Reaction to Rick's op-ed on secession...

On Sunday, I gave Rick's op-ed in the Austin American Statesman a C- grade.

The conservative Lone Star Times (link) thought it was much better. Excerpt follows...

Finally, the word is getting out that Gov. Perry did not advocate for secession. That angle was pushed by the Kay Bailey Hutchison camp in an effort to shore up their rapidly dwindling support. Gov. Perry’s op-ed is on the mark when it comes to the issue of, as he states, a federal government that is like a swollen river that has overflowed its banks.

[SNIP]

Back to the Trail Blazers entry, they are one of the few media outlets that provide balanced coverage. And they provide nice balance in this one.

    Word from inside the Beltway is that Perry’s pronouncements on states

    rights and secession have made him a sort of amusing later-day George

    Wallace.

That phrase “Word from inside the Beltway” really means from inside the KBH camp because that is the only home she’s known for the past 16 years after breaking her original campaign promise in the 1993 special election to serve only two full terms. She has been there so long, she might not be able to recognize the truth in the next Trail Blazers sentence.

    But polls in Texas suggest that Texans aren’t put off by the

    message — and understand the context and subtlety of remarks that play

    to the state’s independent streak.

Texans completely understood what Gov. Perry was saying. The 2010 primary isn’t going to be the walk in the moderate park that KBH thought it was going to be.

Radio Vice blog also thinks highly of the op ed (link), saying that Rick "gets it." Excerpt follows...

For many, federal involvement is required simply because they think income must be redistributed; taken from one and provided directly to another. But Perry - like other states - have proven their system can work.

The LA Times had some coverage about rejecting secession. They have been covering Rick a lot lately it seems like, since California is so concerned with all things Texas these days (link). Probably because we are taking all of their jobs. Excerpt follows...

Reporting from Houston -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to make one thing clear.

"We live in a great country," he said, hands pressed to his chest. "I'm not in favor of Texas seceding."

That said, Perry insisted that those who jumped on his statement last month -- a seeming nod and wink at the idea -- were purposely trying to distract from the real problem: Washington's overreaching.

"This was a classic example of trying to deflect off the issue at hand, which people were talking about," Perry said, doing a bit of his own deflecting between stops on a steamy Houston afternoon. "They're sick of Washington overspending. They're sick of Washington mandating to states how to run their business. That's what this country ought to be having a discussion about."

The liberal blogs are calling it a flip flop or a backtrack, but they were obviously not paying attention to begin with. As far as the op-ed goes, I stand by my grade of C minus. It could have come out a lot earlier and a lot more forceful.