Deep In The Heartless Of Texas, Part 2

Lot of buzz on the right that Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry will be jumping in the race for President and will do so soon.  The GOP is very desperate at this point to consider Perry at all.  I've said Perry was too smart to get in the race because of the massive baggage he has as Governor, namely his suggestion that Texas should consider secession from the United States.  That may play well in Dallas, but not Detroit, Decatur or Denver.

Think Progress has nine more reasons why Perry is already in real trouble should he decide to throw his ten-gallon hat into the ring.  Here are a few:

(3) PERRY PROPOSED LETTING STATES DROP OUT OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICAID: Despite the programs’ importance and popularity, Perry has argued that states like Texas should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and Medicaid. Were Perry to have his way on Social Security, “the entire system would collapse under the weight of too many Social Security beneficiaries who had not paid into the system,” notes Ian Millhiser. On Medicaid, in addition to stripping 3.6 million low-income Texans of their health care, Perry’s proposal would actually hurt, not help, the state’s budget deficit. This is because, as Igor Volsky writes, opting out of Medicaid would take “billions out of the state economy that goes on to support hospitals and other providers,” while forcing hospitals “to swallow the costs of caring for uninsured individuals who will continue to use the emergency room as their primary source of care.”

In fact, Perry's tenure as Governor has a number of health care related issues.

(5) PERRY DESIGNATED AS “EMERGENCY LEGISLATION” A BILL REQUIRING ALL WOMEN SEEKING ABORTIONS TO HAVE SONOGRAMS FIRST: In January, Perry proposed requiring all women seeking abortions to have a sonogram at least 24 hours before the procedure. Under the bill, doctors would be required to “tell a woman the size of her fetus’ limbs and organs, even if she does not want to know.” Before a woman is permitted to have an abortion, physicians are also forced to provide an image of the fetus and make the woman listen to the sound of its heartbeat. Perry designated his proposal as “emergency legislation,” allowing the bill to be rushed through the legislature. He signed it into law last month.

That was Perry's top legislative priority in Texas this year.   There's been a lot of noise about the Perry economy in Texas too, but the jobs going to Texas, a state with no income tax, have come at a steep price:

(10) DESPITE HAVING THE WORST UNINSURED RATE IN THE COUNTRY, PERRY CLAIMS THAT TEXAS HAS “THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE COUNTRY” : On Bill Bennett’s radio show last year, Perry claimed that “Texas has the best health care in the country.” In reality, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents of any state. More than one in four Texans lack coverage; the national average is just 15.4 percent. As such, there are more uninsured residents in Texas than there are people in 33 states. Despite Texas’s low coverage rates, the state has some of the most restrictive Medicaid eligibility thresholds, and Perry has even proposed dropping out of the program. Texas also has an inordinately high percentage of impoverished children, yet Perry opposed expanding the successful State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Some 26% of Texans have no health insurance, the worst of any state in the US, and that's before adding in the millions more who would lose coverage should Perry direct the state to opt out of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

And that's on top of the secession thing.  Sure, Republicans, run Rick Perry as your savior.  By all means.  I'll add reason #11:  Remember the last President we had from Texas?