Posted on 08/14/2011 12:46:55 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON (JTA) – To some conservative Jews, Texas Gov. Rick Perry would make an excellent presidential candidate. He’s been to Israel more than any other candidate already in the field and has said he loves it. And Perry creates jobs.
But other Jewish conservatives seeking the anti-Obama candidate look at the three-term governor and see something arresting: He believes he’s on a mission from God.
Perry has nonplussed longtime Jewish supporters by claiming that he has been “called” to the presidency and by hosting a prayer rally this month that appealed to Jesus to save America. Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post’s “Right Turn” columnist and a bellwether of Jewish conservatism, took liberals to task on her blog for treating the event as “a spectacle” -- it was borne of deeply considered worries about the country’s parlous state, she said – but Rubin also expressed caveats about the rally.
“His words at the event were restrained but not ecumenical,” she wrote. “And his use of public office to promote the Christian event was, to me, inappropriate. The event, while scheduled last December, is still reflective of the man who would be president. Would he do this in the Oval Office? Does he not understand how many Americans might be offended? Is he lacking advice from a non-Texan perspective?”
Fred Zeidman, an influential Houston lawyer who has known Perry for decades and has hosted him at his home, said, “None of us remember him being quite as devout as he seems to be now, but we wouldn't necessarily have known.”
Zeidman, who for eight years served as chairman of the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, supports Mitt Romney. but Zeidman told JTA that before endorsing Romney that he checked with Perry last December to ask whether he would be running. At the time, Perry said no.
On Saturday, Perry threw his hat into the ring.
"A great country requires a better direction," he said, declaring his candidacy. "A renewed nation needs a new president."
Perry has been a conservative since before he switched parties in 1989 to became a Republican. A cotton farmer and former air force pilot, he led efforts in his first five years as a Democrat in the legislature to pare the budget.
Perry, a devout Methodist, was attracted to Israel from the launch of his career. One of his first acts after being elected agriculture commissioner in 1991 was to create the Texas-Israel Exchange, which promoted information and research sharing. In a 2009 interview with The Jerusalem Post, when he led a delegation to Israel, Perry – who around the same time flirted with Texas secessionist rhetoric – said the alliance was a natural one.
“When I was here for the first time some 18 years ago and I was touring the country, the comparison between Masada and the Alamo was not lost on me,” he told the Post. “I mean, we're talking about two groups of people who were willing to give up their lives for freedom and liberty."
As much as Perry’s heartfelt love for Israel makes him attractive to Republican Jews, it is was the other reason he was in Israel at the time – seeking out job creation initiatives, as he has across the globe – that has been the basis of his Jewish support.
“I became intrigued by Rick Perry when I read his book ‘Fed Up!’ because it was exactly what I was feeling,” Robin Bernstein, who heads Perry’s fundraising in Florida, said in an interview. “His economic success in Texas is a model for the entire country.”
Texas has managed to weather the recession comparatively well, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has reported that half of all U.S. jobs created from June 2009 to April 2011 were in Texas.
Published last year, “Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington” blames America’s woes on an arrogant power elite in Washington – Perry, in his first chapter, accuses it of “chutzpah” – and is music to conservative ears seeking relief from what they see as government unbound.
“We are fed up with being overtaxed and overregulated,” Perry writes. “We are tired of being told how much salt we can put on our food, what windows we can buy for our house, what kind of cars we can drive, what kinds of guns we can own, what kind of prayers we are allowed to say and where we can say them, what political speech we are allowed to use to elect candidates, what kind of energy we can use, what kind of food we can grow, what doctor we can see, and countless other restrictions on our right to live as we see fit.”
It’s a message that resounds with Jewish conservatives – save, perhaps, for its defense of public prayer.
By the same token, Perry’s declaration last month that the presidency is “what I’ve been called to” sent a shudder through some among the conservative Jewish establishment. This month, it was Perry’s leadership in organizing the massive Houston prayer rally, dubbed The Response, and his insistence that “we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles," that led some Jewish conservatives to go on the record with their discomfiture.
