LatinaLista — Texas Governor Rick Perry’s announcement today that he was suspending his presidential campaign wasn’t a big surprise. For a man who is used to dominating the political campaigns he’s involved in, this has been, as some Texans think, a much-needed kick in the ass of a guy who has gotten too comfortable in Austin and too arrogant in his ways.
Perry said a lot of wrong things while campaigning for the GOP nomination and though he still gets border security facts wrong, doesn’t know Juarez is on the Mexican side of the border and not the US side, and thought an endorsement from the infamous Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio would help him in his campaign (duh), Perry did do one thing right — he stood up for undocumented students in Texas and their right to pay in-state tuition.
Though Perry wanted so badly to join that Tea Party clique on the campaign trail, it was his views on providing in-state tuition that made him an outcast. It was a message that hit home especially hard for Perry this week after he heard that in his own home state of Texas, a national meeting of social conservatives in Houston had voted to throw their support behind Santorum, a staunch critic of the undocumented.
So, in a lot of respects it’s not at all surprising that Perry has endorsed Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination. One outcast to another. Both men have been the only two nominees to stand up to their party and to their opponents and call them out for such narrow-minded, “heartless,” and cruel views on the undocumented.
Rumors are circulating that Perry is now open to campaigning for Gingrich. In turn, Gingrich asked Perry to help out on an initiative he wants to start called the 10th Amendment Enforcement Project. Perry agreed.
For all his gaffes and good ol’boy style, Perry’s defense of undocumented students for in-state tuition proved to be a defining stand for the Texas governor, even though it may have been his Alamo as well.
