Texas Governor Rick Perry doesn't walk the walk (Berman sells out)

Maybe I’m confused.

I thought the governor of Texas was Rick Perry.

But he’s starting to sound like another R.P.: Ron Paul.

The more Perry talks about tea parties, states’ rights, limited government and defying Washington, the more he seems to be playing for the 70,000 Texas voters who backed Paul, a Republican U.S. representative, for president.

Paul’s former state campaign manager is now running against Perry for governor. She agreed.

"It’s awfully ironic, isn’t it?" Wharton Republican Debra Medina said Friday, laughing over the phone from Austin.

"The governor is great at blowing smoke. He knows how to talk conservative values and principles. Then when he gets elected, he goes right back to big-government principles."

In his latest chess move against his Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry made another bid for independent and libertarian votes last week, telling WBAP/820 AM radio host Mark Davis that healthcare is a "state issue" and that states should be "standing up and saying 'no’ " to a federal plan.

Sounding a lot like he did April 15 when he said Texas might secede from the U.S. ("Who knows?"), Perry said he’s "willing and ready for the fight" against Washington.

State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, a former gubernatorial candidate who recently endorsed Perry, said the governor is going after both Republicans and independents.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/columnists/bud_kennedy/sto...