Gov. Rick Perry's Anti-Washington Rhetoric is Political Double Talk
If you conduct a Google search for "Rick Perry" and "Washington," it turns out that you get 793,000 results. In the past 30 days alone there have been 1,116 news stories with the same search terms.
In a bid for an unprecedented third full-term and 15 years as Governor, Rick Perry continually cites his strong opposition to Washington. This is a convenient platform because his chief opponent, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (for whom I formerly worked as a press secretary), happens to work there while representing Texas in the U.S. Senate.
According to Perry, at a recent fundraiser, "this campaign is about two models of governing: the Washington model that talks the talk about limited government while delivering record earmarks and increasing bureaucratic control and the Texas model of balanced budgets and fiscal restraint."
Perry's unyielding attacks on all things Washington may be politically popular, but in truth his rhetoric stands in stark contrast to his record, which shows that Gov. Perry repeatedly begs Washington, D.C. for help and surrounds his campaign with Beltway insiders.
Placing politics before governing, Perry made a stubborn, shortsighted stand to block federal money for unemployment insurance for political reasons. Now, with the state fund nearly bankrupt, KERA reports that he is seeking a $600 million federal loan to continue its operation, and it may require as much as $2 billion to make the fund solvent.
Despite Perry's strong rhetorical objections to the federal stimulus package, he freely accepted more than $17 billion (or 97 percent of it), plugging a huge budget hole to avoid raising taxes. On July 6 Gov. Perry directly asked Vice President Joe Biden when Texas would receive its $4 billion in education-related stimulus funding, after the state barely made a July 1 request deadline.
From one side of his mouth Perry strongly criticizes the federal government, pleading for them to "leave Texas alone," while out of the other side he requests for the federal government to assist victims of hurricanes, pay for National Guard troops along the southern border and provide 37,000 courses of anti-viral medicine for the swine flu outbreak.
Recall that New York Times columnist Gail Collins cited Perry's history as a cotton farmer, which she labeled as a "group that seems to have a special talent for combining rugged individualism with intransigent demands for government assistance. Even as we speak, the Obama administration budget-cutters are trying to end a longstanding federal practice of paying the costs of storing the entire national cotton crop every year. No other farmers get this kind of special treatment, and I am sure Perry's failure to mention it when he calls for an end to corporate bailouts is a terrible oversight that will be corrected immediately."
It's not simply Perry's governance that has a strong Washington reliance. Additionally perplexing is Perry's hypocrisy in accepting significant financial support from D.C.-based donors and hiring campaign advisors who previously worked as Washington, D.C. insiders.
On April 27, the Dallas Morning News reported that Perry had accepted four times as much in campaign donations as his challenger, Sen. Hutchison, over the same period. Fully 95% of Sen. Hutchison's donations for her campaign, January through June 2009, were from Texas.
According to the Associated Press, on July 13, Gov. Perry announced his slate of top campaign advisors, and one thing is clear -- they are replete in D.C. experience.
Perry's chief political strategist, New Hampshire-based consultant Dave Carney, traveled with Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp in 1996, consulted for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS), along with serving at the Senate campaign committee, on the 1992 Bush-Quayle campaign, and in the Bush 41 White House.
Before moving to Austin in 2002, his campaign manager, Rob Johnson served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR).
Gov. Perry's new Chief of Staff, Ray Sullivan, was national spokesman for George W. Bush's first presidential campaign and previously worked for Sen. Hutchison in Washington in 1993. Sullivan also worked on the 1992 Bush-Quayle campaign and on Capitol Hill.
Campaign Communications Director Mark Miner was previously Director of Communications both for the national GOP in Washington and for Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, and worked for the federal government at the Departments of Labor and Commerce.
Even Chief Pollster Mike Baselice served as a research analyst for the GOP House campaign committee during the 1988 campaign cycle.
The simple reality is that Gov. Perry's rhetorical hatred of Washington, D.C. is neither honest nor credible. It's a political device intended to bludgeon Sen. Hutchison for short term political purposes. If she was from Abilene, he would be anti-Abilene.
