Posted on 12/31/2011 8:54:31 AM PST by IbJensen
(CNSNews.com) -Texas Governor Rick Perry is attempting to label himself as the presidential candidate that best represents conservative values as he campaigns across Iowa.
“Why should you settle for anyone less than an authentic conservative to represent your values and your views without apology in Washington D.C. ?” Perry told the crowd at the Blue Strawberry Coffee Company in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday.
“If we replace a Democrat insider with a Republican insider do you think Washington is going to change any? I agree with you, listen, I’m a limited government, fiscal conservative.”
“I’m asking for your vote, and I want you to vote your conservative values. That’s what this caucus process for the Republican nomination I think is about,” Perry said of next week’s Iowa caucuses.
Perry took the opportunity to take a swipe at former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum who has received a recent boost in some Iowa polls. Perry called Santorum a “prolific earmarker” who is not a fiscal conservative.
“Well, senator I’m calling you out. Defend your earmarks. Defend to the people of this country and to Iowa those earmarks that I happen to think are the gateway drug to the spending problem we’ve got in Washington D.C.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
We aren't settling for anything but a true conservative. That is why we are not voting for an "I love Al Gore" elitist that used an executive order to force all teenage females in TX to submit to a controversial and questionable at best for results drug treatment that may or may not decrease the chances of these females getting cervical cancer. Score another victory for Big Pharms in TX.
We are sticking with a true conservative. That would be NOT Rick Perry...NOT RINO Romney... and NOT "I love Nancy Pelosi, insider trading and global warming!" Newt Gingrich!
True TX is still creating jobs while the rest of the country is not. That is because the legislature is part time and the gov't has very little to do and hence runs very little interference with businesses that actually want to create and sustain jobs.
...because there are no authentic conservatives in the race?
In your opinion, is a brokered convention possible?
Perry, conservative? Hahahahahahahahahaha! Only before elections. After elections, not so much.
The sooner that the true conservatives - Perry, Bachmann, and Santorum drop out and endorse the most famous conservative accomplisher* since Reagan, the better we will ALL be.
And the absolute worse it would be for the Harvard libs - Willard and Barack.
I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
-William F. Buckley, Jr.
*Hmmm….
Gingrich-led Republicans….the result:
* Four consecutive balanced budgets
* Over $400 billion of debt paid off
* Bipartisan welfare reform
* 11 million new jobs
* Unemployment falling to under 4%.
While I agree that he’s not a perfect conservative, by a long shot, he is better than Newt, Paul or Romney. I do believe he wants to change Washington and get it off our backs as best he can. He wants to kill ObamaCare, he wants to handcuff if not kill the EPA and he wants whittle down the government that liberals and statists have turned into a ravenous monster.
I sincerely believe Perry cares about those things to an extent that most others in the race do not. Whether it be by design or by accident, the economic success of Texas also gives him a platform that should resonate on the campaign trail if he’s the nominee. He’s been there when Texas has created thousands of jobs while the rest of America shrinks.
Obama can’t hold a candle up to that record and Perry is the only one of the candidates who can say his time in office has been so economically prosperous. He also has executive experience as governor of a large state that Bachmann and Santorum (the only other conservatives in the field) do not have.
Are there moments Perry makes me cringe - of course - although who he endorsed in 1988 isn’t one of them. At least he wasn’t endorsing David Duke like one of his rivals did.
If we focus on what they’ve done this century, Perry’s record and accomplishments far outweigh any other candidate in the field. Anyone who doesn’t see that is insisting on being blind to it.
Spot on.
I agree. Go Santorum!!!!!!
I agree wholeheartedly. Furthermore, Perry has less baggage than Gingrich and a bigger war chest than Santorum or Bachmann.
Perry-haters needn't worry though. Perry won't get the nomination. Conservatives are going to bicker and split their support amongst the handful of reasonably (though not perfectly) conservative candidates while trashing the others until one by one these candidates run out of money, run out of steam and drop out of the race. And then we'll be shell-shocked when Mitt Romney is the last guy standing and somehow pretend we didn't see it coming.
I’d respond to you, but that would make me heartless.
bgill pegged it in a previous response. I live in Texas and can’t help but agree that since it’s time for an election Perry’s acting like the most conservative of the bunch.
Some people that act works on. Others... not so much. I’m just glad he took a nose dive in the polls because he’s the (nearly) the LAST person we need in office.
Accomplishments dont matter to the 100%ers.
They want all the talking points recited in the proper order on cue.
Being able to win and stay on offence ranks about last on the list.
Perry wants me to vote for Bachmann? As far as I can tell she’s the only conservative, though she has no chance of winning.
First, define (with agreement from all) what an “Authentic Conservative” is...
I measure a politician by their accomplishments. I know what Perry’s done.
And I know what Bachmann’s done.
So how does Bachmann’s accomplishments even remotely exceed Perry’s?
Neither of them are particularly great. But at least Bachmann’s are conservative. I just find it a bit humorous that Perry, Romney, or Gingrich would purport to be a conservative.
Personally, I think Jim DeMint looks pretty good. Too bad he isn’t running
He’s right. Go with Michele Bachmann or Rick Santorum. In a way the race is going like I predicted in August 2010. Too many “conservatives” fighting for the same base and siphoning off votes. And nobody can agree on which one is the best and Most conservative. And at times each one attacking each other.
This junk happened here in Kansas in the 2010 race for senate (primary) where both candidates claimed the tea party and conservative mantel. In the end the guy with a large5r district won. He had a lot of state support. While the losing candidate had a lot of national support. But Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn went for the winner, while Sarah Palin and Karl Rove went for the loser.
I am a true, authentic conservative.
Romney and Gingrich are two candidates who appear to be aspiring to RiNO status, which is irrelevant as they’ve achieved that status long ago.
So - what is an authentic conservative? Is it someone who only agrees with all your positions? How is Gingrich not an authentic conservative?
Would Ronald Reagan be an authentic conservative?
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