By raising states' rights at a tea bag event, then backing away ASAP assuring everybody it’s just really, really just a discussion about federalism and the role of local vs national government, has Governor Rick Perry sent his signal to those who hear it another way? It didn't stay off the radar, but if the message was received does he care? Some of us still vividly recall George Wallace flanked by Alabama State Troopers, and an era when states' rights was just the PC way to say "segregation is our vision."
Try surveying Texans on Memorial Day, or the 4th of July, and I guarantee they won't be talking about seceding, they're proud to be Americans. If you ask them about Bush cutting taxes on the rich while shorting armor for Americans in Iraq they won't defend him much more than anybody else in the GOP, either.
You might think it was just a ploy for exposure by their current Governor - Perry's back-walking the rhetoric as hard and fast as he can, certainly. But was it really a mistake, just a gaffe, or a just ploy for exposure? At a tea-party? More likely a staged sequence by a savvy politico.
If Rick Perry or his speech team was that inept he wouldn't be the Governor in the first place. States' Rights remains a politically correct way to alert white racists that even if they're a minority they're not alone, and Perry's scripted performance has planted the seeds. The GOP's most visible folks are steadily abandoning the values of moderate Americans.
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