As the campaign goes forward and voters begin paying attention to results, and not rhetoric, Gov. Perry will soon learn that actions speak louder than words.
Matt Mackowiak, a former Press Secretary for Hutchison, is an Austin and Washington, D.C.-based GOP political and communications consultant and founder of Potomac Strategy Group, LLC.
Follow Matt Mackowiak on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@MattMackowiak
Chris Weigant: Emerging GOP Theme: Nullification
The code words change over time (from "nullification" to "states' rights" to Pawlenty's "state sovereignty"), but the idea is the same -- we retain the right to ignore any laws we don't feel like following.
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So, I'm supposed to take the word of this obvious Hutchinson campaign operative. Wow! A guy who at the very least is pretending to be a Washington insider and who is obviously pinning his future "political consulting" career on being her chrony if she wins.
And, the posted comments from all of the people that hate Texas really have me believing that her support comes from Democrats and people that don't live in Texas and who despise what Texas represents. I bet she raised a ton of money from people outside of Texas. Someone should really take a look at where she is getting her money.
To me Texas is the greatest state in the nation - low taxes/no state income tax, stable banks, great economy compared to other states and people have lots of opportunity to succeed here. Seriously if you move to Texas from another state and make the same money, its the same as getting a 10% raise. Also, the schools are so much better than what the media and critics like this guy would ever admit.
It just doesn't make sense to make a change in leadership when things are going so well. My vote is going to Perry - no question about it...and I live in Texas and vote.
No, you're not "supposed to take the word" of this articles author. You're supposed to take it as opinion and, after checking out the author's assertions to whatever extent you feel you need to, decide whether you agree with his opinion.
Texas has a lot of things going for it. I see no reason to leave. BUT, it also has a *lot* of faults. You say our education system is good, but Texas ranks 32nd in reading achievment and 30th in science http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/statecomp/index.aspp). Texas environmental laws are absurdly bad. Our state's response to Hurricane Ike was horrid and the complete chaos when Rita threatened made Texas a laughingstock (and rightly so).
So, if you're so happy with Perry and what he's done, I have one simple question for you: LIST TEN THINGS PERRY HAS DONE TO MAKE TEXAS A BETTER STATE. Not things the legislature has done. Not things that Perry has stood idly by and let others accomplish, but things that he has ACTIVELY DONE. He's been there ten years. He must have done at least one significant thing per year, right? So name them.
If one thinks that the constitution is the road map, think again... First, u must read the Federalist papers - that is the US Constitions road map. And in it u will find that Gover. Perry's remarks is unConstitutional , so he has broken Ferderal Law, in regards to his secission from the union - remarks!
That is what makes something the term unConstitutional stick!
To all the Progressives out there: Everything they said is true. It's a
wasteland of ignorance and hatred. The last thing you should ever consider
is moving to Texas and being forced to live in such a Neanderthal society.
Please, do yourselves a favor and move elsewhere. They don't even really have
unions there. And the State Government is hamstrung as far as spending
on new programs due to the ludicrously low tax rates. Stay away. It's awful.
Between 2000 and 2006 the number of Texans between the age of 25 and 64, who died due to no health Insurance was almost 18,000 human beings.
just saying Rick
If Rick Perry hates America so much... why doesn't he just leave?
Because he enjoys the lifestyle America provides.
Didn't you hear? He WANTS to leave America. He just wants to take the entire state of Texas with him.
