Free Republic

"Venture Socialism" Perry Style! In Texas, bio-tech firm Convergen LifeSciences looks a lot like Governor Rick Perry's Solyndra. Governor Perry manages the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF), providing financial support to companies developing new technology in the hope of creating high-tech jobs. First created in 2005, ETF is made up of regional panels that screen proposals for a statewide advisory panel (all appointed by Perry). ETF dispersed $342 million through August 2010....Read more to understand the full stench of this Crony Capitalism love story.

Call me underwhelmed with the two frontrunners in the GOP primary race. It is concerning that the top challenges to Obama, ObamaCare and "crony capitalism" are essentially neutralized by Romney (RomneyCare) or Perry (cronyism). Pick your poison, conservatives, because one of these top challenges will likely be off the table.

via NumbersUSA: According to the Center for Immigration Studies, 81% of the jobs created in Texas between 2007 and 2011 were for immigrants (legal and illegal). - "Of newly arrived immigrants who took a job in Texas, 93 percent were not U.S. citizens. Thus government data shows that more than three-fourths of job growth in Texas went to newly arrived non-citizens (legal and illegal)." - "Immigrants took jobs across the educational distribution. Of newly arrived immigrants who took a job in Texas, more than one-third (97,000) had at least some college. "

AUSTIN — Democrat Chris Bell of Houston lost his 2006 election challenge to Gov. Rick Perry, but financial reports released Friday show he won $426,000 in a lawsuit settlement from Perry's campaign over what he had claimed were illegal political donations. Perry's campaign in the final days of the 2006 election received a $1 million donation from the Republican Governor's Association without disclosing the source of the RGA money.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s humble origins and down home straight talk are central to his political identity, but for years Perry has enjoyed lavish perks and travel — mostly funded by a group of deep-pocketed supporters — that are allowed under his state’s lax ethics and campaign rules. Some of the same Texas donors who have funded Perry’s political rise also have footed the bills for Perry and his family to jet around the world, stay in luxury hotels and resorts, vacation in tony Colorado ski towns, attend all manner of sporting events and concerts, and to maintain, entertain —...

Before I began to research Rick Perry's record, I perceived him to be nothing more than a garden variety southern Republican governor, probably conservative, certainly more conservative than his 2010 opponent Kay Bailey Hutchison. But the fact that he had such a spirited challenge from both sides in the GOP primary, both from the moderates AND the Conservatives, made me wonder just how conservative he really was. Just a bit of research revealed the gardasil mandate on preteen girls and their parents (and the cronysim associated with it), his full throated advocacy of open borders, including a pipeline for illegals...

Now that the GOP race is being framed as Mitt Romney vs. Rick Perry, the media has been comparing both candidates’ records, past accomplishments, and current popularity within the Republican party. To that extent, Bill Kristol predicted today that if the Republican race is a relatively “normal” one, Perry will be the GOP nominee. Chris Wallace highlighted Romney’s upcoming jobs speech, and asked Kristol what the former Massachusetts governor needs to do to reclaim his frontrunner status from Perry. Kristol offered some advice to the candidate, but then explained why Perry has a better chance of winning the race than...

GOP consultant Mark McKinnon says that the editor of a major newspaper told him, "We plan to declare war on Rick Perry and do all in our power to crush him." Mr. McKinnon was outraged. "No pretense of integrity, professionalism or of unbiased news gathering," he wrote in Investors' Business Daily. But I doubt he was surprised. This is what the "mainstream" media did to Sarah Palin in 2008, and what likely is in store for anyone Republicans nominate. But liberals will go after the Texas governor with special venom because he is anti- intellectual, prays in public, takes the...

While watching Sarah Palin's speech yesterday at Indianola, it occurred to me that she is beloved by her supporters and detested and feared by her enemies for at least one common reason: She is an extraordinary political talent, willing and able to call a spade a spade and to do so with a combination of moxie and panache that is both devastating and funny. She represents a clear and present danger both to the GOP Establishment and to the Democrat left, the two sides of the same false coin which has embedded itself in D.C. as the "Permanent Political Class"....

