Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas-Sized Gift Horse

The Austin American-Statesman reports today that U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is planning to run against Texas governor Rick Perry next year, is making inroads with previous Perry “loyalists” and “chipping” into Perry’s “rich donor base, taking 21 percent of $6.7 million she raised from December through June from 35 percent of Perry’s historically staunchest backers.”

Perry does continue to benefit from high dollar donors; however, these donors include “individuals who have given to Hutchison’s past campaigns and might be expected to consider her over him.”

Sounds ominous? This Texan hopes so.

Because it is high time for Texas to have a governor who does not condone, or even relish in, secession bluster.

Because it is time for Texas to have a governor who sensibly balances his state’s—and his people’s—-needs against his own and his party’s political ambitions.

Because it is time for Texas to have a governor who puts the interests of all the people of Texas ahead of those of a small but vocal hard-right base.

These also happen to be some of the sentiments expressed in an Editorial (”Federal funds help save the state’s hide”) in the Statesman today.

The Editorial starts with a great Texas-size allegory

The old caution about looking gift horses in the mouth doesn’t apply in politics. Gov. Rick Perry, for example, saddles up and rides away after looking in the horse’s mouth and complaining loudly about what he sees there.

It then blasts Perry for his secession talk; for his anti-Washington, anti-stimulus rhetoric; for turning down the $555 million in federal stimulus money meant to help the hard-hit Texas Unemployment Insurance Fund “in the face of rising unemployment claims that were fast draining the funds.”

On the latter, Perry argued at the time that there were “strings attached’ to the stimulus money. Yes, there were strings attached. “Strings” such as having to expand unemployment benefits to more unemployed Texans, such as laid-off part-time employees like single mothers, college students and senior citizens. After refusing the funds, Perry is now asking the same federal government that he so fiercely criticized for a $170 million loan to ensure that unemployment benefits can continue to be paid.

According to Think Progress, “Texas is expected to request $650 million, roughly $100 million more than Perry initially rejected.”

The Statesman Editorial does a good job of painting Perry’s attitude towards Washington:

The governor reminds us of people who complain about an obnoxious table companion whose volume is exceeded only by bad table manners. But what the heck, he picks up the tab.

With respect to Perry’s political tactics and their impact on everyday Texans:

Anyone who can read knows by now that Perry’s derisive use of the word “Washington” is a double shot: one aimed at Democrats in general and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in particular. Hutchison has announced that she will challenge Perry in the March 2010 Republican primary.

The party’s hard-right base has been reliable for Perry, and the anti-Washington talk is what they want to hear. It would all be very amusing little political operetta if it weren’t for the fact that real people with real lives are getting chewed up the machinations.

Finally, back to the gift horse:

Don’t expect expressions of gratitude or even an acknowledgement that if it hadn’t been for the stimulus package, Texans would have mighty sore feet because there would be no gift horse to ride.

Great job, Statesman.

Image: Courtesy cwrl.utexas.edu