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The Spectacle Blog
The Houston Chronicle has published a list of “Ten things about Rick Perry that may worry some conservatives.” Some items are stronger than others, but expect to hear immigration come up. Although he’s called for troops on the Mexican border and cracking down on sanctuary cities, he’s also been sympathetic to DREAM Act-style policies while distancing himself from Arizona’s SB 1070.
From the Chronicle story: “‘During his time as governor of Texas, Rick Perry consistently supported allowing illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition at Texas’ state colleges and universities,’ says an assessment of Perry’s immigration record by NumbersUSA.” The restrictionist group gives Perry a D minus on the issue.
Of course, George W. Bush and John McCain were both prominent advocates of “comprehensive immigration reform” and this rather conspicuously did not prevent them from being nominated.
View all comments (21) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/08/17/rick-perry-and-immigration
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Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 11:49AM
This is his RomneyCare. I will vote for him over Obama, but I love Bachmann.
Clint| 8.17.11 @ 11:59AM
Interesting, That Both Perry & Bachmann Are Parroting Dr.Ron Paul On A Number Of Issues From The FED & Bernanke To The Credit Rating & The Debt Issue, While The Mainstream Media Attempted To Ignore Paul's Finish In Iowa. & Then Was Caught & Called On It.
Teflon93 | 8.17.11 @ 12:15PM
Has anyone noticed that when people type posts in title case the voice in your head while reading it sounds like a robot?
Clint| 8.17.11 @ 12:57PM
You Sound Like A Lecturing School Marm, Sport.
Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 4:13PM
Bachmann isn't parroting anyone. She believes in strong borders and Terrorism defense. If you lived in Minnesota you would know about her, Sport.
Teflon---he is a robot--a Paulbot. Paul's numbers are going down faster than a Paulbot on a Jihadist.
Margie| 8.17.11 @ 4:19PM
Hey, is there any comparison between a Paul-bot and a man like Rick Perry?
Nope.
Would we want somebody who understands how to run a country~ understands how it works~ lower taxes, individual freedom to run a business without being punished for it with taxes and regulations galore, understands we need a strong military presence in the world~ and will be strong on terrorism?
Or would we choose a Paul-bot who "sympathizes" with the poor terrorists, votes along with the Democrats to defund the military~ wants to legalize drugs~ and is anti-Israel??
We already HAVE that man as President. He's the current occupant of the people's House!!
Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 4:17PM
Neither of Them Support Hamas Terrorism in Gaza, PaulBot.
Teflon93 | 8.17.11 @ 12:14PM
His immigration stance is a problem but he benefits from the fact that he created jobs and didn't socialize healthcare. Balancing the budget requires checking those boxes.
I could vote for Perry. I won't vote for Romney, Huntsman, or Gingrich, period.
I could vote for Cain or Santorum, would probably not vote for Paul given his awful foreign policy stances, and would vote for Bachmann without reserve.
I'd sooner believe Perry would come around on immigration than that Romney would ever be anything but a RINO statist saying whatever he thought would get him elected.
Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 4:13PM
Well, I have a reserve about Bachmann---she needs to be more of a Gearhead. "Let Her Roll!"
btims| 8.17.11 @ 12:24PM
If a candidate can not articulate the view that while legal immigration (of smaller numbers than we currently admit) is fine but illegal immigration and a "mass exodus" out of Mexico is unacceptable, then piss on all of 'em running.
We have a bad economy with high unemployment and the political class can't muster the courage to say we possibly needs a reduction or even a time-out from all immigration, for 5-10 years.
They care not a wit about the views of native born Americans - they prefer foreign-born Americans (immigrants).
