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Subscribe to RSSTAMPA, FL -- The morning after a sometimes-rocky appearance in front of a Tea Party debate audience, Gov. Rick Perry said he was "taken aback" by cheers from some crowd members on a hypothetical question of whether a young man who decides not to buy health insurance should be refused care if he develops a life-threatening illness and be left to die.
"I was a bit taken aback by that myself," Perry told NBC News and the Miami Herald after appearing at a breakfast fundraiser in Tampa.
"We're the party of life. We ought to be coming up with ways to save lives."
Perry distinguished from that the issue of "justice," reiterating his strong support and "respect" for the death penalty on a state-by-state basis. "But the Republican party ought to be about life and protecting, particularly, innocent life," he added.
Perry also responded to the crowd's negative reaction to his support for allowing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, saying his campaign has "the right message" on opportunities for children who were brought to the United States illegally "by no fault of their own."
"This issue is about education, it's not about immigration," he said.
"These kids showed up in our state by no fault of their own, some 2-3 years of age. And they've been in our schools, they've done their work, they've prepared themselves good, they want to be contributing members of society. So it would be I think the wrong message to say somehow or another that you can't go to our colleges, or we've going to punish you because of the sound of your last name."
"When people really think about it, I think they'll understand what we did in Texas was the right thing for Texas," he said.
Last night's debate also featured shots at Perry from both Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum on the issue of Gardasil, a vaccine that Perry mandated to be given to 12-year-old girls to prevent HPV - a disease linked to cervical cancer.
Bachmann said on NBC's TODAY Show this morning that she was approached by a woman after the debate whose daughter had suffered mental retardation as a result of getting the vaccine.
Perry dismissed that idea as similar to debunked theories linking vaccinations to autism.
"You heard the same arguments about giving our children protections from some of the childhood diseases, and they were, autism was part of that. Now we've subsequently found out that was generated and not true."
"I would suggest to you that this issue about Gardasil and making it available was about saving people's lives," he added.
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The question I have for the tea party is this... How does letting people die make us stronger? I think you are convinced you live in a Dystopia of Randian proportions. And that to ward of the evils of socialism, you must ironically become ruthlessly uncaring. People can die in the street, just as long as they are saved from the evils of socialized medicine.
This is what happens when millions of completely ignorant people watch a lot of fox news. Fear runs their lives and they'll do anything to stop the boogieman, no matter how crazy they get.
Reading some of the comments here I am beginning to realize that you can blame the Republicans or Democrats or the Liberals vs the Conservatives. But the truth is - the PROBLEM IS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!!!! Stop all your bickering, finger pointing and "holier than thou" comments and take a good look at yourselves. Do you honestly care about anyone but yourself? Who have you helped today? What have you done to help the country recover? Have you made your voices heard anywhere but on the blogs? For God's sake do something constructive with your time......! Geez...
Thank you, Kathy! Americans enjoyed an extreme level of prosperity and power after World War Two, but now it's the morning after, the bills are due on decades' worth of drunken-sailor spending (private as well as public), and our national dialogue sounds way too much like whining, spoiled kids throwing tantrums.
Every time one of us trashes the other, the advertisers on all the partisan networks hear a cash register ringing. And since the dawn of time, when have Our Leaders not been more interested in their sponsors than in their constituents?
With exceptions for the few real crazies who don't get out a lot, my guess is that if everyone on these sites met in person, the behavior would be a lot more civilized, even friendly. None of us is a saint or has all the answers. But if we keep posturing like warring tribes, the future looks pretty bleak -- kind of defeats the purpose of that word "United."
a 12 year old is NOT going to be affected by a vaccination. this girl already had some issues, I'm quite sure.
The vaccination -autism link was thoroughly exposed and now children will be dying of diseases that are so easily controlled with safe vaccines. We have become a nation of idiots, a total lack of scientific understanding or ability to think logically.
The man "prays for rain" ( did Texas alot of good , worst drought in history ), and is against science ( believes in creationism ) A complete moron, which makes him dangerous.