"My response to The Response: No, thanks," wrote Jacob Sullum in The New York Post. "My people have managed without Jesus for thousands of years. Why start now?" Sullum also criticized Perry for seeming to abandon his previous let-the-states-decide view on social issues in favor of amendments to the U.S. Constitution that would outlaw abortion and same-sex marriage everywhere in the country.
Sixteen rabbis were among 50 Houston clergy members who urged Perry not to host the rally. National groups like the Anti-Defamation League also opposed it.
“He called this rally as a governor,” Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, said in an interview before Perry’s formal declaration of his candidacy for president. “He didn’t try to camouflage anything. He's pleasant and he's smart, he has good relations with the Jewish community, but this is a conscious disregard of law and authority. What troubles me most is, this is his perception of where America is at.”
Bernstein, Perry’s Florida backer, said such concerns are overstated. “Nobody criticized Moses for being ‘called,'” she said. “The fact that he upholds the Ten Commandments is very important. I like to believe a man of faith has a moral compass.”
Jewish Democrats are eating up the controversy. In a statement, the National Jewish Democratic Council said it was “encouraging” Perry to run, “given that his record will help repel American Jews and remind them why they support Democrats in historic numbers.”
Zeidman wondered if, with the rally, his old friend was miscalculating. “I don’t know that he has not gone too far in his appeal to the conservative wing of the party,” Zeidman said. “That could prove harmful in a general election.”
Still, Zeidman said, it would be a bigger mistake to underestimate a governor who in 11 years in office has wrested much power from the legislature, where it had been concentrated for decades, and who knows how to win.
“He should never be underestimated in terms of his campaigning ability,” Zeidman said.
Perry gets a ‘D’ on illegal immigration. He is also a big corporate beltway Republican. Here we go again.
Perry already has a record that hurts him with voters concerned about illegal immigration. In April, he stated that he would not support a version of Arizona’s SB 1070 for Texas. In 2001, he signed a bill allowing the children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Texas universities. He opposes using E-Verify, the federal electronic system for verifying prospective workers’ immigration status.
In 2001, Texas became the first state in the country to pass an in-state tuition law. The law created a national movement. Many private universities also now award aid to illegal immigrant students.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20100314-Number-of-illegal-immigrants-getting-in-9925.ece
Study: 70% of Texas’ illegal immigrant families receive welfare In Texas, 54 percent of legal immigrants and 70 percent of illegal immigrants receive welfare assistance Texas showed 61 percent of households headed by an immigrant utilizing at least one program compared to the 42 percent of Texas natives on welfare. Study: 70% of Texas’ illegal immigrant families receive welfare
http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/1217
There are about 1000 anchor babies per month being churned out at Dallas Parkland Hospital...that’s just one Texas hospital. In Parkland Memorial Hospital Dallas, the second busiest maternity ward in the United States, 70% of the women giving birth were illegal aliens. That added up to 11,200 babies for which Medicaid kicked in 34.5 million dollars to deliver these babies, the feds another 9.5 million and Dallas taxpayers tossed in 31.3 million. The average illegal patient is 25 years and giving birth to her second anchor baby. Dallas Parkland Hospital 70% of the women giving birth were illegal aliens. Almost 1000 per month.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/parkland.asp
Perry actually said he supports this: “ Legislation authored by border legislators Pat Haggerty and Eddie Lucio establishes an important study that will look at the feasibility of bi-national health insurance. “
“This study recognizes that the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border compose one region, and we must address health care problems throughout that region.”“That’s why I am also excited that Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar is working on an initiative that could extend the benefits of tele-medicine to individuals living on the Mexican side of the border.”
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/10849
Let me get this straight, as population in the U.S. grows, government spending and government needs to expand and spend more?
Umm... more mouths, more bills.
It will as long as the Dems control the WH and the Senate.
Hmmmm
I feel the same.....anyone who cloaks themselves in words like “Jesus” for political events is always suspicious—like Jimmy Baker/Joel Osteen—really creepy new age mother earth worship type paganism.......especially when their very actions show no respect for Rule of Law (Dream Act, illegals) and Justice (Cicero sense) and a total disregard on the fundamental issue of the family unit and the very basic unit of God’s design and Natural Law Theory.
