THE DUMMY: Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wants To Be President. Huh?...What?...No!...

By RON MEXICO
Staff Writer

BROWNSVILLE, TX - Even after threatening to secede from the union, as he told a gathering of rabid Teabaggers in Austin last year, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has this idea that he can run for the presidency in 2012. He calls it part of his rugged Texas independence, something his fellow Far-Right GOPers embrace. It's a tough bit of posturing. Perry governs a state that is now - after Hawaii, New Mexico, and California - a  "majority minority."

Its population counts less than 50 percent whites.

And it seems that this does not sit well with whites, which accounts, they say, for the ranting & raving seen of late in the forever-elderly Tea Party. A few have called this new brand of rioting a desire to return to the days of cowboying and Texas oil.

These conservatives do not want change. As one writer put it, "The ground is moving underneath them, and they don't want to recognize that and don't know what to do about it. So they join a tea-party group and strap on a six-gun and strut around." 

In today's Texas, Hispanics comprise about 37 percent of the state's population, but only 22 percent of Texas's registered voters. Worse yet for the, the percentage who turn out to vote is lower. In time, the demographics will translate into real muscle for Hispanics at the ballot box. Some pundits say it will be a few more elections before that happens.

For Perry, the Texas Myth has meant three victories,a  record in governor contests. He, however, isn't as favored by Latinos as was his predecessor, George W. Bush, who won about half the Hispanic vote as governor. Estimates have it that Perry garnered only 13 percent of the Hispanic ballots in his 2002 race and 24 percent in 2006.

He nonetheless is careful not to alienate the Hispanic community. Perry appointed the first Latina to the state Supreme Court, signed a law allowing undocumented college students to qualify for in-state tuition, and has overtly ignored crazy rhetoric about illegal immigration. In fact, many Teabaggers say they are not happy with Perry's position on immigration.

They insist he has not done anything to secure the border. Yet, he is a politician who recognizes his good fortune.

Perry was a Democrat until 1989. According to Texas Monthly, he was encouraged to make the switch by former senator Phil Gramm, who reportedly told him, "It's the last copter out of Nam, and you'd better get on it." A year ago, at a "Tax Day Tea Party" in front of Austin's City Hall, Perry suggested that Texas could legally leave the union. As some of the tea partiers shouted "Secede!" Perry said he didn't want that to happen, but "if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people…who knows what might come out of that?" Perry told the crowd that he didn't regard them as extremists, "but if you are, I'm with you." Still, he soon embraced right-wing talk-show hosts Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh (whom Perry made an honorary Texan).

The state's generally good economy has so far helped his politics. As he often says, more Fortune 500 companies are headquartered here than in any other state. But Perry's politics forced him to reject about $16 billion in federal stimulus money voted by Congress last year. He'll never admit it, but the federal cash helped Texas stay in the black for 2009-10. Now, experts say they see a shortfall of at least $15 billion in the coming year. Perry is against big government, but when it serves his ambition, he looks for it.

This is a guy who left Texas A&M, after cheerleading for the Aggies football team, with a lowly 2.1 Grade Point Average - the minimum needed to graduate. President in 2012? This cannot be forgotten - We've already had a Texas Moron in that job. Remember that Bozo?...

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