Gov. Rick Perry: State of the State Speech

The state of the State is...Strong!

Gov. Rick Perry is set to deliver his State of the State speech in about 10 minutes. You can watch it live here: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/sots

Afterward, I’m participating in a bloggers-only teleconference with Gov. Perry where we’ll have the opportunity to ask him questions about the policies and legislative priorities he discusses in his speech. If you have a question about the state of the state of Texas, leave it in the comments before 12:30 CTS and I’ll try to ask the Gov. for you.

I expect Gov. Perry will be upbeat and positive, as well he should be. Because despite tough times, the state of the state of Texas is still significantly better than any other state in the country, and even more so than the state of our nation.

The Texas Tribune has a preview of what they think Gov. Perry will discuss today.

More to follow during and after the speech.

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I thought Gov. Perry’s speech was fantastic. And judging by all of the whining and crying from the Liberals on the #SotS Twitter feed, it hit its targets perfectly.

You can read the entire speech here: 2011 State of the State

During the speech, Gov. Perry said mentioned the biased MSM — locally and nationally: “Now, the mainstream media and big government interest groups are doing their best to convince us that we’re facing a budget Armageddon. Texans don’t believe it…and they shouldn’t…because it’s not true.”

Which is why I found it  amusing that immediately following his State of the State speech his first media availability opportunity wasn’t with that same biased media — instead he spoke with state bloggers first via a teleconference. Because, as Gov. Perry said, the blogosphere doe an important job of educating the public, allowing for multiple ideas to flow (rather than the same media talking points). He said that he “greatly trust the citizens of the state to find and adhere to the truth.”

During the conference call, the one issue that Gov. Perry did come out and directly ask for our support was in his efforts to fix tort reform even further in Texas. He implored us all to come up to speed on his “loser pays” initiative and to become strong advocates for it.

I didn’t get the opportunity to ask Gov. Perry a question during the conference call, but some of my friends did. Check their blogs later to see if they posted their questions and responses:

• Hannah Bell from Young Minority Conservatives, who asked Gov. Perry about how the next generation of young people can get involved in the process.
• Sharron Roberts from TexasFor56, who asked about this letter signed by 21 different state Governors to fight the federal government’s unfunded mandates.
• Brad Jackson who writes for The New Ledger, who asked about other states following Texas’ lead in cutting spending and pushing the federal government in a balanced budget constitutional amendment.
• Dr. Melissa Clouthier — asked Gov. Perry about education and local districts and their ties to property taxes and valuations.