Rick Perry distances himself from George W. Bush in GOP presidential race

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, like most of the other the GOP presidential hopefuls, says his campaign is about undoing the decisions of President Obama. But Perry is also offering himself as a stark alternative to the last Republican to occupy the White House, his fellow Texan George W. Bush.

Perry shares the view, widely held among conservatives, that Bush’s government spending habits in office were a betrayal of the GOP’s core fiscal principles. But Perry goes further, dismissing “compassionate conservatism,” the central tenet of Bush’s domestic policy, as just more overreach by the federal government.

Even more than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the other top-tier candidate, Perry presents GOP voters sharper outlines of the choice facing the party in 2012: how much to embrace of the anti-government stridency of the tea party and how much to discard of the “compassionate conservatism” of Bush, who presided over the last successful reinvention of the party at the presidential level.

In words and deeds even before he entered the presidential race, Perry, the new front-runner, has distanced himself from Bush’s vision of the Republican Party, painting it as too moderate — particularly those positions that expanded the role of government in Washington.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rick-perry-distances-himself-from-george-w-bush-in-gop-presidential-race/2011/08/24/gIQAyChdlJ_singlePage.html

[libodem]

1. Jebby Bush

Will be a welcome relief from Perry. Is that where this is going?

[OHdem10]

2. Not too smart.

[Kingofalldems]

3. And minimum wage jobs for all the serfs

[justgamma]

9. They don't like the minimum wage, either.

Grassley, the Iowa puke platform, Bachman, and numerous others have already stated that it should go. Why else do you think they are trying to do away with child labor laws and public schools, etc.?

[justgamma]

10. They don't like the minimum wage, either.

Grassley, the Iowa puke platform, Bachman, and numerous others have already stated that it should go. Why else do you think they are trying to do away with child labor laws and public schools, etc.?

[hlthe2b]

4. Keep waving that red flag in Karl Rove's face...

I will enjoy watching the fireworks. ;)

[nevergiveup]

5. Somewhere, Karl Rove is having a hissy fit.

[Voice for Peace]

6. Conservatism without the compassion

?

[SpiralHawk]

24. At least this assclown is being honest about it

George AWOL Bush and his cronies tossed the words around while doing the usual Republicon screwjob on the American people and enriching their eeleete a-hole billionaire SuckerPuppetmasters.

[pettypace]

7. This is old news

nt

[Mr Deltoid]

8. In Texas they call him, 'Bush without the brains'

That really says it all.

[Javaman]

26. Yup...

our cement headed govenor makes george w. moron* appear to have average intelligence.

cement head perry is about as deep as a puddle.

[lib2DaBone]

11. Trying to throw off the stench of G.W. Bush....

The whole Tea Party thing from the beginning is an attmpt to throw off the rotting stench of George W. Bush.

No matter how much Lysol or perfume you spray on history.. the carcass smells and rots from the head down.

[OHdem10]

13. He has more stench than GWB. He is the real conservative TEXAN

that GWB tried to be.

[newspeak]

27. well, I'm sure Perry, after what Little Boots has done to the country

will just finish us off with the same little boot's old shite or even worse. He's telling people social security is a ponzi scheme, and I bet in his reality all corporations and businesses are good christian people having to stave off those evil poor, disabled, elderly and labor.

[Volaris]

29. Yeppers. And until they throw him and his Administration COMPLETELY under the bus,

all they are doing is making it HARDER for themselves to be a politically viable national-level Party.
This nonsense that Jr. was not a "real conservative" is the lie they are telling to each other to cover the fact that Jr. was the INCARNATION of a "real conservative", and that it turned out EXACTLY as was predicted by all the smart people in this country.

[Mosaic]

12. It's all bullshit

He's exactly like bush, he'll give to the rich, start unjust wars, and kill the middle class. McSame we should call him. More of the same crap, that hurts the country.

[cstanleytech]

14. Perry better be careful with bashing Bush, otherwise the night of the long knives might repeat with

Perry being on the receiving end by the Bush faithful.

[Crowman1979]

15. The whole damn party wants to pretend that W and his eight years of terror never existed.

[ShockediSay]

16. TODAY'S SIMPLE MESSAGING: Perry thinks GWBush was too moderate n/t

[RandySF]

17. Bush was too dang sophisticated for Perry's taste.

[ThoughtCriminal]

18. OK Gov. can you give some examples?

Exactly, which "Compassionate" Bush programs will you cut, and exactly how much would that save?

Oh wait - there aren't any "Journalists" around him who know how to ask questions like that.

