Is Texas gearing up to send another one of her sons to the White House? If it's current Governor Rick Perry, we certainly hope not. Folks should be warned. In recent weeks 'Mr Good Hair' has been acting like the 'reluctant warrior' who may 'need' to go to the White House and 'save' America. Yes, we know it's laughable, but we've seen stranger things - Can You say George W Bush?

Perry's demeanor in recent weeks reminds me of rapper Jay-Z when he decided to 'come out retirement' a few years back to 'save' the rap industry.  If you recall, no one asked Jay-Z  to retire nor made a huge deal when he did. He took a job at Universal where he was named the President of Def Jam Records and most of us figured he was on to a new page. However, during his tenure he kept being coy and insisting that his rap days were over while all the time eyeing his eventual return. Two years later he decided to leap-frog all the artists he was overseeing and return not because scene folks were begging or petitioning him, but because as he boldly stated the rap game 'needed' him.

Of course we now know that since then Jay-Z's return has put out two or three albums and has gone on to 'mogulize' his image, but on his watch the music industry has completely fallen apart and commercial rap for many has all but gone down the tubes.

I cite Jay-Z as I draw a few parallels to Rick Perry. First, no one was thinking about him running for President in 2012. Thus far we heard names like Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and even Texas Congressman Ron Paul who in recent polls is running neck and neck with President Obama.

Perry has been coy and pretending to be modest by saying he just wants to be governor of the state he once suggested should secede from the union, yet in his most recent speeches he seems to be angling himself toward a White House bid. His pointed criticisms about Washington needing to be cleaned up is setting the stage for him to offer himself as the man to do the job...

We here in the great State of Texas offer the rest of the country a fair warning: Don't Do It... Don't fall for the Okie doke. Don't fall for Perry's 'aaaw shucks' I'm just a regular old country boy' routine. Even though he's been critical of his predecesor George Bush, he's borrowing a page from him and re-working the 'aaaw shucks let's have a beer together' routine.

It's interesting hearing Perry be critical of Washington and making it seem like it's one big mess dominated by career politicians who are out of touch, when on many levels, the longest-serving governor in the state of Texas is not too far removed from that trait. He just hasn't served in Washington, but make no mistake, Perry is not a fresh face. He's just as crafty, slimy and corruptible 'OG' as any Washington insider.

Perry can be just as two-faced as any politician he critiques. For example let's look at his border policies. One minute he's encouraging us to break bread and recognize our Mexican neighbors to the South, the next minute he's stomping around with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani trying to figure out how to smash on immigrants using heavy-handed terrorist style tactics Giuliani's security firm has developed for Latin American countries. This goes hand in hand with Perry's support and push for that ugly Palestinian inspired Border Wall that  no one on the border actually likes. Plus he showed poor political judgement by endorsing Rudy who ran an absolutely horrible, non-impactful campaign.

Rick Perry's a guy who will brag about how he's making sure Black folks get their 'fair share 'of state contracts, but he's seemed to have no problem turning down some much-needed stimulus money during the worst economic crises since the depression. All those contracts haven't done much to stem the high unemployment rates in many marginalized communities, but leave it to slick talking Perry and he'll make it sound like he did something big.

Memo To Rick Perry: You should be giving a diverse group of people contracts especially if they come from communities that make a sizeable population of the state. Now how about the unemployment money you 'pretended to turn down' just to do some political grandstanding? Where did it go? Who benefited?

Mr. Perry has done very little to lessen the all to familiar school to prison pipeline that has affected so many. He's been a big supporter of the Immigration detention centers and he definitely hasn't been responsive to the calls to put a halt on the death penalty even in the wake of some troubling and questionable executions. Including the death of Cameron Todd Willingham. He surpassed George Bush when it comes to the number of people executed.

We can go on and on, but you get the point. He talks a good and very selective game depending on his audience. At the end of the day's he just as dialed into big time interests as the people he criticizes. Some of this is reflected in all the bills he vetoes. Even if people from both parties come together to craft legislation, Perry will veto. Who's interest is he protecting when he does that? Now he wants to bring to Texas the prop 13 type tactic that has crippled California's government. He wants to make it so that 2/3rds approval is needed for everything like the budget. Talk about grid-lock...

