Rick the lone voice of reason, votes against metal detectors and x-rays at the Capitol...

Some idiot brought a gun into the Capitol a few months ago.

Ergo we have to overreact and put metal detectors outside the Capitol.

This is an expensive project. This will deny people access. This will make it harder to get in and out in a timely manner. This is bad bad policy... it is an overreaction to one idiot bringing a gun in. The terrorists have won.

Shame on Dewhurst and the others for overreacting.

The Dallas Morning News has the story (link). Excerpt follows...

Despite the objection of Gov. Rick Perry, the State Preservation Board voted Tuesday to place metal detectors and X-ray machines at the public entrances to the Texas Capitol in the next two months as a deterrent to terrorism.

[SNIP]

More surveillance cameras in the Capitol and on the grounds, more bomb-sniffing dogs, increased police foot and bike patrols and other measures with a total cost of about $3 million were also included in the plan passed by the board, which includes Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, House Speaker Joe Straus, Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands and public member Charlotte Foster.

The added bike patrols and things make perfect sense, but the metal detectors and x-rays are a recipe for a lot of annoyed Capitol employees, Capitol visitors, and others... and an amazing amount of wasted productivity and lost tourism dollars for Austin.

The Austin Post has a few more details (link). Excerpt follows...

Currently, anyone can walk right into the famed pink dome. When the new upgrades are finished, the public will be required to enter through the north door. Tour groups will go through the south door, and the east and west doors will be reserved for state officials and their staff.

It takes minutes not seconds just to walk around the entire Capitol... this really is going to be an annoyance for people who come from downtown Austin... and then there is the issue of the rallies that take place on the south steps... I don't think this was thought out very well...

This is really stupid. I hope there are enough votes to throw Straus out on his ass. He has no business being Speaker, and I hope he is a one termer... and Dewhurst is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. The other ones are just covering their asses. If something were to happen everyone would try to "blame" them because there were no metal detectors... they have no spine to stand up and do the right thing...

Thank you, Rick, for being the only person not to overreact and act like an idiot. Thanks for not letting that one idiot dictate the entire Capitol admission policy.

Rick takes New Orleans by storm...

Rick keeps telling everyone that he is not running for president in 2012... but his stock has really soared since destroying the (formerly?) popular senator Kay...

In Rick's first political trip out of state since the March 2 primary he attended the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and stole the show (link).

Excerpt follows...

Texas Governor Rick Perry may have had a tough slot in following Sarah Palin, but he proved to be up to the challenge. Perry delivered a stemwinder speech that had the crowd roaring on numerous occasions, and in doing so delivered a tough message to his own party. “Don’t tell me you’re a Republican,” Perry warned, “and don’t protect the innocent,” a sentiment that got a standing ovation. Perry took on his own party’s establishment, at least indirectly, than any of the previous major speakers.

I’ve seen Perry give speeches on television (mainly on YouTube) and knew he could be dynamic. Earlier in the day, I mentioned that alone among the other speakers on the ticket today, Perry had the only shot at matching the energy of Sarah Palin’s appearance. Perry has a very active delivery, in the same manner as a preacher. He doesn’t stand still, but instead puts his whole body into what he says. Perry’s speech turned a political conference into a Republican revival meeting, complete with the call to action at the end.

Perry’s first priority will be to win re-election in Texas later this year, which shouldn’t present a difficult task. If after that he decides to get serious about a run for the Presidency, don’t count him out. He’ll have more than two terms as an executive in a state that, as Perry reminded everyone in the speech, ranks first for economic growth thanks to Republican efforts to trim costs and keep taxes low. He could very well be the kind of challenger that could make Obama’s shot at a second term very, very difficult.

Rick insists he is not running for president, but based on the buzz out of New Orleans it seems like he may have performed very very well in the straw poll had he not pulled his name out of it (link). Excerpt follows...

NEW ORLEANS -- TX Gov. Rick Perry (R) insists he's not running against Pres. Obama in '12, but so far he's the only person addressing a gathering of conservative activists to make a public appeal for additions to his campaign's mailing and email list.