He believes that States have the right to disregard Supra Positive Laws which is the basis of Natural Rights and has always been integral to jurisprudence in the US. (So, unconstitutional by all aspects!)
The most spiritual man ever in the White House was Lincoln and that evidence is in his speeches....the Gettysburg address reeks of Biblical allusions and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and redemption—but he never invoked the name Jesus—never had to use the simplistic ways which Perry uses religion—just meaningless words which don’t apply to the America but tries to “fool” people of moral principle who believe in Just Law and Equal Law.
Governor and Mrs. Perry to Visit Israel, Jordan
Governor to Receive “Friend of Zion Award”
Friday, June 22, 2007 • Press Release
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry and First Lady Anita Perry today left on a seven-day trip to visit the Middle East nations of Israel and Jordan. In Israel, Gov. Perry will receive the “Friend of Zion Award” from the Global Leadership Council for his leadership in homeland defense, border security and economic development. The award, which is given to “leaders who have played key roles in promoting the close alliance between America and the Jewish state,” will be presented during a ceremony in Jerusalem at the historic Western Wall Square.
For all the bashing of Perry for his religion, would you rather have a Godless man?
Support for Israel definitely goes in Perry’s plus column.
However his stance on immigration and mandated vaccines are still a huge problem.
Some headlines belie the body of the story. My dad says don’t believe anything you read and half of what you see. IOW, always check context.
2010-2011 Budget 182 Billion
http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Texas_state_budget
the 2000-2001 Budget was ~98 Billion and iss available at
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_76/Bill-76-4_Conference_Summary_0599.pdf
In other words CLOSE to 100% Growth in spending.
During this time, the Census says Texas grew from 20 Million (legal) to 25 Million (2010 Census). That’s a growth of 25 Percent.
So, now, will you call me a liar again?
FACTs and TRUTH. You represent Lies and Deceit, and Perry
I’ve stated before that I live across the country from Texas and because we can no longer trust the MSM for anything resembling honest reporting, especially about a Republican running for president, I don’t know that much about Rick Perry. However, he seems to be a fairly solid conservative and says the ‘right things’ I’m concerned with some of his Texas policies, e.g. the Trans -Texas Corridor, mandatory HPV vaccine (overruled by the TX legislature) and the fact that prior to his enrollment in the Republican party he worked for Al Gore’s campaign (1988). I’ve seen too many ‘rock-solid conservatives’ turn into jello-spine liberals when they finally get the office they seek. Perry has time to convince skeptical conservatives. However, for now, I remain a Sarah Palin supporter - because she doesn’t have to persuade me that she won’t ‘go wobbly’ if elected to the presidency in 2012.
I find that difficult to believe. I don't think it is true. I think someone wrote a book about the subject but I have not read it.
Jesus was not a “friend” of any corrupt worldly government, Israel included.
I would rather have an honest man, rather one who “finds” religion beneficial to his ends.
Got links for all that garbage?
Go pick your nose.
I live in Texas and like Rick Perry a lot. I’m still holding out for my dream ticket, Palin/Perry (in that order) but if Sarah decides not to run, Perry is fine with me. I’d even like a Perry/Bachmann ticket (in either order).
At this stage of the game I’ll vote for just about anyone if it means getting our Dear Leader out of the White House.
Kharis13
***“And his use of public office to promote the Christian event was, to me, inappropriate.”***
I wonder if Ms. Rubin feels it necessary to hold Obama to similar standards. What’s that Jen? Didn’t think so.
We aint creating a new religion.
We’re just ousting Obama
Your “recall” must be as bad as your logic RE: Spending in Texas
Here are the facts -—
Texas 2010-2011 Budget 182 Billion
http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Texas_state_budget
Texas 2000-2001 Budget was ~98 Billion and is available at
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_76/Bill-76-4_Conference_Summary_0599.pdf
In other words CLOSE to 100% Growth in spending.
During this time, the Census says Texas grew from 20 Million (legal) to 25 Million (2010 Census). That’s a growth of 25 Percent.
So, now, who is full of BS? It seems all you have is “i recall” pulled out your A&&^#
FACTs and TRUTH. You represent Lies and Deceit, and Perry
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