Posted on 07/28/2011 2:23:33 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Shortly after the 2006 gubernatorial election, a young Democratic activist invited me out for coffee to tell me how I screwed up as the campaign manager for Democrat Chris Bell. And such was my fragile state after the grueling, two-year campaign that I accepted.
It wasn't that the Democratic donor base had abandoned its party's nominee in favor of Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, who had abandoned her own Republican Party to run against Rick Perry.
And it wasn't that satirist Kinky Friedman had made cynicism cool and captured thousands of disaffected white Democrats.
It was that he thought Chris Bell wasn't liberal enough.
"You should have had Chris Bell be for gay marriage. I just think Chris Bell could have really gotten Democrats excited if he had come out for legalizing gay marriage," this guy told me.
I certainly made mistakes as Bell's manager in 2006, but to cast Bell as the standard-bearer for gay marriage a year after Texans voted a ban on same-sex unions into the state Constitution by a 3-to-1 margin would have been a huge political mistake. But when you live in Austin, it's an easy one to make.
Democratic primaries in Austin can be as humorless and judgmental as telling a bride that she doesn't deserve to wear white.
We inflict purity tests on one another's partisan fidelity that Barack Obama couldn't pass. But in a city where every other car on MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) has an Obama bumper sticker, it's easy to forget that all Democrats in Texas aren't as liberal as we are.
They're not even all Democrats. I did a statewide campaign in 2008 that polled Democratic Primary voters and found that only 73 percent of them were actually Democrats.
Texas Democrats are more conservative than anyone in Austin might imagine.
Bryan Dooley, a Democratic pollster with Hamilton Campaigns out of Florida, says that Texas Democrats are more conservative than Democrats in Georgia, but more moderate than Democrats in Alabama and Mississippi.
Yet most Austin Democrats have no problem demanding that their statewide candidates take positions to the left of Nancy Pelosi and think the reason we don't win is that we didn't yell loudly enough.
You can rally at the Capitol on a sunny day and think the blue skies go all the way from El Paso to Texarkana, but Texans get pretty conservative when you leave Austin's city limits.
As much as we might hate to admit it, Austin Democrats might have more in common with our moderate Republican neighbors than with our partisan brothers from out of town.
Here in Austin, we all know Republicans who are pro-choice. But in Texas, 43 percent of Democratic primary voters are anti-abortion rights. In Austin, we get excited when we discover that our new carpet was made from recycled two-liter bottles and get angry at the thought that the Forumla One racetrack might pollute our air.
Yet 30 percent of Texas Democrats think environmental regulations hurt the economy.
Despite what my friend said, 45 percent of Texas Democrats in 2008 would choose a candidate who opposes gay marriage and favors civil unions over one who supports gay marriage.
Dooley, the Democratic pollster, says Texas Democrats continue to fit the mold of Southern conservatives because socially conservative Hispanics and blacks replaced the Dixiecrats.
The conservatism of Hispanics is clearest — and most surprising — when you look at the immigration questions in that 2008 poll.
It found that a third of Hispanics supported building a border wall, and that was the good news for liberals.
Fully 35 percent of Hispanics voting in the Texas Democratic primary opposed giving preventive health care to illegal immigrants because it could provide an "incentive for illegals to have children here."
That's right. More than a third of Texas Hispanic Democrats were worried about anchor babies.
"Texas is an example of why it is a myth that Southern conservative Democrats are disappearing," Dooley said. "They exist. They are just becoming more brown and less white."
You can't fix all the problems of Texas Democrats in one column, but a good place to start would for Team Blue — and this includes me — to be as accepting of ideological diversity as we are of racial diversity.
1. Rick Perry
2. Michele Bachmann
3. Tim Pawlenty
4. Sarah Palin
5. Herman Cain
6. Newt Gingrich
7. Ron Paul
8. Mitt Romney
9. Jon Huntsman
10. Barack Obama
While Durband did not explain how he had arrived at the rankings, they do fall in with conventional wisdom. Perry, Bachmann, Pawlenty, Palin, and Cain are are held in high regard by the Tea Party faction, which is the most conservative wing of the Republican Party. The other candidates' rankings illustrate the uncertainty conservatives have about them. Gingrich, while seen as an elder statesman of the party's right wing, has had personal problems and his own campaign has been in disarray. Ron Paul is variously viewed as a visionary or a kook, and it seems unlikely mainstream Republicans would nominate him as their candidate. Mitt Romney's current status as frontrunner is for him both a blessing and a curse; many conservatives do not trust him, and Jon Huntsman, a dark horse at this point, suffers from the same problem. Barack Obama's last place position in the poll is both obvious and understandable.
In Austin, Governor Rick Perry has his detractors, which can be explained by the city's liberal mindset and the local newspaper, the American Statesman, which has found itself in the position of having to report on Perry's possible presidential run, something it has done somewhat reluctantly and often with a cynical slant.
