Gov. Perry WON'T Seek 4th Term (buy, tax, living in)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by texantodd

1. His horrible handling of public education. I know a large portion of hard core right wing teachers who know feel that Perry is Satan incarnate. I tend to disagree. That is too kind to Satan.

2. His overseeing the destruction of our environment and mismanagment of resources.

3. His work against social programs such as medicare and medicaid and social security.

4. His refusal to expand medicare under Obamacare.

5. His horrible record with women - equal pay veto, handling of abortion issues, etc.

After that, go look at any number of embarrasing positions he holds to and things he has said - railing against the 16/17 ammendments to the Constitution, the "oops"gaffe in the primary, his thoughts and words on LGBT community. He, like much of the teabaggers, are stuck in the wrong century.

Originally Posted by homeinatx

Perry has been a gubernatorial corporate welfare queen.

I have four main issues

1. Trans-Texas corridor (Cintra kick-backs and one of the largest eminent domain land grabs in US history)

2. Gardisil - executively mandated HPV vaccine - not exactly small government behavior, then it turns out that Merck - maker of said vaccine is a donor to Perry's campaign.

3. Support of Jeff Sandefer's truly idiotic plans for Higher Education Reform resulting in Texas A&M being censured by the American Association of Universities, and doing everything he can to turn UT Austin into the largest community college in the world, all the while talking about raising other Texas universities to tier 1 status when every action undertaken would have the more likely outcome that Texas has zero public tier one universities.

4. The hubris of his presidential aspirations. In the last Republican primaries, he made himself and the state of Texas a national laughing stock. Oops indeed. If the Republicans are stupid enough to run him in 2016, and they won't be, expect a Dukakis or Mondale scale of defeat, regardless of who the Democrats run against him.

And now it is coming out that his sister has interests in ambulatory centers, which will benefit greatly if the current abortion bill law passes and shuts down all but 5 abortion clinics in the state.

So once again, he talks a good talk about health and "saving the unborn," but it is really only ever about his own advancement and making money for his cronies who fund his political ambitions. Fortunately in Texas the governor has limited power, so his damage has been diffused.

In his favor, he does indeed have good hair.

Add to the above that the current abortion bill, if it had stuck to 20 weeks or later, might have sailed through, but he absolutely had to have that part that shuts down all but 5 of the women's health clinics in the state that do abortions because that was the entire point, really, and women's health was entirely irrelevant, and the REALLY important thing was his sister's company.

Plus the whole coyote thing. Any man who feels "imminently threatened" because he yells at a coyote and it stares at him (wouldn't you?) doesn't need to be in charge of a state, and he REALLY doesn't need to have his finger within a thousand miles of the red button.

The man is a buffoon. An obvious buffoon, but a dangerous one who has damaged Texas on many, many fronts. Doesn't matter which party he claims to belong to this week. Really.

[TX75007]

Perry has done an excellent job. Just like Ann Richards did. They both dealt with serious budget issues and mediated some serious disputes. They each had some wild ideas but backed down and changed their minds. They picked the best people for the job and then backed them. They each helped grow the state.

It has to be a tough job to be Gov during hard times.

I am glad to see him leave, if only because, as a high level manager, I know that that kind of job takes a toll on you and you eventually lose perspective and you also need a break. Let others take the pounding for a while.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

The man is a buffoon. An obvious buffoon, but a dangerous one who has damaged Texas on many, many fronts.

I disagree. He has done much more than most of us and far more for all of us.

buffoon - definition of buffoon by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

buf·foon (b-fn)n.1. A clown; a jester: a court buffoon.
2. A person given to clowning and joking.
3. A ludicrous or bumbling person; a fool

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

The title pretty much says it all.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will not seek fourth term for governor | News - Home

He was a huge embarrassment to Texas. He reached a low point when he told Texas gay and lesbian veterans returning from Iraq that they could find another state to live in if they didn't like it here in Texas. Hateful guy. The idea that native Texans who have served their country in time of war and then not receive equality when they come back home is repulsive to me. He also gave in-state college tuition to illegals. The trouble is that his replacements don't look a whole lot better.

[Dog_Gone]

Originally Posted by War Beagle

You'd be surprised how little taxes actually have to do with business relocations (my job is related to this). Taxes are important, but the gubmint will get money from you one way or the other, via property taxes or the like. Plus, businesses don't pay taxes anyway - they simply pass those costs on to customers.

The number one thing that businesses require is a good labor pool. Period. If there aren't people that can do whatever it is your company does, the taxes could be zero but the company would still not make any money. That's why the Silicon Valley is around despite CA's numerous problems.

I would say that after labor supply the next most important thing is regulatory climate, which encompasses a lot of different things. Union versus right-to-work, amount and type of regulations, etc. After that, taxes might start to be a determining factor.

