There's leadership...and then there's whatever it is Rick Perry thinks he's doing

AUSTIN — Leaders along the Texas border with Mexico slammed Gov. Rick Perry’s move Monday to send 1,000 National Guard troops to South Texas, saying overwhelmed counties need law enforcement and charitable aid, not militarization. Perry portrayed his decision as necessary to help U.S. Border Patrol agents overwhelmed by an estimated stream of 60,000 unaccompanied children from Central America. With border security spread thin and distracted, drug cartels and human traffickers might push into a state where their crimes already have taken a toll, he said…. “Thousands of lives have been impacted forever. All because of the federal government’s lip service and empty promises,” Perry said.

Rick Perry had it all figured out. If a intellectual non-entity like George W. Bush could run for President and win, then surely he could. After all, he’d been Governor of Texas far longer than Bush, and had presided over what he loved to call the “Texas Miracle.” Texas somehow escaped the worst ravages of the recession, the credit for which Perry was quick to claim as his own. The reality, as it often is with Governor Goodhair, is a fair bit different. The details aren’t something I feel inclined to dive into, but Texas’ “miracle,” if that’s what it can be called, was largely smoke and mirrors. At the very least, it occurred despite Perry’s efforts, not because of them. Regardless of what Texans might be trying to sell you, the Lone Star State is not some sort of Conservative Paradise and proof that tough economic love works.

Being Governor of Texas is much being Queen of England. You get a lot of attention- including more blame and credit than is warranted- but any authority is primarily moral…though you do get to pretend the National Guard is the Texian Army. After his manly photo ops with Sean Hannity and as a helicopter door gunner along the Mexican border, Perry has decided to send 1000 Texas National Guardsmen to the border. The Guardsmen won’t have any actual authority, and their only real role will be to observe and advise law enforcement officials as to what they see. It’s a glorified photo op which will cost the Great State of Texas an estimated $12 million per month.

This is where the arrogance of Texas Republicans becomes impossible to miss:

They estimated the cost of deploying the Guard at $12 million a month — a state obligation that Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and others said they hoped the federal government would eventually reimburse.

Right; they plan run up the tab for the opportunity to score cheap political points on an extended photo op…and then they’re hoping to stick the American taxpayers with the bill.

Classy, eh? Welcome to politics in Texas, where appearance counts for far more than substance and Republicans believe the Lone Star State to be their personal playground. You can do that when you’ve propagandized Texans- the least politically and aware of all Americans- into voting for anything and anyone with an “R” behind their name.

Now THAT’S leadership, eh?