Let them eat chili
This is the YouTube link for Perry’s comments yesterday about Texas being recession-proof before an audience of business leaders in Houston.
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Here is the transcript of what Perry said:
“Why is Texas kind of recession-proof, if you will? As a matter of fact, just today I think, Michael, you said someone had put a report out that the first state that’s coming out of the recession is going to be the State of Texas. I told him, I said, ‘We’re in one?’” And Perry and his audience share a good laugh.
Unlike “Adios mofo,” or “Why don’t you just let us get on down the road?” or “If Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that?” there is nothing redeeming or feisty about Perry’s comment. The words and the body language betray an egotism, an arrogance, a self-importance, a callousness that are downright creepy. This is “power corrupts” in action. If a governor of a state were running for president and made this comment in a public forum, he would be finished as a candidate.
If I had to pick one word to describe my reaction, it would not come from the shopworn political vocabulary: “shocked,” “disturbed,” “outraged,” or “appalled.” It would be “surprised.” I saw the video just a short time after I had posted a writeup about the Rasmussen poll and about how the Perry campaign has been arrogant and overconfident. Seldom have I been proven so right so quickly. Never have I seen Perry so much off his game.
Perry’s biggest strength as a campaigner is that he is very disciplined. He doesn’t make this kind of gaffe. I have written before about how Perry told me in 1998 that he would defeat John Sharp for lieutenant governor because he was more disciplined. He was right. Sharp blinked in the end game and made a bad tactical decision that cost him the race.
This gaffe is going to stick. It is going to be national news. It will come back to haunt him in a campaign spot. If Hutchison can’t make something of it, the Democrats can. You cannot be callous and cavalier when people are losing their jobs and their homes. I don’t care how ideological the Republican base is. Unemployment in Texas just reached the 8% mark. Everybody knows someone who is suffering in these times. Everybody has lost part of their life savings. It could cost him the race.
Tagged: kay bailey hutchison, recession, rick perry.
Fiftycal says:
Yah. With the Obamma juggernaut of health care sweeping the nation….., er. With KBabyH on TV twice a day……..uh. Schieffer, with the drumbeat of the Texas democrat party reverberating behind him…. well. YAH. The enormus gaffe of “what recession” will undoubtedly drive Perry from office, with the state having 7 out of 7 metro areas doing better than any place in the nation, with 50% LESS unemployment than 40 other states and business flying, driving, walking, running and biking out of basket cases like Caleforenia and the former manufacturing mecca of Michigan and moving to TEXAS, KBabyH will have a field day. By next week, she may be 20 points ahead and Perry may drop out and appoint himself to the Senate if/when KbabyH resigns.
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paulburka says:
You don’t get it.
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Anonymous Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I get that this video was clearly edited so we don’t know what he said after that. Maybe after that he said, “of course we were the last to go in recession and we’re going to be the last to come out because we have the strongest economy in that nation.”. Shame on you for posting something clearly manipulated by the Hutchison campaign.
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Anonymous Forever Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
It’s “clearly” bad enough what he said (and how he said it)…unless the whole video was edited and he didn’t say any of it and he wasn’t even there.
There’s enough “shame” there without any help from anyone.
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Lake Worth Monster says:
Maybe his daddy has money.
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kimmy says:
As in….
http://www.newsweek.com/id/159343
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texxasredd says:
I want what he’s having – happy pills, joy juice, whatever.
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Anonymous says:
The only thing “surprising” to me, Paul, is that you don’t recognize your idol, GWB, in that video. They are soooo two of a kind. Arrongant ignorance, the picture/caricature of Texans and Texas politics. We’ll be so much better off when we can move on down the road!
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Jennifer Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Remember when, several years ago, Rick was asked how he was different from GWB? His response went something like this “His wife’s a librarian and mine’s a nurse.” He is unbelievably arrogant and a puppet for his handlers. Watching the campaign is going to be very fun!
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David Siegel says:
Growth in personal income per capita, 2001-2008 (Governor – Rick Perry)
Texas 33%
Compare to:
Louisiana 47%
Oklahoma 42%
Arkansas 36%
New Mexico 33%
even Mississippi 34%
What’s to brag about?
Source: http://www.bea.gov/regional/spi/default.cfm?selTable=summary
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paulburka Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I don’t think this is fair to Perry. We are talking about bottom-of-the-barrel states. Texas started at a much higher level. A 33% growth in personal income in Texas, I daresay, is a lot greater than a 42% growth in Dogpatch states like Oklahoma.
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david siegel Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
A lot of what has happens to individual states has a lot more to do with regional factors (e.g. natural resources, climate, concentration of particular industries) than it does with business incentives, tax structure, or political leadership. Comparing Texas to its neighbors is a better way to determine how Texas is doing than the usual national rankings. So: compared to other similarly situated states, Texas during the past eight years has not done well.
