CBS Looks at ‘Cost’ and ‘Tragedy’ of Rick Perry’s Refusal to Raise Taxes, Skips Anti-ObamaCare Ruling
Friday night’s CBS Evening News examined Rick Perry’s record in Texas, citing his claims his policies led to job creation but then pivoting to how “Perry's bedrock pledge to never raise taxes also had a reckoning this year.”
Reporter Wyatt Andrews relayed liberal claims that “with taxes not an option, the state cut deeply into health care and so deeply into education, some 49,000 teachers are being laid off.” He prompted a teacher: “Do you see a Texas miracle?” She retorted, “No, I see a Texas tragedy” as Andrews related that she “calls her layoff the cost of low taxes.”
(For the 49,000 number, CBS’s on-screen graphic credited the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a left-wing advocacy group.)
Online, the CBS Evening News page on CBSNews.com plugged video of the Andrews story by stressing the negative:
The cost of Rick Perry’s success in Texas.
While CBS made time for Perry’s detractors, the network’s evening newscast didn’t utter a word about a major setback for ObamaCare, a federal appeals court ruling which earned short items Friday night on ABC’s World News and the NBC Nightly News. The Washington Post’s summary of the relevance of the ruling:
A federal appeals court Friday struck down a central provision of the 2010 health-care law, ruling that Congress overstepped its authority by requiring virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance.
The divided three-judge panel from the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta is the first appellate court to rule against any portion of the statute. The decision marks a significant victory for the 26 Republican attorneys general and governors who challenged the health-care law on behalf of their states.
From the Friday, August 12 CBS Evening News:
SCOTT PELLEY: Rick Perry, joining the race tomorrow, is the longest-serving Governor in the nation. He won re-election last year by a wide margin. He's 61 years old, married to his childhood sweetheart and graduated from Texas A&M. Perry is going to have a big effect on this race, so we asked Wyatt Andrews to look at his record on the Texas economy.
WYATT ANDREWS: It's his most important accomplishment, and one Texas-sized claim.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: Texas continues to lead the nation in job creation.
ANDREWS: Some call this the Texas miracle, but with Rick Perry as Governor, the state has added hundreds of thousands more jobs than any state by far and in a country desperate for jobs, this issue -- and Perry's claim that he deserves the credit -- sets him apart.
ANDREWS TO JEFF BROWN: So you're hiring?
JEFF BROWN, EA VIDEO GAMES: We're hiring. We can't hire people fast enough.
ANDREWS: Jeff Brown, of California-based EA video games, says the company is adding 300 jobs in Austin, Texas, partly because of low cost but also because of Perry's three trips to persuade EA to move.
BROWN: They've come to us specifically in the company and said, you know, “what do you need, tell us what you need?” and for the most part they followed through on it.
ANDREWS: Perry calls his formula simple.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: This isn't, you know, rocket science. You keep the taxes relatively low, you have a regulatory climate that is fair.
ANDREWS: But Perry also got lucky when high oil prices boosted energy-related jobs, and his critics point to another figure. Texas' high unemployment rate, at 8.2 percent, is one point below the national rate daunting President Obama. Perry's bedrock pledge to never raise taxes also had a reckoning this year when his budget faced a $27 billion shortfall. With taxes not an option, the state cut deeply into health care and so deeply into education, some 49,000 teachers are being laid off.
ANDREWS TO RACHEL ZERTUCHE: Do you see a Texas miracle?
RACHEL ZERTUCHE: No. I see a Texas tragedy.
ANDREWS: Rachel Zertuche, a veteran middle school teacher, calls her layoff the cost of low taxes.
ZERTUCHE: Realize that your child will be in a classroom that will have a larger number of students. Your child will have less individual time with their teachers. So, you know, everything comes at a price.
ANDREWS: Perry now enters this race as both a Tea Party and evangelical conservative. A man so religious he once asked Texans to play for three days for rain. So, Scott, he needs to push and to sell this jobs issue to appeal to voters in the middle.
