Be yourself, Rick. You’re on solid ground.

I’m not in the tank for Rick Perry. But I’m going to defend him while I offer him some advice.

Gov. Perry stumbled all over himself when the question of in-state tuition for the children of illegal aliens was raised in the GOP presidential debate last week. Instead of getting lost in the weeds stammering about having a heart, as he did, all he had to say was this;

“Because the federal government won’t do its job, illegal immigrants are a fact of life for us in Texas and that means so are their kids. Until the problem of illegal immigration is dealt with at the federal level, the people of Texas have to decide what to do at the state level. Children that were brought here didn’t break the law. Their parents did but the children didn’t. That’s why the Texas Legislature decided, with only four dissenting votes, that if a child of an illegal immigrant graduates from a Texas high school, that child will pay the same tuition at a state college as any other graduating senior in Texas. Texas must either pay the price of educating these kids or pay the price of supporting them and/or incarcerating them. Because of a derelict federal government, the people of the State of Texas, acting through their elected legislators, have made that choice and it’s a choice I support.”

He’d be standing on solid ground. If the federal government were doing its job, Texas wouldn’t be faced with hundreds of thousands of children brought here illegally by their parents. The federal government’s failure has created a problem that the state is forced to deal with. How the state deals with it is the state’s business.

Couch the defense of Texas policy in those terms, and you sound like a leader. Wander around the issue talking about having a heart and you open yourself up to exactly what happened last Thursday night.

I’ve spent some time alone with Rick Perry talking about a whole range of things, one of which is the fact that we’re both pilots. I have found him to be very direct and plain spoken. I believe that if we were standing face-to-face and discussing this topic, the words that I put in his mouth above are pretty close to the words that would actually come out.

So governor, here’s my advice.

Fire the consultants and be yourself. It’s your best shot at the White House.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

You may also like...

7 Responses

  1. Linda E. Montrose says:

    Let me put it bluntly, I am NOT a Rick Perry fan. After being a supporter of his from his AG days, I can no longer support this man who has become nothing more than your run-of-the-mill ELITE politician. With me, his bad points out weigh his good. I believe he showed his true colors when he pushed the “Texas Corridor” and mandated that 12 yr old girls get vaccinated, which smelled to high heaven of a drug company payback scheme. His stance on immigration is one of looking out for his political future and not what is best for Texas! That was my gripe with Bush as well. No one in political office is willing to do the right thing on immigration for fear of voter reprisal among the hispanic voters. I lost respect for Gov. Perry a LONG time ago. In my eyes he is no better than the rest of the Republican elites we now have in Washington. Say anything, do anything to stay in office or to climb the ladder to the top political office.

  2. Rick Armstrong says:

    Rick Perry has a lot of problems, one is definately that of advisors that don’t know him or his personal stands. He is attempting to be everything to everyone and in doing, he makes himself appear weak and “wishy-washy”. Is it any wonder that Herman Cain topped him in the debate AND the Straw Poll. Herman stands firm and doesn’t waiver. He does not bring with him excess baggage and is “just himself”. America is fed up with career politicos that speak from both sides of their mouth. Perry might be a true conservative…but, he does not put forth that belief and portion of himself. Much to the disappointment of conservative Americans.

  3. Gov Perry was a Democrat until he changed parties. His mind thinks like a democrat. A few examples:

    – he supports the North American Union (Canada US Mexico) . . . you think the EU is bad??
    – he pushed the Trans-Texas Corridor . . . maybe your land was not going to be stolen via eminent domain.
    – he raised property taxes and LIED through his teeth saying property taxes in Texas was lowered . . . the state Appraisal Office lowered the tax RATE, and told every appraisal district to raise the ‘APPRAISED VALUES’ the maximum amount . . . . my property tax rate decreased . . . but . . . I paid more property taxes . . . I sent in more of my hard earned $$ to Rusk Co.
    – Carl Rove asked Perry to switch to Republican as Perry was supporting AL GORE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE USA . . .
    – he supported HILLARY CARE
    – he is a career politician . . . and you think you can trust him?? He is a social and economic conservative ?? . . . what koolaid are you drinking?
    – he pushed through the HPV vaccine (without congressional approval) that forced Texas girls 12+ yrs old to take this vaccination . . . oh yes . . . parents could OPT out . . . if they knew or found out about it before the girls were lined up and innoculated. It should have been approved by the Texas legislature and senate and then signed by Gov Perry as an OPT IN for parents. In other words the parents had to know about it and give permission for their 12+ yr old girls to be vaccinated.
    – Oh yeah . . . he is an AGGIE . . . nuf said . . . he walks on water.