Also: Per capita income is a lot better measure of the welfare of a state’s inhabitants than the number of Fortune 500 HQs or corporate relocations (e.g. Caterpillar fleeing union wages in Indiana to create lower-wage jobs in Seguin).
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Anonymous says:
This cockiness reminds me of a former candidate who was ahead in the polls, and then got too cute. Clayton Williams.
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817 says:
I gotta agree with Paul. The video reminds me of John McCain saying “the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” but with more swagger in the delivery.
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Anonymous says:
Perhaps he was just coming off a high after this new video just released:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC16-4fh-Qc
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CollinWatcher says:
This video (mysteriously provided to Burka by the KBH campaign, I feel certain) is not really that insightful. Sure Texas is doing better than the rest of the nation, but of course there are people who are hurting — that is the case in any economy.
But, here is the key thing KBH and the Democrat candidates for Governor must convince voters that Texas isn’t doing well, in fact, that Texas is terrible. Until KBH finds a way to talk about her campaign in a positive way, she’s just playing Perry’s game. I don’t believe KBH’s campaign believe the latest round of poll numbers, given their lukewarm statement about it. They know they are in real trouble, three general consultants, four press spokespersons and two campaign managers later, they are still in trouble.
When you attack Texas, you do more than tear down a state, you impugn (in my mind) what it means to be a Texan. Is there such a thing as Florida Monthly, no. We Texans almost are an optimistic crowd, we drill holes in the ground with our friends money to try to find oil, we always think we should win the national championship in football — we like the idea that we are in better shape than California and New York because, well, we’ve already believed it.
Look, there is no amount of money that KBH can spend that convince voters — to convince them that we aren’t better off than
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Anonymous says:
Here is what all you hi-tech hacks for Perry dont get…you can put up all your stats that show TX is doing better than FL, MI & CA. But that is Macro – that works when you are on the government payroll talking politics in your cubicle at the capitol. But it is the Micro that matters. My neighbors house is in foreclosure and my company is downsizing by 15%. I am (yes me) scared of losing my job – probably around Christmas. I don’t care about your stats…I care about my family. So keep talking about how TX is doing better than CA…that is real helpful (not).
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Anonymous says:
You know, Anon 9:06, I hear you. This has been rough year for my family financially and the future is kind of wobbly, even scary. I know a few folks out of work, and I know several who found new jobs rather quickly. Still, when I read about the rest of the country, I am so thankful to be in Texas where which appears to be the envy of the rest of the country. I feel guilty complaining even when I think of folks in Michigan and other states. Then my response is sort of like Perry’s and I start counting my blessings again. Yes, we are Texans and we have always known it is better here – and that we will carve out tomorrow out of granite if we have to.
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Anonymous says:
9:15 give me a break…really. what kind of kool-aide are you drinking tonight? You come tell my baby girl how great things are when we go through the downsizing… Yours truly, 9:06.
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Anonymous says:
You’re freaking out about having to tell your baby girl about downsizing? Downsizing? What a friggin wimp. Don’t tell me about kool-aid or whine to me. I am a single mother-been there, done that. Man up.
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John Johnson says:
I have worked for myself for the last 25+ years. My business has suffered greatly over the past few years and it didn’t start with Obama.
Being in the food business and dealing with national accounts, it started with ethanol which caused every food item we purchase to skyrocket, along with transportation costs since it drove the price of fuel out of sight. New deals were put on hold; shipping surcharges were affixed.
I also noticed that my personal vehicle gets about 3 miles less to the gallon when burning an ethanol mix. No one has ever addressed this that I am aware of.
Tie this to the fact that we could have been importing ethanol at a much cheaper price from Brazil. They know how to produce it with bagasse, which is the trash left over when the sugar is squeezed from sugarcane stalks. We put a high import duty on their product.
Some bright person representing the corn producers in the U.S. decided to use corn; and some lobbyists sold this to the Bush administraion, and it resulted in a total f’up. The price of poultry and cattle feed shot up, and since a corn product in used in almost everything we touch or eat, the price of everything else went up as well.
Everyone crawled into a foxhole. Just when we were about to crawl out, the price of fuel shot up. Demand wasnt’ increasing, but the cost was. Hedging of fuel without regulation was the culprit.
Next came the market crash and bailout. More months of hunkering down.
The Big’s aren’t hurting because they have all gotten pieces of the bailout that we don’t even know about, and probably will never know about.
These are the people Perry uses as a gauge. He must be, because if he knew anything about the plight of the average guy, he would know that there truly is a recession in Texas and that this is manifested in an unemployment rate that is the highest in decades.
Everyone responding here wants to make it a King Perry vs. Queen KBH issue. I’m saying that neither are in touch with reality and the common Texan.
