Perry praised "HillaryCare" in the 1990s

Gov. Rick Perry may face an old political ghost from his tenure as Texas Agriculture Commisioner -- a complimentary letter he wrote in 1993 to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton to urge her to consider the needs rural residents as she drafted what would later be derided as "Hillarycare."

In the letter, dated April 6, 1993, Perry wrote to Clinton, “I think your efforts in trying to reform the nation’s health care system are most commendable."

He went on to request that the health-care task force consider the unique needs of "farmers, ranchers, and agriculture workers, and other members of rural communities."

Perry campaign strategist Dave Carney told The Daily Caller, which first reported on the letter yesterday, that Perry would not have known the specifics of the policy at the time. "The letter was at the onset of her efforts before she proposed anything," he said. "No one could have imagined the horrible monstrosity she cooked up, in fact, not to be outdone until 'ObamaCare' years later."

It is true that the precise details of the plan were unclear at the time and the process of hashing out the policy was (now infamously) noteably opaque. But some of the broad goals of the legislation were being reported at the same time Perry was penning praise to Clinton.

According to a Los Angles Times report from April 5, 1993, the plan was designed to, in part:

* Guarantee that a uniform package of basic benefits will be available to everyone, although not all the uninsured will get this coverage right away. Among the basic benefits would be hospital and doctor services, including mental health care, and some prescription drug coverage.
* Create a standardized insurance form and bar insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, in order to enable people to change jobs-and insurers-without fear of losing coverage.
* Enact tort reforms to reduce medical malpractice litigation.
* Impose a price freeze on private-sector medical providers while the system of cooperatives is phased in, a process that could take three to five years.
* Phase in a requirement for employers to provide workers with health insurance, with government subsidies to help the smaller businesses.

Several of those objectives, including the mandate that employers provide health care for workers and the guarantee of universal benefits to everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, are now objectionable to conservatives like Perry, who has said he wants to use an executive order to dismantle "Obamacare."

Yet another strike against this GWB clone....

Outlines of 'HillaryCare' were known before Perry wrote letter praising reform effort [msn.com]



The only good politician in Texas is Ron Paul [ronpaul.com]

What is the time frame that politicians are allowed to change their mind in without being labeled a hypocrit? 10 years, 20 years, 50 years?

I am not sticking up for Perry as I could care less about him. It just seems that people are extremely critical on some politicians while giving others a total pass.

and he used to be Gore's campaign chairman in 1988 too...and guess what, Reagan was a democrat at one time as well...then they both realized their error and that their beliefs were not in tune with those of the democrats, and switched

sorry perry haters, after more than 20 years, his past is overwritten with a new record...if he had just switched a year or two ago, then you have a point...20 years, not so much.

Ten years ago, Gov. Rick Perry spoke at a border summit held in South Texas. It's a safe bet that few remember his comments that day, back in the halcyon days before the war on terror.

But some Texas tea party adherents have dusted off the Perry text and found an objectionable reference to a legislatively required study of "the feasibility of bi-national health insurance," or coverage of both U.S. and Mexican residents along the border. Not to mention some other friendly gestures Perry made that day toward Mexico, including a boast about how he'd just signed a Texas DREAM Act that granted in-state college tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants who are academic achievers. "Texas took the national lead in allowing such deserving young minds to attend a Texas college at a resident rate," he said. Perry also spoke glowingly of how the Legislature in 2001 passed a children's Medicaid simplification bill and increased funding for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

"More checking under the hood needed before we buy the car," tea party activist JoAnn Fleming of Tyler wrote this week. A blogger weighed in with similar criticism in this post on RedState.com. Alice Linahan, a North Texas tea party activist and media aggregator, circulated the comments. She later told me in an email, "Rick Perry is like most politicians right now. They are beholden to their large donors vs. the voters who put them in office."

What is the time frame that politicians are allowed to change their mind in without being labeled a hypocrit? 10 years, 20 years, 50 years?

I am not sticking up for Perry as I could care less about him. It just seems that people are extremely critical on some politicians while giving others a total pass.

Yeah, why dump on Romney and give Perry "a total pass"?

I am doing neither so I'm not sure if you are looking for an answer from me or not.

As gay marriage was about to become legal in New York last month, Perry said, “That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me.” He added: “If you believe in the 10th Amendment, stay out of their business if you live in some other state or particularly if you’re the federal government.”

The remarks, WashWire reports, came at a meeting of GOP donors and governors in Aspen, Colo. on July 23, a day before the first same-sex marriages were performed in New York.

A week later, as it became increasingly clear Perry would run for president, he told the Associated Press he would support a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman, according to WashWire.

“Yes, sir, I would. I am for the federal marriage amendment,” he told the AP. “And that’s about as sharp a point as I could put on it.”

So who is getting "a total pass"?

So how long does it take El Tejas Flipperino to flip on an issue when he realizes it doesn't play as well politically as he wants? Seven days.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/08/...od=WSJBlog

At some point, even the Radecks of the world are going to realize this guy is a charlatan. Let's hope sooner than later.

Sorry I'm not wasting my time with this question.