Finally someone with gonads and liberals want to immediately castrate. That's the way it goes in this country now. Where are the Teddys and the Dwights. We all make mistakes, but anyone that does something makes mistakes. Only the person that sits on his or her ass and does nothing makes no mistakes. Perhaps that is why commenting on these thready and biased news spots is such a hoot.
Perry and Bachmann are the faces of a failed political and religious ideology that will self destruct in the 2012 presidential elections. It will be an unhappy election for the GOP, but it will be damned entertaining, nonetheless.
Perry tells Bachman that science has debunked the vaccination myth about autism (which I agree with) but isnt willing to let science exonerate an innocent man. He squashed a probe that was being done on a man convicted and sentenced to die based on testimony that arson experts called outdated and incorrect
www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/09/07/texas.execution.probe
Yea, I can buy the Tea Party as being heavy conservative. But founded in Christian ideals? About as christian as osama bin laden was.
The party of life?
Just last week he was saying how he felt no remorse or guilt about putting innocent people to death and now he's shocked that the teabagger crowd is even more blood-thirsty than he is?
What a joke.
This guy, Perry will tell you what ever you want to hear at the time. He is grasping for straws He almost sounds hypocritical. When are American's going to stand up and be heard, better yet when are we going to be understood? I want my voter power taken out of electoral hands. I want to decide, I'm tired of hiring people to work for me that in the end work for them selves and tell us they know best. People can vote on any issue put before them we don't need to hire others to do it for us. Tell these politicians they either do what American's want or go home.
I live in Texas and I just found out the everyone who pays an electric bill each and every month donates $1.oo on theiir bill to be placed in a fund to help poor people who are unable to pay for their elecricity. Well On Houston's KHOU-TV channel 11 about 3 weeks ago was an article that was shocking to me. 40% of those donations go to the fund to help the poor and the other 60% goes into the state treasury to help balance the Texas state budget. Thats what Mr. Rick Perry is all about.
Those hidden taxes and fees are the way Government funds itself after cutting corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy. Revenue is sought elsewhere and the burden shifts furtively to the pockets of working people. The middle class, with less to spend, can't muster the demand it once did. As demand drops, companies start to contract their workforce, laying off idle workers. Demand drops further spawning more layoffs. That is the story of us.
Sounds like the Texans need to string that law up and make the money available to the taxpayer's only and not the political campaigner's who would otherwise not be able to raise their own money to support their campaigns.
It also sounds like taxation without representation in that the tax goes to support the poor somewhat but was originally created to support the entitlements of the Tea Party.
Republicans and the Tea Party are always complaining about people not working and being lazy. What do you call what they are doing with the taxes? Sounds like hypocrisy of goto work and don't be lazy or O will rebuke you while at the same time I will create a law that helps the poor but helps my pocket even more.
Such a law does make the Tea Party to be hypocrites and liars.
Do you get it yet America? Are you watching? Listening? I am ashamed to say I share the same nation with deplorable, inhuman tea pot SOBs. For Heaven's sake do NOT vote for any more of their crazy, nasty candidates.
Lucifer perry is a bad joke...
if it walks and talks like a bush, smacks of corruption and lies like a bush, it is not an Oak tree.
you know did not watch but heard clip today - where is everyone on this issue of the horribly terminally ill guy with no insurance - needs hospital care - six months - question do you just let him die ? a huge roar from conservative? tea party crowd yeeesssssssssss ! are you freakin kidding me, these used to be the pro- life , save terry shiavo lunatics - where is jesus - certainly not in there hearts - what a joke - yeah this is the mentality we want going forward what a disgrace and miserable excuses for human beings - jesus my *** - they thru his name out there but its just to cover up their hate and ignorance - that clip should be played all thru the general election - so people can see the evil
Everyone saying that Obama will go down as the worst President are either racist or just stupid. The only reason people hate Obama is one he is a black man who is intelligent and is the current President. America's assumption at White people being the only intelligent skin color able to lead the country has been destroyed with a non-white male being able to effectively handle the White House and make decisions. President Obama is trying to do what is right by the country but the ego of the racist who only want to make everyone think that they are the most intelligent skin color in America is actually destroying America due to all of the methods of job creation that president Obama is trying to create for all of America. The more that the racists hinder President Obama's attempts to create new jobs the more that the country falls into a deeper recession.
