Perry's got more skeletons in his closet then just same sex marriage to worry about:

ThinkProgress has assembled the top ten hits from Perry’s tenure as governor:

(1) PERRY ALLOWED THE EXECUTION OF A LIKELY INNOCENT MAN, THEN IMPEDED AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE MATTER: In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Huntsville, Texas after being convicted of arson and the murder of his three children. Even after significant evidence emerged showing that arson had not caused the fire (thus exonerating Willingham), Perry refused to grant a stay of execution. Five years after Willingham was executed, a report from a Texas Forensic Science Commission investigator found that the fire could not have been arson. As the commission prepared to hear testimony from the investigator in October 2009, Perry quickly fired and replaced three of its members, forcing an indefinite delay in the hearing.

(2) PERRY WANTS TO REPEAL THE 16th AND 17th AMENDMENTS, ENDING DIRECT ELECTION OF U.S. SENATORS AND THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX: In his 2010 book Fed Up!, Perry called the 16th and 17th Amendments “mistaken” and said they resulted from “a fit of populist rage.” The 16th Amendment allows the federal government to collect income taxes, which is the single biggest source of revenue, accounting for 45 percent of all receipts. The 17th Amendment took electing U.S. senators out of the hands of political insiders and allowed the American public to decide their representation instead. If Perry had his way, the federal government would be stripped of its current ability to fund highway construction projects, food inspectors, and the military, and the American public would not even be permitted to elect their own senators.

(3) PERRY PROPOSED LETTING STATES DROP OUT OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICAID: Despite the programs’ importance and popularity, Perry has argued that states like Texas should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and Medicaid. Were Perry to have his way on Social Security, “the entire system would collapse under the weight of too many Social Security beneficiaries who had not paid into the system,” notes Ian Millhiser. On Medicaid, in addition to stripping 3.6 million low-income Texans of their health care, Perry’s proposal would actually hurt, not help, the state’s budget deficit. This is because, as Igor Volsky writes, opting out of Medicaid would take “billions out of the state economy that goes on to support hospitals and other providers,” while forcing hospitals “to swallow the costs of caring for uninsured individuals who will continue to use the emergency room as their primary source of care.”

(4) TEXAS IS THE COUNTRY’S BIGGEST POLLUTER, BUT PERRY SUED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR DISAPPROVING OF THE STATE’S AIR QUALITY STANDARDS: Texas is the biggest polluter in the country, leading the nation in carbon dioxide emissions. However, when the EPA published its “disapproval” of the state’s air quality standards for falling short of the Clean Air Act’s requirements, Perry sued the federal government to challenge the ruling. Perry’s environmental record doesn’t end there. He is a global warming denier who called the 2010 BP oil spill an “act of God” while speaking at a trade association funded by BP.

(5) PERRY DESIGNATED AS “EMERGENCY LEGISLATION” A BILL REQUIRING ALL WOMEN SEEKING ABORTIONS TO HAVE SONOGRAMS FIRST: In January, Perry proposed requiring all women seeking abortions to have a sonogram at least 24 hours before the procedure. Under the bill, doctors would be required to “tell a woman the size of her fetus’ limbs and organs, even if she does not want to know.” Before a woman is permitted to have an abortion, physicians are also forced to provide an image of the fetus and make the woman listen to the sound of its heartbeat. Perry designated his proposal as “emergency legislation,” allowing the bill to be rushed through the legislature. He signed it into law last month.

(6) PERRY GUTTED CHILDCARE SERVICES EVEN AS TEXAS CHILDHOOD POVERTY HIT 25 PERCENT: Facing a $27 billion budget deficit this year, Perry decided to gut child support services, despite a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities that found nearly one in four Texas children lived beneath the poverty line. Instead of raising revenue like California, a state facing a similarly sized deficit, Perry scaled back more than $10 billion of child support over two years. As Think Progress’ Pat Garofalo noted, these cuts were proposed despite Texas’ possession of a $8.2 billion rainy day fund.

