I'm from Texas and the parents still live there. They are all for this guy and it is basically because the Dems in Texas can do nothing and the Republicans are slimy scumbags. This is the state that had Dems fleeing to an Oklahoma hotel to prevent a vote on the re-districting from passing. It passed anyway. But on the plus side Delay got kicked out.
He has stinky politics on immigration, but my mom's a teacher and she keeps hailing his plans to give teachers better pay. They'd be happy to vote democrat if it meant Welfare State Liberal (or at least my mom probably would be) but, like at the national level, there really isn't a party that means that in TX. My sense of his popularity is basically that he is not a politician. Bumper stickers that say "My governor is a Jewish Cowboy" don't hurt either--sense of humor goes a long way (a few weeks ago he was accused of drinking in a moving vehicle when he took a sip of beer on a St Patty's day parade float. His response, "I drank but I did not swallow.") As for his country singing misogynism: I think that's pretty much par for the course. Unless you are in Austin or some rare progressive enclave elsewhere in the state, animosity about women's lib is stock and trade--whether you're actually being ironic or not will depend on how polite the company is. But the same thing goes for various forms of racist, anti-semitic and homophobic humor which I am always surprised to hear more of when I visit.
I don't know how much of a chance he stands in the polls, but he seems to appeal not just to marginal voters but to people who have a vague sense that the system is FUBAR and would like to drain the swamp. This is actually a pretty mainstream in that it plays to Texas nationalism (yes, I said TEXAS nationalism) and the idea that they are all individuals on who are combatting the antagonistic forces aligned against them. Thus...
>>FRIEDMAN: I think this is a place above politics. It's above the governor.
>>I'm -- I want to knock down the windmill of politics as usual, OK? I want
>>to do it like Rosa Parks (search) had a big enemy, segregation.
>
> My god, keeping out immigrants with fences and the national guard makes
> him Rosa Parks? He should stick with dumbass music.
>
> Doug
He probably should stick to dumbass music, but the comparison he's making isn't about immigration it's about "phony politicians." And that's where he has potential to win. Even if people don't agree with his proposals on immigration, they're all for this idea that, as my dad and his friends call Perry, "Governor Good-Hair" has got to go. On the other hand, my step mom said (upon seeing him for the first time, two years into his term) she thought they should keep Perry cause he was so cute and she liked the idea of having a nice looking governor for once. So maybe it's a wash.
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