PART 2
According to Hutchinson's own polling numbers, she's polling ahead of Perry and is a favorite to win. Since Perry hasn't so far released his polling numbers it sounds like he may really be polling low. So it looks like White and Sharp may be betting that they have a better chance in a Senate race against a lesser-known Repub, even though they don't know when the election will be held and even though they're competing against each other. Looking at the big name Democrats we have who could enter the race are Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor who lost against John Cornyn in 2002. And possibly, Chris Bell who was a distant fourth in name recognition in the 2006 race behind Perry, Strayhorn and Kinky. Despite this, Bell ended up a strong second behind Perry, losing 39% to 30%. Even with the two best Democratic candidates running for the Senate, we still shouldn’t take the defeatist attitude just yet. While Perry is Texas' longest serving governor, Texans still have mixed feelings about him as shown in the 2006 election and the recent polls. So if Perry can somehow beat Hutchison in the Republican primary, a lesser-known Democrat may have a chance. That’s probably what Kinky sees and IMO being an opportunist, he’s taking advantage of the opportunity and going to run on the Democratic ticket. In the meantime, I’m working along with many others in this state to turn it from red to blue!
If I thought it would matter, I would SOOOO vote for Kinky. I moved to my town partially BECAUSE they have prayer in the schools. Whether I am a Christian or not (still on the fence about that one), I personally feel that Christianity offers morals and values that I want my children to have. They learn all sides in school, and it's my job to mediate and tell them my opinions and morals and beliefs.
As for Perry, he makes me sick. He really is a hypocrite. He cuts funding to welfare while trying to get funding to rebuild the governor's mansion. He is greedy and I can't stand his hair, LOL.
I'm neither a democrat nor a republican (closer to democrat, though), I just want to see some real change. I'm 30. Perry has been in office my entire adult life, and it's gotten us nowhere.
Did you know the TEA wants to remove mention of liberal leaders such as Cesar Chavez from the history books and replace them with conservatives such as Newt Gingrich, the Moral Majority and Rush Limbaugh? Texas is trying to rewrite history, and I guarantee Perry is right in the middle of it.
There is not now, nor has there ever been, a limitation on prayer in schools, unless one's God is so decrepit he can only hear prayer if it's chanted in unison by 25 children.
What is limited is spoken group prayer, which respects more than anything the rights of Christians, whose deity and principal philosopher advised that prayer be done not in public "like the hypocrites" but in private, by oneself, in one's "closet".
So it's time for Christians to go back into the closet with their public prayer.
Texas isn't TRYING to rewrite history... they've been doing it for decades. The only difference is that now, people are noticing.
I am a native Texan and lifelong "Yellow Dog" Democrat. Believe it or not, there are actually quite a few of us and we are, of necessity, a hardy bunch. The problem with Texas, as with the South in general, is fundamentalist religion, which is determinedly anti-intellectual, anti-democratic and, strangely, anti-Christian. As for Rick Perry - well, he makes George Bush look like a genius. He cannot and will not win another term as governor. Regarding Kinky Friedman, if he hadn't run for governor last time around, Perry would have lost to Democrat, Chris Bell. Friedman is libertarian who wants to put prayer back in the public schools, for heavens sake.
Agree totally on all counts.
And Friedman is not part of the solution but happy to continue being part of the problem. He stopped being funny decades ago and he is now just another old quasi-hippie turned "libertarian" - the usual fate of rich kids who are too hip to be Republican but too spoiled to be progressives.
It's not just Perry. Every single one of these Republican anti-Washington no-tax small government loudmouths fight like lions at a kill for federal money for the cubs back home. They pack the bills with earmarks in the dead of night. Every single one of them brings home the bacon with military bases, contracts to build missiles and planes, locating federal warehouses in their districts, blah blah blah. They suck up every federal dollar they can, crying all the while against the "programs" and the "deficits" whaaaa whaaa whaaa. Most of the red states depend entirely on the federal government. They are so dishonest.
I hope that Rick Perry is the repug nominee because he won his last election by only a 36% plurality and much of that was not support but rather the conservatives lesser ev!l.
If he is the nominee and runs against someone like John Sharp, we can not only elect a democratic senator (Bill White) but als a democratic governor and flip this state two years ahead of schedule.