- Brent Baker's blog
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Comments
Public Education
Submitted by JustAl on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 9:31am.
Is a complete failure and needs to simply be scrapped. Maybe getting rid of the Dept. of Education would work as a band aide, but results driven privatization of education, without unions, is the only answer. Those who want an education and are willing to work for it shouldn't be burdened with those who are forced to go through the motions, draining resources and causing disruptions.
I live in a high tax area in TX, our school system is ridiculously over funded. If you want to salvage what you can of public education get rid of all, that's right all athletic programs. The school here consistently under performs academically, . . . but has an indoor football practice facility the Dallas Cowboys have "borrowed" from time to time.
I am NOT a Perry fan, and will vote Libertarian if he is the GOP candidate, but the mess that is education in this state and country can not be laid at his door.
Your vote is yours, however a
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 3:30pm.
Your vote is yours, however a Libertarian vote is a vote for Obama. I don't want Perry either but if he is the GOP candidate then I will pull the lever GOP. I too am in Texas and the problem with the primaries is Texas only gets the leftovers while the Yankees pick the RINO's
Nonsense
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 4:21pm.
His vote for a Libertarian is a vote for a Libertarian.
The two major parties would have us believe that so we don't look for alternatives and they can manage a two-horse race. The FEC -- controlled equally by Democrats and Republicans -- even rigs the debate rules to keep fresh voices out.
I myself will not vote for any candidate from the two major parties because those institutions are corrupt beyond repair.
Obama Would Be The Lessor Evil
Submitted by JustAl on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 5:24pm.
If the GOP nominates another big government type like Perry or Romney. The TEA party can at least gridlock Obama in Congress because I have little doubt we will gain strength there. But if we all just hold our nose and go along with another "business as usual" GOP elite then we have zero chance for things to improve, absolute zero. If the GOP doesn't nominate small government candidates they deserve to loose, maybe loosing a few more will convince them that the "hobbits" have a point.
Yours is the same tired line I heard when I voted for Perot. Somehow it's my fault Clinton got elected. The fact that the GOP didn't nominate someone who would stick by their fiscal guns, "read my lips" had nothing to do with it, right?
Political parties have products called, "candidates" if the product isn't good value, the voter should shop elsewhere.
Good evening JustAl
Submitted by cocodrie on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 5:31pm.
Obama isn't even a lesser evil to this country than old satan himself.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
Get some help!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 6:18pm.
You must not have been in this country for the last 3 years. The idea of 4 more years of this usurper in chief, this dictator in chief, should scare the hell out of anyone. If you want that, you can have it, but not in this country.
Tell you what, if any of the GOP candidates become president, do you want to go to a different country? We won't stop you.
-Jon
Maybe
Submitted by JustAl on Sun, 08/14/2011 - 8:59am.
You should read what I wrote and think like a conservative instead of reacting emotionally like a liberal. This isn't a football game, having an "R" by the wrong guy's name if he pushes bigger government doesn't help. An Obama gridlocked by a TEA party controlled congress is, in fact, a lessor evil than a big government republican with the support of congress.
Wake up and smell the TEA, the establishment gop, of which Rick Perry is a member, has compromised us into this position. Business as usual types LIKE YOU, who put party above Constitutional small government are as big a part of the problem as the open socialists like His "O"lliness.
Tell you what, if you elect another Business as usual, "Read my Lips", "Sacrificed free market principles to save them", big spending, nation building GOP elite, I'll still be here and you can kiss it. My son spent a year in Iraq and is in Afghanistan now, not making war on our enemies, but playing "nation builder" trying to protect those that would sell us out for a dollar from those who would do it for free. All because a liberal masked as a republican decided "nation building" was the thing to do. I've had enough of two parties that are buddies behind the scene then incite those who don't know any better in public. I'm guessing your a big fan of pro wrestling to? Because that's as real as the difference between the establishment GOP and the establishment Dems.
