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Perry Tales: Rick Is Not Who He Says He Is
Presidential wannabe Rick Perry is flitting all around the country — hither, thither and yon — spreading little "Perry Tales" about himself and the many wonders he has worked as governor of Texas.
Gov. Rick Perry claims that his Texas Miracle is the result of him keeping the government out of the private sector's way. But peek behind that ideological curtain, and you'll find this startling fact: During Perry's decade, the greatest job growth by far has come from the public sector, which has more than doubled the number of new jobs created by the private sector.
His top Perry Tale is a creationist story about what he has modestly branded "The Texas Miracle." While the rest of the country is mired in joblessness, says the miracle worker, his state has added 1.2 million jobs during his 10-year tenure.
I've built "a job-creating machine," the governor gushed during one of his recent flits across Iowa, and a Perry PR aide smugly added, "The governor's job creation record speaks for itself."
Actually, it doesn't. Far from having the best unemployment rate in the nation, the Lone Star State ranks a middling 26th, behind New York, Massachusetts and other states whose "liberal" governments he routinely mocks.
Even more damning, Perry's Texas is not creating nearly enough jobs to keep up with its fast-growing population. Those 1.2 million new positions are 629,000 short of the jobs needed just to bring the state's employment level back up to where it was in 2007. Some miracle.
Worse, probe even a millimeter into the million-jobs number that he is sprinkling around like fairy dust, and you'll learn that Perry's jobs are mostly "jobettes" that can't sustain a family. They come with very low pay, no health care or pension, and no employment security, labor rights or upward mobility — many are only part-time and/or temporary positions.
Here's a particularly revealing stat that the Perry pixies don't want us to see: On his watch as governor, Texas added more minimum wage jobs than all the other 49 states combined. More than half a million Texans now work for $7.25 an hour or less. He can brag that he's brought Texans down into a tie with Mississippi for the highest percentage of workers reduced to poverty pay.
Spreading even more fairy dust, Perry claims that his Texas Miracle is the result of him keeping the government out of the private sector's way. But peek behind that ideological curtain, and you'll find this startling fact: During Perry's decade, the greatest job growth by far has come from the public sector, which has more than doubled the number of new jobs created by the private sector.
One out of six employed Texans are now teachers, police officers, highway engineers, military personnel or other government workers — and many of these jobs were created with the federal money that Perry-the-candidate now loudly denounces. Indeed, he's running around ranting about President Obama's stimulus program, but he gladly accepted the third highest amount of stimulus funds taken by the 50 states. There's his miracle.
Interestingly, even his tea-partyish hatred — nay, loathing! — of big government's intrusion into the lives of ordinary citizens turns out to be just another Perry Tale. In fact, there would be no Rick Perry without the steady "intrusion" of government into his life.
Local taxpayers in Haskell County put him through their public school system — for free. He and his family were dry-land cotton farmers, and federal taxpayers helped support them with thousands of dollars in crop subsidies — Perry personally took $80,000 in farm payments.
State and federal taxpayers financed his college education at Texas A&M, even giving him the extracurricular opportunity to be a cheerleader. Upon graduation, he spent four years on the federal payroll as an Air Force transport pilot who never did any combat duty.
Then, in 1984, Perry hit the mother lode of government pay by moving into elected office — squatting there for 27 years and counting. In addition to getting regular paychecks from taxpayers for nearly three decades as a state representative, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor and governor, he also receives platinum-level health care coverage and a generous pension from the state, plus $10,000 a month for renting a luxury suburban home, a covey of political and personal aides and even a publicly paid subscription to Food & Wine magazine.
So when this taxpayer-supported lifer flits into your town to declare that he will slash public benefits and make government "as inconsequential as possible," he means in your life, not his.
Perry literally puts the "hype" in hypocrisy. Forget his tall tales and political B.S. — look at what he actually does.
37 Comments so far
Show AllHey Jim, is Obama who he says he is or a paid liar?
My question exactly.