If just one moderate Dem will get off their ass and promote a moderate agenda, they can win the next election. All I’m seeing and hearing from them is the same old national Dem B.S.
Maybe they are waiting on the king and queen to beat up on each other before mounting an attack, but I am growing skeptical. It appears that none of the minority party knows what 46%’ers like me want either. It appears that it is going to be an opportunity lost.
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Anonymous Forever says:
[...]
Texas lost the most jobs from July to August of this year, with a net loss of 62,200 positions. It was followed by Michigan and Georgia.
[...]
I feel sorry for all the people coming here in droves partly because of this governor’s misguided bragging about the way it is here.
Driving around Dallas today…practically every other car has an out-of-state license plate. I spoke to someone who came here from Missouri 6 weeks ago and she was heading back saying it was just as bad here as it is there.
This is reality. I’m sick and tired of our state politics led by this cartoon character. We need a leader who doesn’t pander to the conservative talk radio goons. He’s clearly in love with all of them.
Telling everyone to “come on down,” is surely one of the cruelest things anyone has ever told people who are suffering enough already.
What did he say at the end of that video? I can’t make it out. And why are those people laughing? I think he must be channeling a televangelist. Remember Robert Tilton? That’s it.
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Anonymous Forever says:
I just figured out what he said. If I would just read the transcript provided. Sorry. He needs to be sure and not drop his voice.
The very best ones never do that.
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John Johnson says:
I did notice on Schieffers website that healthcare in Texas, under Perry’s watch (2000-2009) has increased over 90%.
Perry helped take care of the insurance companies, the doctors, the hospitals, the pharm’s and the device manufacturers during this time by being one of the big proponents of tort reform. As a result of changes in the law, big money was halted that was going into higher premiums and settlements.
Where did this money go? With a 90% increase in premiums, it is obvious that none of it filtered down to those making monthly insurance payments.
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Anonymous Forever says:
Johnson. Just stop it. You know where that money went. We’re Texas. We’re rich. We’ve got jobs. We’ve got money. We’ve got it all. And we don’t need to worry about no damn health care, either.
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anonymouse says:
AF at 10:32 p.m., are you suggesting Texas close its borders and not allow anyone immigrate here?
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Anonymous Forever Reply:
September 19th, 2009 at 12:02 am
No. I’m suggesting that people shouldn’t do what our governor tells them to do or they’ll be very sorry.
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Dennis says:
Republicans, of course, want it both ways. How can we blame Obama for the recession if we aren’t in one?
But let us not forget that most of us – a pretty sizable majority in fact – voted against this fool. Despite being a minority governor, he arrogantly insists he speaks for Texans. I just have to wonder what his point was – again.
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Ellie Fontaine says:
Rick, that’s gonna leave a mark!
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Dukakis_in_a_Tank says:
Funny how Perry made this comment on the same day that this report came out: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kera/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1556293/North.Texas/TX.Jobless.Rate.Highest.In.22.Years
Oops.
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Former Texan says:
I have an idea. Let’s put healthcare aside for a while. Let’s move on to a topic that has already affected most of us to some extent… the financial crisis. If I am in the financial industry, I am convinced that divine intervention exists. Why you ask? because the healthcare debate has completely overshadowed the largest and most destructive ponzi scheme in the history of the world. And except for a few folks in Washington, NO ONE is peeling back the onion to find out who and how this happened. Think about conservative talk radio. They arent even talking about this topic. Why not? are they so free market driven that they simply consider this a cost of being free? I think its clear why they arent talking about it… it would implicate too many of their heroes. What do think about marching on Washington to demand that we have a complete investigation into this shameful time in our country’s history. How about it? do we want to break the back of Washington once and for all? It will destroy a lot of politicians… we just need to make sure we have better ones to replace them!
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MrSpivey1 says:
I guess Governor Perry’s smoked glass limousine prevents him from seeing all of the commercial “for lease” and “space available” signs that dot our state’s landscape. Outside the LBJ in Dallas is beginning to look eerily similar to Fort Lauderdale.
I am not sure if the 8 percent tally on UE accurately reflects the large undocumented workforce in this state — this skews comparisons with other states. Anectdotely, I hear their are many more dads at the playground with their kids during the weekdays.
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paulburka says:
To readers:
Senator Dan Patrick submitted this comment to the blog, which I am posting at his request.
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I read your latest blog on the Perry video. I am requesting you post this as a response. FYI I have not talked with the Governor’s team about my post. It’s 3 am–this is my response.
Perry video was edited to change the meaning of his comments. I was there.
Last week the Governor came to the DPS office on 290 in Houston to announce his new border plan. I attended the announcement along with several other legislators. This event was not open to the general public. As I entered the building, like everyone else, I had to supply my I.D. to the two DPS officers inside the lobby. A television crew had just entered before me and showed their I.D. as well.