Imagine, if you will,
Submitted by UpNorth on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 9:32am.
what the revenues and employment figures would be, if this president would just get out of the way of real energy independence, and the EPA would just get out of the way, period.
Bring a soldier home...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 9:37am.
...start a new oil well here.
Jan 21, 2009. The tree
Submitted by Zippy on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 7:27pm.
Jan 21, 2009. The tree huggers sued in Fed. court, to shut down, new construction of 8 new Power Plants in MI.
MI has an unemployment. rate of 10.5%. It would be a lot less.
Half of these power plants, were to replace, older coal fired plants.
Reason for the suit. Coal fired is not clean enough.
Andrews related that she “calls her layoff the cost of low taxes
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 9:35am.
No, her layoff is the result of tax paying citizens no longer being able to afford to employ her.
"a veteran middle school teacher,"
Submitted by NeoKong on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 9:44am.
She not only talks the talk but can walk the walk pilgrim.
It's about the duality of man or something.
She has been right there with her nose up close to the harsh reality of risking it all to educate little teenage children.
I heard she got recommended for a Silver Star.
M-I-C-....K-E-Y.... M-O-U-S-E
What is this..?
Submitted by NeoKong on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:02am.
Time Life books.....? "A man so religious he once asked Texans to play for three days for rain.
" A man so ornery he once shot a man....just for snoring.
Ok, now somebody needs to
Submitted by Maestroh on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:16am.
Ok, now somebody needs to explain this to me.
Perry, who has been governor since 2000, does NOT deserve credit for what happened during those 12 years? And Obama does NOT deserve the blame for what has happened during his three.....yet Perry is supposed to take the BLAME while not getting the credit?
Rick Perry is a photo
Submitted by The Glen on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:30am.
Rick Perry is a photo negative of Obama in just about every way.
Public School Teachers Have Stoped Progress
Submitted by Avitar on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:32am.
What we know about teaching today is five times what was known before the Civil War. Our student results are half of what they were then. Some experts believe that a twelve times improvement is now possible with the creation of teaching software.
Where would the Unions be then? If third grade becomes the highest grade a masters of teaching covers.
Education system a joke
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:52am.
The public education system is an absolute joke. It'd be funny if it weren't tragic. Hell, I wonder if it's too far gone to get people to understand the real facts as opposed to all this politically correct BS they are feeding the kids these days. Private schools seem to be the way to go except not a whole lot of people can afford them, so you'd be better off being home-schooled. Only problem with that is that what if the parents are of such a liberal bent....oh wait, if they were, there wouldn't be any home schooling. Nevermind.
With what we have going on today, there's no easy answer to this crappy situation we find ourselves in today. In terms of costs, this cutting teachers out is a viable one because the parents aren't getting anything for their taxpayer dollars(the ones paying taxes that is). But you still have the problem of schooling that needs to be done and thus are left with overcrowding situations. The biggest culprit in this IS the department of Education, there's been far too much money thrown at it and far too many liberalistic ideas behind it that it does need to be abolished.
From what I can tell, these days schools aren't anything even remotely like what they were 20-30 years ago. It took that long to get that way and it'll take that long, provided steps are taken and followed, to repair it. But this country may be too far gone to make it that easy.
Because of that situation with the country being ruled by a despot, and God knows what's going to happen in the next few weeks let alone the next election cycle, the states have to go into survival mode and try to do what's best for their people instead of the nation. Some states are taking the right steps, the others are not and looking for more government handouts. Texas has already been thrown to the wolves not one but several times by this bogus potus, we know we can't rely on the federal government for....well, for anything.
We are living in real tough times right now. There are choices that have to be decided on in order to survive as a nation and in individual states. Most people don't realize that we're on the edge of a precipice that it'll take a gentle breeze to knock us off. Raising taxes isn't going to fix this.
