“I’m running for president because I want to make life better for all people -- even those who don’t vote Republican,” he says in address to National Press Club. “I know Republicans have a lot to do to earn the trust of African Americans”
He says his party “found we didn’t need” the vote of blacks to win elections, but in not seeking their support “we lost our moral legitimacy as the party of Lincoln, as the party of equal opportunity for all”
His campaign platform will include a block grant for states that will give them added resources for anti-poverty programs that let them provide a safety net “that best serves citizens”
He wants to reform federal sentencing laws “just as we’ve done at the state level” and offer more help to nonviolent drug offenders who suffer from addiction
- “Americans that suffer from an addiction need help. They don’t need moral condemnation”
Perry also wants to improve schools and lift high school graduation rates among African Americans, and help make price of college education more accessible to them.
Reported by Bloomberg Politics.
I guess that gay marriage & Obamacare are kinda officially off the table, Pub candidates need new things to talk about?
ReplyDelete"Republicans have a lot to do to earn the trust of African Americans," said the former Texas governor, an acknowledgement of the party's "southern strategy" that dates from the 1970s and aimed to build a winning coalition by appealing to white voters who were alienated by the Democratic Party's championing of civil rights.
ReplyDeleteThe longest-serving governor of a state that borders Mexico and a population that is nearly 38 percent Hispanic, Perry also took a swipe at one of his Republican rivals, Donald Trump, saying that Trump's recent disparaging comments about Mexico and Mexican immigrants do not "reflect the Republican Party."
I'll admit, Perry will, at times, show a bit of a pragmatic streak, on his last point especially, I agree. I think there have been quite a few well intentioned programs to help AAs that have failed and indeed caused more harm than good. Still, full bore discrimination against black people hasn't done white people any favors. I don't really believe that younger people who consider themselves Republican are as racist as old white dudes who are bitter at the idea that America will no longer continue to look like a class portrait of Republican committee chairs (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/224621-house-gop-picks-all-male-slate-of-new-committee-chairs) Still, if Republicans want to see black people in America do better, they need to, at some point, be part of the solution that helps black people climb that ladder high enough to be wealthy enough to benefit from what Republicans are most in favor of, which is not paying any taxes.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteA shame the left couldn't get a few new talking points and get rid of some of the old.
DeleteRepublicans are most in favor of, which is not paying any taxes.
I can't find a democrat/liberal/progressive who is happy to write a check at the end of the year. Doesn't take every deduction possible to pay less taxes, writes a check to the government in excess of what they owe.
Just saying.
p.s. It was Obama ( with the help of the Repub house) who made permanent the BUSH tax cuts. What does that say about the Democrats?
Seems democrats want higher taxes on someone else (first). Warren Buffet comes to mind. Interesting he doesn't write a check to the IRS in excess of what he owes as he claims he pays to little.
DeleteI had to chuckle a bit that while you chide me for an aged talking point about taxes, that was the only thing you keyed in on in a comment that really wasn't about taxes. Me thinks you protest too much ;>
DeleteI have to admit that when I made better than 100k, I constantly bitched about taxes. I was living far better than people making much less than that, but I was fixated on the numbers. In my head, all I could see was that as I made more, a bigger percentage got taken away. Again, I still lived way better and with much more security than someone making less money and paying less percentage of taxes, but the fixation on the idea that I was making more and paying a higher percentage drove me batshit. High class problems.
I watched a documentary last night on HBO about people in Bangladesh who sell their kidney's to put food on the table. The return to the person selling the kidney? Less than 10 grand. It gives some perspective.
Perhaps I missed the taxes issue.
DeleteIt's interesting as I no longer have the drive to make more. When rolling with the corporate life, 125-150K a year was normal and went up a bit from there on occasion. My wife making over 100K pushed us into the area 50-80K a year depending on deductions. Moved into my own business and that dropped back to 100K average some years much higher, some much lower. Came to a point that I really had accumulated enough money and making less really didn't matter. The part that did matter is the government regulations, taxes that pushed me over the edge to lay off everyone. I am trying to get my wife to quit which will help in lowering the tax bracket further which is the goal as I really don't need a ton of money anymore and neither does this government.
As to the elderly comment. I have 2 cousins that sold all their parents belongings and moved them to a retirement home 200 miles from them. Split the proceeds from the sale between them. They were always coming up to visit the next weekend. Never made it to that next weekend. When ever I visited the state I would drive up and get a hotel and visit for a day or 2. One died then the next year the other died. The funeral service was 70 miles west of the nursing home and neither son attended. Imagine how they felt being abandoned by their children.
That's the part I see where we dump the elderly into a home and forget about them. Haven's seen or talked to either of them since then.