Newsmax: Rick Perry's Still Got Game

When I read this article this morning from Christopher Ruddy after reading about Cain's remarks, the contrast is amazing.  Governor Perry has been getting clobbered from the other candidates and the Fox Orlando debate where set-up questions were asked.  Lost a lot of respect for Bill Sammon after that debacle where they made sure they put the camera on Perry not on Perry and Romney.  Romneycare seems to be off limits to Fox News.  Why?  Doesn't suit their narrative?

Karl Rove should resign from Fox News and would if he had any ethics left after his attacks on Perry for Romney.  Jeb Bush confirmed that it was Rove not him and his brother who had the heartburn with Perry.  It actually goes back to 1998, not 2007 with Rove.  Yet Roger Ailes keeps Rove on there as the expert.  Rove was one of the ones behind Kay Bailey's race for Texas Governor against Rick Perry in 2010.  Bush 41 and Rove got Romney to endorse Kay Bailey.  Connect the dots and you can see the fingerprints of Rove and his people all over the Romney campaign and who is behind the dropping of anti-Perry stories.

Anyone who has an idea of how Rove has run campaigns knows he is behind the bad publicity on Perry trying to tank him for Romney.  Would bet money he is behind all of these other candidates being mentioned to get in the race because he says Republicans are unhappy with the field.  Not the rank and file Republicans but the Insider Rockefeller Republicans -- the ones who want to choose our candidates for President and other offices.

Now Fox's latest flavor is Chris Christie who who believes in heavy gun control, the mosque at ground zero is okay and no need to document foreigners.  He is not conservative but anything to keep the Republican primary in a flux is what the establishment Republicans want.  Seriously, don't think that Ailes, Fox News, and  Karl Rove care if we win in November in 2012 and are perfectly content to have Obama for four more years because they cannot stand a Republican Administration where they are not involved.  For those you don't know Roger Ailes was Nixon's media consultant in 1968.

Makes a nice little group all from Nixon who want to continue the soft money policy  where the rich get richer and the middle class gets tanked.  Is that what this is all about?

Rick Perry’s Still Got Game
Sunday, 02 Oct 2011 07:08 PM
By Christopher Ruddy
Rick Perry took some serious heat for what was perceived as a less than sterling performance in the Sept. 22 Republican presidential debate held in Orlando. 

In my book, the Texas governor remains a very strong candidate for the GOP nomination, because of all the GOP candidates, he has one of the best records of governing as a sensible conservative. 

For sure, debates help provide us insights about a candidate, but the most important criteria for me is a candidate's past track record. In this regard, Perry shines brilliantly — he’s still got game. 

I had a front-row seat at the Orlando debate, where I thought Perry’s energy levels seemed unusually low. New to the national stage, Perry had apparently shown up for the debate after days of marathon campaigning. 

Though he fell short of expectations that night, I had a different take on the evening. Perry is a candidate who actually believes in something, a rare quality these days. 

Earlier this summer I visited with Perry in Austin. In private he’s extremely engaging, and he responds pensively to questions. 

Publicly, Perry has quickly developed a reputation for a “quick draw” — offering fiery, sometimes exaggerated, talk. For example, Perry has been busy fending off attacks from his GOP rivals over his view that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme,” assuring voters that he would preserve the program for those on it or near retirement and fix it for younger workers.

Perry has consistently maintained that the first step to fixing Social Security is to admit the program has problems. Though impolitic, his comments have been courageous. There is no doubt he is right: We will have a problem with Social Security. 

I also liked that Perry stood his ground on his immigration positions. As Texas’ governor, Perry holds a strong record in securing our border and reducing illegal immigration. He backed Arizona’s anti-illegal law and had Texas join to support the law in its subsequent legal fight with the Department of Justice.

He has poured state resources into securing its border with Mexico. Still, Perry has angered many by defending his support for giving children of illegal immigrants in-state college tuition.
He stated at the Orlando debate that those who did not support the tuition program might not have “a heart.” 

Later, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax, Perry said he regretted the comment and said he was “a bit over-passionate” in his remarks. 

Story continues below.

It’s important to remember that Perry has never embraced some of the hair-brained schemes that have been cooked up for illegals, such as giving them welfare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Perry believes, as I do, that tuition breaks are a small investment that can go a long way in helping make these undocumented immigrants into productive citizens. America cannot long survive as a robust economic engine if we create a permanent underclass.

This is why even many conservatives agree that children of illegals, who themselves did not break the law, should be allowed a public education, and even tuition breaks at state colleges.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has come out in support of Perry’s tuition program, calling a similar proposal in Florida “fair policy.” 

Perry has laid the major blame for the immigration problem on the federal government, telling Newsmax in a recent interview that illegal immigration wouldn’t be a problem “if the federal government had simply done its job through the years to secure our borders.” 

He’s right, of course.

The bottom line is that Perry has compiled a solid conservative record since switching from Democrat to Republican in 1989.

As governor, he has refused to raise taxes in Texas and vetoed more than $3 billion in proposed spending, becoming the first Texas governor since 1945 to reduce general-revenue spending.
He angered his state’s trial attorneys by enacting the strongest tort reform law in the nation, including the provision that the loser should pay almost all the costs of a failed lawsuit. 

He approved budgets investing billions in education, but criticized George W. Bush’s intervention in education under “No Child Left Behind.” 

His policies on taxes and tort reform have encouraged business activity in Texas, which has accounted for more than 40 percent of all new jobs created in the country since 2009.
In my view, no other candidate in the race can lay claim to a better record of conservative governance. 

Perry’s main problem, as I see it, is that even though he has been governor of the country’s second most populous state for more than 10 years, he has been a relatively unknown in Republican and media circles. This has left many who are unfamiliar with his track record to form an opinion of him today based on isolated comments he has made and from media spin. 

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney has sought to dismiss Perry’s candidacy by suggesting he lacks the former Massachusetts’ governor’s business experience. I don’t buy it.

First, Perry has solid military experience as an Air Force pilot, serving for five years and rising to the rank of captain. This counts a lot in my book. 

Perry has also done a great job governing Texas — that’s the important thing. 

While I believe Romney is a good man and would be a fine president, he also carries the stigma of the healthcare reform he instituted in Massachusetts, which has led to a sharp spike in healthcare costs in the state.

The Romney program is eerily similar to Obamacare in that it mandated every citizen to get private health insurance. Obamacare is one of the key reasons President Obama should be defeated in 2012. How does the GOP make that argument if Romney is the nominee? 

For his part, Perry says a repeal of Obamacare is the “highest calling for whoever is the next president.”

It is still early in the race, and Perry has time to help people better understand him. As GOP voters mull their choice for president, they should ask themselves who has the experience and track record to be the type of president this nation so desperately needs.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Rick Perry’s Still Got Game