Here is another. Remembering the story of the Trojan horse, how legitimate is this man, Obama? Considering that so many folks talk frequently about the conspiracy of 9/11, I have yet to hear anything about the conspiracy of Barack Obama. Why is that? Are we really supposed to believe that the story book characters continually discussed by the press, such as Mr. Perry, are real? Considering what happened in Florida and Ohio in 2000, has no one thought about the possibility of Obama working with the Koch brothers? How does it happen so often that Obama meets in the White House with well-known conservatives and business people? Is it not possible that Obama does not care one way or the other whether he is elected? After all one would think that by now, he would be richly rewarded. Consider the 107 million dollars that Bill Clinton made in just 9 years after leaving the White House. Yet we continue to talk about Obama as a viable and legitimate candidate. Why is that? Do we adults secretly still enjoy bedtime stories?
Obama bashing may have its place but this is not it. Perry is a disgusting liar who has done nothing to bring the people who live in the state he allegedly governs up to a decent standard of living. Tell me NAO how you would support yourself, let alone a family, on a job that pays $7.25/hour. This essay was about Rick Perry and his lies, Obama has nothing to do with that. Stick to the topic at hand!
The religious right truely believes itself to be of the exclusive chosen. Following the international call for protection of isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon, Southern Baptists called for missions to evangelize 'before they go extinct'. The messianic blindness permeates where humility and education are profoundly necessary to adress the environment of violence fired up by economic expansionism
http://www.goddiscussion.com/74245/southern-baptists-call-for-missions-to-endangered-indigenous-tribes/
Nice summation. This info needs to be handed out at every Perry rally and broadcast before and after every Perry speech.
Why the glaring hypocrisy? What's with these people? That perry's a lifetime recipient of government aid is ok...that's just an example of promoting the general welfare of ALL members of our society (in covenant with our Constitution). That he seeks to belittle this aspect of our society is just plain weird.
Weirdo.
Raw story reported yesterday that Perry has cut funding to the volunteer fire departments in Texas by 70% this year. These are some of the guys that are on the front lines fighting the fires that are burning up the state.
I wonder if that little tidbit will make it past the censors that run the M$M's iron curtain. I supposed that will depend if he is to be the anointed successor to Obomba. That is hard to tell for sure at this point in time.
Yeah, this bothers me, too.
From a psychological perspective, The Abominable Candidate is a hybrid of the mechanical bunny used in dog race tracks to get the pack running, and the classic scapegoat.
At the moment, Perry is the flash in the pan generating the buzz; in previous months, it was Michele Bachmann. It remains to be seen whether either of these two will turn out to be the Designated Scapegrace to oppose Obama in 2012.
To so many well-meaning progressive liberal moderates, the point is that these awful, awful reactionary demagogues du jour are such obvious charlatans and monsters that it's imperative to pick up as many stones as one can carry as quickly and diligently as possible, and go chasing after and pelting them until they are either successfully crushed or flee into the wilderness.
Once one becomes habituated to the necessity of chasing after them, and is off and running based on pure muscle memory as soon as the corporate (and alternative) mass-media sounds the chorus of hype, a cascade of righteous rationalizations practically trigger themselves: of COURSE we can't simply ignore, or scorn, or dismiss such insidious villains!
Why, if history teaches us anything, it's the lethal folly of turning one's back on such scheming, ambitious upstarts, regardless of how clownish they appear! You know, Hitler, blah, blah, blah...
The sad and pathetic truth is that all of this finger-pointing, wailing, and gnashing of teeth turns into one great big honking rationalization for lesser-evilism. It simply reinforces the fatal flaw of electoral politics and guarantees the election of the monster who most effectively fools the public into believing that (at least) he or she is really the Only Adult in the Room.
Liberal-lite bastions like Salon.com are already publishing infoganda articles, e.g. "There's No Way for Democrats to Dump Obama"; that drumbeat will only increase in the following months.
We now return to your Whack-an-Abominable Candidate marathon, already in progress...
Where are the investigating journalists? Considering some of the things being published these days, how tough would it be to check things out? Consider what the Koch brothers represent and what they have achieved and then check to see what Obama seemed to be doing behind the scenes. Consider PNAC. Who has received the benefit of the Obama administration? Just follow the money. How much money has been made just by the pharmaceutical industry, not to mention Wall Street? How tough is this job anyhow?