Gov. Rick Perry, a no-apologies conservative known for slashing government spending and opposing all tax increases, is about as Republican as you can get. But that wasn’t always the case. Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat, in a somewhat forgotten history that is sure to be revived and scrutinized by Republican opponents if he decides to run for president. A raging liberal he was not. Elected to represent a slice of rural West Texas in the state House of Representatives in 1984, Perry, a young rancher and cotton farmer, gained an early reputation as a...

“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” Thus spoke Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Monday, referring to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. You might chalk the remark up to a weak attempt at humor — if you watch the video, you’ll hear a few nervous laughs from the small crowd — but then Mr. Perry went on in an even nastier vein. But there has never been a whisper, let alone any evidence,...

As Tim Pawlenty said early in the campaign, if you govern long enough, you’ll have a clunker or two on your record. The key to running for higher office is whether the candidate can acknowledge, explain, and if necessary apologize for them while maintaining credibility. Rick Perry faced that challenge in libertarian-tinged New Hampshire over a mandate he pushed to vaccinate young girls against the HPV virus, a cause of cervical cancer, a mandate that a friendly legislature overturned when Texans balked at the notion. Perry said he made a mistake, and the legislature took the right action: His third...

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...

McALLEN, Texas (AP) - For all of his rock-solid conservative credentials, Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have an Achilles' heel: immigration. Perry will undoubtedly focus his presidential campaign on Texas' relatively healthy economy and its low taxes and his record in creating jobs in the 11 years he's been governor. What he may have to explain on the stump is how illegal immigrants have contributed to that success, adding as much as $17.7 billion a year to the state gross product and enjoying such benefits as in-state tuition at public universities. "Gov. Perry is very eager to appear tough on...

"Governor Rick Perry on the Report of a New Amnesty Plan for Illegals" Texas has 64% of border but receives only 20% of federal funds... http://foxnewsinsider.com/2010/09/22/governor-rick-perry-on-the-report-of-a-new-amnesty-plan-for-illegals/

The Emerging Technology Fund was created at Mr. Perry's behest in 2005 to act as a kind of public-sector venture capital firm, largely to provide funding for tech start-ups in Texas. Since then, the fund has committed nearly $200 million of taxpayer money to fund 133 companies. Mr. Perry told a group of CEOs in May that the fund's "strategic investments are what's helping us keep groundbreaking innovations in the state." The governor, together with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the Texas House, enjoys ultimate decision-making power over the fund's investments. Among the companies that the Emerging Technology...

Texas has created a lot of jobs over the 10 years that Rick Perry's been governor -- there's no doubt about it. (snip) But that doesn't mean that all is well with employment in the Lone Star State. Texas leads the nation in minimum-wage jobs, and many positions don't offer health benefits. Also, steep budget cuts are expected to result in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs. (snip) Texas, however, still faces many challenges on the jobs front. Many of the positions that have been created are on the lower end of the pay scale. Some 550,000 workers last...

Election '12: Bypassing Iowa may have consequences for his candidacy, but Rick Perry's entry into the race will change everything. Will the public and his party be willing to put another Texas governor in the White House? In what the chattering class perceives as a deliberate snub, Perry decided to forgo the chance to stand between Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul in Iowa, preferring to announce his candidacy for the White House in South Carolina. Why, they ask, would he try to steal the thunder from the Ames straw poll? Perhaps because he feels he doesn't need it. The RealClearPolitics.com...

That’s what the Obama campaign’s top political strategist told me this morning when I asked him about the latest 2012 candidate, Rick Perry. The Texas Governor made it clear his campaign will focus on his state’s record of job growth – Texas created more jobs than any other state since the recession. “When you examine the entire record what’s happened to education in that state, what’s happened to health care in that state, it’s a record of decimation not of progress,” David Axelrod told me. “I don’t think the picture of Texas is what people want for the country when...

Christian Right leaders are not rallying behind Michele Bachmann for president and it’s “probably” because they are sexist, contends a writer for Time. .....“Totally unfair and inaccurate” is how Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, described [Amy] Sullivan's characterization. Nance was invited to join the conference call but was unable to do so. “Social conservatives are ready for a woman president,” Nance said. “In fact, the McCain campaign really took off,” added Nance, “after Sarah Palin was nominated.” Nance remembered that during the 2008 election she was mostly standing on the sidelines until Palin was added to the...