Governor Rick Perry of Texas just got a gift horse.
Push polling is when pollsters deliberately includes information in a polling question so as to get the result they want. For example, I call you up and ask you if whether you have a favorable opinion of Governor so-and-so who “has lowered taxes every year in office, and whose record is outstanding in every possible area”. So, do you have a favorable opinion, or not?
Human Events has taken this to a whole new low. I call this jam (as in they are going to “jam-this-guy-down-our-throats.”) polling. They have decided to give Perry a little free advertising. The ad is in the form of a poll question, but framed in a promotion of his supposed attributes:
Should Rick Perry Run?
An ally of the Tea Party, successful 3-term Governor, and a strong fiscal conservative… (emphasis mine)
Does Rick have what it takes to win the Republican Presidential candidacy? Vote Now!
Of course, as a strong believer in the First Amendment and an opponent of almost all “campaign finance laws”, I have no problem with the legality of this dishonest ad, in and of itself. But any other candidate would have to include the standard “I paid for this ad” disclaimer. Not so, with this one. That seems a little unfair to the other guys. I do have a question for Human Events, though. When you require email addresses and ZIP codes in order to take the poll, will you pass these on to Governor Perry, or will you simply use them to send more free Perry ads to my email box (or both!)?
Establishment Republicans believe they have finally found their man in Rick Perry. Include National Review Online (NRO), among those getting on the Perry bandwagon. Never mind his support of Rudy Giuliani last time around or the intrusive law he tried to pass that would have tried to vaccinate every little girl in Texas against STDs. In the latter case, he only relented when conservatives found out about it and expressed their outrage.
Below is the video of Perry’s endorsement of Giuliani in October, 2007.
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Just for the record, that is one of the most boring boiler-plate endorsements I have ever heard. Here are the catch-phrases he used:
“Real Answers”
“Proven Experience”
“Times of Crisis”
“Take Us Forward”
“Proven Leader”
“Executive Experience Matters”
“Amply Prepared”
“Strong Record of Leadership”
“Clarity of Purpose”
“Proven Record of Leadership”
“He Gets Things Done”
“Results-Oriented Leader”
“Best Equipped to Make the Tough Choices”
“Consistent Leader with A Track Record of Consistent Results”
“Much Better Vision”
“Must Be Willing to Do What’s Right, Even When it is Unpopular”
“Know What it Takes to Respond with Resolve, With Compassion, With Clear Leadership”
“In Times of Crisis, It Demands of Leaders to Be Decisive, It Demands You to Have Good Judgment”
“I have asked him some tough questions”
“I have looked him in his eye as he answered”
“I’ve studied his positions”
“I’ve taken the measure of the man”
“Capable and Prepared”
‘Without a doubt or reservation”
“Best of a strong field”
Keep in mind the speech was only six minutes long. That comes out to more than four cliches per minute.
RICK PERRY INFO… (for those who may be interested)
In
1984, Rick Perry was elected to the Texas House of
Representatives as a
Democrat. He served three two-year terms in
office.
In the 1988 Democratic Presidential primary, Rick Perry endorsed
Al Gore and
was chairman of the Al Gore campaign in Texas.
Rick Perry said he believes abortion
should be legal only in cases involving rape or incest or when carrying a
pregnancy to term would threaten the woman’s life.
Perry supports teaching intelligent
design alongside
evolution in Texas
schools.
Perry issued an executive
order in February 2007
mandating that Texas girls receive HPV
vaccine that protects
against some strains of the human
papilloma virus caused
from sexual intercourse and a cause of cervical
cancer. The order
provided vaccination free of charge to those who were not covered by
insurance. Perry’s decision
has been criticized by some social
conservatives and
parents due to concerns about possible moral implications of the vaccine and
safety concerns. On February 22, 2007, a group of families sued in an attempt to
block Perry’s executive order. Perry’s order has also been criticized for the
price of the vaccine: approximately $360 in Texas. On May 9, 2007, Perry allowed a bill to
go into law that would undo his executive order thinking someday he would run
for President.
One of Perry’s first selections to the Texas Supreme Court was
the appointment of Xavier
Rodriguez. Rodriguez, a
self-proclaimed moderate, he was unseated in the 2002 Republican primary by
conservative Steven
Wayne Smith so
Perry appointed Rodriguez to the Texas Supreme
Court.
Perry claims to be tough on illegal immigration but in January
2001, Perry proposed the Trans-Texas
Corridor, a $145+
billion-dollar project that would build multi-lane highways, rail lines and data
lines from Oklahoma to Mexico, and from east to west in southern
Texas. Instead
of paying for the project with taxes, Perry proposed that it be partially
financed, partially built and wholly operated by private contractors in
Mexico who, in exchange for a
multi-billion dollar investment, would receive all toll proceeds, notably
Cintra, a Spanish-owned company in Mexico.
Texan landowners opposed the Perry
Texas-Mexican corridor because of eminent domain issues with government taking
land from farm owners. All of Perry’s gubernatorial opponents in 2006 opposed
the corridor project, as did the 2006 state party platforms of both the
Democratic and Republicans parties. After much contentious debate between big
money supporters and Texan opponents, an official decision of “no action” was
issued by the Federal Highway Administration on July 20, 2010, formally ending
the project. Perry had Presidential
ambitions so agreed with ending the project.
In 2011 Perry said the Arizona
immigration law SB
1070 “would not be
the right direction for Texas” and would distract law enforcement from
fighting other crimes.
In October 2007, Perry endorsed Rudy
Giuliani for President. “Rudy Giuliani is the most prepared
individual of either party to be the next President… I’m not talking about any
mayor, I’m talking about America’s Mayor,” Perry said. Some
conjectured that, if Giuliani were elected, Perry might have been considered for
a position in the new President’s cabinet, or perhaps the Vice Presidency.
However, Giuliani withdrew from the race on January 30, 2008 after failing to
gain support in early primaries. Both Giuliani and Perry immediately endorsed
Arizona Senator
John McCain
for President. Shortly after Mitt
Romney’s withdrawal from the race in early February, Perry
called McCain rival Mike
Huckabee and suggested that he withdraw as well to clear
the way for McCain to secure the nomination. Huckabee declined this request and
made it clear publicly that he would only abandon his presidential bid if McCain
secured the
nomination.
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