Seek| 8.17.11 @ 1:25PM
If Rick Perry "comes around" on immigration, it will be in the same sense that McCain or Bush came around -- fitfully and temporarily. The truth is Perry doesn't believe in controlling the borders or the interior except as a sop to patriotic reformers. Nor does he recognize the need to limit legal immigration (which, in fact, is what drives most of the illegal variety). He's in hock to the cheap-labor enthusiasts within the business community. There is no way I can vote for him until he reverses course.
jppc| 8.17.11 @ 1:56PM
You are exaxctly right. Illegal immigration is closely tied to the legal variety. You can't lower one without lowering the other. In fact, most of our population explosion over the past 20 years is almost completely due to legal immigration - chain, family immigration. Legal immigrants sponsoring a never-ending number of their relatives to come here too. Time for a "time-out".
michael| 8.17.11 @ 1:38PM
The immigration stance of Perry will not cost him the nomination. People's concerns are focused on the economy now. Immigration is a sideshow.
jppc| 8.17.11 @ 1:58PM
The economy is the number one priority but other things matter too. And the importation of huge numbers of people, while we have a weak economy is........ disrespectful to native born Americans and also unwise economics. We have too many people for the number of jobs we typically can produce (under Barry).
Derek Leaberry| 8.17.11 @ 2:51PM
Ironically, a bad economy alleviates the problems caused by immigration. Who would be so foolish to immigrate to a country with little job creation? Perhaps a bad economy is beneficial to the country in some ways.
Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 4:14PM
People would immigrate who are coming from a worse society and who want to sell drugs or blow up things.
Grzmlyk| 8.17.11 @ 2:52PM
Immigration should not be a sideshow. It goes to the heart of the identity of a nation-state and whether any country has the right to exist as a self-defined entity.
I do not understand this liberal perspective on America's sovereignty. Do we not have the right to say who our citizens are? Is anyone who can cross a border ipso facto an American citizen and thus qualified to sign up for welfare benefits and vote?
If one American choosing not to buy health insurance because he's young and healthy is a crime because it affects the health of all, how is it that millions of uneducated, indigent people can migrate over the border and it's all good for the national health?
This is an existential problem, tied in its way to the entire economy and the sovereign debt issue; just as we no longer own our money (that is owned by China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and, increasingly, Mr. Nobody), we no longer own our borders. What, then, is left of a country? A culture? That's been shattered into millions of pieces because technological advancment, an ever-hungrier appetite for instant gratification and endlessly burgeoning "rights" have robbed us of both the stabilizing effects of common experience and the industriousness of achievement, and moral relativity's relentless advance has destroyed our sense of right and wrong.
This issue is of paramount importance; it's not about whether Americans are mean-spirited bigots, or that we're xenophobes. Liberals (and I include many RINOs) would be appalled if the UN declared, say, Somalia an "open country" and began relocating people of all nationalities, religions and ethnicities there. Yet America is supposed to somehow be stronger for having no borders and no self-determination.
I don't know what Bush's problem was - I suspect his acquaintance with many Mexicans softened his already-liberal spine. But he was wrong, and the libertarians are wrong.
Perry accused Bernanke of near-treason with respect to the profligacy of the Fed. He was right. But Perry himself is flirting with treason on the immigration issue.
That means I'll never support him.
What the hell happened to common sense in this country, anyway?
Mary| 8.17.11 @ 4:57PM
Thank you for your articulate comment. I too don't understand especially how a politician with a Democrat label can put foreign nationals (illegal and intending immigrants) above the people they are supposed to represent - the hard-working lower-earning Americans, or how these constituents can continue to elect politicians who are hurting them through give-aways of citizenship and benefits to non-citizens. I make a good living, but I believe good citizens need to be concerned about all sectors of our country, including the less-educated, traditionally blue-collar people who have been seeing wage erosion and stagnation in the recent past, along with high unemployment that we are seeing now.
Occam's Tool| 8.17.11 @ 4:16PM
Wall. Meatchoppers. Illegal Alien Corpses. No Medical care for illegals unless they pay cash. (too hard to check). No schooling. No university scholarships. Deport them missing a hand or a foot.
That would do the trick. Stop F'in around. 'Course, some think I'm too Liberal and softhearted.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.17.11 @ 5:18PM
Doctor,
Perry deports them quietly.
Shhhhhhhhh!
John Wyatt| 8.21.11 @ 9:54AM
Bulls#@* to all the politicians. The illegal immigration issue can be 90% controlled by one simple thing. All employers must use E-Verify. The first time they hire an illegal they get a $10,000 fine and the second time a $50,000 fine and after all that the third violation sees there business shutdown. If there are no jobs there is no reason to come illegally to the USA.