(7) PERRY WAS A STRONG SUPPORTER OF TEXAS’S ANTI-SODOMY LAWS: Perry was a strong proponent of Texas’s anti-sodomy law that was struck down in 2003 by the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas. Calling the law “appropriate,” Perry dismissed the Court decision as the result of “nine oligarchs in robes.” Even after being struck down, Perry supported the Texas legislature’s refusal to remove the law from its books.

(8) PERRY IS A STIMULUS HYPOCRITE WHO LOUDLY CRITICIZED FEDERAL RECOVERY MONEY BUT USED IT TO BALANCE HIS STATE’S BUDGET: As the nation struggled to avoid economic collapse in 2009, Perry was a vocal critic of Congress’s recovery package, even advocating that Texas reject the money because “we can take care of ourselves.” Months later, after Perry was able to balance the state’s budget only with the aid of billions in federal stimulus dollars, Perry again repeated that he would reject federal funding, arguing that the government “spends money they don’t have.” Five months later, Perry again took advantage of federal funding to issue $2 billion in bonds for highway improvements in Texas. Even so, the state faces a $27 billion budget deficit.

(9) PERRY SAID THAT TEXAS MIGHT HAVE TO SECEDE FROM THE UNITED STATES: One hundred and fifty years ago, Texas and other southern states seceded from the Union, resulting in a bloody Civil War. 148 years later, Perry floated the idea that Texas may again have to secede because of a federal government that “continues to thumb their nose at the American people.” Perry was roundly criticized for his proposal, yet he repeated his threat the next month on Fox News, telling host Neil Cavuto, “If Washington continues to force these programs on the states, if Washington continues to disregard the tenth amendment, who knows what happens.”

(10) DESPITE HAVING THE WORST UNINSURED RATE IN THE COUNTRY, PERRY CLAIMS THAT TEXAS HAS “THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE COUNTRY” : On Bill Bennett’s radio show last year, Perry claimed that “Texas has the best health care in the country.” In reality, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents of any state. More than one in four Texans lack coverage; the national average is just 15.4 percent. As such, there are more uninsured residents in Texas than there are people in 33 states. Despite Texas’s low coverage rates, the state has some of the most restrictive Medicaid eligibility thresholds, and Perry has even proposed dropping out of the program. Texas also has an inordinately high percentage of impoverished children, yet Perry opposed expanding the successful State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/10/241830/top-10-thing-texas-gov-rick-perry/

This guy is nothing more then a bible banging Bush 'light' who believes he can pray his way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.!

Rick Perry:

"Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me. My stance hasn't changed."

Oh, I don't know, Governor Perry ... I'd say your stance has widened quite a bit.

Anna Molly, that's tooooo good!

"Perry said Texas might have to secede from the United States" And now he wants to be President of the Country he did not want to be part of. Whats wrong with this picture...... so many things.

I'd say your stance has widened quite a bit.

He desperately tried to 'back' out of the stal...quietly!

Perry isn't immune to social conservatives because he is a social conservative or at least has pretended to be for years--he's got some pretty radical preachers coming to his big prayer fest August 6.

In the book of law according to the captive party, thou shall not speak or express thy self freely.

Has God told this Red Neck Cowboy to run yet?

God has a pretty long waiting list for endorsements. He'll get to it He'll get to it.

Ah, the litmus test of the Puritans begins. They are sewing the letter 'G' on his lapel for "gay lover" as we speak. Oh how the Teabaggers love state's rights until it is used for something other than segregation, prohibition, or heck, women's suffrage or right to choose, feudalism, or some backward thing. I say we throw the Teabaggers off a really high bridge and see if the witches float.

Someone who hears voices should not run for president...one day god will tell him to kill the chinese and muslims.

Mark...

How do you square his invocation of the Constitution on hand and denying rights contained in the same Constitution on the other.

