By DOTTY NIST
“The greatest and the best days of America are in front of us,” former Texas Governor Rick Perry told an enthusiastic group of Walton County Republicans on March 18 at Cantina Laredo in Grand Boulevard.
Visiting in the area, Perry was featured speaker at a joint luncheon meeting of the Walton Republican Women Federated (WRWF) and the South Walton Republican Club (SWRC). He arrived to a warm welcome, looking fit and confident.
Perry had served as Texas governor for almost 15 years when he left office in January after opting not to seek another term.
In 2011 he had joined a broad field of contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.
Whether Perry would run for president in the upcoming elections was the question on everyone’s lips at the luncheon, but he was noncommittal on that issue.
When asked if he had given any thought to running, Perry responded, “I think about it every day.”
Speaking of his run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Perry acknowledged that his front runner status had been fleeting—“three of the most glorious hours of my life,” he smiled.
The former governor admitted that when he had stepped on stage for the debates, “I wasn’t prepared.” He observed that in hindsight it had not been a good idea to jump into a campaign while still in recovery from major back surgery. He had undergone surgery in July 2011 and had announced his candidacy the following month.
Tellingly, perhaps, Perry made the prediction that the next Republican nominee for president “will be an executive” with plenty of experience to draw from.
His remarks to the club members included the topics of the economy, border security, immigration, foreign policy, energy policy, and voter ID laws.
“I’m an optimist about this country,” Perry told the group, despite one out of five children in the U.S. now relying on food stamps. He credited his state for creating 1.5 million jobs between December 2007 and December 2014.
“When America is stronger economically, the world is safer. Ronald Reagan understood that,” Perry said.
“Wouldn’t it be a good thing if the federal government actually secured the border between the United States and Mexico?” he asked.
The president may say that more money and manpower than ever are being devoted to border security, and that may be the case, Perry continued, but there is a failure by the federal government to focus resources on areas where the most people are entering illegally, he contended.
Along the approximately 1,800-mile long border, 54 percent of all apprehensions occur in 150-mile-long section in the southern part of Texas, Perry detailed.
“You fish where the fish are,” he told the group.
Perry contended that Americans do not trust the government to deal with immigration “until the border is secure.”
“I can do that…in short order,” Perry pledged.
He spoke in favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which was vetoed by President Obama in February. Perry maintained that the project would create “a huge number of jobs,” and also “a secure energy resource.”
Perry advocated lowering the corporate tax rate. Doing this would result in higher wages for workers and increase their children’s ability to pursue their education, he maintained.
In response to a question, Perry went on record in favor of voter ID laws. He said he had been required to show an ID for entrance to the recent annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C., which was attended by President Obama. “I didn’t have a problem with it,” Perry said.
“Thank God Bibi won,” he said in reference Netanyahu’s victory in the Israeli elections this month.
Iran should be told “you cannot have access to a nuclear weapon, ever, period,” Perry urged.
“ISIS could have been stopped in Syria had we funded the rebels,” he continued, criticizing the president for his lack of action at that point.
“Putin was watching,” Perry noted, reasoning that the Russian president had concluded that intervention into Crimea and Ukraine by his country would not be a problem.
Perry expressed excitement at what could occur with new leadership in the federal government. He challenged the local Republicans with making a “good choice” over the next 1 1/2 years for a candidate who “can put America back on track.”
“The future of this country is right here in this room,” Perry told attendees, “and in rooms like this all over the country.” He thanked the club members for their efforts.
