Jindal and Rick, sitting in a tree...

Some Louisiana coonass is not happy with Bobby Jindal's trip to Texas this week (link). Excerpts follow...

Instead it really is all about politics, Jindal style. According to the Dallas Morning news, “Wednesday, Perry attended a fundraiser for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in Austin, strengthening ties with one of the Republican Party's conservative stars. The event, closed to the public, was designed to give Republican money-types a chance to spend private time with Jindal and Perry.

The Louisiana governor is a favorite of the party's social conservatives, as is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has endorsed Perry's re-election.”

As we all know in the world of politics, our government officials play a game of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”.

In this case, one “scratch” are the campaign contributions to Jindal. The second is--Perry gets some of the Jindal “glow” in the Texas Governor’s run against US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Stephen Sabludowsky, aka "some Louisiana coonass"

On Rick's Flicker page, there are some pics of Rick and Bobby Jindal, hanging out in Texas. Jindal was hot stuff but got sent back to earth after his subpar response to Obama a couple of months ago. Still, was this photo op designed to generate buzz about a Jindal/Perry ticket in 2012? Sort of similar to the Clinton/Gore ticket. Two young guys from adjacent southern states taking on an incumbent...

The caption should read... "Rick and Bobby discuss plans to jointly secede and form an independent nation known as Texaliana."

Sean Hannity endorses Rick??

One of Rick's crew sent an audio file and later this video with this message (link)...

"sounds like an endorsement, no?"

Rick made an interesting tweet too (link)...

Sean continues to stand up for conservative values....and our reelection, I might add!!!

Rick also went on Hannity's radio show earlier this week and Hannity endorsed him over Kay on the air. I can't post just the audio but I have heard it and it sounds legit.

The transcript (link)...

Perry: “I greatly appreciate you standing up and endorsing my candidacy for governor. Come on down to Texas any time, brother.”

Hannity: “Well we appreciate it governor. Thanks for being with us. Geraldo’s a good guy, but I was trying to explain to him — but he’s also supporting Kay Bailey Hutchison.”

Perry: “True, he’s on the wrong side of that thing. But you know what, if I gotta pick between Sean Hannity and Geraldo, I’m going to stick with you every day.”

I report. You decide.

How liberals view Rick and Kay...

Rick is Jefferson Davis...



And Kay is Abe Lincoln...


Not very flattering for either of them.

Courtesy of Mother Jones (link).

Kay gets behind Rick's wildfire disaster declaration...

The Abilene newspaper has the story (link). Excerpts follow...

WASHINGTON -- Two senators from Texas have gotten behind Gov. Rick Perry's plea for federal disaster aid for Callahan and six other Texas counties because of wildfires.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, an expected challenger to Perry in the upcoming election, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn are urging President Obama to issue a major disaster declaration for the counties.

The Republican senators are asking Obama to respond to the governor's request for aid to individuals, businesses and local governments.

"The declaration is critical to ensuring that important recovery assistance is made available to the residents of Texas who have suffered as a result of these fires," the senators said in a letter to the president.

A combination of drought and strong winds has been catastrophic for hundreds of homeowners, businesses and communities, the letter dated Friday said.

Perry requested a major disaster declaration last week for the counties, noting wildfires have chewed up more than 400,000 acres, destroyed 200 homes and injured or killed a multitude of livestock, a news release said.

The governor's office is still awaiting approval for the major disaster declaration request, Katherine Cesinger, spokeswoman, said Monday.

For individuals, Perry is seeking housing assistance, legal services, unemployment assistance, crisis counseling and Small Business Administration loans.

Perry also asked for reimbursement for state and local governments for positioning equipment and manpower for the fires, as well as help with debris removal and emergency measures.

One thing I have heard about from Rick and some members of the state lege is a bill that would create Texas' own disaster fund to deal with situations like wildfires and hurricanes. I love the idea of Texas being able to deal with its own natural disasters without waiting around and whining about the feds being too slow, year after year. We are Texans, darn it.

Rick pushing for gaming industry in Texas...

GamePolitics has a blog up about Rick's move and the gaming industry (link). Excerpts follow...

When not making bizarre references to seceding from the United States, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is good friend to the video game industry.

The Guv, who delivered last year's E3 keynote in Los Angeles, today signed into law HB 873. The bill increases the amount of state grants available to video game, film and other digital media production companies.

As reported by the San Marcos Daily Record, Perry was enthusiatic about the legislation at the bill signing ceremony:

With this legislation, we are strengthening our state’s investment in a vital industry that not only shows off our state to the rest of the world, but also draws investment and creates jobs for Texans.

ESA CEO Mike Gallagher praised Perry via press release:

I commend Governor Rick Perry and the Texas state legislature for recognizing the contributions that the video game industry already has made in the state, and for acting quickly and decisively to ensure that the industry has the opportunity to reach its full potential. Today, Texas showed its strong willingness to stay competitive with other states that are seeking to attract video game developers and publishers.

KVUE has a video report on the bill signing.

I didn't realize Rick was such a big supporter of the video game industry in Texas. He gave the keynote for E3 last year? That's sort of out of place, no?

One of the comments in that blog is pretty funny...

