Texas needs perspective

I have nothing against Deb Medina. Honestly, I don't. I just question this whole thing from the start.

I'm all for challenging the status quo and getting rid of actual RINOs. And there are plenty still to be weeded out. There are, in fact, a number in Medina's part of the state that need to be taken on.

I guess the state legislature or a U.S. House seat didn't pique her interest enough, though. She wants to be quarterback or nothing.

Even though she's thrown very few passes in her career.

This whole grass roots, Tea Party thing is wonderful. Gets folks involved who hadn't been before. Folks with strong values, conservative leanings and all that.

But it needs to be kept in perspective.

An example: Scott Brown clearly won one of the most stunning political victories of my lifetime by winning the Massachusetts special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy.

Almost immediately, though, people started with the Scott Brown 2012 stuff. The media even started asking whether he had designs on running for president.

Get a grip.

It's one thing to get "real people" involved in the political process. It's quite another to hand control of a cruise ship over to someone whose sailing experience doesn't go much beyond a 14-foot Sunfish.

It's also one thing to challenge the liberal establishment, as Brown did in Massachusetts, and even some of these career politicians who carry an "R" by their names but have scant conservative leanings.

Rick Perry, however, isn't one of those. And all these claims otherwise, from both Medina supporters and the ever-dwindling number backing Kay Bailey Hutchison, are disingenuous at best and outright lies at worst.

Yes, I've seen the list of grievances. Yes, I'm aware that a decade or so ago, he supported this, and under his leadership he pushed that.

Not once in my life, though, have I been 100 percent happy with a politician, and that includes Ronald Reagan.

Bottom line to me is that Texans might need to take a peek outside the borders and catch a glimpse of the hideous shape many states are in these days. By comparison, Texas is faring pretty darn well.

I give Perry props for doing the kind of job that has made that possible.

Disagree with this position or that. Fine. I've had my disagreements with some of his positions, too.

But calling him "too moderate" or "a RINO" is blatant dishonesty.

It just is.

And giving him the boot because someone else thinks, in essence, that "it's my turn"?

That's a position I don't agree with and can't respect.