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Will Perry Carry the Day?
National Review Online ^ | July 21, 2011 | Brian Bolduc

Posted on 07/21/2011 1:56:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

In the Russell Senate Office Building Caucus Room, Fred McClure was watching the crowd. It was March 1978, and the American Agriculture Movement — a pressure group for government support of farm prices — was meeting with Texan congressmen.

A legislative aide to Sen. John Tower (R.), McClure was leaning on a door when a rancher from Paint Creek, Texas, named Rick Perry walked past. Newly retired from the Air Force, Perry held a degree in animal science from Texas A&M. His class ring gave him away.

Spotting the ring, McClure, a fellow Texas A&M grad, introduced himself, and the two hit it off. Thirteen years later McClure, a notary public, would swear Perry into office as Texas’s agriculture commissioner, his first statewide office.

[snip]

Ken Luce, who managed Perry’s campaign for agriculture commissioner in 1990, believes the advantage extends beyond Iowa. “The agriculture economy is very important from Florida all the way to California and in between,” he says. As agriculture commissioner, Perry felt comfortable getting into the weeds of agriculture policy, such as inspecting gas pumps and determining funding for fire-ant programs. And, perhaps most importantly, the skills Perry sharpened in winning his first statewide race could be useful if he runs for president.

In 1990, Perry was an obscure state legislator running against one of the most popular Texas politicians of the 1980s: Jim Hightower. Although Hightower had the advantage of incumbency, Perry rallied several important constituencies to his side. Farmers were livid with Hightower over his opposition to pesticides and his favoritism toward niche markets such as organic foods. Perry argued that Texas should support its mainstays, such as cotton and wheat. When the European Community temporarily banned imports of hormone-treated beef, Perry urged Hightower to stick up for Texas ranchers (instead, Hightower suggested they could sell hormone-free beef to Europe).

“Hightower ignored mainstream agriculture for years, so they were riled up and Rick got them to cross over,” Luce says. Perry beat the well-liked incumbent, 49 percent to 47 percent, even while the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, lost to Democrat Ann Richards.

[snip]

Perry also won his election the old-fashioned way, outspending his opponent by about $400,000. And many of Perry’s attacks on Hightower hit less on his agricultural incompetence and more on his unabashed liberalism (especially his endorsement of Jesse Jackson for president in 1988). Perry took the personality contest to such an extreme that when Hightower cut his finger in a lawnmower accident a few days before the election, Perry told reporters the event showed Hightower’s “total lack of common sense.”

[snip]

And as for Perry’s retail skills, Luce says they’re Grade A. “Rick campaigned in all 256 counties in the state,” he says. “He went to rural and urban areas; he did small and big events. Rick is a campaigner.”

Perry may be a latecomer to the Iowa race, but he is an old hand at face-to-face politics. This former Texas agriculture commissioner knows a thing or two about grass roots.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agriculture; farming; gardasilperry; gopprimary; perry; perry44rove; perry4merck; perryborders; perrybot; perrycare; perrytherino; rickperry; rinoperry
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To: 3722535r
.....Or missed the video showing an insecure jealous politician cutting a press conference short that was for Sarah Palin in the first place....

Please give link.

21 posted on 07/21/2011 2:44:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: 3722535r

Texans elected him Lieutenant Governor and elected him Governor three times. Sounds to me like you’re saying Texans never look closely enough.


22 posted on 07/21/2011 2:47:12 AM PDT by FreedomForce (Perry 2012 | Perry/Palin 2016 | Palin 2020)
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To: All
Mitt Romney visits North Hollywood as Rick Perry hits Century City>>>>………… Many Republicans seem to agree that Obama’s got to go, but they’re far from consensus on who ought to replace him.

Mike Schroeder, an Orange County resident who is the former chair of the state GOP, was Romney's political director in California during the last election. He won't be supporting him this time around, citing Romney's "disorganized" 2008 campaign and the healthcare plan Romney enacted in Massachusetts, which had been cited frequently by the president during his bid for national healthcare reform.

Shawn Steele, a Republican National committeeman from L.A., noted that other prominent Orange County Republicans who once supported Romney last week hosted an event for Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “Now they’re co-hosting Rick Perry. That in itself is a story. When you have the Orange County machinery flipping from one candidate to another, that is something very significant," Steele said. …………….<<<

23 posted on 07/21/2011 2:51:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: onyx

PLEASE DONATE


24 posted on 07/21/2011 2:53:33 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono; TheOldLady; FReepers
B T T T ! ! ! ©


25 posted on 07/21/2011 2:57:46 AM PDT by onyx (If you enjoy FR, support it! If you support Sarah Palin & want on her Busy Ping List, let me know.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Here you go....Watch Perry seething with jealously as ALL questions are for Governor Palin....Even grabs her by the arm and pushed her forward at one point.....Watch her surprise as he cuts it short.....No gentleman here.....

http://youtu.be/exPrpu_jigs


26 posted on 07/21/2011 3:00:13 AM PDT by 3722535r
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I believe in Sarah because when she makes a statement, I know that she is not politically double-speaking to win both sides of a position.

