Rick Perry...Is He a Conservative.?

I think Rick Perry has conservative views on capital punishment, taxes, and abortion. However, I have grave concerns about his Democrat past. He certainly can never claim to be a former Reagan Democrat, as he stood against President Reagan twice. After the disaster that was the Jimmy Carter first term, Perry stood with Carter for a second bite at the apple.

After President Reagan's first term, Perry stood against him again as part of the "Walter Mondale for President" campaign in Texas. As though that wasn't enough, he ran against Reagan's Vice President Herbert (George) Bush as Albert Gore's campaign manager.

I still don't appreciate or understand why, even in 2008, that Perry endorsed one of the most socially liberal candidates in the race, Rudy Giuliani. In his governance of Texas, he stubbornly stood against parental rights by writing an edict (executive order) to inject Gardisil (a anti-cancer vaccine) into twelve year old school girls. Gardisil only "worked" if the girls were sexually active. It took the State Legislature to write and pass a bill to turn off Perry's executive order. Despite parental outrage, Perry refused to recind his order.

The Texas corridor, the eminent domain confiscation of rancher land to hand over to a foreign company to build a toll road is another debacle Perry led. Once again, the Legislature turned him back. So much for private property rights.

Rick Perry also signed the Texas version of the Dream Act providing in-State tuition to illegal alien children (who meet specific requirements), and he continues to NOT support a fence on the border. The Texas Dream act is another one of those pieces of Legislation that acts as a magnet for illegal border crossers, and unfenced borders are easily crossed.

The history of Rick Perry certainly shows that he is stubborn. This is a trait that reminds me of our former President Bush, in terms of his lack of willingness to change the strategy in Iraq (i.e. stay the course). Perry is weak on border issues, is conflicted on eminent domain (for profit), conflicted on the issue of parental rights, and hasn't yet explained how his conservative epiphany came about after fighting the election and re-election of Ronald Reagan.

As Sarah Palin said, we need not worry so much about replacing Barack Obama, but "who and what we are replacing him with".