The fact that Texas has reasonable taxes is not what makes Texas prosperous, though it is reflective of the fact that the politicians mostly understand what it takes to run a business, or at the least, know to stay out of the way. Mostly staying out of the way and maintaining a healthy regulatory environment is what I think Perry did best. I could have done with less of his moralizing on social issues, but he understands what businesses want. Contrast this with states like CA, IL, MI, NY, NJ, etc that have high taxes, unions and lots of regulations of various types, and it's not surprising why businesses leave those states for states like Texas.

What healthy regulatory environment? Perhaps on paper somewhere. Not in execution.

Texas has some really dirty air and water. Texas lets business operate with little or no accountability.

Regulation is extremely important where skilled services are provided to the public, primarily, manufacturing, repair and construction. When these businesses operate with regulation the public will have confidence and trust it should genuinely expect.

Sadly, Perry accepts what business wants. I would not go as far as to say he knows what business needs.

[casimpso]

Originally Posted by TX75007

I disagree. He has done much more than most of us and far more for all of us.

buffoon - definition of buffoon by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.




#3 pretty much sums up your posts.

Originally Posted by TX75007

I disagree. He has done much more than most of us and far more for all of us.

buffoon - definition of buffoon by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.




#3 pretty much sums up your posts.

Peggy Noonan, who is somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun, called Oops a buffoon. Straight out. Did not hem or haw or say he said something buffoonish. Called him a buffoon.
Noonan: Perry 'buffoon' in Israel speech - Alexander Burns - POLITICO.com

I understand your point of view. But in reading this thread (Texas board, which definitely leans to the right), my unofficial chalkboard shows most people will be glad to see Oops go. It cannot be denied that he made a fool out of himself when he could not remember that third agency.

I watched many of the debates for both parties in '12 (no way could I have watched all 432 debates *joking* the Republicans put on), and gavel-to-gavel coverage of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. I've been studying politics since 1968, and I cannot recall a more embarrassing public debate moment than Perry's. Not Dukakis's robotic, clinical answer to the "wife raped and murdered" question from Bernard Shaw. Not Gerald Ford denying Poland was under Soviet domination. Nothing comes close.

I am not saying this is how you think, I cannot know, but it can be true that when a person associates, socializes, works and goes to church with only like-minded people, that person can think that their way of thinking and their opinions are pervasive in the grand scheme of things. "Hey, everybody thinks like I do." It's easy to extrapolate that here in Texas.

The facts are that in the last four elections ('06, '08, '10 & '12), in the four largest counties in Texas, Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Travis, Democratic votes outnumbered Republican votes. It's also true that Democrats have won four of the last six presidential elections, with five of six popular-vote wins (Bush won electoral in 2000, lost popular vote). In 2012, in the House of Representatives races, Democrats received over a million more votes than did Republicans. How did the Rs keep the House? Because Republican legislatures have grotesquely gerrymandered the districts to protect Republican incumbents.

The tide is turning nationwide, even in Texas. Texas may be a red state now, but with the influx of people moving here from other states (hello, Cali) and the increasing Hispanic population, it is only a matter of time before it goes purple. Blue may be a ways off, but I'd be thrilled if we were added to the list of swing states. It's been decades since a presidential candidate came here for anything other than a private fundraiser. I would really like to see all the candidates come here to fight for our votes.

My guess is that Oops saw the handwriting on the wall--he'd worn out his welcome with Texas voters. He wasn't going to win again. I do think he's gearing up for another presidential bid. He better start work now, because he has a long way to go to burnish his tarnished image. Perry support nationwide is a fraction %-wise of what it is in Texas.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by casimpso

Perry support nationwide is a fraction %-wise of what it is in Texas.

Nationwide support is not how presidential primaries are won. They're won in the early primary states with strategy and money. Support in states whose primaries are in May or June doesn't even matter for that part of the process.

If Perry wants to win the nomination, he needs two things: to get the donors lined up and get the best strategy people on his team. The first time, he didn't bother to hire national strategy experts - he just relied on the Texas team that had successfully elected him to the governor's office 3x. That was the biggest strategic mistake that his campaign didn't recognize until it was too late to recover from.

[TughillTina]

Sorry guys but as a New Yorker embarrassing is Weiner and Spitzer !! So what that Perry forgot something at a debate-again Weiner and Spitzer, need I say more.

[janellen]

Originally Posted by TughillTina

Sorry guys but as a New Yorker embarrassing is Weiner and Spitzer !! So what that Perry forgot something at a debate-again Weiner and Spitzer, need I say more.

That is sooooooooooo funny!!

[Tyryztoll]

Be real. Most of the people who trash Perry the way they have in here would do the same to any conservative pol who doesn't push the new militant liberal movement sweeping much of the nation (i.e., agree with and join us, or you are a sky fairy believing, hate filled bigot).

It must be tough to live in the most prosperous and vibrant state in the union under a leader so evil and moronic. I can only assume that every soul on here who despises Gov. Perry to such an egregious extent is packing to leave Texas permanently in protest as I type, yes? Fret not, there are plenty of democratic paradises out there waiting to stamp out every ounce of organized religion and tax your whiny azzes into oblivion.