Speaking yesterday to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Perry got a dramatically different reception than ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who spoke just hours earlier. Palin packed the room, but Perry, addressing a smaller audience, elicited more consistent applause and more frequent standing ovations.

Where Palin left attendees thrilled but unconvinced of her ability to run in '12, Perry laid out a broader platform, all while disavowing interest in higher office. His name, in fact, isn't even on the SRLC's straw poll ballot.

"I don't put my name on any of the straw poll ballots because I'm not running. I'm not in. I don't know how many times I have to tell people that," Perry told Hotline OnCall after his speech.

I think everyone wants to see a 2012 motive in Rick's attendance at SRLC, but it would have been strange for him not to go... he is a major political figure in the south... and he is good friends with Barbour and Jindal... and Texas is one state away from Louisiana...

You also have to think about all the appearances Rick is turning down... including a recent invite to Iowa he turned down (link). Rick is also being especially careful to disavow any interest in anything other than being governor of Texas... which is probably a much better gig than the presidency in terms of lifestyle and pressure...

Bill White's peeps are trying to make the SRLC appearance into a big presidential ambition thing... probably because that is all they have at this point. Bill White's disastrous campaign thus far has disappointed just about everyone who believed he would be a credible challenger...

Not releasing his tax returns has been a big distraction for the increasingly inept looking Bill White... and it does not look like any change is happening there... there aren't any plans to release those taxes from the looks of things.

Bill White's only hope is to turn Rick into George Allen... get a macaca moment... get the national Democrats to bring in resources against him to cut him off... I just don't see it happening... Bill White is boring, but he is also kind of suspect and shadowy... not trustworthy.

A lesson for establishment GOPers...

A lot of people speculated that Rick would win the primary based on social conservatives backing him... and hopefully having more of them than Kay had of the fiscal conservatives.

But then something happened... Rick never talked about social issues. He barely mentioned abortion or other hot button issues. Rick ran his campaign entirely on fiscal issues. He ran Texas well and delivered balanced budgets. Kay was the bailout and earmark queen.

I think Kay herself thought she would win the fiscally-minded Republicans too... but what this shows is that in a year when fiscal issues dominate, being a moderate is just as damaging as being pro choice in a Republican primary... Texas had the luxury of going first and being a test case for the rest of the country...

Marc Thiessen writes about this phenomenon (link). Excerpt follows...

For years, establishment Republicans have urged the party's conservative wing to get over its obsession with social issues and focus on fiscal issues. Well, in 2010 they are getting their wish. The nation is experiencing a popular backlash against the expansion of government and runaway federal spending, and across the country fiscally conservative candidates are taking advantage of this popular groundswell -- in some cases to the detriment of establishment Republican candidates.

In Texas, for example, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison challenged Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary and started out with a commanding lead. But Perry successfully portrayed Hutchison as having become part of the Washington establishment -- dubbing her "Kay Bailout" and running an ad tagging her the "Earmark Queen" (to the tune of Abba's "Dancing Queen"). Hutchison responded by declaring that her success in bringing money home for Texas should be "celebrated and appreciated." Apparently, Texans are not in a celebratory or appreciative mood. She lost to Perry 51 percent to 30 percent. (Indeed, anti-Washington sentiment in Texas is so strong that a little-known, underfunded Tea Party candidate garnered 18 percent of the vote).

Don't vote for bailouts, earmarks, or other pork... I am not sure Kay has learned that lesson. She voted with Democrats against earmark reform twice after the primary (link) (link)...

The March 16 vote was for an earmark moratorium for 2010 and 2011. The March 18 vote was to end earmarks in years with deficits...

Kay you are an idiot. Stop thinking earmarks are the path to success... this goes for every Republican. Stop the excessive spending. Or else. If you didn't learn that from Rick vs. Kay then you deserve to lose.

Kay to help out Rick? Maybe, maybe not.

Since the election, Rick has been going out of his way to say nice things about Kay, even going so far as to say that she should stay in Washington and finish her term... is she reciprocating?