    Last town hall meeting with Louie Gohmert in Tyler, he answered 2 of my pre written questions from the audience. I also spoke with him extensively afterwards. I told him to “stand firm” “stand firm!!” “We need you in the congress.” However, when a lady next to me told him that all our problems will be fixed in 2012 with a Republican President, Republican Congress, and Republican Senate. I cried, “FOUL!” looking directly at Congressman Gohmert. “The last time we had that, we got borrow and spend, borrow and spend, the deficit increased more than any other president’s admin or groups of presidents, TARP occurred, bailouts, financial meltdown, the Federal Reserve out of control . . . no I do not trust the republicans . . . we need CONSERVATIVE VALUES from men and women that are not career politicians!!”

    Rep Gohmert looked me in the eye and said, “You, sir, are absolutely right!”

    Perry is electable and controllable … he won’t get my vote.

    The only viable CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE IS RON PAUL.
    Why is the media, everyone, ignoring him?

  4. Paul, Why don’t you research and defend Ron Paul. Here are a few quotes:

    1913 wasn’t a very good year. 1913 gave us the income tax, the 16th amendment and the IRS.
    Ron Paul

    A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank.
    Ron Paul

    All initiation of force is a violation of someone else’s rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it’s supposed to be for the benefit of another individual or group of individuals.
    Ron Paul

    Another term for preventive war is aggressive war – starting wars because someday somebody might do something to us. That is not part of the American tradition.
    Ron Paul

    As recent as the year 2000 we won elections by saying we shouldn’t be the policemen of the world, and that we should be nation building. And its time we got those values back into this country.
    Ron Paul

    Back a hundred years ago, especially around Woodrow Wilson, what happened in this country is we took freedom and we chopped it into pieces.
    Ron Paul

    Believe me, the next step is a currency crisis because there will be a rejection of the dollar, the rejection of the dollar is a big, big event, and then your personal liberties are going to be severely threatened.
    Ron Paul

    Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism.
    Ron Paul

    Cliches about supporting the troops are designed to distract from failed policies, policies promoted by powerful special interests that benefit from war, anything to steer the discussion away from the real reasons the war in Iraq will not end anytime soon.
    Ron Paul

    Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikers.
    Ron Paul

    Everyone assumes America must play the leading role in crafting some settlement or compromise between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But Jefferson, Madison, and Washington explicitly warned against involving ourselves in foreign conflicts.
    Ron Paul

    Have you noticed the debt is exploding? And it’s not all because of Medicare.
    Ron Paul

    Having federal officials, whether judges, bureaucrats, or congressmen, impose a new definition of marriage on the people is an act of social engineering profoundly hostile to liberty.
    Ron Paul

    How did we win the election in the year 2000? We talked about a humble foreign policy: No nation-building; don’t police the world. That’s conservative, it’s Republican, it’s pro-American – it follows the founding fathers. And, besides, it follows the Constitution.
    Ron Paul

    I am absolutely opposed to a national ID card. This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about. The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don’t need a national ID card.
    Ron Paul

    I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas.
    Ron Paul

    I have never met anyone who did not support our troops. Sometimes, however, we hear accusations that someone or some group does not support the men and women serving in our Armed Forces. But this is pure demagoguery, and it is intellectually dishonest.
    Ron Paul

    I will always vote what I have promised, and always vote the Constitution, as well as I will not vote for one single penny that isn’t paid for, because debt is the monster, debt is what’s going to eat us up and that is why our economy is on the brink.
    Ron Paul

    If you like small government you need to work hard at having a strong national defense that is not so militant. Personal liberty is the purpose of government, to protect liberty – not to run your personal life, not to run the economy, and not to pretend that we can tell the world how they ought to live.
    Ron Paul

    In time it will become clear to everyone that support for the policies of pre-emptive war and interventionist nation-building will have much greater significance than the removal of Saddam Hussein itself.
    Ron Paul

    Just think of what Woodrow Wilson stood for: he stood for world government. He wanted an early United Nations, League of Nations . But it was the conservatives, Republicans, that stood up against him.
    Ron Paul