The problem is that Obama, as a faux Democrat, is able to do things that would have the left screaming to high heaven if a Republican did them - like putting Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security cuts on the table and enlarging the number of countries we're attacking in the Terror War.
At least with a Republican in office there'd some outcry.
Now that Molly Ivins is gone Mr. Hightower is the lone soul preventing Texas from becoming a total wasteland.
Not necessarily there's always the proprietress of the World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon Miss Juanita Jean herownself http://juanitajean.com She's not Molly Ivins but IMO close enough to make me reconsider my position on the concept of one person"channeling" another.And there's always Austin beyond the capitol.
Yeah---I'll second that. The only problem is that Jim Hightower is not running for President. And, come to think about it, he couldn't----he always tells the truth and you can't get elected doing that.
Veritass: Is freerepublic.com down for repairs?
Now Perry is lambasting FEMA and other federal agencies for not coming to Texas' aid, with $ aid, fast enough. Even California, Perry's favorite target of mocking and disrespect, has sent in firefighters to back up Texas' beleaguered crews. Maybe he is having second thoughts about Texas' secession from the US. Darn!
Verity, you are indeed a piece of work. Calling us lefties "fools" and referring to righties as our "betters." That's rich. However, I am also rooting for a Perry presidency come 2012. This country re-elected a war criminal in 2004 and its current President has become one himself so it does not deserve to be a first world country. We deserve all the low-paying jobs we can get, all the pollution we can get, the end of social security and other safety net programs, rising sea waters to ruin our coastal cities, and so on. I will rejoice when this country gets what it has coming. Thanks to the tea party and the religious right for bringing to us what we deserve.
your are a masochist and a fool
but perhaps not, perhaps you have just never really suffered deprivation
you would be so "flip" if you had
Masochist or not, how surprising is it to read these words?
How secure is your future? Do you have kids? How about their future?
Is he the only fool?
And you're doing ...what?... to make this not happen.
Jim Hightower makes Rick Perry look just like a politician!.. Perry would fit right in with the crowd in Washington...
"if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth"
Joseph Goebbels
Perry supporters and fellow know-nothings don't give a damn about Perry's inconsistencies, hypocracy, stupid remarks, and Texas-sized ignorance. They find it charming. They think it makes him "a regular guy", "one of us", etc. If he lies outright, they just say, "well, they all do it" and "your guy is a bigger liar". Are they wrong about that? Is Perry a bigger liar than Obama? I'm not sure. He is obviously dumber than a box of rocks but thats a selling point, not problem.
Do Perry's lies and ignorance matter to Democratic rank and file? Sure, he scares the hell out of us. Do they matter to the Democratic party leadership including Obama? Absolutely not. It's a better than even bet that we will never hear the Dems attack Perry on this front. It's part of the Washington gentlemen's agreement. You don't talk about where the other guy gets his money (same place you get yours) and you never point out lies or inconsistencies. Instead you call the opponent's favored policies "failed", or "wrong" or "out of the mainstream" or Obama's vacuous favorite "dumb". You never, ever explain why.
We are way too far down the rabbit hole for Jim Hightower's factually correct observations to matter much. Facts may be stubborn things but, you can always ignore them. That's why you hear people in America all the time saying "I don't agree with his facts" or "his facts are wrong". If the "facts are wrong", then they're not facts - they're erroneous or false statements. There's a difference that Americans don't seem to understand anymore. You can't have your own facts, but in an era when facts, opinions, rumors, lies, misperceptions, vague notions and self-serving memes and baseless theories all have the same currency and the same entertainment value, nobody knows the difference anymore. That's how you get a crackerbarrel, snake-oil, carnybarker like Perry elevated to national "stature".
J A REILLY: Excellent post.
