Rick Perry's gran problema Latino

by: Ben Sherman

Sat Jun 25, 2011 at 06:40 PM CDT

On Thursday, Perry went to San Antonio to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Before he arrived, Latino leaders, including hugely popular San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, slammed Perry and Texas Republicans for the deep harm that the current Legislative session has caused Texas Latinos.

The governor was met by a loud group of protesters outside the building. Once inside, Perry gave his standard conservative stump speech, seemingly oblivious to the group he was addressing. To his surprise, no one bought it. Perry was "frequently staring blankly at the audience when they failed to respond to his conservative applause lines," reports the Associated Press. "...The politicians and public policy professionals were unimpressed with his stock-speech touting the state's business-friendly climate."

Then, our dumbfounded governor doubled down on his failing charm. Referring to his appointment of Jose Cuevas to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Perry joked about how appropriately similar Cuevas' name is to Jose Cuervo, the tequila brand. In response, Perry "heard only the clink of forks on plates as he stared out at the crowd". Perry then "struggled to regain his confidence as he described Texas as a land of opportunity." Watch The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur break down the speech here.

Say it with me: "Fail!" Perry thinks his swagger can make anyone ignore his terrible record. Clearly, it can't.

Rick Perry is the leader of Texas Republicans' anti-Latino agenda. The 2011 Republican Legislature's passage of Voter ID, gratuitous bans on alleged sanctuary cities and deep cuts to public education has repulsed Latinos in Texas and across the nation.

Perry has alienated Latinos in a state where they make up 48% of the population. That's bad news for any potential candidate, especially one approaching the 2012 election when the Hispanic vote is expected to jump 26%.

As Perry approaches a decision on whether to run - and according to the Wall Street Journal, he's in -  Perry's Latino problem will become more of one.

A Case for Van de Putte for Governor

by: Robert Ryland

Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 02:39 AM CST

Que es esto? Phillip's recent post floating Sen. Leticia Van de Putte as a gubernatorial possibility made me pause in uffish thought for awhile today.   While I'd pondered her as a statewide before, it never really occurred to me to put her at the top of the list, but the post made me dig a little deeper and do some cipherin' (as my grandfather used to say).

My first thought was, damn that's a great media piece in the SA Current to start things off. Somebody in her camp has their act together - all the way down to the photos, which make her look tall and commanding and serious (as opposed to short and matronly), without sacrificing her femininity.  I like where this is going, PR-wise, if nothing else.

Then I thought some more, going down my mental list of vital candidate criteria and what a Democrat needs to knock off the jackals who currently control the machinery of our state gubmint...

I couldn't come up with a single weakness in her profile. Unless of course it's just not mathematically possible to elect a Latina as Texas Governor yet. My cursory reading of the numbers suggest that it's not out of the realm of possibility, given a combination of circumstances next year, but perhaps someone else can work over the numbers more closely and see what they yield. For the moment, I'm in love with the idea of this woman leading our cabal into the breach in 2010...and here's a few reasons why - (after the jump, if there is one around here...)