The damage he has done/is doing to DEP alone will take YEARS to undo (and will be practically impossible under the “fuck it - it’s for sale” Republican Legislature that has just conveniently gerrymandered itself into a majority for 8more years).
Perry has used his time in office to build a network of cronyism that gives him more power than the Texas Constitution allows governors. Creationism/Intelligent Design is *not *taught in Texas public schools, despite his comments while running for President. This article, written before his last reelection, offers some of the nauseating details.
That’s from the Texas Observer, which had compiled a dossier on Ricky–to help convince the rest of the country he should not be president. (Molly Ivins sure tried to warn everybody about Bush.) There’s still plenty of material at the site; start with Ben Sargent’s cartoons…
Another Texan going with the home team and picking Perry. The particular thing that reminded me of what a fucking douchebag the man is was an article in yesterday’s papernoting that Perry remains opposed to a movement to issue a statewide ban on texting while driving. Apparently he considers such a move to be “government micromanagement.” As noted in the article, he vetoed a similar measure two years ago.
How many functioning brain cells does it take to comprehend that SOME clearly bad things should be illegal? I don’t know why the fucking prick doesn’t work to repeal state drunk-driving laws.
I give a pass to Perry and Brewer because they reflect tha crazy-ass voters. No matter who gets elected in those states it’s a guaranty that they are nutters
Bush isn’t evil, and I’m pretty sure he isn’t crazy. He is stupid though. Then again, he never needed to be smart; he had Cheney during his presidency, and his dad before that.
My pick is Brewer. There many reasons to despise that witch, not the least of which was her inappropriate and aggressive exhibition of disrespect for the office of the President of the United States, and President Obama personally.
Brownback gets my vote. He’s deep in the pocket of the Koch brothers, is a hypocritical fundamentalist christian of the worst sort (the type that likes to loudly proclaim their morality but constantly screws over the poor in favor of big business), he’s actively gutting the state economy (again, thinking it will attract business but just hurting everyone else), and every time I look at his face I think of the squinty-eyed guy from “Third Rock”. I just hope the economy tanks BEFORE he comes up for re-election so we don’t have to put up with him for another term.
The governor of Texas is a “weak governor” position according to the state constitution. However, Perry has been governor for over thirteen years! As a result, he has made far more appointments than any previous governor, and the state government has many Perry appointees and allies.
Still, I think there is a big difference between Perry’s rhetoric (invariably tough and over the top) with the fundamentally traditional politics Perry practices. Perry is basically a rather average Texas governor in the old conservative Democrat mold, along the lines of Allan Shivers or John Connally. He’s pro-business, in the oil industry’s pocket, and - despite his talk about small government - not above old fashioned populism. In short, he is pretty much every governor Texas has had, except for Ann Richards, the only one who approached being a liberal in a long time.