November 12, 2009 2:55 PM

Rick Perry: Obama Administration "Hell-Bent" on Socialism

By
Amanda Sterling
Topics
Governors


Texas governor Rick Perry declared that the Obama administration was "hell-bent" on socialism during a speech to the Republican Women's Club in Midland, Texas yesterday, according to Texas local newspapers. He also called for more tea party protests against health care reform efforts.

Perry accused the administration of "punishing" Texas through what he calls the Alien Transfer and Exit Program. He complained to the crowd about what he said is the administration's system of dumping illegal immigrants captured in other areas of the country into rural Texas, where the state must deal with them. Perry went on to describe a recent conversation he had with officials from the small border town of Presidio.

"They said, 'do you all know what's fixin' to happen?' I said, 'well, no. What's going on?' They said, 'the government has just called us and said for us to get ready for an influx of illegal aliens who were captured illegally crossing the border from San Diego to Nogales, Arizona," Perry recalled. "Way on the western side of this country. It's called the Alien Transfer and Exit Program."

In fact, the Texas Tribune has reported that Presidio is merely the point at which captured illegal immigrants being bused into Mexico cross the border. According to the Tribune, a spokesperson for the Border Patrol sector where the town is located has stated that system does not place any strain on the community.

Perry went on to speak disparagingly about the proposed cap and trade bill, which he wryly suggested should be renamed the "Shut Down Midland, Texas Legislation." The bulk of his complaints with the administration, however, stemmed from the issue of health care.

"This is an administration that I see punishing this state. I say it's time for us to stand up. I say it's time to make tea parties twice as big as what they were," he said. Perry's next words drowned in a sea of applause. "This is an administration hell bent on taking America towards a socialist country. And we ought not be afraid to say that because that's what it is."

He cited the tea parties as the reason the Senate rejected the public option during the health care debate, and called for more tea parties to continue pushing the conservative agenda.

"I am not bashful to get up and say 'I believe in the tenth amendment,'" Perry declared. "I really don't care whether it's a Democrat or a Republican governor, but I hope they will stand up and say, 'Washington, we don't want you mandating how to run our states.' This plan that they are putting before us will devastate this country and bankrupt our state."

This attack on Obama comes not long after Perry's remarks implying that Texas should consider seceding from the Union. The speech raises Perry's national profile less than a year before he faces Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Texas GOP primary. (Perry is seeking his third elected term - he first assumed the post when George W. Bush stepped down in 2000.)

Politico has pegged the race as one of the "Top 10 Most Interesting Showdowns in 2010," predicting that it will be "nasty, brutish and expensive." The most recent poll on the state of the race, conducted by the University of Texas/Texas Tribune, shows that Perry leads Hutchison 42 percent to 30 percent.

Add a Comment See all 15 Comments
by U_S_Drug_Addict November 18, 2009 8:42 AM EST
Slick Rick, cant make any good arguments so he makes them up,
Texas needs to elect a person who wont be a midland apologist,
or at least a person who grew up where cows dont outnumber people.
Reply to this comment
by wwolfgmwp November 13, 2009 2:00 PM EST
Smart liberal? Isn't that an oxymoron? As a resident of Texas I have never cared overly much for Gov. Perry. Lately though he is more and more gaining my respect. He's not afraid to state the truth of the matter, its about time someone called Obama and his cabal of thugs out for what they are and what their intentions for this country are.
Reply to this comment
by burneb November 13, 2009 2:09 AM EST
Perry is a highly-partisan Governor in a highly-partisan State, making a speech to a highly-partisan group, that came to hear just what they heard. No surprise.

Republicans have made the same old claim that Dem administrations are making us into a socialist state since the early 1930's. Then the buzzword was "statism" and "becoming another Soviet Union." Now they have retreaded "socialism" again for another 100,000 miles, tho we are headed nowhere near any actual Socialist states, or even most of western Europe.
Reply to this comment
by stn_sage November 12, 2009 9:08 PM EST
Rick! I think you're wrong about Mr. Obama...it's not a socialist country he wants to take us toward...but, probably more of a Communist one! Where...goods and services are controlled from the govt in cooperation with corporate America!

As far as what's happening in western Texas goes, you might actually be correct about that! It wouldn't surprise me!

Maybe you should contact the 'Patriot' movement in your state, and set up volunteer border patrols and camps along the western and southwestern areas to stop anymore of the 'illegal dumping' of invaders into Texas...whether it's from private individuals or agents of the U.S. govt...it's still illegal?!
Reply to this comment
by ltk01 November 12, 2009 8:33 PM EST
Gov. Perry is like a breath of fresh air...as he is one of the few that speaks the truth and tells it like it really is, thank you, Gov. Perry.
Most of us realize that the "power hungry group" currently in DC are slowly destroying America, bit by bit...God Bless America and God Save Us.
Reply to this comment
by samsontspringer November 12, 2009 7:06 PM EST
Dear CBS News, Ms. Hutchison has been a senator for over 16 years and you still spell her name wrong?! It's HUTCHISON not HutchiNson. Please fix the article and the tags. I guess none of the Repubs noticed but this smart liberal did.
Reply to this comment
by daffy64 November 12, 2009 5:12 PM EST
Texas independence now!!





Get these brain dead hicks out of the USA.
Reply to this comment
by grandfatherdizzy November 12, 2009 4:59 PM EST
Rick Perry a Klan lover! That is funny. I'm a proud Texan. I firmly believe he has absolutely no problem with mexican americans. He does have a problem with illegals. He is right about the holy one.
Reply to this comment
by TexanMike1123 November 12, 2009 4:21 PM EST
Klan lover? I thought you democrat liberals were supposed to be the kind, tolerant crowd. Calling my governor a Klan lover shows a lack of any decent response. So Presidio is simply the point where they are going back into Mexico eh? The people that crossed over here illegally already. To think that they won't immediately come back in to the US is absurd. And they will do it right there where they have been dropped off. You don't have to be China to have a socialist state, so stop with the extreme example to try and discredit the facts. Hell, we may compare to China soon if Obama and the liberals keep trying to secure future votes by control of the people
Reply to this comment
by lawyertom1 November 12, 2009 4:14 PM EST
Rick "I want to succceed from the U.S." Perry is a true loon. He is so far to the right that he makes John Birch blush. I wonder if he even knows what socialism is, other than a word to throw at someone in the hope that it will tar them?
Reply to this comment
by proczach November 12, 2009 8:04 PM EST
John Birch did not start the John Birch Society. He died years before it began and would know nothing of the group or anything about it.
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