I missed the anti-gay clause in the Constitution when i read it.

If there can be a "class of one" hidden in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment -- Village of Willowbrook v. Olech (2000) -- for property disputes, you'd think they could find a little room in there for gays, as well, wouldn't you?

Anna Molly..

Correct me please...I'm a financial guy..

Re: Village of Willowbrook v. Olech

The Court held that the purpose of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is to secure every person within the State's jurisdiction against intentional and arbitrary discrimination, whether occasioned by express terms of a statute or by its improper execution through duly constituted agents.

If that's right...there's a huge umbrella.

Go make an argument counselor..

If that's right...there's a huge umbrella.

Go make an argument counselor..

You'd think so, wouldn't you, but you'll forgive me if I decline.

The Court ultimately realized what they had done and took it back for public employees -- Engquist v Oregon Dept. of Agriculture (2008)

Gays probably rank even lower on their agenda. We know that women do, too.

So, never mind.

Gotta run. See you later, Ira. Always a pleasure.

Anna Molly..

Not so sure of you're interpretation of Engquist v Oregon Dept. of Agriculture.

The Court did not totally dismiss the class of one but said it was to be decided on a case by case basis.

To me, that does not preclude protection under the 14th amendment...except for certain circumstances related to public employees.....

Ira - I don't try. He is hypocritcal in that he is trying to be all things to all conservatives. Eventually, he would say something to anger one of those groups.

In my mind and in the SCOTUS the 14th amendment is pretty clear about equal protection and treatment under the law for everyone.

Ira give him credit, he may not like all parts of the constitution but Perry loves portions like the 10th amendment and especially the 2nd amendment.

While the 14th is clear in my mind about equal protection and treatment under the law the second amendment in my mind is not so clear.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

In my mind that gives a person a right to legally have a gun for self defense but doesn't allow them to have chain guns, military weaponry and the excesses the NRA push.

Yellowdog-Mark D..

Geez man...you're beginning to sound like a liberal...

Now to immigration reform..lol

To me, that does not preclude protection under the 14th amendment...except for certain circumstances related to public employees.....

You're certainly entitled to your interpretation, Ira, and you are certainly right that it is to be decided on a case-by-case basis. But that's exactly what I believe doesn't give gays much hope within the 14th Amendment ... at least not with this Court. You'll recall that the Court turned over a bit between 2000 and 2008. My belief that Engquist was a results-oriented decision is perhaps best reinforced by the slightly earlier decision completely stripping public employees of their First Amendment rights in the workplace -- Garcetti v. Ceballos (2007). That decision upheld the firing of an Assistant District Attorney for speaking out during the course of performance of his job duties about what he perceived to be some shady doings in his own department. For employment purposes, the Court said public employees were to be treated exactly like private sector employees. In the absence of specific whistleblower protection by statute or common law, the ADA was toast.

Now that's a value no reasonable person wants to protect in the public workplace. (Sarcasm)

So, based on that history, I don't give them much credit for objectivity, but I do give them plenty of credit for being ideologues.

You'd think that, if there was any likelihood of a 14th Amendment case involving gays succeeding, the Log Cabin Republicans would have brought it by now. Remember that DADT has no possibility of being reviewed by the Court because of its posture in the Courts below -- i.e., the government, which lost below, will not appeal. If the government had won at the first level and elected to continue defending the law, DADT would, in my opinion, be in serious trouble.

You seem to trust the Court more than I do. In that way I am definitely more jaded than you. ;-)

By the way, if Lawrence v. Texas (2003) were decided again today, I think it would go the other way, as well.

DBO:

Is this how Perry shows his "huevos?" If so, he's a real pansy.

They must've taken him out to the wood shed and beat the crap out of him. Frankly, this kind of screw up should finish his so far undeclared candidacy.

You just can't make this stuff up.

I think you man Cajones

Huevos are eggs

frank:

Spanish slang for testicles: huevos.