The Tea Party wants all attempts to block President Obama's attempt to create new jobs so that when they come back into political if they every do they can be seen as some type of faux pas divine hero that lifted America out of the shadows of doubt and recession that they have created just to be that hero.
If the Tea Party continues to block President Obama's attempts to not only create jobs but deal with terrorism then the mess that they will inherit once they regain the White House will be legendary. A legendary quagmire that cause them to be looked at as the party that caused America to fail not only with the economy but as well as the war on terrorism.
So how exactly does the Tea Party plan on dealing with the terrorism in the Middle East. Is the Tea Party going to pack up and cause more turmoil in the Middle East to ensue that will cause the area to spin out of control into further problems around the country just to save the country money?
Will the Tea Party attempt to create new jobs that could have been created under the Obama administration but because of the bull-stalling by the Tea Party those jobs would have waited to be created for four more years. Four more years of slow decline that the Tea Party thinks it can overcome.
..sip......Look out across the Pacific Ocean America....there is a industrial beast slowly coming out of the pit in China. The longer that the Tea Party blocks attempts to create jobs the stronger and more deadly that the monster in China becomes. So what you might think as being a good blocking measure against Obama creating new jobs just because you actually hate progress is actually fueling the Chinese machine in taking America over inch by inch....which makes you supporters of Communist China and not America.
Remember that the next time you throw up your hand against Obama in your vote because your words alone won't hold back the Chinese onslaught like your divine thoughts tell you you can. You go against Obama because are a racist you are actually supporting China....think about it.
Obama has given the order to take out two known terrorists. That gives him a 2 and 0 lead over the Tea Party who are more concerned with their own image and how it might be soiled because of an act rather than doing the job that needs to be done.
Keep on listening to Limbaugh, Coulter and the monkies at Fox News and they will hand America to China just to save their own asses.
The really sad part is that now that President Obama has come up with a reasonable Job Plan, the GOP/TP is already tearing it apart....no cutting out the loopholes for the wealthy, no cutting tax rebates for the wealthy....they are going to hold the Middle Class hostage again to get their way and damned the torpedos!! Whether this is a ploy of President Obama's to make the GOP/TP look bad or not...they are certainly falling into it. Even after the speech, Cantor said it was something they could work with...but a few days later, they are cutting it to pieces! Hmmmm, this is what we want in the White House....I think NOT!
I think Perry struggles with the idea of separation of church and state.
I think they all do.
Whats that old adage ...If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas. No no thats not right. How about you reap what you sow...No, how about Stoopid is what stoopid does. Kind of sounds like all the goptp's nominees and their tp lemmings.
Maybe Perry is surprised to see what the Tea Party is really all about, and whether he really wants to espouse these principles as a statesman, a Republican and a Christian. The Republicans, and I truly hope to consider myself one again, need to take back the platform and the dialogue that has been hijacked by the Tea Party.
Yes, the Ron Paul supporters got a little loud.
Out of all the people in this country, how does this moron become one of the "most qualified" to run it? He believes rain comes from payer, the world was made in six days and thinks that the state he runs should not be part of the country that he wants to run. WOW, I've met a lot of stupid people in my life and would rather vote for some of them before this guy!
If you really want to fix the economy and get America back on top then we need to:
1. Outlaw unions, all of them. They create a ridiculous hurdle for American companies so much so that all of our steel mills, textile plants and most of our manufacturers have either gone out of business or were forced to move out of the country. It's ridiculous that unions have so much control of our economy and even more ridiculous that the average auto worker costs their company $73 an hour. It's not sustainable and has led to hundreds of plants closing the doors. Public unions milk the taxpayers where private unions increase the costs of goods and make us less competitive. We have hundreds of employment laws on the books so no need to start scaring everyone that "we will all live like the Chinese if unions go away" garbage.