PART 1
Please keep Kinky the Spoiler out. I still believe that had he not run his farce of a campaign and Carole Strayhorn (a Repub who ran Independent) had not been in the race that Chris Bell could have won. Of course now Kinky is talking about running again, this time as a Democrat and riding the coattails of Pres. Obama. He's actually admitted that not running as a Democrat last time around was a mistake and vows to be more serious this time around if he runs. As for Sharp, the word is that he has put in his bid along with Bill White to run for senator. Go figure. Two of the best Democratic candidates both going after the same Senate bid. They're going after Hutchison's Senate seat that isn't even up again until 2012. Hutchison could actually decide to resign her own bid for governor, which would cause a Senate special election in the next two years. Or, if she's elected governor in 2010, that would mean a 2011 special election.
Please please please tell me that Rick and Kay have a chance of damaging each other so much in their primary slugfest that whoever their Deomcratic challenger is will have a real chance.
Please.
Pretty Please.
They will damage each other that is a given the mudslings started months ago, the problem is at this point no Democratic challenger has stepped forward that could give them a run for their money. Right now the only Democratic candidate to annouce he is running is George W. Bush friend, supporter, former business partner and Ambassador to Japan and Australia under President Bush Tom Schieffer. I have major doubts about Schieffer, when I saw the announcement that he was running DINO automatically popped into my head.
Gops are only Americans in the sense that the French are Europeans.
Citing Google as a source and then subjectively interpreting the search results? I'm not reading this blog for stellar journalistic style or integrity, but to make an opinion piece out of google results is weak. I'm surprised this noteworth Web site decided to publish this.
This post doesn't even have a quote from anyone remotely close to the campaigns involved in this race.
What's wrong, Matt, couldn't get anyone to talk to you?
Matt's made no secret of the fact that he's got connections with Kay. So the post should be read with that in mind (notice there's no mention about the validity of any of Perry's attacks, just the highlighting of his hypocrisy).
My bet is that we'll see Kay's (primary) campaign strategy at least start out as "I know you are but what am I" to every accusation Perry aims her way. This post is just the first shot of many.
And while we're on the subject of the governor's race and hypocrisy: Why is Kay still in the Senate? Didn't she promise that two terms would be her self-imposed term limit? And she's faulting Perry for holding on to his post for way too long?
Kinky Friedman for governor! He would clean Texas up real good
"Why the hell not?"
Much of what Kinky has been saying since his last run for governor (which I supported), has been semi-conservative. I no longer support him because it appears his opinions change according to whether he is currently running for governor. Was going to back Kay (as the lesser of two evils) but now will just vote straight Democratic. If KBH is no improvement over Perry, might as well have Perry.
As to hypocrisy, Texas is the capital of hypocrisy. We "care" about people just so long as it doesn't cost us anything.
No. Please. Just no. We need someone whose claim to fame is more than just rewirting old jokes and being weird.
Kinky has more qualifications than that. He wears boots, too.
*I* voted for Kinky in 2006, trying to do my part to get the Reps out of the Guv's Mansion. Damn, I miss Ann Richards (and Molly Ivins, too!).
Although I am a Texas Democrat, I like Senator Hutchison, even though we disagree on many points.
But I would vote for her in the primary just to get Perry out. When George Bush won the Presidential nomination and Perry who was his Lt. Governor took over, there was a remark, not sure if it actually came from Bush himself, that said "If you think I was bad, wait until you see the guy who's taking my place", or something to that effect. It was well known they did not like each other.
Sandy972 - you are right. Bush did say that. I am a Texan and would love to have another governor.
If you are a democrat why do you not support the democratic candidate. KBH is far more partisan that she was when she was stste treasurer. I don't think Perry could wing a general election with a decent democratic opponent.
I would if I knew who was running and I said the primary. Anhother thing, if KBH probably could not win against the democrat and Perry's right wing, nutcase base would be so angry, they wouldn't vote at all if KBH won the Republican primary. Both are not the best choices, but I guarantee you KBH is a conservative but not crazy like Perry.
Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone wil beat the Republican candidate. KBH appears to be starting just a stupid a campaign as Perry. The worse the Republican governnor is, the better chance we have to encourage Democratic votes.
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