Bob, Bob, Bob:

About the bigger story - Maybe you should check whether a great deal of that job growth didn't come in the public sector. Maybe you should check and see how many of those jobs were created as a consequence of the stimulus package that Perry used to balance his budget.

Come on Bob. It's the bigger story, just like you said. Go look and get back to us.

As far as the smaller story - you know, the one about Perry kissing the collective posterior of the right-wing crazies - you're right! It is not news that a Republican candidate will stoop that low.

A little leavening to that, and just for balance:

http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/27/the-cracks-in-rick-perrys-job-growth-record/

Perry’s biggest tool for job raiding is controversial. Beginning in 2003, he persuaded the Texas legislature to give him control over several massive, largely unsupervised funds that provide subsidies to businesses that move to Texas. His office proudly claims that the two biggest funds have created more than 54,000 jobs in the past eight years. “They’ve been immensely important to our state’s economic development,” says Catherine Frazier, Perry’s deputy press secretary. “This is about attracting jobs and making Texas a destination for companies to relocate and expand.”

The largest fund, the Texas Enterprise Fund, was created in 2003 and has awarded some $412 million in subsidies to companies nominally to create jobs. A December 2010 analysis by the Texas comptroller found that $119 million of that money went to companies that didn’t deliver on the jobs they promised. The governor’s office took back only $21 million from those underperformers, often choosing to define downward the job-creation requirements. GOP Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, whom Perry beat in last year’s GOP gubernatorial primary, called revelations that taxpayer-funded contracts sent money overseas to create jobs “disturbing” and “unacceptable.”

The second major fund under Perry’s control, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, has also proven controversial since its creation in 2005. It has spent some $320 million on tax credits and other subsidies for high-tech companies willing to move to Texas. An October 2010 investigation by the Dallas Morning News found that $16 million of that money was awarded to companies with investors or officers who are large campaign donors. Perry denied that politics influenced the awarding of money from the funds. He succeeded in fending off efforts to cut his massive subsidy fund budgets in the legislative session that ended last month, but the legislature did impose new controls and oversight on the funds.

Even those subsidy-chasing companies that do produce jobs don’t necessarily create long-lasting ones or increase a state’s overall prosperity. While 18% of all jobs in the U.S. failed to last the five years from 2001 to 2006, 26% of jobs created through interstate moves failed during the same period, according to researchers Jed Kolko of the Public Policy Institute of California and Donald Walls, a consultant and researcher.

Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School says tax-credit funds used to lure jobs from one state to another often “ultimately don’t support long-term prosperity” because companies that can move easily “are looking for the best deal, and when the deal runs out, they move,” taking their jobs with them. Anti-corporate-welfare advocates, like Greg LeRoy, executive director of the Washington-based group Good Jobs First, say the tax-credit game is worse than zero sum, because when a company gets a tax credit to move to a new state, the departed state loses jobs, while the destination state’s residents get stuck with higher taxes or worse services.

Frazier says there’s a larger purpose served by the funds. “Companies that receive taxpayer dollars are creating and pursuing technologies that are not only going to be good for our state but for the nation and the world,” she says. “Texas is creating a model for the rest of the nation to follow, both on the state level and the federal level.” Which leaves Perry in the odd position of arguing that the proper model for job creation nationwide includes funneling taxpayer money to companies partly to develop technologies that will better the world — even if that money has an inconsistent effect on job creation or on overall per capita prosperity growth. Which is exactly what the rest of the Republican presidential field is criticizing Barack Obama for doing.

(emphasis added)

I suspect no joe, who criticized President Obama the other day for exactly this same thing, might be interested in this article. Or maybe not.

I will urge Perry to run Into the Gulf of Mexico

Perry is a pansy. Caved to the social issues crazy guys. He got beat up with a rubber hose....probably needs surgery for his knee caps.

Yup. He's really going to be a great candidate. He can double schedule all his events: speaking engagement on Monday, corrections/retractions/apologies on Wednesday. Repeat for Tuesday/Thursday...

