Rick Perry's Record In Texas May Not Convince Latino Voters

Rick Perry's Record In Texas May Not Convince Latino Voters

Huffington Post
Latino Voices
Yolanda Gonzales Gomez

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/328654/thu...G-large570.jpg

DALLAS -- It's official: Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced his candidacy for president of the United States, officially entering the race for the 2012 Republican nomination. The governor made his announcement Saturday at a conservative gathering in Charleston, S.C.

In his speech, Perry advocated for greater security along the U.S.-Mexico border and attacked the Obama Administration for failing to deliver promised jobs and economic growth. "That is not a recovery -- that is an economic disaster," Perry said, referencing recent data that indicate 1 in 6 working-age citizens is unable to find full-time employment.

Perry said the most urgent priority for the country is to revitalize the economy, emphasizing, "It's time to get America working again." He criticized President Obama directly, saying the president has been responsible "for downgrading American jobs, downgrading our standing in the world, downgrading our financial stability, downgrading confidence and downgrading the hope of a better future for our children."

In the speech, Perry -- who has held his post for 11 years, the most served by any sitting governor and the most by any governor of Texas -- spoke of his childhood as the son of cotton sharecroppers in the small town of Paint Creek, Texas, and invoked his religious faith as a grounding and guiding force in his life.

Chanting, "Perry, Perry, Perry," the audience of conservatives cheered as the Texas governor assured them that as president, he would continue opposing the Affordable Care Act passed under President Obama. He said he would provide the country with better leadership and a renewed presidency that would not accept the current direction in which the country is headed.

For Hispanic voters, however, there is some concern as to what exactly Perry's new direction would be.

As governor of a state in which nearly 38 percent of the population is Latino and where 1.6 million -- mostly Latino -- undocumented workers reside, Perry has been clear in his opposition to the inclusion of amnesty in the immigration reform proposals voiced by President Obama, and has favored only a limited version of the DREAM Act.

Under Perry's mandate, Texas has reinforced security along the border with Mexico, adding more agents, and he has argued for the use of the National Guard, military-style special ops and unmanned aircraft outfitted with high-tech cameras to further monitor and control the border region.

This intensified vigilance has not come cheaply. In a report released by his own administration, the government reported having spent over $400 million since 2005 on border security programs.

Perry has also been a vocal supporter of the Texas Department of Public Safety's program to request valid residency documents from driver's license applicants who are not U.S. citizens.

At the beginning this year, Perry presented an emergency package of initiatives to the Texas state legislature that included the elimination of so-called 'sanctuary cities' in the state, a requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls, and a mandate that local police comply with federal immigration laws.

These proposals were met with criticism by civic leaders and Hispanic groups, who argued they would create an escalating environment of intimidation of voters and racial discrimination against Latinos. The Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, called the initiatives "easily the most anti-Latino agenda in more than a generation, without shame."

Perry's announcement that he is running for President has been met with great interest and chatter in Republican and Tea Party circles. He is well-known and respected for his considerable political talents, including his campaigning style and fund-raising skills, which have brought him success in Texas. Perry has never lost an election.

Before he formally announced his candidacy, Perry had already attracted interest and been considered a formidable potential candidate thanks in part to the so-called "Texas Miracle" -- the fact that as most states shed jobs, large numbers of people have found employment in Texas.

In a June speech in San Antonio to the annual convention of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Perry connected the economic success of Texas to the state's Latino population, saying, "It's no stretch to suggest the future of Texas is tied directly to the future of our Hispanic population."

"Hispanic-owned businesses have been experiencing an explosive growth," he continued. "Their numbers expand[ed] by more than 40 percent during the previous decade" in San Antonio alone. The governor also made reference to the increased enrollment of Latino students in Texas college and university programs, as well as the growing number who graduate and obtain degrees.

But the "Texas Miracle" may have run out of gas in 2011. Texas faced a massive deficit and recently approved a state budget with $15 billion in spending cuts, including $4 billion in cuts to public education spending.

With the state's employment miracle losing its luster, Perry's image as leader who creates jobs is under strain. Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirsten Gray said Saturday that Perry "needs a pink slip, not a promotion" because "he's been a disaster as Governor and would make an even worse President."

"Not surprising, Rick Perry is making his announcement in South Carolina instead of Texas – there's nowhere in the Lone Star State he could announce without an angry mob showing up," she added.

To gather the support of large numbers of Hispanic voters to help win the Republican nomination -- and to deal a major blow to President Obama's efforts to hold on to the White House -- Perry needs to convince them his plan for job creation will specifically benefit Latinos and their families.

Otherwise, Perry's aggressive and confrontational positions on immigration might lead that "angry mob" Gray mentioned to include a number of Hispanic voters.

Miguel Ferrer contributed to this report.

Source (and links): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/1 ... 26304.html

14 Reasons Why Rick Perry Would Be A Really, Really Bad President

Supporters of Texas Governor Rick Perry are not going to like this article at all. Right now, Republicans all over the United States are touting Rick Perry as the "Republican messiah" that is going to come charging in to save America from the presidency of Barack Obama. Many believe that if Rick Perry enters the race, he will instantly become the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Perry certainly looks the part and he knows how to give a good speech, but when ordinary Americans all over the country take a hard look at his record, they may not like what they see. The truth is that Rick Perry is a big-time globalist, he has raised taxes and fees in Texas numerous times, he has massively increased the size of government spending and government debt in Texas, he has been trying to ram the Trans-Texas Corridor down the throats of the Texas people and he tried to force young women all over Texas to be injected with the Gardasil vaccine. No, Rick Perry is not going to save America. In fact, he would likely be very, very similar to both Bush and Obama in a lot of ways.