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-austin/perry-considered-most-conservative-of-presidential-field
Perry: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Like many constitutional amendments, this one gets interpreted and spun beyond its original meaning. But in the context of marriage, there should be no doubt that each state must have the right to decide who can get marriage licenses. Equally important is each state’s authority to decide whether to recognize marriages performed in other states. The federal Defense of Marriage Act, approved in 1996 and signed by President Bill Clinton, allows states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. That law also defined marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”
A federal court ruled that portion unconstitutional, and the Obama administration has said it would not seek to defend the provision upon appeal. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is leading a group seeking to defend the provision.
....We’ll give Perry spokesman Mark Miner the last word on this.
“To not pass the Federal Marriage Amendment would impinge on Texas’ and other states’ right not to have marriage forced upon it (by activist judges and special interest groups).
“The amendment process respects all states by requiring three-fourths ratification by the legislatures. Our Constitution was designed to respect states, including the amendment process.”
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/perrys-consistency-commendable-1658391.html
8, 9, and 10 are correct.
1 is ridiculous.
Texas has added 929,000 jobs since 2001, while California has lost approximately 635,000 manufacturing jobs in that same time, Stewart said.
Answering questions after his speech, Stewart told the story of Perry sending programmed cellphones to CEOs in California with a simple message: "If you're interested in growing your business, please call me. I'm here to help."
"They're doing something right down there," Stewart said of what he dubs the "Texas miracle." "Gov. Perry will go anywhere, any time, to try to recruit companies into Texas."
Perry has taken the state's regulatory process and managed it himself, Stewart said………
[CA Economic Development Corporation President Mark] Lascelles emphasized that it does no good to belabor California's regulatory environment.
"Unfortunately, we can't avoid it. We have to deal with it," he said. Speaker focuses on job creation
*************************
MONTANA: Legal gamesmanship threatens our energy future “Texas Gov. Rick Perry is able to boast about job growth under his watch, noting that over 265,000 jobs, or nearly 37 percent of the jobs created nationwide since the summer of 2009, have been created in the Lone Star state.
He credits this growth to a few simple conditions: low taxes, a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable, and a legal system that limits frivolous lawsuits. According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly one-fourth of the 70 companies that left California this year relocated to Texas.
When new or relocating companies and investors survey the landscape and consider Montana, what do they see? Well, when it comes to natural-resource development, the landscape looks risky.
Recent headlines highlight two major resource development projects slogging through endless legal and regulatory challenges. Investment flees this kind of uncertainty, so Montanans interested in the future economic stability of this state should be wary of the signals we send…” --- [relates short history of 2 outrageous examples] --
“The common experience for Tongue River Railroad and Tonbridge Power is this: Even if you play by the rules, even if you follow the letter of the law, even if you engage with the public during a planning process, even if you get formal approval from the regulatory authorities, you are certain to face organized opposition whose sole intent is to frustrate project development to the point of financial starvation….”
***********************
Perry environmental stance would transform EPA ....>>>>>Perry "approaches the issues from a very libertarian bent," said Jim DiPeso , policy director of Republicans for Environmental Protection. "The EPA would be in for some significant budget reduction. There would be no new intiatives, no regulatory programs that would be initated. There'd be litigation from environmental groups that believe he's not enforcing the Clean Air Act and Water Act as robustly as the law provides."
"Any regulatory programs would be really throttled back," he said. "He has shown no interest in climate policy at all. He doesn't accept the science."
With the governor's blessing, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is challenging at least six EPA greenhouse gas-related regulations. The state's underlying argument: The fundamental finding that greenhouse gases are a public health threat is scientifically flawed.
The federal government is pushing "hastily enacted, cascading regulations" on states and businesses, Abbott argued in a June brief filed on behalf of nine states in federal court.
Perry's approach to energy, DiPeso said, "would be to produce more," rather than discourage the development of energy projects, such as coal plants, that emit greenhouse gases associated with global warming.
"In terms of energy, (Perry) would pursue what many Republicans call the 'all of the above' strategy, with more energy development offshore and onshore," DiPeso said. <<<<<
Profits earned overseas are taxed so high U.S. companies will not reinvest that money here. Time to fix that. The time is right.
That money would find a favorable tax and regulatory climate under a Perry presidency. YouTube Video: Time for Perry [3:33]
Right now Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness is headed by G.E. CEO Jeffrey Immelt who was sending jobs to China before his appointment and continues sending high tech U.S. jobs to China.
Right now Barack Obama's long standing Science and Technology Adviser, John P. Holdren [climate science and over population fame] has overseen NASA's space program dismantling and has our astronauts hitching -- $63 MILLION a seat rides with Russia. And the Chinese are moving along with their space station and moon resource utilization plans.
Barack Obama wants to RAISE TAXES and RAISE the U.S. debt limit and borrow MORE money from China.
*********************
RICK PERRY:
FIRST -- "Don't spend all the money!"