While I was checking in with security, a young man, acting a bit odd, was checking in at the same time. He said he was was with the press. Court Koenning, my former chief of staff, was with me. All of us took note of his odd behavior. He did not have any media identification and was not allowed inside the security area. He quickly left. We surmised that he may be working for the opposition and was there to monitor the Governor’s speech.
Last Thursday I was at the Hobby Hilton for the Governor’s speech. And once again, while checking in to find my table assignment for the lunch, the same person, who I had seen lying about being a member of the media at the other event, was checking in for this event. Since this was simply a check in table, and not security, he was allowed inside. Unlike the DPS event this event was open to the public. There would have been no reason not to allow him inside.
Everyone else in the crowd of 500 were open and friendly. They knew others at the lunch. This was a Chamber event. This young man appeared not to know anyone and did not talk to anyone. He was alone just as he was at the other event.
I was distracted by someone and in a moment he disappeared in the crowd of 500 entering the ballroom. A moment later the Governor arrived and I was busy from that point on. I think it is a strong possibility that this young man is the person who provided the video.
As to the video, it was edited in a way to take the Governor’s remarks out of context, I have spent my life in radio and television. I know all of the tricks. I was sitting a few feet from the Governor and listening intently to his speech. I can attest that the Governor was very clear that we have people in Texas who have lost their jobs and who are hurting. He was in no way was disrespectful or lacking in compassion to people in Texas who have lost their jobs. The edited video is totally misleading. It is clear it was a dirty trick perpetrated by someone who is not supporting the Governor.
I doubt if anyone was taping the entire speech. The only people who would be doing that would be his opposition. In the future it may be necessary for the Governor’s team to tape all of his speeches so there is a record of his remarks.
As an elected official, and a member of the media, I don’t mind anyone taping a speech and playing only a part of it back at some point. As long as it not doctored, or edited in a manner that changes the actual meaning of the remarks, I have not problem with a short cut. It is standard procedure. However, it is unacceptable to edit an audio, or video tape, in such a way as to change the actual content, meaning, or tone. Professional journalists would never do this. However, a political operative would surely do it. It appears that is what happened in this case.
Senator Dan Patrick
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Anonymous Forever Reply:
September 20th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Whew ~ now that Dan Patrick has cleared up all of this for us. We now know for certain that some young guy who seemed all alone, more than likely did the dirty taping even though Dan Patrick was too busy to actually see him doing this or to even speak to him and ask why he was all alone and so unfriendly. It’s a big relief.
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Pat Reply:
September 21st, 2009 at 1:59 am
Dear Senator Patrick,
I’m a little confused, so maybe you could help to clear some things up for me. You witnessed:
-a lonely young man
-whom you did not know
-do nothing
-at a public event in Houston
-where no crimes were committed
-nor where, according to you, any gaffes were committed.
Just out of curiosity, do you regularly speak of your constituents in such adverse tones?
And more importantly, where’s the beef?
Most Sincerely,
Dumbfounded in Dallas
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majii says:
“However, it is unacceptable to edit an audio, or video tape, in such a way as to change the actual content, meaning, or tone. Professional journalists would never do this. However, a political operative would surely do it. It appears that is what happened in this case.”
You mean like Fuchs Noose does?
I agree.
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dtc says:
curious senator- how exactly was the video doctored and edited and what exactly did the governor say?
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cyrus says:
I am shocked – SHOCKED – to find that someone without media credentials would tape a speech by a politician on the campaign trail and release a video of his dumbest statement.
Dan is right – he is a professional communicator, who knows exactly how this sort of thing is done, since he has himself lifted words out of context many times and used them to serve his own political purposes.
But this is silly. Nothing Dan says, or what Perry said afterwards, changes anything here. Even if Perry walked back from the joke in his subsequent words, it was a stupid thing to say, period. Not to his base of course. But it’ll hurt him with voters outside of that (if the primary electorate is expanded beyond the hardcore), and definitely hurt him in a general election. Any Democrat with two nickels to click together will play that one over and over and over….
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slick says:
Seriously, Senator? Every political campaign of consequence for the last 25 years has recorded and scoured the speeches of their opposition. You seriously think Perry’s folks aren’t doing this?
If you think Perry was misquoted, provide a transcript and allow us to decide for ourselves.
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slick says:
It seems that Sen. Patrick has become Perry’s apologist. He offers a conclusory statement (”The edited video is totally misleading.”), with absolutely no support to back it up, other than a dose of innuendo about a person at some of Perry’s events. Considering the folks that constitute the base of the Republican party these days, how do you distinquish the person with “odd behavior”?
Mr. Patrick, you are a Texas Senator — don’t degrade the office to which you have been entrusted with jitney antics. You’re beyond that now.
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