Right now, Rick Perry is trying to portray himself as a "good conservative" so that if he enters the race he will be accepted by Christian conservatives. If Rick Perry did win the Republican nomination, he would have a great chance of winning the general election because he would very much be an "establishment" candidate.

But before Republicans get too excited about Rick Perry, there are a whole lot of things that they should know about him.

The following are 14 reasons why Rick Perry would be a really, really bad president....

#1 Rick Perry is a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was approximately $90 billion. That is not exactly reducing the size of government.

#2 The debt of the state of Texas is out of control. According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California (a total financial basket case), the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. If Rick Perry runs for president these are numbers he will want to keep well hidden.

#3 The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. So what would the U.S. national debt look like after four (or eight) years of Rick Perry?

#4 Rick Perry has spearheaded the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies, to turn roads that are already free to drive on into toll roads, and to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system. If you really do deep research on this whole Trans-Texas Corridor nonsense you will see why no American should ever cast a single vote for Rick Perry.

#5 Rick Perry claims that he has a "track record" of not raising taxes. That is a false claim. Rick Perry has repeatedly raised taxes and fees while he has been governor. Today, Texans are faced with significantly higher taxes and fees than they were before Rick Perry was elected.

#6 Even with the oil boom in Texas, 23 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas does.

#7 Back in 1988, Rick Perry supported Al Gore for president. In fact, Rick Perry actually served as Al Gore's campaign chairman in the state of Texas that year.

#8 Between December 2007 and April 2011, weekly wages in the U.S. increased by about 5 percent. In the state of Texas they increased by just 0.6% over that same time period.

#9 Texas now has one of the worst education systems in the nation. The following is from an opinion piece that was actually authored by Barbara Bush earlier this year....

•  We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. An estimated 3.8 million Texans do not have a high school diploma.

•  We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in average math SAT scores.

•  We rank 33rd in the nation on teacher salaries.

#10 Rick Perry attended the Bilderberg Group meetings in 2007. Associating himself with that organization should be a red flag for all American voters.

#11 Texas has the highest percentage of workers making minimum wage out of all 50 states.

#12 Rick Perry often gives speeches about illegal immigration, but when you look at the facts, he has been incredibly soft on the issue. If Rick Perry does not plan to secure the border, then he should not be president because illegal immigration is absolutely devastating many areas of the southwest United States.

#13 In 2007, 221,000 residents of Texas were making minimum wage or less. By 2010, that number had risen to 550,000.

#14 Rick Perry actually issued an executive order in 2007 that would have forced almost every single girl in the state of Texas to receive the Gardasil vaccine before entering the sixth grade. Perry would have put parents in a position where they would have had to fill out an application and beg the government not to inject their child with a highly controversial vaccine. Since then, very serious safety issues regarding this vaccine have come to light. Fortunately, lawmakers in Texas blocked what Perry was trying to do. According to Wikipedia, many were troubled when "apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck's hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work."

Rick Perry has a record that should make all Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Independents cringe.

He is not the "conservative Republican" that he is trying to claim that he is. He is simply another in a long line of "RINOs" (Republicans in name only).

If Rick Perry becomes president, he will probably be very similar to George W. Bush. He will explode the size of the U.S. government and U.S. government debt, he will find sneaky ways to raise taxes, he will do nothing about the Federal Reserve or corruption in our financial system and he will push the agenda of the globalists at every turn.

Look, the truth is that another four years of Barack Obama would be a complete and total nightmare.

But so would four years of Rick Perry.

America deserves better than the "lesser of two evils".

Unfortunately, the American people have been dead asleep and have been sending incompetents, con men and charlatans to Washington D.C. for decades.

Hopefully things will be different in 2012.



http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... -president

Rick Perry Hurt Little Girls!
TheAlexJonesChannel


Gov Rick Perry knowingly lied and told Texas families that he had the power to force their 11 year old girls to take a vaccine that was killing people in the test trials. Perry was Merck's ace in the hole,now he will be their man in the White House if they have their way.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBXSdoYqvk

TX Gov. Rick Perry Attends Bilderberg in Istanbul, 2007

Governor Rick Perry has been instrumental in facilitating the Trans-Texas Corridor and related toll roads, which many argue is an essential part of infrastructure for a North American Union (or community, if you like)-- that would integrate the economies, borders, police/military and even the currency (the Amero) of the United States, Mexico and Canada-- as laid out by the Council on Foreign Relations' Robert Pastor, as well as the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America-- a treaty that President Bush signed with the heads of Mexico and Canada in 2005. In addition to general support and proposal of the plan, Perry publicly lobbied that foreign corporations developing the project be allowed to keep the plans secret.

Rick Perry also helped to facilitate the buyout of TxU (Texas Utilities), including the issuance of an executive order for fast track approval of certain parts of the deal. TxU was the largest buyout ever-- at $45 billion dollars, purchased by private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR) and Goldman Sachs, a global investment firm.

Both firms are well represented at the Bilderberg group.

Additionally, Credit Suisse First Boston, an investment banking group who is also well represented at the Bilderberg gruop, is named in a scandal indicting the head of Faysal Bank in Pakistan. Ajaz Rahim is charged with conspiracy and securities fraud based on insider trading information in the TxU buyout he received from Credit Suisse, who advised on the TxU deal.

Governor Perry has also been cosy, meeting in 2005 with then President of Mexico Vicente Fox, who awarded local police for giving sanctuary to illegal immigrants while the two heads discussed other business and cooperation. Fox was a signing member of the Spring 2005 SPP.gov (Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America) document.

Typically, the agenda of Bilderberg is kept secret, though this year has garnered unprecedented coverage for the bashful consortium of international elites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90jfQrb4 ... re=related