SECOND -- "Have a fair and predictable tax and regulatory policy!"
THIRD -- "Have a legal system that doesn't allow for over suing and make loser pay!"
By making sure more is coming in in higher "fees".
SECOND -- "Have a fair and predictable tax and regulatory policy!"
By who's standard of "fair" (refer to "change") Give me specifics or go tell it to the wind.
THIRD -- "Have a legal system that doesn't allow for over suing and make loser pay!"
Have you ever been a party of a civil legal fight? The system is not about right and wrong but who pays the most to support the system for attorneys. Are you willing to subscribe your hopes on a system like that?
By making sure more is coming in in higher "fees".
By cutting the Texas state budget, keeping a rainy day fund and passing a balance budget amendment.
Perry: SECOND -- "Have a fair and predictable tax and regulatory policy!"
By who's standard of "fair" (refer to "change") Give me specifics or go tell it to the wind.
Cut taxes. Cut regulations. -- We've done it in Texas and why I noted above how people in CA and MT are talking about how Perry's doing it.
Perry: THIRD -- "Have a legal system that doesn't allow for over suing and make loser pay!"
Have you ever been a party of a civil legal fight? The system is not about right and wrong but who pays the most to support the system for attorneys. Are you willing to subscribe your hopes on a system like that?
Texas has tackled lawsuit abuse and gone after the lawyers -- and why they're going after Perry!
Sept 2002: PDF: How Texas Trial Lawyers Are Attempting to Dump Millions of Dollars into Texas Political Campaigns… Without Leaving any Fingerprints
Great series of postings on this thread (and many others) that reflect the positives of Rick Perry! Kudos!
Thank you!
The 1st is just saying don’t spend more than you earn.
The 2nd is just saying keep it stable so that businesses and citizens can use the information to invest more in expansions, adding jobs and feeling secure in those decisions.
The 3rd significantly reduced the frivilous lawsuits of charletons and their shyster lawyers trying for a fast dollar. It also greatly reduces the malpractice insurance rates applicable to professionals in the medical field, so more of those practicioners have come to Texas.
Bump!
Nice work, CW!
=^D
He is also pro-amnesty for illegals and his stance on the Gardasil vaccine was unacceptable. Doesn’t seem all that conservative to me.
bttt
There used to be a time in Texas Political history that being a Texas Democrat was something that you might be able to wrap around today...
Times have changed since my Grandfather, a Democrat lobbyist told me that as a young kid (looking to get more involved in politics)...
Somewhere around here there is a picture of me riding in a Jeep owned by a guy running for a State Representative position named John Sharp...To me that marks the extreme position I took to be more bipartisan (at a very early age)...
I fully intend to use that image to prove my point in any future campaign...At least it’ll be good for a laugh or two...
I’m not sure the same is true today, in that being a Texas Democrat, that that position entials running off trying to kill a quorum and avoid a vote on some important issue...
We’ve seen the new crop of liberal Texas democrats do this on occasions, and it fits right into the Federal model of liberal representatives up in D.C.
I’ve seen them celebrate the shirking of their elected offices first hand...FReeper “Eaker” as well...That was sure a lot of fun...
When they stood up in front of that smelly crowd of hippy-dope freaks and told them that they stood their ground against the Republicans in that legislative session by running off to Ardmore, Oklahoma...
Eaker basically said, “No, you didn’t, you people ran off like a bunch of cowards!!!”
That pretty much forced us to hasten our exit from crashing that little party and rejoin the other FReepers outside...
You know I almost miss those days growing up and knowing that for the most part, whomever was elected to represent us in Austin, that it didn’t matter what your politics or affiliation was...You put Texas first...
And somehow I believe we are losing that priority a little bit every other year these folks meet to get things done for our state...
Just my opinion...
Thank you for taking the time to write an interesting post.
It seems a lot of “democrats” are voting with their feet.
I hope they strengthen the conservative ranks.
Often, those who have seen the light are the most rabid anti-LIBERALS. I think it’s because they KNOW the Left, their tactics and what they are all about.
Yeah, that would have gotten him one or two more votes in 2006 from the Austin liberals. I know one thing, the obummer stickers are few and far between now. I did see one that I thought was a 0bummer 2012, but it turned out to be a "N0T AGAIN IN 2012" with the 0 being obummers cicle with the red slashes.
BUMP!
At that very celebration, Eaker and I saw Shiela Jackson-Lee, and Chris Bell hob-nobbing and riding the liberal wave of nonsense in that room...
Eaker even shook SJL hand...Ah seen it wit my own eyes!!!
He basically cused her to panic when he told her he was so ashamed that anyone would celebrate what these elected officials did in shirking their oaths of office and their duties to their districts and the state of Texas...
She was so taken back, we both thought she was looking to bolt to a nearby door...Her security was nowhere to be found, until after that encounter...Funny how she thought she would be safe in a room full of freaks like that...
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