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Thomas Sowell: Attacks on Perry unwarranted, unwise
Standard Times San Angelo ^ | Sept. 27, 2011 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 09/27/2011 3:14:20 PM PDT by Clairity

The biggest mischaracterization of Perry's position has been on immigration. The fact that he has more confidence in putting "boots on the ground" along the border, instead of relying on a fence that can be climbed over or tunneled under where there is no one around, is a logistical judgment, not a question of being against border control.

Texas Rangers already have been put along the border to guard the places where the federal government has failed to guard it. Former Sen. Rick Santorum's sound-bite attempts to paint Perry as soft on border control have apparently been politically successful, judging by polls.

But his repeated interrupting of Perry's presentation of his case during the recent debate is the kind of cheap political trick that contributes nothing to public understanding and much to public misunderstanding.

I have far more questions about those who would blow this error up into something that it is not. Error-free leaders don't exist — and we don't want to end up settling for a warm body.

Ultimately, this is not about Perry. It is about a process that can destroy any potential leader, even when the country needs a new leader with a character that the "gotcha" attackers demonstrate they do not have.

(Excerpt) Read more at gosanangelo.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: elections; goodoleboy; nixonredux; perry; slickrick; sowell
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To: comebacknewt

Any candidate that supports state sovereignty and has the Marxist-pig trial lawyers ( that includes obuma and hillary) hating him has my attention.

Maybe someone can name another declared candidate with those qualifications. I’m listening...


81 posted on 09/27/2011 4:40:57 PM PDT by sergeantdave
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
I can't be PC here: Does anyone else think there is something effiminate in Santorum's style? I don't mean swishy, or sissy, or gay...but something about his haranguing, lecturing, hectoring, impatient debating displays remind me of a few women I've known...some of whom were schoolteachers.

He's right on almost every issue. Am I alone here?

82 posted on 09/27/2011 4:43:43 PM PDT by Chunga ("Woo hoo!! Palin/West 2012. Unbeatable!!" - Jim Robinson)
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To: betty boop

“HEARTLESS” and inferred: RACISTS

You people type and type and miss the point.

There is NOTHING “humane” about his position. This country is overtaxed and overburdened. The economy cannot carry the weight of the behemoth any longer.

You can go and be “humane” with your own freaking money!


83 posted on 09/27/2011 4:51:59 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: betty boop; South40
blah blah blah

Notice you never address the point.

blah blah blah

Just keep yapping until people stop reading?

I definitely agree with Perry about the utter futility of building a fence. A total waste of taxpayer funds

Unlike the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend to subsidize their foreign asses in the style they have become accustomed to?? You have zero COMPASSION for the citizens of this country.

Have some compassion for the taxpayers of this country for once.

I realize that Perry says he believes in states rights, and I also he doesn't mean individual rights when he says it. Individual rights is something Perry would stomp heartlessly with the power of his state supremacy. Guardasil, TTC... you name it.

It is time that we put the people of THIS country first. You want to fix this overburdened economy and cut government spending? Have some compassion and heart for us.

CUT OFF THE FREEBIES TO FOREIGNERS

84 posted on 09/27/2011 4:57:33 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: Raider Sam
You were against him before he said that in the debate.

Because I already knew his positions.

85 posted on 09/27/2011 5:00:11 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie
And Israel did not fence off the entire country. They used "strategic fencing" just as Perry advocates. Note the Negev desert is wide open.

Iraels security fence

86 posted on 09/27/2011 5:13:58 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: betty boop

I think the big problem with Perry that night was not that he was wrong, but that he didn’t defend his position well. People such as some of the Paul and Santorum supporters who think somebody who can’t pay for healthcare should be left to die in the street are not likely to find an “appeal to the heart” very convincing.

In addition, there are actually good economic and practical reason for giving in-state tuition to all kids brought up and educated in Texas, regardless of how they got there. And if they have been there that long, their illegal immigrant parents are so deeply “underground” that they have been paying state, local and even federal and payroll taxes (although in the latter case, probably to somebody else’s account) for years.

That said, Sowell’s point that a “gotcha” moment does not define a candidate is a good one. It’s the consistency of the candidate and his or her track record that are important.

That’s one reason nobody was ever even allowed to examine Bambi’s record, because it ranged from non-existent to horrible, but at the same time, because he was (half) black, the press and the other candidates never dared to subject him to gotcha moments. And even if they had, these moments, like all of his many flubs, would never have been reported.

On the other hand, GOP candidates are killing each other with these “gotcha” moments instead of really discussing the issues. I don’t think Perry was ready for that, but I hope he will be the next time...or perhaps that the next time there will be a more substantive discussion.


87 posted on 09/27/2011 5:16:06 PM PDT by livius
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To: magritte

I’m used to hearing that kind of rhetoric—heartless, lack compassion, racist, blah blah blah—from the left, La Raza: the other side.
Maybe he can get them to vote for him. I’ll vote for a conservative willing to show some compassion for working, taxpaying Americans.


88 posted on 09/27/2011 5:18:03 PM PDT by tumblindice (Don't Tread On Me)
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To: mylife

Weasel words. That’s like saying loading a blank every other bullet in the clip is ‘strategic ordinance’.

Sure...if you want your strategy to fail.