[DallasNE]

19. What Expanded Role Of Government Is Perry Talking About

The largest expansion was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Next was the expansion of eavesdropping on American citizens without a court order. Only US West declined to provide the call records to the government. Somehow I don't think Perry is talking about this or the other stuff he strongly supported.

Rather, I suspect he is talking about the expansion of Social Security as Baby Boomers started to retire - greatly expanding the rolls - which is not really an expansion of government, and the unfunded prescription drug benefit to seniors (part D of Social Security).

Interesting, too, how Republican Tea Baggers want to repeal the Affordable Care Act that actually decreases the budget deficit but have not said a word about the unfunded drug benefit for seniors. Frankly, Part D should be funded in the same manner as Part B (Medicare).

Regardless, Perry and others need to be cornered on the specifics of what expansion they are talking about. And he needs to be careful not to cross paths with Bernanke on the nature of cuts. One the merits Perry is boxed in but we can be sure that MSM will help him escape from his predicament.

[tawadi]

20. Too late. He made his bed and now he gets to lie in it.

[sofa king]

31. And one more

[SoapBox]

21. Dems need to stick Gov. Crazy to Bush like glue...

And to all the crap in TX as well.

Hammer, Hammer, HAMMER on it...don't let one single American
not know about this creep.

[dogfacedboy]

22. Ya beat me to it. This dork Perry needs to be slathered in Bush stench.

[No Elephants]

23. Perry was a Democrat until 1990.

"Texas Legislature

In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64 that included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office. He befriended fellow freshman state representative Lena Guerrero of Austin, a staunch liberal Democrat who endorsed Perry's reelection bid in 2006 on personal, rather than philosophical, grounds. Perry was part of the "Pit Bulls", a group of Appropriations members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room (or "pit") who pushed for austere state budgets during the 1980s.<16>

In 1987, Perry voted for a $5.7 billion tax increase proposed by Republican governor Bill Clements.<17> Perry supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and chaired the Gore campaign in Texas.<18><19>

In 1989, Perry announced that he was joining the Republican Party.<20> At one point, The Dallas Morning News named him one of the ten most effective members of the legislature.<21>

Agriculture Commissioner

In 1990, as a newly minted Republican, he challenged incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, while Perry had supported U.S. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee. Perry narrowly unseated Hightower, whose office was embroiled in a corruption and bribery scandal. Three aides were convicted of using public funds for political fundraising, while Hightower himself was not suspected or found to be involved in the wrongdoings.<22> That same year, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, went down to defeat at the hands of Ann Richards.<23>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry

[newspeak]

28. so, he found it was more lucrative for himself to be a repug

On Hightower, he mentioned about accounting for every paperclip, everything-it seemed like a hit job attempting to oust him.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. Darth Cheney and the free-spending Neocon empire will deal wih him soon enough. n/t

[pampango]

30. When being the "dumb" candidate is a problem (Not for repub presidential candidates lately)

Being the "dumb" candidate has actually been a pretty good formula for Republican presidential aspirants these past few decades.

Ronald Reagan was famously dismissed as "an amiable dunce" by Clark Clifford, a longtime player in Democratic politics, and the Carter White House was glad to draw him as an opponent in 1980 -- until Reagan pulled away late in the campaign and racked up a 44-state landslide. And 20 years later, the "dumb" label was affixed to George W. Bush, who still managed to unite his party around him and end up in the White House.

That said, Perry may be vulnerable to the "dumb" card in ways that Reagan and Bush weren't.

For one thing, both of them came to the race with a much firmer grip on the party. Reagan entered the 1980 campaign as the undisputed leader of the conservative wing of the national GOP, a role he'd cemented with his near-miss challenge to Gerald Ford in the 1976 primaries. Because the Republican Party was more diverse back then (with actual moderates and liberals), Reagan still had to endure a taxing primary season, but his triumph was almost inevitable: As long as the conservative wing was with him, he couldn't lose. Similarly, Bush came to the 2000 race as the overwhelming GOP favorite, the clear (and lavishly funded) choice of his party's most influential elected officials, money-men and -women, activists, interest group leaders, and media commentators. Their supporters knew all about Reagan's and Bush's intellectual reputations, they weren't going to waver...

This leads to the second problem Perry faces. When Bush was fighting off the "dumb" charges in 2000, he and his supporters could lean on a perfect talking point: the example of Reagan. See, they could say, it all worked out fine. But while Perry can play the Reagan card too, he's also burdened with the example of Bush, whose presidency most Americans still desperately want to forget.

http://www.salon.com/news/rick_perry/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/29/rick_perry_dumb