-Jon
It's sick.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 10:56am.
There is something perverse about the insistence of small classes so students have more time with teachers. Schools are all about the economy of scale. One teacher teaches a bunch of students from a standardized textbook. This saves individual families time and money in teaching each one of their children in a non-standardized classroom with individual teachers teaching one or a handful of students.
...pupil-teacher ratios have shrunk nationally for at least the last six decades, yet there have been no quantifiable improvements to student achievement nationally or in individual states, including Michigan. Indeed, student performance in the United States lags behind many industrialized nations where class sizes are substantially greater.
These facts don't prevent the public school establishment from continuing to push for smaller classes (and thus more teachers), but the costs here would be prohibitive. Given no change in the current level of teacher salary and benefits, reducing student-teacher ratios in Michigan by 10 percent (from 22.6 to 20.3) would cost taxpayers some $1.3 billion, or $850 per pupil. The state would have to boost combined school revenues from personal income taxes and the 6 mill state education property tax by one-third to afford this extra expense. Reducing class sizes to 15, (as in the STAR experiment and advocated by teachers unions) would more than triple the amount needed.
It is sick.
There is no real teacher problem in this country....
Submitted by nonncom on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 11:19am.
but there is a parent problem in this country.....remember 40 years ago when the student was sent home with a discipline notice and the parents were outraged at the student instead of the teacher?....remember the parents being upset with the student when a parent teacher conference was called because of bad behavior?.....remember the parent teacher relationship as a partnership versus adversarial?....the teachers can only do so much....the parents need to take it from there....BTW, a lot of teacher's unions had the chance to save the jobs of their contemporaries, but voted to keep policies like not contributing to healthcare, or not contributing to retirement funds....or refusing to take a 3% pay cut to save jobs....in short, there is a lot of waste that does not include teachers.....start at the top....lean down school administration, starting at the county level right into the individual school offices....get rid of assistants to assistants....I remember the county school administration building having a few offices and 3 secretaries....now it's the Taj Mahal that is so inefficient it can't get out of it's own way....go back to basic fundamental schools and get rid of the fancy programs....they obviously don't work anyway....here in Florida, the Fundamental Schools have been set up to be publicly funded private schools for the upper income folks....the rules are set up so that lower income families cannot meet the criteria....there's a wealth of wasted funds right there....if a kid is a discipline problem, or can't keep up the grades, or the parents can't participate in daily classroom activities, your child is sent back to the regular school....oh, and don't forget, there's no busing, you have to drop the kids off and pick them up....narrows the field pretty well, huh....I'm amazed there has been no backlash from the poor or minorities....a whole sector of public education set aside by the rules for those well enough off to be able to take things like personal days for their kids school, and in a position to be able to drop the kids off and pick them up....teachers are lining up like flies to a dead possum because they are guaranteed not to have any discipline problems, and the rules require parents to participate....pity the poor teachers who are saddled with the rest, and are still expected to produce the results that gain the school an A rating....many problems with education....teachers are the least of them....politics, policies, and leadership are the biggest problems.....
nonncom
Submitted by milootoole on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 11:46am.
I cannot believe it--someone else calls it the Taj Mahal. You are absolutely correct. It is the parents, more than the teachers. My friend works as a technical support person in a school district. He told me that the teachers had little or no authority over the students and that they had an ISS, In School Suspension system as a first step in discipline.
The parents go to the school board meetings. The arguments are unbelievable, but they have one thing in common. They all want to build schools that rival the Taj Mahal in architectural splendor, with facilities that rival the best of the best.
One superintendent tried to get a laptop for every student. It would, per his logic, make the kids smarter and they would study more. Other states and districts results showed little or no improvement for most who had tried it. The one success story they used to try to sell the program was not quite the success story after another year.
Learning clearly takes a second place. I am at odds with the teachers' unions, but, it may sound strange, not with the teachers individually. With little control over the students, the look for the best and brightest and hope the others will at least stay out of trouble until they graduate.