Build the fence, all of it, back it with BP or NG. Use ground penetrating sonar sweeps.

Done.


89 posted on 09/27/2011 5:19:28 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (Chief Druid of Trollhenge: Cult of Palin)
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To: betty boop

excellant analysis. Well thought out and reasoned argument.

You said what I was thinking so much better than I have.

I agree of course with your points. Especially the “humane Perry” part, I think that is what he was aying with his “heart” comment...He was saying we republicans ( him and the state legislature) Do have a heart, and as we also want to secure our borders.

sowell is right about attacking this man, and what it means for conservatives.


90 posted on 09/27/2011 5:19:29 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Rick Perry 2012)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

Yea and when he said it was hot out it meant that the snow was falling. And when he said that water was wet, he meant it was a parched desert.


91 posted on 09/27/2011 5:21:32 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (Chief Druid of Trollhenge: Cult of Palin)
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To: Conservativegreatgrandma

Ha... you are so right. Even Reagen ( the ultimate amnesty guy) would never make it now on Freeper. People forget that.
I love Reagen, but he was not perfect.Well good enough and a great president, but not perfect..especially not now in the age of the internet.


92 posted on 09/27/2011 5:21:39 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Rick Perry 2012)
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To: Gaffer

I am not hurt, but thank you for your response.

I still think we are discussing the pros and cons of the various possible candidates. I believe Perry is still part of the vetting process, that is why I don’t agree with you that he is “done.”


93 posted on 09/27/2011 5:23:52 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Rick Perry 2012)
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To: mylife

OMG!

what do you think you are doing???
Using facts?
Using actual real information???

Ha...thanks for the link and the info.

I like to think we try not to compare apples and oranges in debates...that is the purview of liberals.


94 posted on 09/27/2011 5:28:15 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Rick Perry 2012)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie

The error made by RR should serve as a warning to us all. Look what happened. He granted amnesty thinking that it would be followed as legislated. The dems promptly ignored and legislated their way out of fulfilling the terms of that amnesty.

With things like tuition for students rather than immediate deportation for example.... And other ‘humane’ things.

Had RR’s terms been followed we would be in FAR LESS crap than we are in. But it was indeed a mistake he made regardless. Read up on what his amnesty was SUPPOSED to do. Then look at what actually happened thanks to Tip O’neill and the dems.


95 posted on 09/27/2011 5:30:49 PM PDT by Norm Lenhart (Chief Druid of Trollhenge: Cult of Palin)
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To: RitaOK

Perry will never EVER get my vote. Any slim chance he had getting my vote went out the door with the “heartless” comment.

I believe I speak for most conservatives that know what this guy is all about when I say that Perry is not the candidate we need right now. Establishment republicans need not apply and this leaves Rick Perry out in the cold.

Perry = The same old crap that we keep getting from the GOP. No thanks and there is no way you will change my mind.


96 posted on 09/27/2011 5:38:09 PM PDT by CSI007
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To: comebacknewt

Palin absolutely said she would deport....not all at once of course, but she said she would deport....now I admit that I’m not totally clear on her stance, but I know she isn’t for open borders or amnesty


97 posted on 09/27/2011 5:39:34 PM PDT by DrewsMum ("I abandoned free market principles to save the free market." -GWBush)
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To: Norm Lenhart
I don’t care if Rick Perry or anyone else ‘feels for them’, nor does existing immigration law.

Perry's problem is that only the federal Gov may deport these illegals.
They are here and as Governor he has to manage the problem.
The Texas Legislature felt that giving these kids a path to immigration and an education was in the interests of the general welfare of Texas, as this makes them productive educated citizens rather than an uneducated burden to Texas taxpayers.

Remember.. These people are here because the FED wont deport them.
Perry has continually asked the Fed for assistance to stem the flow. Texas spent almost half a billion dollars on efforts to secure the border.
Then when the Texas Rangers do catch these illegals we have to turn them over to ICE.
Ice refused to deport them, so here we are.

It is not the job of Texans to secure the national border..

You don't like the situation, I don't like the situation and Rick Perry does not like the situation, BUT Perry is actually getting his hands dirty trying to do what he can to fix the issues.
His giving shots to illegal to prevent the spread of epidemics isn't done to give illegal immigrants healthcare.

It is done because they are here and it presents a health threat and additional financial costs to the wider populace if we don't vaccinate them.

98 posted on 09/27/2011 5:54:22 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Norm Lenhart

There is no “wave the wand” solution.
Recognizing that does not make one liberal.


99 posted on 09/27/2011 5:56:28 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: CSI007

On Rick Perry:

>>> “ Any slim chance he had getting my vote went out the door with the “heartless” comment. “ <<<

Yes, I read where Romney was rising in the polls and Rick was in trouble with conservatives. Romney may get to sew this thing up early, so the Romneycare/Obamacare map to destruction can finally break the back of capitalism. Not to say you shouldn’t support this fine outcome though. Romney, after all, will be a somewhat slower walk before taking us directly into socialism. It’s a two man race.


100 posted on 09/27/2011 5:58:01 PM PDT by RitaOK (TEXAS. It's EXHIBIT A for Rick, who needs to pound the fiction flackers back into the Stone Age.)
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