    Justifying conscription to promote the cause of liberty is one of the most bizarre notions ever conceived by man! Forced servitude, with the risk of death and serious injury as a price to live free, makes no sense.
    Ron Paul

    Legitimate use of violence can only be that which is required in self-defense.
    Ron Paul

    Of course I’ve already taken a very modest position on the monetary system, I do take the position that we should just end the Fed.
    Ron Paul

    Our country’s founders cherished liberty, not democracy.
    Ron Paul

    Prices are going up. Unemployment is continue to go up. And we have not had the necessary correction for the financial bubble created by our Federal Reserve system.
    Ron Paul

    Setting a good example is a far better way to spread ideals than through force of arms.
    Ron Paul

    The moral and constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
    Ron Paul

    The most important element of a free society, where individual rights are held in the highest esteem, is the rejection of the initiation of violence.
    Ron Paul

    The obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
    Ron Paul

    There is nothing wrong with describing Conservatism as protecting the Constitution, protecting all things that limit government. Government is the enemy of liberty. Government should be very restrained.
    Ron Paul

    There is only one kind of freedom and that’s individual liberty. Our lives come from our creator and our liberty comes from our creator. It has nothing to do with government granting it.
    Ron Paul

    There’s nothing wrong with being a Conservative and coming up with a Conservative believe in foreign policy where we have a strong national defense and we don’t go to war so carelessly.
    Ron Paul

    Throughout the 20th century, the Republican Party benefited from a non-interventionist foreign policy. Think of how Eisenhower came in to stop the Korean War. Think of how Nixon was elected to stop the mess in Vietnam .
    Ron Paul

    To me, to be a conservative means to conserve the good parts of America and to conserve our Constitution.
    Ron Paul

    War is never economically beneficial except for those in position to profit from war expenditures.
    Ron Paul

    What is not conservative about saying, ‘Don’t go to war unless we go to war properly with a full declaration of war and no other way?’
    Ron Paul

    When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
    Ron Paul

    When the federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans.
    Ron Paul

    You don’t have freedom because you are a hyphenated American; you have freedom because you are an individual, and that should be protected.
    Ron Paul

    You wanna get rid of drug crime in this country? Fine, let’s just get rid of all the drug laws.
    Ron Paul

  5. Crystal Shardes says:

    Rick Perry cannot be himself. He is a liberal. Wasting an inordinate sum of taxpayer dollars on his residence and staff, offering in-state tuition to children of illegals, lands grabs for the TTC, backing the DREAM act….Mr. Gleiser you missed the boat on this one, BIG TIME.

  6. Dave Francis says:

    American is broke, busted, so how can we imprudently repeat the same old performance of bringing in one million legal immigrants a year? How can we substantiate this, when we have a rising unemployment rate for average Americans of all races? This is not even counting the 20 million plus illegal aliens who are already here. It occurs to me and a good portion of the lawful populace, that illegal immigrants are receiving a better deal than lawful Americans. Its beyond most people’s comprehension that entitlements being collected by illegal aliens, were diverted to our Social Security fund, could make a difference to senior’s life’s; the homeless, the sick, veterans and towards the U.S. Treasury deficit. Just take a look of Rick Perry providing illegal alien student taxpayer tuition, when US citizens Out-of-State must pay full fees in Texas? Perry also disapproved of constructing the fence, which most certainly all RINO’s object to; they need those discount illegal laborers.

    We deserve a President that upholds our laws, instead of bypassing Congress with Executive directives. He must be willing to protect America from its internal enemies, and sustain the 1986 Immigration laws against all entities who are pushing for wide open borders and allowing uncountable amounts of poverty-stricken people to enter this sovereign nation.

    Dr. Steve Camarota at the Center for Immigration Studies finds that 81% of the jobs created in Rick Perry’s Texas between the years 2007 and 2011 went to newly-arrived immigrants. Something is seriously wrong here, but it will never change in the deep seated GOP members or the far left or Democratic leadership. The only chance of a different path to America’s rebirth is to stifle the powerful influences of both political parties and their campaign contributors. The TEA PARTY has a massive growing membership with real new ideas, such as moving back education to the states; dismantle the federal government to its original purpose as in the living Constitution.

