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Cigar
07-10-2014, 01:47 PM
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Right After ‘Constructive’ Meeting On Border Crisis, Rick Perry Runs To Fox And Slams Obama


While Obama took the high road, pointing out his plans to fix this ongoing issue and speaking respectfully of Perry, the Texas Governor decided to go in a whole different direction. Governor Perry appeared on Fox News’ Hannity on Wednesday evening. As one would expect when appearing on a show with Sean Hannity, the President was the main focus of negative attention. Even though POTUS commended Perry just hours before and said that there was common ground that can be reached on a solution, Perry decided to slam the President. During the interview, not only did Perry make comparisons to Katrina, he also ridiculed his prior statements on al-Qaeda:

“I’m pretty sure that if George Bush had said ‘well I sent my FEMA director multiple times’ he still would have been criticized greatly. Because you need to go. That’s what governors do, that’s what presidents do. When there are natural disasters, when there are crises like these, a president needs to be there to show the American people number one that he understands…It’s the same president that said Al-Qaeda’s on the run and I don’t know whether he’s inept, or there’s something else going on, as I’ve said before. But the fact is, the border is not secure.”


I don’t even know why the President tries anymore. The fact is, men like Perry aren’t serious at all about governing or solving any actual problems. President Obama has sent over a bill to Congress that will request $3.7 billion in emergency funds to address the current crisis, which will involve increased border security among other things. Of course, the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the US Senate over a year ago also contains provisions for increased border security. However, House Republicans have repeatedly refused to vote on it because it actually addresses other real issues, like what to do with the 11 million+ undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

The thing is, this crisis really isn’t about border security. Currently, tens of thousands of children are detained. Why? Because border patrols caught them. More border security doesn’t address the issues going on in Central America. Even if you built a 700-mile double-walled fence all along the southern border, these children would still be fleeing the violent situations going on in their home countries. Moreover, there is a current law that states that children from certain Central American nations will be provided asylum if they reach the border. That law was signed by President George W. Bush in 2008 after being passed by Congress with bipartisan support.

In the end, Perry and other Republicans don’t care about any of this. It is all about framing anything and everything in such a way as to blame the President. For Perry, he has 2016 aspirations, despite his disastrous 2012 Presidential run. Therefore, he is going to say whatever he feels will energize his ‘base,’ which is little more than angry old racist white guys. It is why you see him floating conspiracy theories about how Obama has a plan to bring in millions of immigrants in order to make Texas blue and keep the White House in the hands of Democrats. It is also why Perry, along with many other Republicans, constantly harp about border security. It is an unsubtle way to demonize Hispanics, but effective when trying to drum up support among the ‘true conservatives.’


Rick Perry Really Really Wants the Border Crisis to Be Obama's Katrina
Texas Governor Rick Perry got his turn to speak about his meeting with President Obama on Wednesday night, hours after the president characterized the pair's roundtable immigration discussion as "constructive." Speaking on Fox News's "Hannity," (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/10/texas-gov-perry-illegal-immigrant-surge-humanitarian-crisis-obama-has-power-to/) Perry took the opportunity to say that President Obama was acting like George W. Bush after Katrina, because he didn't plan on visiting the Texas border during his trip this week. “I think about the criticism that George W. Bush received when he didn’t go to New Orleans Katrina, this is no different,” he said.

President Obama said on Wednesday (http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/watch-live-president-obamas-statement-on-the-humanitarian-situation-at-the-southwest-border/374196/) that he didn't plan a border trip this week because he was already addressing the crisis through proposing informed solutions to fix the problem, and didn't need a "photo op." "This isn't theater," he added. Perry told Fox host Sean Hannity that during his brief one-on-one meeting with Obama before the roundtable discussion, he explained why he wanted a presidential border visit anyway: "I really want you to come and see this because this is important for you to absorb as a father, but more importantly as President of the United States," Perry said he told Obama. The insinuation is a familiar one from critics of the president: Perry is making a character assessment about Obama's ability to "lead." That came up more directly later in the interview:

As I was discussing with him, I did a lot of listening, he let me know what the feeling is about these things, what the fixes were, I interjected where I could. The fact is, I don’t know whether he heard what I said. Because a leader acts, and what I haven’t seen out of this president are actions that make me think he understands what’s going on. It’s one of the reasons I want him to come to the border.”


“He needs to understand instinctively and intuitively and with his own two eyes what’s going on on the border,” Perry added to Hannity.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=N6-jZ0C3Dzw



Obama urges Congress to move quickly on border funds, pledges to consider Perry's requests (http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/07/gov-perrys-chat-with-obama-will-be-aloft-on-marine-one.html/)