I have lived in Texas my entire life, including all 10 years of his governorship and many people have not liked him for a long time, maybe 8 years. Yet the man keeps getting re-elected.
I believe people just generally don’t like established politicians and most people dislike him for one reason or another or they claim he is a “sleazy politician” without giving anything specific. Those same people probably agree with 80-90% of what he’s done. He’s probably no different than 99% of other politicians in that way, but that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t governed effectively. Texas has done quite well through 9/11, a couple of recessions, and 1,200 mile border war under his watch. I’m not saying he’s responsible, but I would say that he has done far better than most governors at maintaining a friendly business environment.
The Texas governor actually is a very weak governor anyways. The legislature only meets every 2 years and the liutenant governor actually wields more power in what legislation gets to the floor for a vote. For example, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst pretty much just squashed the anti-TSA groping bill at the last minute behind the scenes. Bottom line, he’s done an above-average to great job, hence why he has been re-elected twice, TWICE. Everyone is going to find something they don’t like with any politician, especially one that’s been in office for 10 years, but I would say again I can’t disagree with much
Thanks for the post, I’ve been particularly interested in what Texas freepers have to say about Perry.
He was re-elected last time because KBH and someone with no name recognition ran against him in the primary. Then the choice was between him and a dim - no contest. He is called gov good hair for a reason.
Perry has been re-elected in Texas time and again because he has been the lesser douche in each campaign.
Perry will only run if that is the case. If Palin jumps in Perry won’t run because he’d have to work too hard. But, if it comes down to Perry and several lsers like Ron Paul* then Perry will jump in. He’d be the lesser douche again.
* I worked on Ron Paul’s early campaigns as a kid. He is not electable. Mainly because he starts sounding wacky when under a little pressure. He is too damn old too.