What about Perry’s TTC that was the taking of private rural lands and handing them over to a foreign company to use for 50 years. My neighbors and myself
fought to stop that big government takeover of the farm lands. It is curious how all these Perry lovers continue to give him credit in this state for what $140 a barrel oil did.

Also what about his proposed program to vaccinate all the school girls with experimental vaccine. Talk about Perrycare.

Texas currently has the highest unemployment rate of any surrounding states. We have nowhere near the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Most perry supporters still spout 2007 and 2008 stats as if they were yesterday.

you forgot to mention the fact that Schieffer is/was besties with George W. Bush.

Please refer to the very top portion of the post, directly before the first subtitle:

He’s more famous for being the younger brother of Bob Schieffer, a CBS News reporter and host of Face the Nation, than he is for being a politically-connected Ambassador (buddy of former President Bush…which probably doesn’t do him any favors running as a Dem, either).

Yes, I do believe in facts. Those damn numbers and their truth telling!

Daphne -

Check the links. I ranked us where we are, not as #1. So please read the links and the accompanied rankings.

The four which you said are incorrect (or, better yet “Are you fucking kidding me?”) are absolutely true. Simply click the link.

You stated earlier that facts are a crutch, but I do believe them more than simple statements. I would like to read the accompanying articles to your claims, if you could please quickly attach them. I do like this state, and I enjoy when I can read the source or great news about our state.

I, like the 61% of voters who DID NOT vote for Perry in 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry#Electoral_history) are simply unimpressed with his performance, and the facts show a compelling reason why.

I’m a conservative libertarian who realizes that I have a China man’s chance in hell of electing anybody who represents the classical liberal line of governance that established our country’s foundations. Until that day comes, I will vote GOP, as the only rational option to quasi-limited government.

Let me walk through your links ( I knew you would have them, the blind statists crutch);

#1 – We are number 49 in verbal SAT scores, according to your stats, because we have significant numbers of non English speaking students in our largest school districts. If you bother to check the schools by stats, we actually rank at or above average when you only consider anglo stats. Garbage in, garbage out. The stats are pliable depending on how and who you are tracking. We meet East Coast standards on all scholastic norms when you weed out the minorities. Their minorities score equally low, but they don’t have enough of them to skew the average downward. We do.

#2 High School graduation rates are another source of data management. Hispanics and blacks graduate at equally low rates across all state spectrums, we have more minorities than most and haven’t hidden the dropout rates as well as our nearest sister, California. Blame our weak teacher’s union. Once again, if you divide our graduation rates out by race, we compare favorably across the board. Hispanics and blacks seem to have a problem graduating their children. White people don’t. I chalk that up to social dynamics and IQ, something that can’t be parsed off to the school system to remedy.

#3 Are you fucking kidding me?

#4 Wrong. Try Louisiana.

#5 Wrong again. Try Mississippi.

#6 Oh my, wrong again. Try California.

If you hate this place so much, why don’t you move?

Did you bother to notice that we have the least unemployment, the six highest growth cities in the entire nation, a business climate that has laid off fewer people than any other state, a real estate market that has remained stable and an expanding workforce moving in from failing blue states?

This great state also manages to take the least from their citizen’s pockets while providing a high quality
of life. Rick Perry has done a fine job of managing our needs with a minimum of dollars.

“The rest of us are feeling damn good about how pretty our state is sitting right now compared to the rest of nation.”

Then let me reveal to you just how great we are sitting -

-Texas is #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 in average math SAT scores (502).
-Texas is #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%).
(http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/wwstand/wws0512ed/)

-Texas is the 10th most depressed state – http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/state-ranking

-#2 most polluted state – http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/cap/rank-states-risk.tcl

-#9 poorest state – http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ranks/rank34.html

-#10 of total debt outstanding – http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/state_local_govt_finances_employment.html

Yep, sitting pretty

Don’t get me wrong, I like Palin. I was following her career as Governor very closely with strong approval, well before McCain chose her as VP, but I don’t see her as serious presidential material at this point.

She shouldn’t have left office, her personal life is a tabloid and she’s garnered a national reputation (worthy or not) as a character celebrity cum novelist – not as a serious manager or statesman.

I don’t want her as Head of State anymore than I want Obama. She talks a good line, but her resume of accomplishment is too paper thin for my tastes, as is her stale three note populist rhetoric.

I want somebody who can show me rather than tell me.

Far right conservatives will throw Palin under the bus once they get a good look at Perry.

You really think so? I doubt it. Far right conservatives might get out-voted in the primaries, but I don’t see most of them abandoning Palin.

But we’ll see.

Only to liberals, Steve.

The rest of us are feeling damn good about how pretty our state is sitting right now compared to the rest of nation.

He accepted the bailout dollars that were not tied to federally mandated future expansion of entitlement programs. He specifically chided the federal mandates that would levy future obligations on the citizens of our state. He was very clear and I don’t see a hint of hypocrisy.

Now, why shouldn’t he have accepted the strings-free bailout money, Steve? Texas is the third largest provider of federal income tax revenue. Perry realizes that those are his constituent’s dollars Washington is so casually spending, getting them back in the state is only prudent.

He’ll be taken seriously by conservatives on the national stage. He’s a rock rib solid Republican with a stellar track record of strong fiscal growth and spending restraint in our state. He’s pro-business, pro-family, Hispanic friendly and has no skeletons in the closet. Plus, he’s telegenic and gives one hell of a good speech. Oops, I almost forgot, he’s a fund raising monster; money won’t be an impediment in launching a nationwide campaign.

Far right conservatives will throw Palin under the bus once they get a good look at Perry. Fiscal conservatives will love him, social conservatives will think they’ve died and gone to heaven. The moderates can be won with a little massaging.

The only drawback he’s facing is the word Texas. I’d like to take a bullwhip to Bush’s compassionate hide every other Tuesday for the damage he inflicted on my state.

He is not taken seriously whatsoever on the national stage.

He chided the bailout and then accepted every.single.bailout.dollar that was offered.

Please understand how poorly this guy makes us look.