Call Perry Out on his BS

[erpowers]

The media should spend more time calling Texas Governor Rick Perry out on his contradictory statements about government. A few hours ago I saw clips of a speech that Rick Perry gave in New York last night. It was one of his usual get the government out of the way speeches. It could be argued that Perry is one of the most hypocritical politicians in America. If not one of the most hypocritical one of the most unsure/confused. One moment he his telling government to leave him and Texas alone. The next moment he is asking why the government is ignoring him and Texas. Although Perry was bashing the government last night and has done so on numerous occasions there have also been numerous occasions in which Perry has run to the government for help. On the occasions that the government did not help, Perry figuratively cried like a baby.

During and after the Stimulus package was passed Perry criticized both government and the stimulus package. However, according to Think Progress, Texas relied more heavily on stimulus funds than any other state to balance its budget. Texas lawmakers used the $6.4 billion in stimulus funds to plug 97% of the states budget deficit. The state deficit was $6.6 billion

About a year later, after running a campaign built mainly on the promise that he would prevent government from messing with Texas Perry once again asked the government for help. Earlier this year Texas experienced a massive wildfire. As the fire grew out of control Perry asked for federal aid. When Perry did not receive the aid he wanted from the government he made the following statements:

"They watch TV, they know what's going on here, they can
recognize that there is going to be a request for assistance,
a request for help."

"There is a point in time where you say, hey, what's going on here.
You have to ask why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?
I know our letter didn't get lost in the mail."

Gov. Rick Perry should be asked to explain his contradictions. Is he for or against government? Is he for government when Texas needs help, but against government when some other state needs help? Perry should not be allowed to make grand speeches demanding that government stay out of the business of states and individuals only to later return to the government begging for help and complaining when he does not get the help.


http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/01/24/173745/perry-97/
http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/apr/24/barack-obama/president-obama-says-gov-perry-used-stimulus-fund-/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/29/perry-laments-lack-of-federal-aid-for-wildfires/