Perry? Say it ain't so!

For over a decade, we Texans have witnessed firsthand what Perry's done to our state. And it's not a pretty picture. We've watched him threaten secession and rail against Washington while using federal stimulus money to cover up his own billion dollar budget shortfall.

Perry bragged to the national media about shooting a coyote, but we watched him do more lasting damage to public education by shortchanging schools, knocking 100,000 kids out of full-day Pre-Kindergarten, and crowding more kids into classrooms. He brags about the Texas economy, but his budget proposal would have destroyed hundreds of thousands of Texas jobs from both the public and private sectors.

During any debates that he may choose to participate in (remember that he refused to attend any debates during his last run for governor) pay close attention to his attack on the new health care act, specifically the provision that mandates that everyone have coverage. He really cannot criticize this provision without being beat down by the opposition because as govenor he mandated that:

• All Texas girls receive a vaccine against the human papillomavirus before entering the sixth grade. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4521884.html
• All women undergo an ultrasound, hear a detailed description of the fetus and then wait a full 24 hours before receiving abortion care.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7572639.html

The first one had to involve some kind of payoff from Merck to him or his family. The second one was just playing to the base, of course.

If he ends up being the nominee I would certainly hope that smart Republicans will write in a better choice for president.