I trust in Sarah because when she tells me that she loves God, America, and her family, these are the same as me.

When she says “Yes I can”, I believe and trust that she really can win the Presidency of the United States!


27 posted on 07/21/2011 3:00:23 AM PDT by JohnBrownUSA (Don't Tread On Me!)
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To: bmwcyle

****************************************
Quality Free Republic Perry Links : 2002
****************************************

RINO TX Gov. Perry trashes GOP Platform, disagrees with 50% of planks, supports only 7
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/715523/posts

“PASTOR ARRESTED FOR PREACHING”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/723946/posts
This article states, “Texas Gov. Rick Perry didn’t really want a ‘hate-crimes’ bill to land
on his desk. But when it did, he signed it inside of three hours.“

****************************************
Quality Free Republic Perry Links : 2003
****************************************

Laredo Democrat Accuses Governor Perry of “Political Blackmail”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/931825/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1030247/posts
In the last Texas governor’s race, the “white” Republican candidate, Rick Perry (BTW, isn’t Perry a common
Melungeon name?) was darker complected than the “minority” Democrat candidate, Tony Sanchez,
who was very obviously of the Caucasian race, with fair skin, blue eyes, and, at a younger age, light brown hair.

****************************************
Quality Free Republic Perry Links : 2004
****************************************

TX Primary Analysis (How RINO Gov. Perry nominated a Democrat environmental wacko to our courts)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1095994/posts

State approves bid for I-35 toll alternative (hmmm, I wonder...)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1303145/posts
Gov. Rick Perry, who proposed the 4,000-mile Trans-Texas Corridor during the 2002
election campaign, made an unusual appearance at today’s commission meeting, joining
the commissioners on the dais for a long presentation on the I-35 alternative.

Texas Gov. Perry denies reports about divorce, infidelity
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1091259/posts

****************************************
Quality Free Republic Perry Links : 2005
****************************************

Perry names judge in Houston (re-appoints judge who got the boot by voters in the GOP primary)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1352512/posts
If Perry was anymore of a rino he would be grey with a horn in his forehead.

Perry, Hutchison stand apart on toll road legislation issue (Trans-Texas Corridor)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1401995/posts
If this ole Texan has anything to do with it he won’t be re-elected. Even if I have to vote for a dead democrat.

Plano, TX: “Officials lay bricks in symbolic start for Muslim center”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1427422/posts
Gov. Rick Perry flew in to lay the first ceremonial brick for the center’s foundation.

Alternative plans for Trans-Texas Corridor take shape
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1355408/posts


28 posted on 07/21/2011 3:00:26 AM PDT by truthfreedom
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To: JoeProBono

>>>....In the meantime, the pro-Perry group has inherited a bunch of volunteers, with a heavy concentration in the crucial primary state of South Carolina, from a similar draft group once committed to conservative U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina. Now that DeMint has made it clear he’s not going to run for president next year, many of the activists who were supporting him through Conservatives for DeMint have cast their lot with Americans for Rick Perry....<<<<

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2012-presidential-election/draft-perry-group-adds-volunteers-in-early-states/


29 posted on 07/21/2011 3:00:29 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Eye of Unk
Now then again maybe someone from yet a bigger state could win the heart of America instead.


Do you have anyone particular in mind? *wink*!


30 posted on 07/21/2011 3:01:17 AM PDT by onyx (If you enjoy FR, support it! If you support Sarah Palin & want on her Busy Ping List, let me know.)
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To: truthfreedom

http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2010/mar/19/karl-rove/karl-rove-says-he-and-consultant-david-weeks-persu/

Karl Rove says he and consultant David Weeks persuaded Rick Perry to switch parties and run for state agriculture commissioner

Texas Gov. Rick Perry draws mention in GOP consultant Karl Rove’s autobiography with attention
focused on Perry’s win for lieutenant governor in 1998 and Rove’s role in his pivotal earlier
switch from the Democratic to Republican party while he was a third-term member of the Texas House.

Rove writes: “Rick Perry had planned to retire from the legislature until his best friend,
David Weeks, and I talked him into switching parties and running for the GOP nomination for
agriculture commissioner.” His book, “Courage and Consequence, My Life as a Conservative
in the Fight,” was published March 9.


