Rich Lowry: Perry's Draft Stump Speech

Over the years we have always considered Rich Lowry a reasoned political writer who calls them like he sees them.  Looks like from his last sentence that he sees the same thing in Governor Perry:

Perry will inevitably draw comparisons with George W. Bush, but there’s at least one big difference: This Texas governor is not selling “compassionate conservatism.” His message is limited government, pure and simple.

Those words carry a lot of weight because they are so true.  This is one person who got tired of 'compassionate' conservatism whatever that was.  Rick Perry is not even close to that as he leads the charge for State's Rights and his message of limited government where he is not afraid to use the line item veto pen.  Texas balanced their budget just like Oklahoma this year with no new taxes but used cutting expenses for the various agencies.

Anyone who has been following Obama and his attacks on this part of the Country through the EPA, using the NLRB to go after South Carolina, and Obamacare knows sooner or later he is going to be doing the same to other states as he seeks to consolidate all power in DC and the states can go pound salt.

Obama must be stopped and Rick Perry is the person to do just that!  Rick Perry has not backed down to Obama so that should be some debate.  We are getting ahead of ourselves because he still has to win the primary but the way the Draft Perry is catching steam, we think he will do just fine.

Perry’s Draft Stump Speech
June 14, 2011 10:30 P.M.

By Rich Lowry

I was at the same event as Brian and got the same impression–this was a draft stump speech by Gov. Perry. There are three things a presidential candidate generally needs: 1) presence (does he fill the room?); 2) a narrative (does his biography and/or record add up to something?); 3) a theme (does he have a point in running?). Based on tonight, I’d say Perry could well have all three. Let’s take them in order: 

1) I’d never seen him give a speech before, but he delivered a pretty effective stem-winder. He was passionate, funny, and sincere. He got a standing ovation and as soon as he finished people began to leave the room, i.e. they were there for him. 

2) The Perry narrative is that–during a crisis of unemployment in the nation at large–he has made Texas into a jobs machine with a program of commonsense conservatism. He was filling in for Donald Trump tonight and said at the beginning of his speech, “He’s known for saying, ‘You’re fired.’ We’re known [in Texas] for saying, ‘You’re hired.’” He said someone told him recently, “‘Perry, you’re jobs-obsessed.’ I said, ‘Yep.’” Later on in the speech, he noted that his “state has a sign out that says, ‘Open for Business.’” 

3) His theme is that Washington needs to adopt a Texas-like program, be cut down to size, and leave the states to be “laboratories of democracy.” He referred a couple of times to the “Oz of Washington.” He sarcastically said, “Those people in Washington know everything,” before hitting the EPA, ObamaCare, and the NLRB. He complained of the “tragedy that’s happening in America, of losing our freedom.” He warned that the “entrenched powers in Washington” will be hard to fight. Left unsaid–only for now, perhaps–is that he’s the man to fight them. 

Read More at National Review