Some are saying that Perry might be toying with the idea of running for President to try to get some distance between him and former Houston Mayor Bill White who has a good chance of winning. His victory would be a major political upset and signify Texas making a major turn. We say before Rick Perry tosses his hat in for the 2012 election, let's make sure he's free of any political baggage. Let's make sure he loses the gubernatorial race this November.

-Davey D-

Below is a Rick Perry speaking at in New Orleans during the Southern Republican Leadership Conference acting like he's ready to lead the 'Free World'. I wonder if he would try to get us to secede from the rest of the world, like he wanted Texas to secede from the union?

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

Texas Gov. Rick Perry entertains talk of 2012 bid

By JAY ROOT Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/politics/6962547.html

AUSTIN, Texas — After clobbering Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March Republican primaries, Gov. Rick Perry has been steadily raising his national profile, fueling speculation that he is quietly building a campaign for the White House in 2012.

Perry still has to beat Democrat Bill White in November, so the speculation only goes so far. But less than a week after grabbing headlines at a Republican conference in New Orleans that came off like a 2012 candidates' beauty pageant, Perry found himself posing for pictures Thursday for next week's edition of Newsweek.

"I want to make you look good . . . let's see that handsome smile," photographer Matthew Mahon told Perry, whose rugged Marlboro-man looks and legendary swagger have helped make him a Texas political icon. Those traits, along with his penchant for bashing the Obama administration at every opportunity, have now made him a tea party darling with a national following.

"I think everybody assumes he has an interest in running for national office because if he were just interested in Texas, he'd only be talking about Texas," said Jack Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "One rule of thumb is that the more a politician attacks Washington, the more sure you can be that that politician wants to move there."

Perry, 60, insists he's not a Beltway kind of guy, dramatically remarking in a recent televised debate that he plans to spend the next four years in Austin if "the good Lord" sees fit to let him live that long.

Still, Perry continues to get, and seek, national attention. It came in spades last week when the governor delivered a combative speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and other potential 2012 candidates addressed GOP activists.

Though Palin got top billing, it was Perry who gave them the red meat they wanted. He started out with the sheepish disclosure that he would be inflicting a little pro-Texas, chamber-of-commerce talk on the crowd. Instead, he mostly talked about how Washington was out of step with the American heartland, and how only a return to bedrock Republican principles will save his party.

He also delivered a not-so-subtle slap at his predecessor, George W. Bush, the last and only Texas governor who went to the White House. He said Republicans lost their way right around the time Bush won the presidency and "we elected men and women with an R behind their names, and we couldn't tell whether they were Republicans or Democrats."

But Perry also tore a page out of the Bush playbook by hammering robotically on four simple themes — in Perry's case it's regulatory restraint, lawsuit curbs, low taxes and school accountability.

"That's it!" he declared. "Then get out of the way." It's a slightly more muscular version of Bush's mantra that government "ought to do a few things and do them well and that government should not try to be all things to all people."

White's campaign has stepped up its criticism of Perry's national meanderings, saying it proves the Democrat is focused on Texas while Perry "focuses on his political career." As analyst Pitney sees it, Perry's no-holds-barred conservatism is playing well with tea party adherents and the Republican rank-and-file. But he said the governor could leave himself open to being labeled as an extremist in a general election contest with Obama. Perry routinely dismisses talk of any interest in the White House, but he doesn't deny he wants people outside of Texas to take a look at him and his state.

"I think every day we do something to raise, not necessarily our profile, but to raise interesting issues that people across the country I hope will look to Texas and say, 'you know what, we want to be more like Texas,'" Perry recently told The Associated Press.

During his photo-shoot for Newsweek, the governor attracted a small crowd on the ninth floor of an office building that provides a breathtaking view of the Texas State Capitol. To ensure the appropriate localized backdrop, the magazine taped a small Texas flag to the wall behind Perry — and then had him alternately sit, stand, go out on the balcony and hike his pants up a bit to reveal his famous Texas footwear.

"Give 'em a little leg?" Perry said obligingly. No one was shocked to see ostrich skin boots emblazoned with a canon and the words "Come and Take It," a Texas revolutionary symbol that Perry and conservative activists now brandish tauntingly at their rivals.

The governor then sat for an interview with Texas journalist Evan Smith, writing for Newsweek, before heading off to Fort Worth to promote a NASCAR race this weekend. Perry's campaign coughed up $225,000 to sponsor driver Bobby Labonte's Chevrolet Impala. It's being broadcast nationally on the Fox network.