Peggy Fikac thinks not (link). Excerpt follows...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry confidently predicts we'll see Kay Bailout Hutchison — excuse me, she's back to her pre-primary title of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — campaigning for him.

“Sure. We're on the team. We just had an intramural scrimmage, and we got that over with,” Perry said.

Hutchison urged her supporters to unite behind Perry when she conceded her race against him. But based on her GOP primary campaign, what could her pro-Perry stump speech say? That Perry's an ethically challenged crony pleaser who's been in office too long, but still better than Democrat Bill White?

Her office isn't making any promises: “I don't think we're even thinking about fall campaigning right now. Politics doesn't come into focus at this point at all. She's focused right now on doing her job in the Senate, because it is intense up there,” said Hutchison spokeswoman Lisette Mondello.

Political scientist Jerry Polinard of the University of Texas-Pan American noted it would be the political norm for Hutchison to campaign for Perry: “During the primary campaign, your opponent has three sixes behind their ear,” he said. “But after it's over, it's time for a group hug.”

This is a really weird situation... usually the loser has to grovel and beg for forgiveness and suck up to the winner... but in this case the loser Kay is acting a little like a sore loser.

Kay should get wise and start playing nicer... and Rick might want to tone down his overtures toward Kay until she starts playing ball...

Ken Herman's take on Kay's non resignation...

Ken Herman asks whether anyone has ever looked worse doing the right thing (link). Excerpt follows...

Now let's get to how bad she looked announcing the decision in a cramped meeting room at a San Antonio airport private terminal, an event she acknowledged as "a time and place which I know may have not been convenient for everyone."

"I think everyone pretty much knows that I intended to leave the Senate," Hutchison noted.

But, she added, "something has happened in our country that maybe none of us could have anticipated." The "something," she told us, includes "massive debt," "a health care reform bill that doesn't reform health care" and "very high unemployment."

"It has caused me to look at my resignation in a different way, and it has made an impact on my decision," she said.

In fact, it completely changed her decision.

"I think my experience will be better used fighting this effort of the president and Congress to do so much that is really taking away the essence of America in my opinion," she said.

Wow, how heroic.

But really, senator, we didn't need anything more than what you should have been saying all along, something along the more modest lines of "Y'all elected me to do a job and I shall complete it."

And while we're harping on duty to those who brung you, would the senator's important schedule have been terribly disrupted if she would have hung around to answer a question or two (including perhaps whether there's a chance she'll seek re-election in 2012)?

Ken Herman also videoed the press conference and the lack of questions...

Why is Kay so inept at this stuff? This video reminds me a lot of her campaign. Very top down... very her projecting out to people but not listening back... very sheltered and shielded to the point of exhibiting paranoia about outsiders...

Texas Tribune's take on Kay's non resignation...

A couple of nice videos from the Texas Tribune (link). Excerpt follows...

It's like finding out the last season of your favorite TV show was a dream sequence: Kay Bailey Hutchison was never really leaving the U.S. Senate after all.

Timeline...

Big John weighs in...

The Tribune also has a unique spin on the winners and losers in this decision...

Burka's take on Kay's non resignation...

Paul Burka weighs in (link). Excerpt follows...

The losers in Hutchison’s decision, of course, are the wannabes, especially the apparent frontrunners (John Sharp, Roger Williams, and David Dewhurst), who will have to wait until a special election in 2013. And Bill White can take another bite at the apple if he loses the governor’s race.

Hutchison’s decision gives her a chance to regain her popularity. It also means that, if the Republicans retake control of the Senate, she would be in line to chair the important Commerce committee.

It was never easy to understand why she wanted to give up her Senate seat to run for governor–and she never told us. She made the same mistake that all of Perry’s challengers have made, which was to underestimate him.

The only new idea I got from Burka was that Bill White will probably run for senate after losing to Rick in 2010... White's name identification will be higher in 2012 than this year... if he can just play the compliant loser he will be in a much better position in 2012... if White attacks viciously and invites the wrath of Rick's peeps he will be destroyed and tainted and worthless in 2012... not that 2012 will be a good year for Democrats either...