuse power at a lower level tend to suddenly discover that their new position does have powers they didn’t believe it did beforehand.

    I like state’s rights because they’re an extra layer of protection on peoples’ rights, not because it’s magically better to be dictated to by a Texas than DC.

15. Foxfier Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    I hope he runs because we could use his message.

    Amen! It’d be really nice to get a better emphasis on state’s rights, cutting down on how much the feds do, etc. The light-bulb thing? GREAT!
    Texas does their budget two years ahead, too, doesn’t it? Sounds like a promising idea, almost as nice as stealing Cali’s “don’t pass a budget, forfeit your pay” thing.

16. rickl Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    I fear he may be an open-borders internationalist, like Bush. I’m very lukewarm to him, but greatly prefer him to Romney. Both of them seem entirely too slick for my taste.

17. Deeka Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    No. Why? Gardisil.

18. Don Carlos Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 10:02 pm

    I am surprised at the numbers of posters who make Gardisil their litmus test on Perry.

    Foxfier seems libertarian about it, I don’t comprehend the statement he makes, ‘No, actually. The vaccinations I’ve been forced to have were due to the high level of public (or military force) reward balancing out the cost of private freedom.’ What reward was that? Freedom from an illness, or something else?

    Sheesh. You’d rather have smallpox or polio? You’d be OK with the small risk of meningococcal meningitis in your freashman at college, totally preventable by a vaccine. It is a fulminating illness; people go to bed with the ‘flu’, never to rise in the morning. And many of those with the illness who recover only with the most intensive therapy have serious, permanent neurologic deficits.

    There is much to dislike about the Gardasil campaign, but it’s not coming across here. I mean medical facts.

19. texexec Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    Believe it or not, I’m a Texan who really doesn’t know much about Perry. I don’t follow state politics much because here in Texas, we try our damnedest to keep government small so I’m not as concerned about what our government is gonna do to me…plus most of our state offices and both houses of our legislature are safety Republican.

    Actually, our constitution provides for a relatively weak governor. The Lt. Governor is really more powerful. So Perry can only claim to have been somewhat involved in our state’s economic success.
    But he WAS involved and DID see what was happening up close.

    I also have been concerned about the “Texas fatigue” factor, but after hearing his speech at the RLC, I have a gut feel that he can overcome that. As I listened to him, several times I thought to myself…”He kinda sounds like Reagan.”…sincere in his beliefs and honest and direct about expressing them. I’d love to see him debate Obama.

    Perry’s strong stand for states rights is almost enough for me to vote for him even without his other pluses.

    Ok….here’s another plus only an old Texan like myself can understand. First full disclosure…I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin…a true “teasip”. I have orange blood in my veins.

    However, Perry is an Aggie and believe it or not, I consider that a plus. My dad graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in horticulture. There was no finer man than my dad and I have to say that there is something just good about Aggies and their traditions. If you lived in Texas, you’d know what I mean. My dad took me to a lot of Aggie football games when I was young and I still get a little misty eyed when the Aggie band MARCHES (not plays show tunes) during half time.

    I’ll take an Aggie over a Harvard grad as president any ole day.

    (But I still love kicking Aggie butt on Thanksgiving day. )

    I could get pretty damned excited about a Perry/Bachmann ticket.

20. Foxfier Says:
    June 27th, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    Don Carlos -
    First off, I’m a she.

    Secondly, there is nothing “libertarian” about my stance– public health concerns are the stated reason for over-ruling individual freedoms in the case of diseases transmitted by social contact, because simply getting vaccinated isn’t enough. Herd immunity is needed to make it effective. As the average number of a population that is vaccinated goes up, the chance of someone getting a disease goes down. Sometimes, the risk of disease goes so far down that the requirement for vaccination is removed entirely, especially for more dangerous vaccines– such as for small pox in the general population.
    (Military members, some medical personnel and other groups that could be targeted by or associated with biowarfare targets are getting vaccinated again; varying levels of involuntary.)

    In simple English: mandatory vaccinations are for when someone’s failure to vaccinate themselves puts others at risk.

    Gardasil, on the other hand, is for an STD. You have to have sexual contact with someone who is infected– that’s a far cry from Meningococcal meningitis, or Perry’s beloved example of polio.

    I mean medical facts.

    That is highly amusing, since you’re apparently ignorant of why there are required vaccines at all, and you’re rather light on medical facts yourself. Heck, you’re rather short on facts in general– I notice you’re still not defending your claim that he “reversed” his error.

    It’s almost like you’re trying to change the subject away from abuse of power and/or a disregard for individual rights and shift to a personal attack. (Pointing out flaws in a possible candidate is trying to set up a “circular firing squad”? Or is that only when it’s done against someone who hasn’t even declared?)
    I’d be much more interested in sticking to the facts of the case– say, Perry’s financial ties to Merck & Co.?

21. jon baker Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:20 am

    As a Texan let me say ” I hope Not!”

    In 2007 the Houston chronicle reported he went down to Mexico and gave a speech advocating “free flow of labor” across the border.

    Then there was that whole Trans Texas corridor thing where he pushed to use emminent domain to seize -I think it was close to 300 yard wide swath of land from the southern border all the way north across Texas.- and the land was to be sold to a PRIVATE Spanish owned road company!!! Think KELO on a grand scale! Never mind that I-35 and I-45 both have unused medians outside the cities.

22. jon baker Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:21 am

    I had a hard copy of that Houston article on “free flow of labor”- Man I wish i had kept it!!

