Tag: Rick Perry

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Gov. Rick Perry upset over new US policy of promoting universal human rights

As I wrote here earlier, President Obama today issued a memorandum “directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.”

Well, Rick Perry is not good with the United States standing up for universal human rights. To Rick Perry, using U.S. foreign aid to prevent persecution and even execution of LGBT people amounts to “promoting special rights for gays.”

Gov. Rick Perry today issued a statement which said, in part:

“Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn’t get any more out of touch with America’s values, AP reports his administration wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights.

“This administration’s war on traditional American values must stop.

“This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country. Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong.

“President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.”

First of all, there is no war on anyone’s faith in America.  Everyone is allowed to hold their own beliefs.  How is standing up for the rights of a minority of people around the world a “war on American values?”  And no tax dollars are being ‘invested’ in promoting any lifestyle.

Second, Perry seems to be playing a bit of “do as I say, not as I do.”  He wants to wage a cultural war against gays and lesbians, where we are supposed to be happy that we are tolerated, but he (and those of like-minded bigotry) gets to be angry an American President would take the time to add his leadership to respecting ALL citizens of the planet – not just evangelical christians.

Ironically, this statement comes from Perry on the same day that an Associated Press review of Perry’s phone records and daily public schedules reveals a chronology of the governor’s meetings before his campaign launch, which seems to indicate that the TX governor may have used his official phone line for campaign outreach. Texas state ethics rules prohibit use of state phones for campaign purposes. Perry officials said the talks were for official business.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum denounced the call for global equal rights by adding that Obama “said he’s for traditional marriage, and now he’s promoting gay lifestyles and gay rights, and he’s fighting against traditional marriage within the courts, and I think he needs to be honest.”

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Rick Perry thinks he can use executive order to kill Affordable Care Act

Gov. Rick Perry believes he can unilaterally wipe out the Affordable Care Act with an executive order.

Seventh grade civics classes teach kids that Congress passes laws, Presidents sign them into law. One branch of government can’t eliminate a law unilaterally.

Now, Perry goes on to say he would put people in positions who have the same mind set as he does to de-fund parts of the law, and thereby no implement what Congress passed.

This sounds a lot like what Republicans don’t like about the Obama administration not defend DOMA. You can’t have it both ways. If you believe a law passed by Congress and signed by a President is the law and has to be defended, then you have to hold onto that. If you don’t like the law, you go back to Congress and have them repeal it, like we did with DADT.

But you can’t criticize the current President for not defending DOMA (which is still being implemented btw) and then turn around and say you won’t implement ACA. It’s one or the other.

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Rick Perry on DADT

Rick Perry, appearing on ABC today said he would be comfortable reinstating DADT as President.

“I think Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell worked very well,” Perry responded, ignoring the thousands of service members dismissed form the military because of their sexual orientation.

“I think the President of the United States changing a policy that was working well and to do it while we were at war in two different theaters, I think was irresponsible and I think he truly did it to respond to his political base,” Perry said.

I personally think the policy did not work at all, and forced gay and lesbian military to lie about who they were – hardly an “honorable” position to put our hard working men and women in uniform. It also was hardly fiscally responsible as thousands and thousands of dollars spent training valuable experts were thrown away as outed men and women were discharged.

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Rick Perry supports repeal of NH marriage equality

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, pandering to conservatives in New Hampshire, praised legislators in the state for working to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law.

“As conservatives we believe in the sanctity of life. We believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage,” Perry said at the annual banquet for Cornerstone Action, a conservative advocacy group. “And I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage as an institution between one man and one woman, realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father.”

In June 2009, New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. A bill to repeal New Hampshire’s gay marriage law passed a House committee this week.

In August, Perry signed a pledge to support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

SRSLY. A candidate for public office campaigning for inequality.

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Gov. Bangbang to skip debates after bad showing

Rick Perry will begin to pick and choose whether or not he will take part in future debates with other candidates.

“These debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates,” Mr. Perry told Bill O’Reilly on Fox News. “It pretty hard to be able to sit and lay out your ideas and your concepts with a one minute response. “So, you know, if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one,” Mr. Perry added.

Mr. Perry’s campaign has struggled in the wake of several debate performances that were widely criticized. But whether Mr. Perry could get away with skipping a debate is an open question.

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Gov. Goodhair releases first campaign ad

“As president, I’ll create at least 2.5 million new jobs,” Perry says.

But that’s a pretty low bar, considering 14 million are out of work. It’s a pace President Obama has been on since October 2010 (1.5 million jobs have been created since then. Prior to that, going back to February 2009, about 3.7 million were lost as a result of the near-financial meltdown).

Over four years, 2.5 million jobs only averages just over 52,000 jobs a month. It’s a fairly easy promise to keep.