This well-researched article is an excellent example of how to expose a hypocrite for who he really is (and I don't care which political party he/she hails from.) I know that according to George Lakoff presenting facts about a candidate or an issue is not the way to sway a conservative's mind about that candidate or issue. Perhaps he's right. But I just like the idea of every journalist laying out in clear terms the facts that belie a politician's positions and claims about himself. Heck, Stewart & Colbert do that every night and you get the added healthy benefit of laughter!
Re third party: Tom Friedman's new book draws a a similar conclusion as the only way out of the current mess. I dread the next Nation editorial from Katrina Vanden Hueval. She will give Obama yet one more chance to man up. Kate, barring the unforeseen, it ain't gonna happen. Please, good woman, change your tune.
Is this to say that Rick Perry dog is worthless dog?
Perry wants a feudal state, not a democracy! Bringing the middle ages to america!
Let's face it. If there were a just god, evangelists, fundamentalists, right-wing nutcakes and murderous greedmongers would be smoldering piles of excrement. Perry is just another examples of Palin, Backman, Bush, etc. pandering to fools who suck up the panacea of flying spaghetti monster bullshit and want to kill those who won't partake of their delusions. Obama and company (Wall Street crooks for the most part) is no better. Time for a thorough house cleaning in Washington.
Check your researched and sited facts, people:
http://factcheck.org/2011/08/texas-size-recovery/
I read the factcheck article cited. I still say Perry is a blustery liar. Creating tens of thousands of extremely low wage jobs does not make me feel real keen to see someone of his ilk in the oval office. Sorry, "facts".....
All states have either a state funded or fed funded jobs program. They give (?) jobs at min wage for 18-25 hours a week, make them attend all sorts of goofy job classes at theirown expense, and call them employed. It is the biggest job sham in this country and I have seen it first hand both state and fed, and it's a joke folks. They don't let anyone work a little extra on the side to pay for gas to get there. They scrutinize their finances and make them feel like criminals, berate elders, and screw with the young women. Disgusting crap. Jobs program bull shit.
And thanks Mr Hightower for another awesome report on the truth of this jack ass. I daresay some people here actually think they do better research than you...hahhahahahahahah
Everything checks out as far as I can tell and of course I am disgusted by this man. But why is it that we have to endure the jab about the military service? If he were a combat veteran, he would no doubt be called a baby killer. But somehow, it is--what?...dishonorable to do your job as a transport pilot? Was he supposed to go look for a fight? Disobey orders and just go find some action? He was a transport pilot for heaven sake! Why should he be in combat? If he failed in his duties as a transport pilot or something, maybe it would be worth bringing up, but to take every aspect of his life and make it a negative harms the article's credibility.
I do understand he is listing all the fed gov money he has received over the years, but it still sounds a lot like what happens when anything is OK as long as the favored person does it. If the "enemy" does the same thing, it's reprehensible. Let's try to be objective. There is enough crap on this idiot without grasping at straws.
I don't think Hightower meant any disrespect. He was stating a fact tht Perry did not see combat, in the event some people might think Perry is whacked out from PTSD. Which he isn't. BTW, I think Perry's psychology is quite close to the ego of Bush,,and the rest.
It is a male brain. That's the real problem.
Perry has yet to be revealed for the fraud he has committed. The rest of the country needs to know about how the state charges fees for State Parks, Hunting & Fishing Licenses and even the choice to add a couple bucks to your electric bill to help poor Texans pay for their electricity. The fees for the Parks and licenses are supposed to go to funding the parks and the wildlife fees to supporting Texas fishing and hunting. Our Gov has been taking these fees and putting them into the General Fund to help reduce the state deficit same with the electric funds. This is fraud. You don't tell folks the money is for one thing and then take it and put it for something else. This is the Governor that ran saying Texas had no deficit and how we were so much better than California. He refused to debate his opponent Bill White. After he won the Governors race in 2010, then the state finds it's 37b in debt. Perry has a fund called Texas Enterprise Fund. It is to encourage businesses to come to Texas. I believe it has several billion in it. It has never been revealed where the money goes, to whom, how much, when. If you like fraud, secrets, and backroom dealings done in an opaque fashion then Perry's your guy! Cmon' Main Stream Media get off your butts and start telling the true story. Or is it already decided he's your man?