Gotta say, though, it makes for a great spectator sport....

I wish someone would realize that Perry is not popular, only in certain circles. Our districts have been gerrymandered to the point that some look like strings of spaghetti. Perry would not even talk to the media, wouldn't release his tax records, nor would he debate and these wingnuts still voted for him. He created low wage jobs with no security or protection , using stimulus money, but he would not accept education money.

Tony Perkins is just another slug that makes money off of division and hate. Please look at the list of nuts that this man invited to Houston next month and see if your vision of America is the same.

Bob, did some fact checking, California is still #1 with the largest economy. Texas still has a deficit like the rest of the country, still has high unemployment. still has a Governer that wanted to secede from the country, hangs his hat with religious nut bags and can not make up his mind about gays, good or bad. As for Obama's policies be specific about how they have been failures and which ones are his and not GW. How successful are you, how about great ideas instead of complaints and you preace about attacks and mudslinging. I hope you do not claim to be Christian. Judge not least you be judge, how about we look into your past and see what we can find. See how much of a glass house you live in to be throwing stones. The easiest thing to do is pick up a stone and toss it. Its a lot harder to pick up that stone and build something with it.

Perry lies about everything including his successes. We have more uninsured in Texas than in most other states. Yeah, we have lots of low wage jobs.Nurses working at hospitals can't even afford to get care where they work. Mostly everyone works more than one job and a rasher of bacon costs upwards of 9 dollars. Is there a shortage of pigs in our country too? Keep a close eye on him, that's all I'm saying.

Bob, uh NO, have you ever been in Texas? I am a natural born Texan and I can tell you that he is full of BS. No one that I have spoken to, no matter which side of the aisle they are on, wants Perry to be President. He is a fraud and his is a member of the "good ole boy gang" which includes, Bush, Cheney, Rove and the Koch Brothers. I would love it if we had term limits for Governor. I would love it if this piece of lying trash was not the Governor. There is no way in Hades that I would vote for that man. You think that Bush was bad? This guy would make Bush look like a genius.

A Rick Perry supporter here in Texas was in line to make big bucks off of that particular law. Perry doesn't care about who lives or dies as long as he prospers.

And, Daryl, either the (R)'s believe in keeping the Gubmint outta my private life er they don't.

Republicans aren not "fine with the government all over our private parts" We want the TSA searches to stop remember!

So it's like he was against of before he was for it before he was against it before he was--------- ?????????????

Rick -- is plad is your favorite color?

This must mean that you are a domaphobe!.... That is unfortunate!

Sorry, but that title belongs exclusively to GW Bush.

Be very careful of what you wish for. If you think that we are in trouble now, Perry would only make things a thousand times worse. He, like bush, have no brains of their own. He would be the perfect puppet for the Tea Party. Last time I checked, The Tea Party has created enough of a mess right now.

It pretty much works that the most anti-gay Republicans are gays themselves. It has just been that way time after time. All my gay friends have been laughing about Michele Bachmann's husband, Marcus. When you hear him talk, watch his mannerisms, they said that he is a fellow gaybro. All I can say is, Ricky and Marcus, come out of the closet and embrace your gaydom.

Linda, please do not use such generalities.. Not all Texans are red neck, radical trash like the Tea Party. Many of us voted against Perry. I do admit that we are outnumbered but we keep trying. It was only after the last election that we heard rumors that Karl Rove had been working for Perry. I would love it if he were not in the Governors office but, I would hate it if he scammed the Country and became President.

I also live in Texas and think Gohmert and Perry are terrible politicians from this State. I saw a comment yesterday from someone living in Bachmann's district who feels the same way about her, asking that not all people in the area be lumped together with those who voted for her. Sure, there are areas of Texas which are behind the times (and want to stay that way), but I think we could turn this State blue again if everybody voted (that is, if they're still allowed to vote!).