Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Here's the guy who can and, in my opinion, ultimately will rise above the incredibly weak republican presidential field for 2012 and take the nomination. Furthermore, he's got the right stuff to defeat Obama. Ladies and gentlemen....meet Governor Rick Perry of Texas:
He is a very appealing candidate for a lot of prospective voters. He "looks" like a president. He's very affable, has a great sense of humor and has a ton of charisma. He's incredibly confident and well-spoken and he's tough as nails (after all , he's a Texan!). His demeanor is very plain-folk and down-to-earth. He has a great shot at winning from my perspective. He's got the look, he's got the confidence and he's got the appeal from almost any aspect.
Problem is, I cannot vote for the guy.
He's an unapologetic right-wing evangelical Christian conservative....he's got a prayer day rally that he's leading at Reliant Stadium in Houston coming up in the very near future. An unabashed champion of states' rights, he has made more than one suggestive remark that Texas should secede from the Union. He's a vigorous anti-immigration proponent and has openly led significant efforts to deny equal rights to gays. Governor of the great state of Texas since George W. Bush was elected president (allegedly) back in 2000, Perry has been our chief executive here for the past 11 years (there are no term limits for governor in Texas). During that time, he has signed death warrants for more than 200 condemned prisoners in the Lone Star State. Concurrently, he's never issued an edict of clemency based on a claim of innocence. Comparatively speaking, clemency edicts were handed down over 170 times in the state of Illinois alone during that same time frame (more here if you're interested: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6673053.html). In unyielding resolve to attempt to balance the state budget, he's slashed education appropriations by almost $8 billion and laid off almost 100,000 state education workers, a significant number of them being teachers. In the meantime, he's battled relentlessly to eliminate business regulatory efforts and has done everything he can to provide tax breaks for the wealthy.
In a prototypical Texas-cowboy style so reminiscent of the swagger that was displayed by his political mentor and predecessor as governor, the statement "our loudest opponents on the left are never going to like us, so let's quit trying to relate to them" possibly concerns me more than anything else he has said. An incredibly divisive stance, this tactic is sure to appeal to the most rudimentary of base conservative attitudes but how it helps to bring us together as one people is beyond me. Clearly, that's not what Rick Perry is concerned about at this time.
These tactics have worked extremely well in hard-core conservative Texas. He's creating quite a buzz with his economic results that have risen Texas above literally every other state in the nation during a recessionary period that might be considered to be the worst since the great depression.
He's invoked the will of the Lord almost incessantly during his governance....increasing significantly in recent days since he has considered running for president. Check out this recent video of his appearance on the Rev. James Robison's evangelical Christian TV show "Life Today":
I'm certain a lot of people on this forum will disagree with me about Mr. Perry and that's definitely OK with me. I can certainly see the appeal....especially in light of the other alternatives and the present state of affairs that President Obama cannot blame on anyone but himself. As Harry Truman so eloquently said so many years ago, "the buck stops here". I fear that a serious backlash in the next election may go so far as to actually make the accession of someone like Rick Perry to the presidency a real and genuine possibility.
And that, my friends, sends cold chills down my spine. This guy will eat Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, WaSilly Sarah and anyone else who gets in his way alive. :eek:
He is a very appealing candidate for a lot of prospective voters. He "looks" like a president. He's very affable, has a great sense of humor and has a ton of charisma. He's incredibly confident and well-spoken and he's tough as nails (after all , he's a Texan!). His demeanor is very plain-folk and down-to-earth. He has a great shot at winning from my perspective. He's got the look, he's got the confidence and he's got the appeal from almost any aspect.
Problem is, I cannot vote for the guy.
He's an unapologetic right-wing evangelical Christian conservative....he's got a prayer day rally that he's leading at Reliant Stadium in Houston coming up in the very near future. An unabashed champion of states' rights, he has made more than one suggestive remark that Texas should secede from the Union. He's a vigorous anti-immigration proponent and has openly led significant efforts to deny equal rights to gays. Governor of the great state of Texas since George W. Bush was elected president (allegedly) back in 2000, Perry has been our chief executive here for the past 11 years (there are no term limits for governor in Texas). During that time, he has signed death warrants for more than 200 condemned prisoners in the Lone Star State. Concurrently, he's never issued an edict of clemency based on a claim of innocence. Comparatively speaking, clemency edicts were handed down over 170 times in the state of Illinois alone during that same time frame (more here if you're interested: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6673053.html). In unyielding resolve to attempt to balance the state budget, he's slashed education appropriations by almost $8 billion and laid off almost 100,000 state education workers, a significant number of them being teachers. In the meantime, he's battled relentlessly to eliminate business regulatory efforts and has done everything he can to provide tax breaks for the wealthy.
In a prototypical Texas-cowboy style so reminiscent of the swagger that was displayed by his political mentor and predecessor as governor, the statement "our loudest opponents on the left are never going to like us, so let's quit trying to relate to them" possibly concerns me more than anything else he has said. An incredibly divisive stance, this tactic is sure to appeal to the most rudimentary of base conservative attitudes but how it helps to bring us together as one people is beyond me. Clearly, that's not what Rick Perry is concerned about at this time.
These tactics have worked extremely well in hard-core conservative Texas. He's creating quite a buzz with his economic results that have risen Texas above literally every other state in the nation during a recessionary period that might be considered to be the worst since the great depression.
He's invoked the will of the Lord almost incessantly during his governance....increasing significantly in recent days since he has considered running for president. Check out this recent video of his appearance on the Rev. James Robison's evangelical Christian TV show "Life Today":
I'm certain a lot of people on this forum will disagree with me about Mr. Perry and that's definitely OK with me. I can certainly see the appeal....especially in light of the other alternatives and the present state of affairs that President Obama cannot blame on anyone but himself. As Harry Truman so eloquently said so many years ago, "the buck stops here". I fear that a serious backlash in the next election may go so far as to actually make the accession of someone like Rick Perry to the presidency a real and genuine possibility.
And that, my friends, sends cold chills down my spine. This guy will eat Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, WaSilly Sarah and anyone else who gets in his way alive. :eek:
