LibertyEagle
12-14-2007, 07:37 AM
Rick Perry (my dirt bag governor) is up to something. It's long been speculated that he may be running as VP.
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http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/12/14/1214perry.html
Perry says Bush never was fiscal conservative
Texas governor makes pointed remarks at a party fanning support for Giuliani.
By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 14, 2007
Texas Gov. Rick Perry aired unusually pointed criticism of President Bush while stumping in Iowa for Rudy Giuliani for president last week. Perry predicted too that if Democrats prevail next year, the war on terrorism will return to U.S. soil.
Video posted online shows Perry saying that Bush failed to rein in spending increases as governor of Texas and "has never ever been a fiscal conservative." He also said Washington isn't working.
And although Giuliani would keep up the war on terrorism, Perry said, "if we elect the Democrats across the board, the war on terror is not going away. It's just going to have to happen here. And I want the war, and I want the conflict, to be over there in their country. I want to stop it over there before they get back over here."
Perry also revealed in his Iowa appearance that GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, had asked Perry to chair his campaign earlier this year.
"It was a hard conversation to call him and tell him I was for Rudy," Perry said. "He was disappointed, a bit frustrated. I still love him, and he still loves me."
Perry, who has tentative plans to campaign for Giuliani in South Carolina and New Hampshire next week, spoke to 20 to 30 people at an evening house party promoting Giuliani in Ely, Iowa, on Dec. 6, less than a month before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses kick off the election year.
Video snippets from the stop, which followed Perry's appearance at a Christmas party thrown by a local Republican group, were posted on YouTube.com by the party's host, Craig Nelson.
Nelson, an accountant who works in nearby Cedar Rapids, said he met Perry at a gathering of business leaders and elected officials in Cedar Rapids when the Texan endorsed Giuliani on Oct. 17.
Of the governor's stop at his house, Nelson said Thursday: "I just thought he was very honest. I didn't expect anything else from him."
Perry, who spoke in Nelson's living room after a drive through several inches of fresh snow, cast Giuliani as someone who could work with Democrats to make progress in Washington where "it ain't working today. They are spending too much money, it takes too long and they're doing more harm than good."
Perry called Giuliani a fiscal conservative, unlike Bush, who preceded Perry as governor.
Perry, responding to a party guest's suggestion that federal spending could kill candidates with voters, said that as governor, Bush consistently signed into law budget increases.
"Let me tell you something," Perry said: "George Bush was never a fiscal conservative. Never was. ... Wasn't when he was in Texas. ... I mean, '95, '97, '99, George Bush was spending money."
Perry turned to his press secretary, Robert Black, who had joined him at the Iowa stop.
"Do you agree?" the governor asked.
Black nodded.
Perry said that as governor, Bush signed a 1997 law making it harder to file lawsuits in Texas.
"It was OK," Perry said. "I mean, they did some things in '97 that was better than what we had, it wasn't anything like we did (on tort reform) in 2003. But George was never a fiscal conservative. I think people thought he was."
Perry raised his arms and fluttered his hands before adding: "Look, he was better than Al Gore," the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee versus Bush.
Gov. Bush had to work with Democrats holding the jobs of lieutenant governor and speaker of the Texas House, Perry noted.
But, Perry said, every governor has veto powers. "And, frankly, my criticism is that he (Bush) should have told those guys (Democrats), look, you're spending too much money, and I'm going to veto some line items (in the state budget)."
Perry described Giuliani as a fiscal conservative and supply-side Ronald Reagan Republican.
Perry said: "George Bush is not, and he never was." He added that "we made an error with that phrase 'compassionate conservative.' He didn't elaborate on the description that Bush applied to himself in the 2000 campaign.
The Bush critique was more direct than what Perry said at an April 2004 rally at the Texas Capitol urging real tax relief "instead of some tax charade that's been going on the last decade," a statement his office described then as taking in two rounds of cuts under Bush, governor from 1995 until late 2000.
Perry, who like Huckabee but unlike Giuliani has opposed abortion and gay rights, said in Iowa that Huckabee "asked me to be his national chairman about six months ago. And I told him, man, I love you like a brother. But, I said, just let me, let me, let me slide here."
Perry and Huckabee visited troops in Iraq together in early 2006. Huckabee also visited Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Comptroller Susan Combs in Austin in July.
In Austin on Tuesday, Perry briefly called Huckabee his favorite for president before saying he'd misspoken and supports Giuliani.
In Iowa, Perry said of Huckabee: "I just don't think he can win."
Huckabee's campaign did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Framing his case for Giuliani, Perry said that as mayor of New York, Giuliani erased debts, cut taxes and presided over reductions in crime.
The governor suggested that steering New York is more of a challenge than leading Arkansas or Massachusetts, where GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was governor from 2003 through 2006.
"No offense to Arkansas, no offense to Massachusetts; they're not big states," Perry said. "And managing one of those states is different than managing Texas or California or Florida or New York."
Perry sounded wary of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who's been a front-running Democratic presidential candidate.
"I care about our country," Perry said. "I care about not letting Hillary Clinton be the next president of the United States."