We, in this school district, are living with a special sales tax so that they can put artificial turf on all the athletic fields. --and don't ya know--the old sales pitch--"it's for the children's safety. How can you deny them??"
Add to that the expense of the ESOL program and the harm the American kids suffer to slow the pace for the non-English language students, and , all around, public school is a losing proposition.
Whether it is everyday government or school administration, there are few people who can be assigned responsibility for great amounts of taxpayers money who do not succumb to the "Taj Mahal" syndrome.
Didja ever wonder how Abraham Lincoln got so smart in a log cabin school??
maine did the laptop stuff too
Submitted by dmacleo on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 1:40pm.
and some want ipads now
what a friggin joke.
I wish they would get their
Submitted by okie-pastor on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 11:27am.
I wish they would get their narrative straight. I read one left article that said Perry created jobs in Texas but they were, heaven forbid: "Wal-Mart" jobs.
I would rather have a wal-mart job in Texas than sitting on a street corner with a tin cup in California.
Ditto.
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 12:10pm.
I'm not ashamed to do it either, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, whatever, if I didn't have the job I have now, and I needed one, I'd go to those places, work any hours, whatever as long as I can get bills paid and food in the fridge.
I know some guys that would rather be working a part time job instead of collecting welfare, they get ashamed at the idea of taking someone else's money. Guess that doesn't qualify them to be socialists.
-Jon
Pride
Submitted by Joe W. on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 2:13pm.
That's called "Pride", Jon. It's what we USED to have in America. It's the stuff that made for "American Exceptionalism". I recall, growing up in the 1950s, my Dad would say, "I don't care if you grow up to be a ditch digger..just be the best damned ditch digger you can be." Of course, back then, ditch diggers didn't earn a hundred grand a year like now. The point is, that if a person was able to, he went out and worked for his keep. Not anymore, it appears...and America is the worse off for it.
Amen. Joe Everyone wants a
Submitted by okie-pastor on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 2:27pm.
Amen. Joe
Everyone wants a job but no one wants to work.
Weren't McDonald's Jobs GOOD not more than a year ago
Submitted by ironchefofmunchies on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 12:06pm.
I seem to recall a huge splurge of hiring by McDonalds not that long ago. THOSE numbers seemed important to the administration at the time, as it did cover the unemployment epidemic for a month.
Heck the Obama administration
Submitted by ThePickle on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 12:33pm.
Heck the Obama administration tried to score points by claiming that the hiring of minimum wage, zero benefits, temporary, holiday workers was a sign of their commitment to, and success at, Job creation.
And this was AFTER they had been savaged by media outlets and commentators for trying to claim that all the temps they hired to do the census was a shining example of their "laser like focus" on jobs.
So let me get this straight..
Submitted by ThePickle on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 12:27pm.
Rick Perry's 8.2% unemployment rate in Texas, a whole point or more lower than the National average, is worrisome how?
He has a better record with job creation than the person he is seeking to replace (Obama) but this twit of a writer says that his record on job creation is a negative?
And by the direct actions of the current office holder I(Obama's ban on offshore drilling) the price of oil skyrockets, causes economic grief for nearly every American and does untold damage to our economy and this twit of a writer characterizes it as Rick Perry "getting lucky"?
The ironic thing is that I am sure with just a little bit of research I could show beyond a shadow of a doubt that this writer characterized the offshore dilling ban by Obama as "the right thing to do".
Obama does not ♥ Texas
Submitted by mom_rox on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 4:24pm.
(except for campaign donation$)
Aside from the offshore drilling ban and the delay in getting federal funds for the 3MM+ acres burned by the wildfires, thousands of white collar jobs have been or are being eliminated in the space industry.
Good news, mom_rox
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 4:33pm.
