Inhofe endorses Rick Perry for President

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe today in Tulsa introduced, “someone that I really believe will be the next President of the United States and someone that I have gotten to know over many years, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.”  

“There are many very close friends of mine running for president this year, but Rick Perry has something that no one else has – the experience not just as governor, but in doing the right things [as governor] in cutting deficits, increasing jobs, and reducing government regulation,” Inhofe said.

“Fourteen months ago, I called Rick and told him that I thought he was the only guy that could really win this thing and when the time comes, I will be the first U.S. Senator to endorse you.  So I present to you the next President of the United States, Rick Perry.”

Gov. Perry said, “Senator, I thought you were way outside the realm of possibility when you called as I told you, but Anita and I are humbled today to be with you and to accept your support.  

“As Anita and I have traveled even in this early part of the campaign, we have found a clear thirst for leadership in this country.  Americans don’t believe our country is in decline, but that Washington is in decline.  They don’t want to settle for record debt, downgraded credit, and devalued dollars or one-in-six Americans eligible, but who can’t find a job.  That is not an economic recovery – that’s an economic disaster,” Perry added.

“As president, I’m going to get America working again.  We are going to stop spending hard earned paychecks on so-called stimulus.  Instead, we are going to let Americans and their employers keep more of what they make.  That’s how you jump-start this economy.

“We are not going to accept entitlement programs that are bankrupting our children’s future.  How will we explain anything less to our children?  That we created seventeen debt and entitlement commissions in the last thirty years?  Is that working hard on saving their future?  We are going to address this morass of debt that is driving our economy down and threatening our children and our grandchildren’s future.  We are going to stop or repeal bureaucratic regulations that kill jobs and harm our economy.  You don’t grow economy by growing government.  

“You grow economy by cutting and simplifying taxes, by reducing debt, controlling spending, by passing tort reform, and by implementing fair and predictable regulations.  That’s how you grow economy.  That is my record as Governor in Texas and that will be my record as President of the United States.   

Asked how he would improve the debt situation in America, Perry answered, “There is $14.7 trillion of debt, $46,000 for every man woman and child in this country.  In the next few seconds as a child is born in Oklahoma, they start their life with $46,000 of debt.  “The way you fix that is to free up the American entrepreneurial spirit.  You don’t over tax them, you don’t over regulate them and you don’t litigate them.  You say to small businesses across America, we are going to free you from over taxation and over regulation and we are going to let you do what you know how to do – create jobs which in turn creates wealth,” Perry said.

“Just in the energy industry alone, if you remove the boot of regulation that this administration has taken to a new level in this country – the job creation that will occur will be phenomenal.  It, singularly by freeing up these entrepreneurs, will create wealth like we have never seen in this country before and that wealth will pay off that debt,” Perry said.

Asked about a specific jobs plan, Perry said, “I’m going to be broad and brief for you.  I have governed with four guiding principles: don’t spend all the money, have a tax system that is as light on the job creators as you can while still delivering essential services, have a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable, and have a legal system that doesn’t allow over suing.”

“As I have said time and time again, I want to go to Washington D.C. and make it as inconsequential in people’s lives as I can,” Perry said.

“The most important thing we can do for the monetary system is to stop printing new money.  All that is doing is reducing the value of what dollars we have in our pockets.

“One of the ways you can get your arms around my philosophy of governing is to understand that I really believe in the U.S. Constitution – in particular the Tenth Amendment.  It is simple and elegant.  Free the states to compete with one another.

Referencing an earlier conversation with Senator Inhofe, Perry said, “We were talking about the absolute lunacy of having education policy that is the same for Oklahoma as it is for New York or California or North Dakota.  Americans don’t want that approach.  They want local control of how they educate their children.  Should the Department of Education be deciding how they educate their children?  No!  Should they be a repository of best practices to help states?  That’s an idea, but to have a department of education that is setting up there passing out money with strings attached will not occur with a Perry Presidency.”

In reference to their long friendship Perry said to Senator Inhofe, “Thank you for your endorsement and your friendship and your prodding and cajoling.”