My early endorsement: Rick Perry for President!

Note: this is my personal endorsement, not the Official Truth Before Dishonor Endorsement; only John Hitchcock can make that!

I’m not sure what Sister Toldjah thinks of Governor Rick Perry (R-TX), though to judge from her Twitter Feed, maybe not much, though a lot of it could be just snarkiness. But, at least on my first look, I like him and think he would be a strong candidate to unseat President Obama.

There was a link on Sis’ Facebook page to an interesting article, Seventeen (17) things that critics are saying about Rick Perry.

Over the past couple of months Rick Perry has been considering a run for POTUS. As of Thursday, August 11, it looks like the decision has been made and he’s in.

Since he’s been Governor of Texas for over ten years, folks from the other “56 states” are asking Texans what kind of governor he’s been and what we think. I decided that what I “think” isn’t good enough – I could be wrong. So, I decided to do some research on Perry’s record and form a more accurate, fact-based opinion on his qualifications instead of relying on my general perceptions.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I voted for Perry in each of the three gubernatorial elections since 2002 and I am a conservative and a registered Republican. It was easy for me to vote for Perry since the alternative(s) were either uber-RINOs in the primaries or liberal Democrats in the general elections. Under the circumstances, my choice was always easy.

While researching Perry’s pros and cons, I’ve read every article and blog post that I could find – over several weeks. Many of those posts had 2-300 comments associated with them – I read them all.

After reading literally thousands of comments, it’s become apparent that there are quite a lot of anti-Perry activists out there throwing all sorts of disparaging rhetorical crap against the wall in hopes that some will stick and they can influence someone, anyone, to become anti-Perry too. The unfortunate thing is that most of their negative statements are either completely false, at worst, or misleading, at best. They’re simply parroting something they saw on another hater’s blog. Yet they maintain that they are the knowledgeable ones and those supporting Perry are ignorant clods who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time – “ignorant” is an adjective that they like to use a lot.

It’s ludicrous to think that some asinine statement like “Gardasil, Perry blew it – ‘nuff said,” deserves any consideration. No, it’s not “’nuff said,” there is usually more to know about an issue before a reasonable person can make an intelligent decision. For that reason, I have attempted to present some additional facts that have not been widely publicized just to educate those who have not been privy to Texas politics until now.

In that spirit, I do realize that anyone who reads this summary has a right to be skeptical of my facts. I therefore invite those who might dispute my findings to challenge them by verifying what I’ve presented here. And cross-check via reliable sources rather than relying on a single posting by some anonymous blogger – some spout “facts” which have no basis in the truth. I will identify the source of my data and in many cases, I’ll provide a link to the source so you can see for yourself … the real facts.

And finally, remember that any politician in office for ten years will have his/her critics and will have stepped on some toes during their term(s).

The rest of the article, which I’ll encourage you to go to and read for yourself, examines seventeen potential negatives concerning Governor Perry, and it’s clear: there are people who don’t like him, some for reasons I find silly, and others for policy reasons which are serious.

As for me, I look at Governor Perry’s record, and the state of the economy in Texas as opposed to the state of the economy nationwide. Regular readers will recall that Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) made a trip to Texas to find out where all of the jobs California has lost have gone.

Governor Perry cannot be credited with every good thing which has happened in Texas, nor blamed for every bad one, but, like every other chief executive, he winds up with the responsibility for all of them. Some of that is unfair — in both directions — but it’s undeniable that Texas’ economy is in much better shape than that of the nation as a whole. If Governor Perry is the Republican nominee, it will be his record of success versus President Obama’s record of failure, and that’s a powerful argument for Governor Perry to make.

Of course, things could change. If our national economy turns around, and the American people see real improvements in the economy and real decreases in unemployment come November of 2012, President Obama will be re-elected, period. It won’t matter if his policies led to such improvement, he’ll still get the credit, and win. If, on the other hand, the economy doesn’t noticeably improve and unemployment doesn’t come down significantly, President Obama will be defeated. It won’t matter if his policies were to blame, he’ll still get the blame, and lose.

This is my early endorsement, and it could change. There are things I like about some of the other Republican candidates. Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) has a lot of beliefs with which I agree, but her résumé is unfortunately thin. I had said before that the one thing she needed to do to overcome the experience argument was to have a strong, 5½ year record as Governor of Alaska; instead, she resigned from office early. I understand the reasons, having to do with the ethics laws which would have hamstrung her financially had she continued, but that doesn’t matter: most people will only see that she quit. Representative Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) says a lot of things with which I agree, but she has no record at all of executive experience of accomplishment; believing the right things does not mean that she could perform well in office if she won. Of course, a record of no experience but no failures beats President Obama’s record of some experience now, and nothing but failure. 🙂

Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) just isn’t the man. He’s supposedly the frontrunner, and the safe candidate, and he has strong executive experience, but he put through a state-mandated health care plan in Massachusetts that’s not all that dissimilar to ObaminableCare, and I am concerned that, as President, he would continue to support something along the lines of the current health care law. And his flip-flopping of positions, depending upon the office for which he was campaigning — he was pro-abortion when he ran against Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), but pro-life when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 — does not demonstrate to me that he has any strong convictions. If Governor Romney does win the nomination, it will be a choice between holding my nose and voting for him, if the race is seen as close in Pennsylvania, or voting third party.

I voted for now-former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) in 2006, and he has the right ideas, but he has no chance to win the nomination, nor any real record of executive accomplishment to his credit.

This article is not the “Official CSPT Endorsement,” because the other authors might well disagree, and have every right to have their say, nor will it be the “Official Truth Before Dishonor Endorsement” when I cross-post this there, because only John Hitchcock can make that. And there is always the possibility that Governor Perry will do or say something with which I am so in disagreement that I will change my mind. But for now, if the primaries were held today, Rick Perry would get my vote.

Here is Rick Perry’s campaign website. His campaign website is still a bit on the sparse side, and needs a lot of work. The most glaring omission is a lack of an “Issues” menu, but I’m sure that they’ll get to that.
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Update: I wrote that I wasn’t sure how Sister Toldjah viewed the Perry candidacy, but then I found this:

At this stage in the game, I’m a Perry girl – although that could change if Sarah Palin were to announce her candidacy, which she’s hinting around at doing no later than next month.

On Hot Air, Ed Morrissey tells us why Perry may be the real deal.

Hillary Chabot, in The Boston Herald, called Governor Perry Mitt Romney’s “worst nightmare.”

And a CNN poll has President Obama losing support among Democrats. 🙂
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Cross posted on Common Sense Political Thought