Watch the video:
http://www.statesman.com/news/mplayer/m/48446
================
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/12/14/1214perry.html
Perry says Bush never was fiscal conservative
Texas governor makes pointed remarks at a party fanning support for Giuliani.
By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 14, 2007
Texas Gov. Rick Perry aired unusually pointed criticism of President Bush while stumping in Iowa for Rudy Giuliani for president last week. Perry predicted too that if Democrats prevail next year, the war on terrorism will return to U.S. soil.
Video posted online shows Perry saying that Bush failed to rein in spending increases as governor of Texas and "has never ever been a fiscal conservative." He also said Washington isn't working.
And although Giuliani would keep up the war on terrorism, Perry said, "if we elect the Democrats across the board, the war on terror is not going away. It's just going to have to happen here. And I want the war, and I want the conflict, to be over there in their country. I want to stop it over there before they get back over here."
Perry also revealed in his Iowa appearance that GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, had asked Perry to chair his campaign earlier this year.
"It was a hard conversation to call him and tell him I was for Rudy," Perry said. "He was disappointed, a bit frustrated. I still love him, and he still loves me."
Perry, who has tentative plans to campaign for Giuliani in South Carolina and New Hampshire next week, spoke to 20 to 30 people at an evening house party promoting Giuliani in Ely, Iowa, on Dec. 6, less than a month before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses kick off the election year.
Video snippets from the stop, which followed Perry's appearance at a Christmas party thrown by a local Republican group, were posted on YouTube.com by the party's host, Craig Nelson.
Nelson, an accountant who works in nearby Cedar Rapids, said he met Perry at a gathering of business leaders and elected officials in Cedar Rapids when the Texan endorsed Giuliani on Oct. 17.
Of the governor's stop at his house, Nelson said Thursday: "I just thought he was very honest. I didn't expect anything else from him."
Perry, who spoke in Nelson's living room after a drive through several inches of fresh snow, cast Giuliani as someone who could work with Democrats to make progress in Washington where "it ain't working today. They are spending too much money, it takes too long and they're doing more harm than good."
Perry called Giuliani a fiscal conservative, unlike Bush, who preceded Perry as governor.
Perry, responding to a party guest's suggestion that federal spending could kill candidates with voters, said that as governor, Bush consistently signed into law budget increases.
"Let me tell you something," Perry said: "George Bush was never a fiscal conservative. Never was. ... Wasn't when he was in Texas. ... I mean, '95, '97, '99, George Bush was spending money."
Perry turned to his press secretary, Robert Black, who had joined him at the Iowa stop.
"Do you agree?" the governor asked.
Black nodded.
Perry said that as governor, Bush signed a 1997 law making it harder to file lawsuits in Texas.
"It was OK," Perry said. "I mean, they did some things in '97 that was better than what we had, it wasn't anything like we did (on tort reform) in 2003. But George was never a fiscal conservative. I think people thought he was."
Perry raised his arms and fluttered his hands before adding: "Look, he was better than Al Gore," the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee versus Bush.
Gov. Bush had to work with Democrats holding the jobs of lieutenant governor and speaker of the Texas House, Perry noted.
But, Perry said, every governor has veto powers. "And, frankly, my criticism is that he (Bush) should have told those guys (Democrats), look, you're spending too much money, and I'm going to veto some line items (in the state budget)."
Perry described Giuliani as a fiscal conservative and supply-side Ronald Reagan Republican.
Perry said: "George Bush is not, and he never was." He added that "we made an error with that phrase 'compassionate conservative.' He didn't elaborate on the description that Bush applied to himself in the 2000 campaign.
The Bush critique was more direct than what Perry said at an April 2004 rally at the Texas Capitol urging real tax relief "instead of some tax charade that's been going on the last decade," a statement his office described then as taking in two rounds of cuts under Bush, governor from 1995 until late 2000.
Perry, who like Huckabee but unlike Giuliani has opposed abortion and gay rights, said in Iowa that Huckabee "asked me to be his national chairman about six months ago. And I told him, man, I love you like a brother. But, I said, just let me, let me, let me slide here."
Perry and Huckabee visited troops in Iraq together in early 2006. Huckabee also visited Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Comptroller Susan Combs in Austin in July.
In Austin on Tuesday, Perry briefly called Huckabee his favorite for president before saying he'd misspoken and supports Giuliani.
In Iowa, Perry said of Huckabee: "I just don't think he can win."
Huckabee's campaign did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Framing his case for Giuliani, Perry said that as mayor of New York, Giuliani erased debts, cut taxes and presided over reductions in crime.
The governor suggested that steering New York is more of a challenge than leading Arkansas or Massachusetts, where GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was governor from 2003 through 2006.
"No offense to Arkansas, no offense to Massachusetts; they're not big states," Perry said. "And managing one of those states is different than managing Texas or California or Florida or New York."
Perry sounded wary of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who's been a front-running Democratic presidential candidate.
"I care about our country," Perry said. "I care about not letting Hillary Clinton be the next president of the United States."
Watch the video:
http://www.statesman.com/news/mplayer/m/48446