“He’s from a huge border state. Perry has boots on the ground, and doing what he can to keep illegals out.”
Jan Brewer and Susana Martinez are border state governors working to keep illegals out; Rick Perry (aka George W. Bush, Jr.) is not.
Almost nobody cares. John McCain won the Republican nomination in ‘08 as an advocate of thinly veiled amnesty. No candidate of either party is going to take any serious steps to deal with the problem of mass illegal immigration. The political class is a monolith on this point. No serious candidate will be better than Rick Perry. Any Democrat will be worse. The public knows this and only a very few zealots will be foolish enough to make voting decisions on the basis of distinctions that make no difference.
Perry's immigration pablum won't hurt in the primaries. It will actively help him with some constituencies, even before the general. In Florida, for example, Perry will gain support for having emphasized his warm concern for the interests of the Hispanic residents of Texas. Any inroads Perry can make among Hispanic voters come next fall will help pad his margin.
Yes Perry insulted us with his droolingly stupid comment about heartlessness. We all need to get over it. At the price of insulting conservatives (who still have no place else to go) Perry has enhanced his appeal to a demographic that is souring on Obama and may be decisive, both in key primary states and in the general. That's probably a good trade. It's silly to get worked up about it, that's just the way the game is played.