Federal Judge Throws Out Obama Drilling Rules
On the whole, a bad week for President Downgrade. Crazy markets, plummeting consumer confidence, Obamacare and Obamadrilling tossed out in court. On the upside, MOO was on vacation visiting her brother....so the "boys" could do whatever it is that they do.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
That means it's CHEESEBURGER TIME!
Submitted by mom_rox on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 6:25pm.
Hi B - your link was to an Onion piece. (nothing to do with drilling, but it was funny.)
Oops, sorry
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 6:56pm.
Someone sent me that, and of course, my e-mail opens into IE...but since I'm running 64 bit, YouTube won't play correctly so I have to copy over to FF. Go out in a blaze of GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's the correct link!
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
President Downgrade
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 6:35pm.
Love that one B. I'll be stealing it.
It's official
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 12:44pm.
We knew this was coming, but here's the official announcement as of today.
Perry makes it official
Now things are really going to get interesting.
I would LOVE to see a debate between him and Soetoro himself. No teleprompters for the manchild either or pre-approved questions.
For that matter, I'd love to see anyone debate that manchild.
-Jon
I'd call getting rid of 49,000 government agent union goon...
Submitted by Dave. on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 7:24pm.
...indoctrinators a good start.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Idiots in the press do not understand Texas law.
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 8:04pm.
Putting an income tax into place has been a Democrat fantasy for years. Problem is, it will never happen given the politics in this state. Income taxes were proposed many times, but have been rejected at every turn. The GOP controls both houses of the legislature.
Among other things, in Texas:
1) The legislature meets only once for up to 140 days in every odd numbered year after the elections.
2) Governor can call special sessions by proclamation for up to 30 days, but the legislature can only act on the governor's agenda. No monkey business is allowed, e.g. acting on matters other than what the session is called to do.
3) The Texas constitution requires an income tax to be approved statewide by voters - that will not happen anytime soon.
4) Texas legislators are only paid for the time they spend in session (general or special) and receive no other money.
Like other states, we have a balanced budget requirement and a limit on state debt. The legislature is required to balance the budget by whatever means are necessary, with the exception that new taxes are highly unlikely given how deeply Republican the state has become (with the exception of the People's Democratic Republic of Austin and the Democrat political machines down in the Rio Grande valley).
Perfect! Well done!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 08/13/2011 - 11:42pm.
You forgot the southern part of Texas by McCallen or Laredo but they are smaller democrat machines (hence the small d).
Other than that, you outlined perfectly one of the things that's so great about Texas, which is the legislature as determined by the State Constitution. Yeah, we get budget shortfalls, but given that it involves real revenue, as in state taxes, and not enough sales going on because of economy, that's no surprise that we had a shortfall recently.(for those of you non-Texans, that isn't the same as deficit like California)
Now if the DC Congress followed these same guidelines, worked like the Texas Legislature, imagine how many fewer stupid laws there would be for all these stupid things as well as all these damn regulations out there? I would bet you we wouldn't have had an ObamaCare even CONSIDERED. People like Frank, Dodd, Reid, Pelosi, all those other crooks wouldn't last long. Oh to DREAM of it!
But it is nothing but a dream.
Give you one example of a State version of a Federal law, the American Disabilities Act, versus the State of Texas Disability Act. It's the act that gives you guidelines on aiding anyone with special needs like ramps and so forth. The state's version is 4 pages shorter. How can you not love that? (Something I researched for a friend a few years ago involving ramps and required length versus height)
You are right about those idiots in the press, they are of the mindset that the law should be all-encompassing, gets so damn complicated that it's a frightening thing for them to think that we keep things simple in Texas, which is why they call us rednecks and simple-minded and etc.
Gotta love it. It's one of the reasons why I wouldn't consider living anywhere else unless it's like Texas.
-Jon
edit: I spoke too soon about the redneck comments. I didn't know that Prissy Matthews was already saying that kind of nonsense about calling Texas rednecks and etc. Check this out:
Chris Matthews blasts Texas
I wonder how many others will do the same.