Re: Texas Guv Puts Secession Plans on Hold, Signs Game Biz ...

Submitted by Saladin - April 23, 2009 at 3:20 pm -0500

As a Texan, I'm all for seceding from the U.S. and building an unholy video game empire!

*Cough* Er... what I MEANT to say is that this is great for game companies and gamers alike. Yes. That's just what I meant. *Eyes the rest of the comments board suspiciously*

Liberal bloggers getting irritated with Kay for passivity...

As a rule, Kay and all politicians should take advice from blogs. Not liberal blogs though. Conservative blogs. Liberal blogs all seem to have a strong opinion about how Kay is not doing enough and how Rick will win. Brains and Eggs agrees with former Kay staffer James Bernsen's view that Rick is tearing it up and Kay is loafing (link). Off the Kuff put up a blog about this yesterday (link). Excerpt follows...

Obviously, I'm a bystander to this fight. They're not competing for my vote, and they don't have any particular reason to care how I view them. So with that noted, let me say that this is looking a lot like a one-sided battle so far. Perry has been on the offensive, and has thrown all of the punches. I find it fascinating how little KBH has had to say about things like Perry's rejection of the UI stimulus funds and more recently his whole bizarre secession obsession. I can understand the former - she did vote against the stimulus package, after all - but the latter just confounds me. Is that really what the GOP base is about these days? Is she really not capable of drawing a distinction between herself and Perry on stuff like this? Or does she perhaps think that it's better to give Perry as much rope as he needs to hang himself. Staying quiet for now, not just on stupid things like secession but on just about everything - sending out tough-sounding fundraising letters doesn't really count - may be the smart thing to do, but it sure strikes me as a deep position to take. Just seems like a risky strategy to let your opponent define the terms of the debate.

That's my outsider's view, anyway. I'll add that while Perry is clearly taking the initiative, and is spending a bunch of time talking to his natural allies, it's not clear to me that he's reaching out beyond the base he already has. We know a substantial number of Republicans refused to vote for him in 2006. Have any of his antics brought them back into his camp, or have they reinforced the reasons why they abandoned him in the first place? I have no idea, and I doubt that publicly-available polling data will give us any insight.

And I still think KBH is going to do whatever it is she's going to do for her campaign without resigning from the Senate. I think she's boxed in on that, from her junior colleague Sen. Cornyn as well as from Perry, who I continue to believe would bash her relentlessly for putting the Senate in play for a filibuster-proof Dem majority. That, unlike the secession crap, is something that I think would play for a much wider audience.

Note to Kay: Don't fall into the trap of caring what the liberal blogs say. They are brilliant at baiting Republicans into trying to appease them. Don't go down that road.

Jason Embry unwittingly makes Rick's case that he is a fiscal disciplinarian...

Jason Embry is on my daily reading list, but people from Rick's camp and Kay's camp alike sent messages to me about today's First Reading (link). The pro-Kay correspondence was all about how this undermines Rick's argument on rejecting an expansion of unemployment insurance. The pro-Rick correspondence was all about how Embry's blog makes Rick's case for him that Rick has been a budget hawk, cutting wherever and whenever he can.

You decide for yourself...

The lead

Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday re-stated his opposition to legislation that would allow the state to accept federal stimulus dollars for expanded unemployment programs. A key part of Perry’s argument is that once Texas expands the pool of people who are eligible for unemployment benefits, there will be no changing the program back to its current guidelines. (While the federal stimulus law says that states cannot insert a sunset provision that would automatically end the expanded benefits at a certain point, state legislatures can choose to revert back to the previous parameters of their programs).

“I’ve never seen anything generally done away with once it becomes law so I wouldn’t think this one would be any different,” Perry told a gaggle of reporters after a speech Wednesday.

I asked Perry about 2003, when lawmakers famously cut a number of programs in order to cope with a $10 billion budget shortfall.

“Ronald Reagan said that there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary government program,” Perry responded. “I think that is a very wise statement and I will stand by that. Cutting government programs that are put in place that are entitlements are almost impossible to change.”

Is it almost impossible to cut a government program?

In 2001, the Legislature created a $1,000 stipend for teachers to pay for health insurance. In 2003, the Legislature cut it back to $500. And in 2006, it was rolled into teachers’ salaries to help lawmakers and Perry inflate the size of a teacher pay raise.

Between 2003 and 2007, the Legislature cut the utility assistance program for low-income Texans from $150 million to $15 million.

The Legislature created the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Texas in 1997. In 2003, the Legislature cut vision, dental and mental health benefits, while increasing the frequency with which families had to enroll.

Lawmakers cut payments to doctors seeing Medicaid and CHIP patients in 2003.

You get the idea. And Perry said when announcing that he would not accept the stimulus dollars, “Texas overcame a $10 billion deficit in 2003 because we decided to reduce government spending,” Perry said in March.

Said House Democratic Leader Jim Dunnam, “The governor didn’t have any difficulty repealing CHIP eligibility and throwing 250,000 children off of health insurance. Maybe he has amnesia.”

In a lot of ways, the pro-Kay message was a general election message, and the pro-Rick message was a primary message. I am more concerned about the primary right now, considering the latest polls showing both Rick and Kay obliterating a Democrat in the race.