2. Remove all the loopholes, the ones for oil companies, the ones for green energy...all of them and get the government out of the "carrot and stick" business.
3. Lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15% (with no loopholes).
4. Eliminate the capital gains tax for anyone making less than 1 million a year (salary, investments, etc).
5. Get rid of the Department of Energy, the Education Department and reduce the size of the Federal bureaucracy by 50%. Give "block" grants to the states to use as they see fit. No more, "here's some money and here's how you have to spend it. Allow all 50 states or 57 if you are Obama, to create their own education system, healthcare system and then compare the success of each state. Why do companies have a meeting? To get ideas from everyone in the room. Washington has had control for too long, they need to get back to the basics laid out in the Constitution and empower the states to take over issues on a more local system. We will have competition between states and the opportunity to see what works and see what doesn't work.
So give all money to corporations so they can continue to outsource overseas. Be dependant on foreign oil until it dries up and then were screwed. No education needed because we will hopefully have $1/hr jobs given by these corporations and those pesky unions won't be there to defend workers' rights about these wages. You are dilusional.
Lukewarm....I can agree on some of your ideas, but No. 2 is ridiculous. The tax for corporations is 35%, but most of them don't even pay NEARLY that much due to loopholes. I do agree with No. 3, but I do NOT agree with No. 4...we need these departments!
I'm gonna hit up my local church for some cashola...I need back surgery
Yeah, let me know how that works out for you....I need knee surgery!
A vote for Perry will guarantee the REELECTION of Obumma. Haven't we had enough of the Enrons, Billy Sol Estes, LBJs and Bush I&II? What is wrong with the people of the US? There has to be more honest and better qualified people than Mr. Perry. This Republican "Death Wish" is insane and must be stopped!
This is not correct. There are different electric companies in Texas and not all of them do this. I also know that it is a VOLUNTARY donation. Get your facts straight!
The GOP is the "party of life"? Maybe for the wealthy and big business. For the rest of us, not so much.
Wilfred-Exactly what is "big business"? I hear you liberals and your class warfare talking points but I still don't know who this imaginary "big business" is. Maybe you could enlighten me as I am a "small business" owner and the last time I checked, there were about 4.9 million of us in the U.S. and only about 5.4 million corporations overall. In fact, we don't have any loopholes, no foreign factories and we produce over 65% of the jobs in this country. To have someone slap me upside the head with rhetoric after I have spent the last 10 years working hard to grow a company is insulting. What in the world happened to our country when so many people are jealous of the people who started with absolutely nothing and made "something" out of it? We use to call that the American Dream and a success, in fact all Americans use to rally around a success story like so many small business owners have to tell.
I think it happend 10 yrs ago when this class of people recieved the biggest tax break in 55 yrs. We were told this tax break would produce jobs, and it has done the opposite. It also happened when the supreme court stated that political contributions by these wealthy corporations were legal and more influential than our votes. This then lead to every political move by the right to protect and promote this group who is well off, and demonized those who have been left behind in the mud.
lukewarm – I am not sure I understand your response to Wilfred.
Big business is a company that has multi-levels of bureaucracy the guy that is leading [so far up the chain] has no knowledge about what the individual contributors are doing for him. He/She has no real attachment and responsibility to the success or failure of the company [obviously they want it to succeed] because either way he/she gets their big fat check. It does not matter to them if the jobs stay here or go abroad all that matters is the security of his future earnings.
I don’t think most small business owner falls into the category of the big business CEOs, 400 to 500 times the pay of the average worker. Most of these guys don’t re-invest their money and take the risk to grow the company the only risk they take is to grow their personal wealth.
Since the issue at hand is about health care these guys don’t give a rats a#$ about average Joe’s problems.
So I have to agree with Wilfred the GOP is for big business and rich CEO types. Wealth is power because wealth can buy politicians like the GOP. Read Wealth, Income & Power by William Domhoff.