31 posted on 07/21/2011 3:01:59 AM PDT by truthfreedom
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To: truthfreedom

Karl in a Corner
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_scott_ho_080408_karl_in_a_corner.htm
Second, Rove’s opponents would regularly find that they had suddenly become the target
of a criminal investigation, and details concerning the investigation would be
aggressively fanned to the press. Rove mastered this technique in a contest
for the Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s post that he managed for now-Governor Rick Perry.

It Started in Texas: Karl Rove’s Political Prosecutions
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000569
1. Rove was hired to run the campaign of Rick Perry, the current governor,
for the powerful Texas office of Commissioner of Agriculture, then held by
Democrat Jim Hightower. Shortly thereafter, it was clear that a major
FBI investigation had been launched into the workings of the Texas Agriculture
Department (TDA), focusing on Hightower and his senior lieutenants, who had been
pursuing a populist, anti-corporate agriculture and pro-small-farmer agenda.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TfUbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=f1gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5710,3519076&dq=rove+perry&hl=en

Jim Hightower talks about his new book, “Thieves in High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country and it’s Time to Take it Back”
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/08/21_hightower.html
HIGHTOWER: Rick Perry, back then (currently Texas Governor), was his client, so to speak,
and Perry had been recruited. He was sort of a nothing Texas legislator who had been brought
in — again as an affable fellow without any brain muscle. Perry was essentially sent to
wander around out in West Texas during the campaign so he would be out of the way,
while Rove worked this FBI agent and raised money from the chemical industry
and other corporate interests that opposed me. Rove had George Bush go on
television against me. Then Rove ran a series of television ads that
established a new low in negative advertising.

For example, they showed a long-haired guy setting a flag on fire,
and throwing it on the ground. And then my picture came up out of the fire, and said
“Hightower supports flag burning,” which, of course, I don t. But it doesn t matter,
you know. I had to go around answering: “Why do you support flag burning?”
Rove had another ad of me campaigning with Jesse Jackson, who I supported in 1988
in the Presidential campaign. And Rove ran this ad that essentially was a smear
on Jackson and then tying me to him. The ad so angered the Black Caucus in the State Legislature
that they convened their own press conferences in Houston and Dallas to assail it. But again it was too late.
All this was happening in the last three weeks of the election. So, I mean, that s just who the guy is.


32 posted on 07/21/2011 3:02:52 AM PDT by truthfreedom
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; JoeProBono

Well, it’s all settled then, isn’t it?
Amazing! All settled even before Palin and Perry have announced!

ROTFLM Barack Off.


33 posted on 07/21/2011 3:04:18 AM PDT by onyx (If you enjoy FR, support it! If you support Sarah Palin & want on her Busy Ping List, let me know.)
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To: FreedomForce

“Texans elected him Lieutenant Governor and elected him Governor three times. Sounds to me like you’re saying Texans never look closely enough.”

You can elect him 50 times and it doesn’t change the man....Last post on this (for me anyway)....Take good care.....


34 posted on 07/21/2011 3:05:03 AM PDT by 3722535r
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To: onyx

35 posted on 07/21/2011 3:08:01 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: 3722535r
Here you go....Watch Perry seething with jealously as ALL questions are for Governor Palin....Even grabs her by the arm and pushed her forward at one point.....Watch her surprise as he cuts it short.....No gentleman here.....

WELL I HOPE EVERYONE WATCHES THE VIDEO because Perry, being the head of the Republican Gov Association (2nd time), was in charge of the gathering. Sarah Palin is given many questions (I can't tell from the video when she began speaking) and she keeps backing away from the mic. -- Perry moved her back to the mic. You do your candidate no service by spreading this lie -- it makes her look weak that you would resort to it.

36 posted on 07/21/2011 3:09:28 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Agreed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Perry’s actions in that video. And Sarah seems to be getting along with him just fine.


37 posted on 07/21/2011 3:13:11 AM PDT by FreedomForce (Perry 2012 | Perry/Palin 2016 | Palin 2020)
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To: truthfreedom

Again, for a Palin supporter to post this again and again is telling. It’s left-wing bs and YOU know it.

Karl Rove worked for Perry’s first campaign for Ag Commissioner in 1989. Since then they’ve not, let’s say, “worked well” together.

And for you to cite Jim Hightower as a source is really all anyone needs to know about you.


38 posted on 07/21/2011 3:13:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: onyx

Most of America is still ignorant of the magnitude of Alaska.

And I think its just pure envy and a pretty good reason why so many hate Sarah Palin, and again probably any Alaskan, why?

Because Alaskans are tougher than Texans, get more interesting and dangerous jobs, well dangerous and exciting jobs anyway.

What are the reality TV shows from Texas recently” Hog Hunters gone wild?


39 posted on 07/21/2011 3:18:20 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (Daniel J. Ramsey 1956-2012)
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To: Eye of Unk

You are joking, right?


40 posted on 07/21/2011 3:20:16 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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