23. Michael Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 9:08 am

    Perry was re-elected last time by a minority of voters. We returned him to office because the alternatives were so very bad. Gardasil, the TransTexas Corridor, a general preference for toll roads, which are needed because our once-stalwart and stolid Highway Department has become a profligate Department of Transportation, that pisses money, waffling on this session’s budget talks, allowing the educrats to insist that we needed to draw money from the State’s reserve fund rather than tell the school districts that fifty percent of their budgets was too much to spend on administration, are all blots on his record. No, I’ll only vote for him if he is Obama’s Republican opponent, which also applies to Romney and that famous dead coyote.

    He’s a good shot? So am I. So are a very large majority of Texans. That does not qualify us to be President, although, see above, re: dead coyotes

24. Michael Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 9:18 am

    I do see a clear pattern here, of seriously involved Texas Conservatives, mostly downright wonks, are pretty down on Governor Perry. I don’t know him personally, but I live in Austin, so I know many people who are closely connected to him. On a personal level, they regard him highly, and that he is an Aggie, a straight shooter in other ways, are pluses, but my reasons, above, are only the headings of a synopsis of a very partial list. I’ll work for Bachmann, or certainly for Sarah, Pawlenty probably, just depends upon who is moving toward closing the deal in the Texas Primary/Caucus. (Please don’t ask about that. It’s sort of like keeping kosher, quite complicated if you were not brought up with it. It’s definitely a Texan’s secret handshake, like reciting the prologue to the Canterbury Tales in Middle English, which four generations of Texas high-school seniors had to do)

25. Don Carlos Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 9:33 am

    Foxfier doesn’t know what she doesn’t know, about HPV, meningococci, asymptomatic carriers, etc. I regret I caused such waste of space by bringing it up. Perry’s Gardasil decision was wrong, Gardasil is not a good vaccine, and its use is not good public health policy for both biological and cost reasons, but that has nothing to do with herd immunity.

26. Foxfier Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Jon Baker-
    is this it? Or this editorial?

27. steve Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 9:57 am

    It really doesn’t matter who the next President is – America is finished.

    Zionism has destroyed America.

    Wayto go girl.

    Madoff, Poulson, Leibermann, etc All Jewish theives f–k America for the benefit of Israel

    But history shows that facism will be defeated.

    And thus Israel will be no more.

    Jews go home…

    [note from neo-neocon: "Steve" is our old troll from Canada. He has a very long history here. This is his typical modus operandi.]

28. texexec Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 10:07 am

    Michael:

    “Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
    The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
    And bathed every veyne in swich licour
    Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
    Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
    Inspired hath in every holt and heeth”…etc, etc.

    Best English course I ever had was senior English at
    North Dallas High.

29. Foxfier Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 10:11 am

    Don Carlos-
    So, no, you don’t have any facts to back up your claims, and yes, you are trying to shift over to personal attacks.

    The reason the HPV vaccine Gardasil is not suitable for forced vaccination is because what it protects from is spread only by sexual contact, as opposed– and I’m repeating myself, since you apparently missed it the first time– to Meningococcal meningitis, polio and small pox, which are spread by far less intimate means. This means no public health justification for a herd immunity drive.

    Asymptomatic carriers don’t matter in the case of HPV STDs, since it’s still not spread by normal social contact.

    So, how about what the way Perry was to the LEFT of WA’s governor Gregoire in taking the step of an executive order mandate? How about Texas doctors associations thinking the mandate was a bad idea?

30. steve Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 11:44 am

    By ‘home’ I mean America, Europe, which ever ethnicity you may be….

31. kolnai Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Whoa now, steve – you forgot to mention the Freemasons and the Trilateral Commission.

    The truth is out there. WAY out there.

32. FenelonSpoke Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    I think you should really consider banning steve, neoneocon. His anti semetism is really objectionable, IMO

33. FenelonSpoke Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    He also sounds a lot like Helen Thomas with “Jews go home.”

34. neo-neocon Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    to all: “Steve” is our old troll from Canada. He has a very long history here which some of you old-timers may recall. This is his typical modus operandi.

35. Sgt. Mom Says:
    June 28th, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    What may be going for Gov. Perry is that he was about one of the first established politicians that I knew of, who immediatly (and possibly somewhat opportunistically) realized exactly what the Tea Party was about, and did his level best to get in front of the Tea Party crowd. So all props for having enough political-animal shrewdness for realizing what was happening. I believe that he is at least canny enough to know there is no future in going against what a large, relatively single-minded, and organized body of his constituents want. Unlike some of the other ossified-in-office GOP political tools.

    Besides that, and on a purely personal level – he’s a really charming and funny guy. My daughter and I met him during the 2009 4th of July San Antonio Tea Party celebration. My impression was that he was just loving being there.

    http://www.ncobrief.com/index.php/archives/texas-tea-party/

    The link to the SA Express News picture feature has decayed, alas. There were some lovely pictures, including one of my daughter and I talking with Da Gov. I think the bottom line for me is that Rick Perry is about the best of the existing GOP politicians that the bottom-up, decentrally-organised Tea Party insurgency could work with. The mood of the ‘country class’ as Prof. Codevilla put it

    http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the/print

    - is so angry and implacable, that I am beginning to believe that only someone with impeccable small-gov, fiscal conservative will have any chance at all of being nominated — and giving us a decent chance in 2012. And it will not be John ‘who-the-f**k is he?’ Huntsman, whom I had never, ever heard of before this month.

    No, I don’t believe some sitting in office for the last (however many years) RINO squish will go very far, this time around. Whoever runs as the GOP candidate of choice will have to be a Tea Party-more-or-less-approved candidate. And since there is no one central Tea Party leader, it is all rather up for grabs, isn’t it? This must be sending the usual political gurus spare with frustration. Just my .02. YMMV.

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