Governor Perry Hitched His Wagon to the Wrong Fringe Group
Polling out today tests whether or not Texas Gov. Rick Perry is out ahead of the pack with talk of Texas’ right to secede from the Union.
He is.
The latest Rasmussen Reports polling in Texas says today that:
- 75% of Texas voters would opt to keep the state part of the United States
- 18% would vote to secede
- 31% believe Texas does have the right to secede
Perry distinguished himself as Teabagger in Chief earlier this week when he held a press conference reaffirming Texas’ rights as a state under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Consititution. On Wednesday, he told a reporter essentially said that Texas has no immediate plans to secede, but the option is there for Texans as they are an “independent lot.”
No matter what you think about the protests on Tax Day this week, Perry is making the wrong political call in lining himself up with the fringe on the right. He faces a primary election for another term against fellow Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson. With Hutchinson’s long history of serving Texas in the Senate and her solid conservative credentials, that’s a tough fight. Perry is probably thinking he has to cut hard to the right to win that fight.
He might turning too sharply, too soon.
Governor Teabagger: Rick Perry Suggests at Tea Party that Texas Could Secede
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is really getting caught up in the nutcase moment. Gov. Teabag attended three Texas tea parties today and is apparently taking the states’ rights case he made yesterday beyond the Tenth Amendment:
Perry repeated his running theme that Texas’ economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the “federal budget mess.” Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.
Later, answering news reporters’ questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.
“There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”
Text: Texas H.C.R. 50 – Texas State Sovereignty Resolution
(Source: Texas Legislature Online)
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “The powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”;
and
