[HOME ] [ABOUT] [PHOTOS] [VIDEO] [BLOG] [HOUSTON] [TEXAS] [U.S. NEWS] [WORLD NEWS] [SPORTS] [POP CULTURE] [CONTACT]
Gov. Rick Perry inauguration set for Jan. 18, 2011
by Joseph Ernest January 11, 2011
Newscast Media AUSTIN, TX -- After winning his third term for office, Gov. Rick Perry will be sworn in together with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, in Austin, Texas on January 18, 2011 on the South Steps of the State Capitol.
Generous donations that have poured in will allow attendees to enjoy a FREE Texas sized BBQ that will feature live music and entertainment, right after the swearing in ceremony. The Inaugural Evening Celebration which is an invitation-only event, will then take place at the Palmer Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
Click here to see highlights of Rick Perry inauguration. (pop-up)
Perry started his campaign in a three-way race that included Kay Bailey Hutchinson (KBH), Debra Medina, and the governor. At the early stages of the primaries, KBH was ahead in the polls, followed by Rick Perry, with Debra Medina trailing. However, the first debate, Medina appealed to the Tea Party movement and started gaining traction in the polls.
Perry realized had a serious problem. He had to find a way to contain both candidates, at the same time he also had to be sensitive with the way he attacked them that way he wouldn't come across as sexist or offensive to women voters. To neutralize KBH, Perry tied her to big government in Washington, and argued that Texas had the strongest economy in the entire country so we don't want "Washington insiders" meddling with what's already working. Perry didn't have to mention KBH's name, the voters got it.
As for Medina, Perry would brandish the most potent voice in the Tea Party movement -- Sarah Palin. See video below.
Videography by Joseph Earnest
After the Palin appearance, and being able to tie KBH to Washington, Perry would maintain his lead ahead of his competitors with only one message: If it aint broke, don't fix it. The strength of the economy and the number of businesses moving into Texas afforded Perry those bragging rights.
As for the general, Perry would go head-to-head with Bill White. Remember, Perry is a very astute politician, he has a way of attacking his adversaries without making it seem like he is attacking them. He also doesn't forget and often uses his opponent's words against them, which renders them defenseless.
When Obama first ascended to the presidency, Bill White took out a billboard sized ad that said, "The Dream The Hope The Change."
The ad that sank Bill White's campaign
The ad angered the black community because they felt Bill White was equating himself to Martin Luther King a civil rights activist, which they perceived as being presumptuous and opportunistic of White, since he has no record of being active in the civil rights movement.
The ad is something that would haunt Bill White for the rest of the campaign to a point where he refused to meet Obama on August 9, 2010 when he traveled to Texas. Knowing that Obama is unpopular in Texas, White distanced himself from the man he once associated himself with by saying, "I don't use national figures as surrogates for me. I tend to campaign for myself."
Perry saw an opening and just as he succeeded in tying KBH to Washington, Perry tied White to Obama and everything he stands for. There was absolutely no way White could get away from this, no matter how hard he tried. The image of the ad spoke for itself. The ad had been published in a black newspaper and Perry had cleverly clipped it, knowing he might need it someday. When the time was right, all Perry had to do was throw the ad back at Bill White and ask, "How do you like it now?"
White didn't like it and was thrown off-balance -- he literally spent almost his entire campaign trying to convince voters that he was not Barack Obama. To this very day, Bill White cannot understand how the longest serving governor in Texas was able to convince Texans that Bill White was the insider, and Perry was the outsider, yet White was only mayor. Bill White is also still baffled as to how Rick Perry was successful in convincing Texans that Bill White was Barack Obama despite Bill White being melanin-challenged. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of it all for White is that Texans actually believed that Bill White was Barack Obama and ended up dismissing him, voting 55 percent for Perry while 42 percent for White.
The biggest slap in the face for Bill White was when Perry refused to debate him. Rick Perry demanded that White release all his tax returns before any debate could occur. When White released only part of the returns, Perry said the debate would not happen unless White released everything. White then traveled throughout the state telling Texans that Rick Perry had denied them a debate on the issues that really mattered to them.
When word got to Perry that White was accusing him before Texans that Perry had denied them a debate, Perry applied the art of persuasion in convincing Texans that it was actually Bill White who had denied them a debate. Perry reasoned saying, if Bill White wanted a debate he would have released the returns, but the reason White was sitting on the returns was because he didn't want the debate to happen. Perry wrote an open letter to Texans on April 3, 2010 saying, "For 54 days liberal trial lawyer Bill White has insulted Texans by refusing to release his income tax returns, making it impossible to know how he has profited from shady dealings during his years in public service. Now he is willing to deny Texans the opportunity to watch their candidates for governor debate one another by continuing to hide the truth about his personal finances. Bill White’s tax returns contain the truth about his career of shady business dealings, and if he has nothing to hide, he would match Gov. Perry’s standard of transparency and release his taxes, which Gov. Perry has done going back more than 20 years."
Voters believed Rick Perry and on November 2, they handed him the victory.
Bill White's numbers never changed from the beginning of the race because Perry forced White to spend his time during the entire campaign defending himself, while Perry spent his time focused on articulating his simple message which was: Create jobs; lower taxes; fight big government. Add Comments>>
|
|
Join the Newscast Media social networks
for current events and multimedia content.
Copyright© Newscast Media. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy