Rick Perry ignores the Republican Party platform
I'll take political platforms seriously when the candidates do
06/03/2006
Jaime Castillo
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
Unless you're a political reporter or a Republican Party loyalist, chances are you had no idea the state GOP convention kicked off Friday in San Antonio.
That's because political conventions, whether they involve Democrats or Republicans, have lost all relevance to larger society.
They don't decide which candidates run for office. They tend to be controlled by the extreme factions of their respective parties.
And they are so tightly scripted and predictable that they are devoid of any real drama or intrigue.
That doesn't mean the 11,000 GOP activists who will pack the Convention Center this weekend and the like number of Democrats who will venture to Fort Worth next week won't take it seriously.
They will expend an amazing amount of energy molding, shaping and approving modifications to party platforms that arguably will be irrelevant before the ink is dry on the precious documents containing their hard-fought words.
I don't say this lightly, because every organization should have a set of guiding principles that dictates its reason for being.
But how is everybody else supposed to take these party platforms seriously when the candidates don't adhere to them?
Since the Republicans happen to be here, let's focus on their candidate questionnaire that was based on the 2004 version of the state party platform. The 2006 version won't be made official until sometime today, but it is not expected to change dramatically except in the area of illegal immigration.
GOP delegates are supposed to toughen an apparently weak immigration stance that only calls for the use of military forces on the border, the end of automatic U.S. citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants, the denial of non-emergency medical care to undocumented immigrants and the strong opposition to any form of amnesty or legalized status for immigrants.
So what would the national landscape of elected officials look like if, as suggested by some Republicans, every GOP candidate had to adhere to every plank of the Texas platform?
Put it this way. There would be no President George W. Bush or Gov. Rick Perry.
Bush is a multiple offender of the platform, starting with his support of a guest worker program that would provide a path to legalization for some undocumented immigrants.
He also would flunk based on the party's call for "fiscal responsibility." The federal debt has gone from $5.6 trillion to $8.2 trillion since Bush took office.
Perry's biggest offense is his support of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a multibillion-dollar network of highways and railways, which, the platform warns, would involve the "confiscation of private land."
You can also say adios to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for his support of stem cell research. And the same goes for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose abortion views violate the party's strict pro-life stance that doesn't allow for exceptions in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Hutchison supports allowing a woman to make a choice about abortion until the unborn baby is viable outside the womb but supports states' ability to impose restrictions such as parental consent or notification for minors.
The list of "unworthy" Republicans could go on and on. But if the candidates aren't going to lose sleep over it, we shouldn't either.
To contact Jaime Castillo, call (210) 250-3174 or e-mail jscastillo@express-news.net. His column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
06/03/2006
Jaime Castillo
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
Unless you're a political reporter or a Republican Party loyalist, chances are you had no idea the state GOP convention kicked off Friday in San Antonio.
That's because political conventions, whether they involve Democrats or Republicans, have lost all relevance to larger society.
They don't decide which candidates run for office. They tend to be controlled by the extreme factions of their respective parties.
And they are so tightly scripted and predictable that they are devoid of any real drama or intrigue.
That doesn't mean the 11,000 GOP activists who will pack the Convention Center this weekend and the like number of Democrats who will venture to Fort Worth next week won't take it seriously.
They will expend an amazing amount of energy molding, shaping and approving modifications to party platforms that arguably will be irrelevant before the ink is dry on the precious documents containing their hard-fought words.
I don't say this lightly, because every organization should have a set of guiding principles that dictates its reason for being.
But how is everybody else supposed to take these party platforms seriously when the candidates don't adhere to them?
Since the Republicans happen to be here, let's focus on their candidate questionnaire that was based on the 2004 version of the state party platform. The 2006 version won't be made official until sometime today, but it is not expected to change dramatically except in the area of illegal immigration.
GOP delegates are supposed to toughen an apparently weak immigration stance that only calls for the use of military forces on the border, the end of automatic U.S. citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants, the denial of non-emergency medical care to undocumented immigrants and the strong opposition to any form of amnesty or legalized status for immigrants.
So what would the national landscape of elected officials look like if, as suggested by some Republicans, every GOP candidate had to adhere to every plank of the Texas platform?
Put it this way. There would be no President George W. Bush or Gov. Rick Perry.
Bush is a multiple offender of the platform, starting with his support of a guest worker program that would provide a path to legalization for some undocumented immigrants.
He also would flunk based on the party's call for "fiscal responsibility." The federal debt has gone from $5.6 trillion to $8.2 trillion since Bush took office.
Perry's biggest offense is his support of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a multibillion-dollar network of highways and railways, which, the platform warns, would involve the "confiscation of private land."
You can also say adios to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for his support of stem cell research. And the same goes for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, whose abortion views violate the party's strict pro-life stance that doesn't allow for exceptions in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Hutchison supports allowing a woman to make a choice about abortion until the unborn baby is viable outside the womb but supports states' ability to impose restrictions such as parental consent or notification for minors.
The list of "unworthy" Republicans could go on and on. But if the candidates aren't going to lose sleep over it, we shouldn't either.
To contact Jaime Castillo, call (210) 250-3174 or e-mail jscastillo@express-news.net. His column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Saturday, June 03, 2006
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