According to Gail Collins of the New York Times (see below) Rick Perry and other Republicans are behaving like gerbils that just bit an electric wire.
I don't think anyone could have said it better. Ms. Collins is absolutely right and she is not the only one who thinks so.
The words "looney talk" "nuts" and "whacko world" are the terms used by Hardball's Chris Matthews when he refers to Rick Perry and Tom Delay's views on secession and state sovereignty.
I wish goons like Delay and Perry would stay away from the TV cameras and microphones altogether because any time they get near either what they say will inevitably bring scorn and ridicule to the vast majority of Texas.
Politically speaking Perry and Delay make our day when they show the rest of the nation what idiots they are. We might have a lot of fun laughing at the clown shows but unfortunately there are not so healthy fringe groups out there that take what the Clowns say very seriously.
Let's address the embarrassment that Perry's statements cause. In my case, because I work at a university, I know many faculty, students and colleagues who come to work and live here from other places. Whether they are here on visas, or are permanent residents or naturalized American citizens, most are very confused or have become somewhat fearful by the developments of this past week. Below are just a few questions posed to me.
Can Texas really leave the rest of the U.S.?
What are these tea parties about?
Why are the people on TV so angry when they'll pay fewer taxes?
Why do they hate Barack Obama so much?
Why do they think Obama will take away their guns?
Can you imagine what a multi-national firm that considered a move to Texas would think of Perry's comments about secession?
After Rick Perry made the absurd and irresponsible statements, he became the laughing stock of cable TV news and the Netroots. A You Tube video clip of Perry's misrepresentation of Texas's right to choose to leave the "Union" that day has gone viral.
Unfortunately when Perry became the butt of all jokes, so did the people of Texas. One should take a look at some of the comments posted under diaries written about Rick Perry at Daily Kos. Folks will see what I mean.
Today, Gail Collins, opinion writer for the The New York Times wrote in her article "Twitters from Texas:"
Have you ever noticed that the states where anti-tax sentiment is strongest are frequently the same states that get way more back from the federal government than they send in? Alaska gets $1.84 for every tax dollar it sends to Washington, which is a rate of return even Bernard Madoff never pretended to achieve. Yet there they were in Ketchikan waving "Taxed Enough Already!" signs and demanding an end to federal spending.
Also, have you noticed how places that pride themselves on being super patriotic seem to have the most people who want to abandon the country entirely and set up shop on their own?
"What a great crowd," Perry twittered, referring to the protesters he addressed in Austin, some of whom were waving American flags and yelling "Secede!"
Afterward, he told reporters that Texas had come into the union with a unique right "to leave if we decided to do that." This is a beloved piece of state folklore despite its unfortunate drawback of being totally untrue.
Ms. Collins is right. Perry completely misrepresented the facts.
Ms. Collins also nails the hypocrisy and double standard that drives the conservative right.
And what about my country, right or wrong? Weren't there complaints, some from Texan quarters, during the last election that Barack Obama seemed insufficiently up front about his love of country? Isn't threatening to dissolve the union over the stimulus package a little less American than failure to wear a flag pin?
And let us not forget about thinly veiled racism.
Remember the time when Michelle Obama said, in a moment she spent an entire campaign trying to take back, that 2008 was the first time she could remember ever feeling really proud of her country? Can you imagine how the conservative base would have reacted if she said that it was the first time she didn't feel like renouncing her citizenship?
Gail Collins also correctly states the current state of the GOP. Folks like Rick Perry, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have whipped the conservative right into a frenzy over taxes when in fact 95% of Americans will get a tax cut, including those who are screaming on the right.
The big mystery here is why the tax-protest crowds were behaving as if the world was coming to an end when all Obama's infant presidency has done is lower taxes for a vast majority of the public. And why people like Perry seem to feel compelled to egg them on.
The answer is that what's left of the Republican Party is intent on cutting off the knees of the administration before it actually manages to fulfill any campaign promises on reducing the huge economic gap between the top 5 percent of the country and the rest of the populace. In pursuit of that mission, fortune favors the hysterical and rewards politicians who behave like gerbils that just bit into an electric wire.
Those of us who live here know why the conservative right is howling about measures that will actually help them in the long run. We also know why they try to make it difficult for minorities to vote. We know why they don't want our public schools to improve and why they like to build a lot of prisons and stand firm on the death penalty. We know why they mostly oppose public transportation. In fact, when my husband and I moved to Houston over 20 years ago one of my husband's colleagues informed me that most folks opposed public transportation because it could bring "undesirables" into certain neighborhoods.
It is not because all in the conservative right are deranged or crazy. No, the sad and honest truth is that a deep, insideous and very ugly racism haunts the souls of some if not much of the conservative right.
The New York Times is not the only newspaper that called Perry out for lying about secession. Rick Casey, political writer for the The Houston Chronicle went a step farther in his article "Those are code words, Governor"
I have to think the professors at Texas A&M taught Perry better than that. The federal act that admitted Texas to the Union did not give the state permission to secede. We all know what happened when Texas did just that.
On the contrary, the law granting statehood provided that Texas could split itself into as many as five states.
Rick Casey reminds us of Texas history.
Perry's slender grasp on history was exposed during the angry speech he delivered minutes before his secession remark.
He quoted our "seventh governor, Sam Houston," as saying: "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may!"
But Perry, with secession apparently on his mind, neglected to note that as governor Houston bitterly opposed Texas's secession from the Union, and was booted from office when he refused to sign a loyalty oath to the Confederacy.
Perry again showed his lack of regard for the not-so-subtle nuances of history when he expressed his anger at the federal government by chopping the air with his fist and chanting: "I'm talking about states' rights, states' rights, states' rights!"
He said the constitutional protection of states' rights unfortunately "have melted away over time."
States rights? Casey also reminds us of "An Ugly History."
The crowd loved it, but there is a large segment of Texas citizens who know bitterly that the term "states' rights" was long militantly employed to fight the melting away of such "rights" as state sanctioning of slavery, enforcement of school segregation and, in Texas, the definition of political parties as private associations permitted to exclude non-whites primaries.
There are certain rights of states that deserve to be protected, but a politician who wants to be leader of all the people doesn't use terms so tightly bound to such an ugly history.
Indeed.
Perry obviously does not understand that the words he uttered have been captured on You Tube because yesterday he denied saying what he did about secession. Below is another video clip created by Jed Lewison.
Perry forgot to mention he said it was OK for Texas to secede before making the statements above.
Fortunately TX Congressman Charles Gonzales gives viewers a reality check on Texas and the vast majority of those of who live here.
Hats off to Jed L. for his crucial and extraordinary technical talents in exposing disingenuous, fast and double-talking politicians. And to journalists like Rick Casey and Gail Collins who know how to magically and powerfully use words to do the same.
This brilliant move by the Texas House should end the need for every other new diary to be about letting Texas secede, calling them dumb rednecks, etc., because Texas state legislators, both Democrat and Republican, rebuked Governor Perry for his secession comments in a way no one in the blogosphere could, by using legislative checks and balances.
This is brilliant! The Texas House cleaned out Perry's office budget. The funds will instead go to veterans and the mentally ill.
The first whack at Perry's budget was by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jessica Farrar, D-Houston. She took $4 million for veterans' programs. The biggest hit, though, was proposed by Rep. John Davis, R-Houston. His provision would switch $18.7 million from Perry's office to community mental health "crisis services" that try to keep the mentally ill out of jail and hospital emergency rooms.
