Rick Perry is presently the governor of Texas. Much of the below is about his record in that position, as well as statements he made during is 2012 Presidential campaign. As a point of interest, the majority of his state does not support him running for President.
- Is presently facing charges for abusing power
- Is owned by AT&T
- Much like our local rep Marsha Blackburn
- Collected $90,000 a year in retirement benefits while still working
- So we should cut government spending everywhere except on Rick Perry
- Rejected free federal money to expand Texas' Medicaid program, meaning over 300,000 Texans (including 40,000 veterans) have been without insurance so Perry could make a political point
- But it's okay, Perry thinks everyone prefers going to the ER for all their medical needs
- ...because he thinks Texas has the best health care system in the country!
- Passed a bill requiring women to have ultrasounds before having an abortion
- And then passed another one effectively shutting down almost every abortion clinic in Texas
- Regardless of your moral position on abortion (which I hold to be tragic and in many cases a moral wrong), I don't hold that it's therefore morally correct to torment women who choose to have one; nor do I hold it to be correct for Perry to pass laws that are unconstitutional. If his religious beliefs contradict the laws of the United States, he should resign, not violate his oath.
- Gutted funding for child services when 24% of children in his state live in poverty
- So make sure they're born, but after that? Screw 'em. They should get a job. A little consistency, please?
- Tried to keep a bill making homosexuality a crime on the books
- Again, it is in no way the job of a Christian to punish other people for not following our specific religious beliefs. Getting away from that crap is entirely why the original colonists came here in the first place! But Perry apparently thinks that is his job as a Christian, even if it contradicts his oath of office and the teachings of Christ.
- ...because Satan
- Opposed the federal government bailout of state governments, then claimed credit for using that money to balance the Texas budget one year
- To counter the deficit he created, I might add, with the typical cut-taxes-to-increase-revenue lies that do not work
- More than doubled the debt owed by the state of Texas
- Why do we think he would do better as President? Not really clear
- Wants to send troops back to Iraq even though Iraq as a sovereign nation kicked us out; new decade, new invasion of Iraq!
- Dramatically cut funding to Texas firefighters, then asked for federal funds when wildfires broke out and his people couldn't handle it
- Dramatically cut funding to schools, resulting in (gasp) a failing educational system
- Has overseen huge numbers of executions, including one confirmed wrongful one, which he's specifically said doesn't bother him at all
- And yet prefers to err on the side of life...
- Blatantly lied about the number of homicides committed by illegal immigrants
- And about terrorists captured trying to cross the Mexican border
- Censored an environmental report he didn't like
- Supports decriminalization of marijuana
- Handles his personal finances terribly
- Doesn't think we can ever know the age of the earth
- Supports the NSA spying on every American without cause
- Wants to make that spying permanent
- Doesn't understand Iran's relationship to ISIS, despite being on the Senate foreign relations committee
- Thinks gay marriage is a threat to the survival of Christianity
- How weak do these people think Christ is?
- Denies human contribution to climate change
- Thinks atheists are unamerican
- Claims Obama is nicer to Iran than to Israel
- Missed nearly 10% of votes held during his time in office
- Thinks it should be legal to fire people for being gay
- Opposes reestablishing diplomatic ties with Cuba for reasons which make no sense
- Says the Bush administration did a 'fantastic job'
- And that the decision to invade Iraq was based on bad intelligence, when it was based on no intelligence at all
- Pledges to reopen Gitmo if it's closed
- Supported the government shutdown over the Republicans' inability to win enough elections to repeal the ACA
- Blamed the housing crisis and recession on government regulation, rather than the more factual lack-thereof
Donald Trump
- Calls for violent revolution when his side loses an election
- Claims vaccines cause autism
- A position that has caused nine thousand deaths in the last eight years
- Tried to steal a woman's home using eminent domain
- Called for Edward Snowden to be executed
- Claims to have a plan to defeat ISIS, but won't tell anyone what it is
- Has talked about Barack Obama's birth certificate for several years, claiming a document with no legal significance should be released to prove his citizenship
- But won't release his own birth certificate!
- Honestly, if the President is required to be a citizen by birth, he should be required to prove that. That's reasonable. Obama did, in 2008. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.
- Told a huge number of lies during his announcement speech
- Inherited most of his fortune and has repeatedly declared bankruptcy
- Many of his businesses fail
- Said this
- And all of these things
- Wanted to leave doctors treating ebola in Africa
- And says he doesn't trust the CDC! Great property to have in a President...
- Thinks we should annex Iraqi oil fields permanently
- And yet this is somehow not theft...?
- Complains about China taking American manufacturing jobs, while selling merchandise made in China
Bobby Jindal
- His state is running tremendous deficits
- After taking Louisiana from a $1 billion surplus to a $1.6 billion deficit, he still refuses to raise taxes in any way
- Wants to eliminate Louisiana's income tax, making the problem even worse
- Wanted to severely cut taxes on the rich and raise them on the poor and middle classes
- Demolished Louisiana's education budget to make up for the budget deficits he created
- Eliminated hospice care for Medicaid patients
- Blocked lawsuits against oil and gas companies that devastated the Louisiana coastline
- Believes that religious freedom means the right to enforce your beliefs on others
- Thinks it's okay to teach creationism as science
- Thinks there are areas of European countries subject to sharia law
- What is with this sharia paranoia? It's bizarre.
- Abuses government resources for personal purposes
- But paid for it after he got caught!
- Failed to report income for tax purposes
- Has been investigated for numerous potential crimes
- Much of his senior staff ordered a bridge closed as political retribution; either Christie was in on it, or he doesn't know what his staff is doing. Which is worse?
- Will try to override state laws legalizing marijuana
- So much for states' rights...
- But he also mandated treatment for drug users instead of jail time
- Banned gay conversion therapy
- Opposes armed guards in schools
- Doesn't attack Obama at every turn
- Isn't it sad that that's a distinguishing qualifier?
- Accepted Medicaid expansion in New Jersey
- But also wants to slash Medicaid by lowering the eligibility limit dramatically
- Endorsed the Patriot Act
- Thinks W Bush was a good President
- Cut taxes, cut social programs, and thinks cutting taxes on the rich more will fix the resulting deficit
- Doesn't support the minimum wage
- Vetoed a small increase in the minimum wage of New Jersey
- Doesn't think income inequality is a problem, and argues this point with absurd false dichotomies
- Thinks he knows more about ebola than the CDC
- Ruined his state's credit rating
- Handed Exxon $8 billion dollars of taxpayer money in exchange for political donations
- Cut taxes, sending Wisconsin into tremendous deficits
- While simultaneously cutting funding to higher education
- Said dealing with massive protests against him prepares him to deal with ISIS
- Spent much of his political career lengthening prison sentences
- Then advocating for more private prisons to deal with the resulting overcrowding
- While taking huge contributions from the private prison industry
- Wants to functionally eliminate unions nationwide
- Wants to implement drug testing for food stamps and other programs
- Passed a law making it unconstitutionally difficult to obtain an abortion in Wisconsin
- Would attempt to unilaterally cancel the new nuclear non-proliferation deal with Iran
- Opposes increasing the minimum wage on false premises