    Scrap and draft a new fair Tax code as expressed by businessman Herman Cain, who is a very elegant orator and has a real plan for America. Cain also promises to enforce immigration laws, build the double layer fence with no endorsement of another amnesty. I am sure TEA PARTY leading voice of Cain would approve of is Rep.Lamar Smith’s mandated E-Verify bill H.R. 2885, known as the “Legal Workforce Act.” would reduce the illegal aliens stealing through our porous border. This would also cause a reduction of numbers cutting-back significantly on family members coming here, as if the illegal bread winner cannot get settled and find a job; why bother.

    E-Verify will join the highly controversial “Secure Communities”, The Halt Act (Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation Act), The Save Act (The Secure America with Verification and Enforcement Act) and the 287 G police laws that are as necessary as authorized restraint against the decades of abandonment. When nationwide E-verify becomes law, then it will strengthen the state laws of Arizona, Georgia, Alabama and those who want to save their states from—ECONOMIC—illegal immigrants and migrants.

    Then we have an escalation of whistle’ Blowers who are connecting with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (866-347-2423). SEE SOMETHING? DO SOMETHING? With no questions asked about personal information, you can contact ICE and inform agents about your suspicions of foreign nationals working illegally in the USA. This is a sure way to aid your fellow Americans, who cannot get a job. Yet we have seen on many occasions unemployed Americans flocking to suddenly open jobs, where illegal aliens have been apprehended and detained by ICE.

    After these lightening sweeps in northern Nevada in September, ICE agents raided 11 McDonald’s restaurants and arrested dozens of workers. On August 30, (ICE) agents converged at a supermarket parking lot in Maywood, California. Hundreds of sweeps have been conducted, under President Obama’s presidency, but currently these sweeps are only being ordered to–ONLY–arrest and deport criminal elements. An executive order adverse to the US Constitution was signed allowing allegedly for people without records to be released on the streets again.

    With so many illegal aliens squatting here, we must be very attentive in Future election cycles. It has been proven with no room for doubt that hundreds of thousands of foreigners voted in the midterm election. Fraudulent registrations and criminals providing absentee ballots will do our Democracy harm and as yet the federal government has not demanded a mandatory ID identification for “Citizens” Voting. ACORN, that was supposedly disbanded and yet alive and well, under assumed business names was a mastermind in cheating the system, on behalf of the Democrats.

    We must return our country to a zero-tolerance policy, that doesn’t deport just criminals, but every person who cannot prove he has a right to live and work in the United States. THIS IS WHY WE NEED A CONGRESS THAT WILL AMEND OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS, MAKING UNLAWFUL ENTRY A STRICT FELONY. These simple commentaries cannot hope to supplement the information contained at NumbersUSA, Judicial Watch and American patrol websites. The web contains thousands of grass root organization that can assistant you in your search for the truth, not the engineered information publicized by the Liberal backed press.

    Why do Farmers and large industrial agriculturist appose E-Verify? For years since the “Bracero program” was eliminated in 1964, they have had unfettered recruitment of illegal workers; a convenient way of hiring people to work the land. With E-Verify, every worker must be verified and cannot be exploited for wages, health treatments or conditions as it’s always been asserted. The agrarian community will no longer be able to drop off an injured or sick worker at the emergency room, leaving the uninsured for taxpayers to pick up the bill.

  7. Tom King says:

    Dead on, Paul. You know what. Ronald Reagan was a Democrat too. So what? Changing parties is a sign of intelligence as far as I’m concerned. We could do a lot worse than get a president who knows how to get things done. We’ve already been through the vaccinations thing. It seemed like a good idea. Perry was friends with somebody who was dying of that brand of cancer and the vaccine is 100% effective against it and he DID include an opt-out and I don’t think a single person in the state didn’t know they could opt-out before any vaccine was administered.

    Great honk, people. Politics is a messy business and swimming in that sea is pretty tough. Perry does it better than most. We could do a lot worse. When are we going to stop shooting our own people first?

    And there should be a law against Ron Paul supporters being allowed to use the “cut and paste” feature on their word processors. They should at least have to type all that drivel – not that anyone reads it anymore. The man’s a nightmare. And they think Obama looks weak! Did anyone see him in the debate. It was sad.

    Thanks Paul for a really excellent blog this week. I shared it to my Facebook group. Hope they read it.

    Tom King

Leave a Reply to Crystal Shardes Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *