NE Mwww.star-telegram.com Saturday, January 26, 2008 15B

OPINION

With the Legislature safely outof session and political atten-tion focused elsewhere, Gov.Rick Perry caught us by sur-prise back in October when hemomentarily grabbed theheadlines with his endorse-ment of former New York May-or Rudy Giuliani for president.

The announcement cameas a surprise for two reasons.First, it was early; most politi-cians are waiting for a cleareridea of who will win, so theycan then jump on the band-wagon. But apart from thetiming, the endorsementcame as a shocker to many be-cause of the ideological differ-ences between the two politi-cians.

In 2006, Perry based his re-election bid on an appeal tothe religious right. With fourmajor candidates in the field,he knew that if he could getout the hard-core social con-servatives, they could providethe votes he needed to win.

Perry campaigned for a banon gay marriage, staunchlyopposed abortion rights andfamously signed ceremonialbills on both issues while hob-nobbing with fundamentalistleaders in the gym of FortWorth’s Calvary ChristianAcademy. He championedschool prayer, vouchers andthe teaching of creationism inthe public schools, and hemanaged to cobble together39 percent of the vote.

So imagine the consterna-tion of his supporters whenPerry endorsed Giuliani forpresident instead of the cur-rent darling of religious con-servatives, Mike Huckabee.Perry defended his action, ar-guing that he supported theNew York mayor — despite Gi-uliani’s well-known support ofgay rights, abortion rights andgun control — on the groundsthat Giuliani was “the mostelectable of our candidates.”

It is hard to reconcile theGiuliani endorsement withPerry’s long record as an arch-conservative on social issues.One obvious explanation isthat Perry wants to back a win-ner and is willing to sacrificehis principles for victory in thefall. Speculation is rampantthat Perry is eyeing a Cabinetpost or even the vice presiden-tial slot if his man wins thenomination.

Social conservatives werenot thrilled. “I’m confused,”said Land Commissioner JerryPatterson, who at the time wasbacking Fred Thompson.“One of if not the most conser-vative governors in Texas his-tory endorses a pro-choice, ra-bidly anti-Second Amend-ment New York mayor. . . .What happened to conserva-tive principles as the first mea-sure of who to support for anyoffice?”

Pro-lifers and other reli-gious conservatives haveharshly condemned Perry.

My knee-jerk reaction as ahistorian was to search formeaningful precedents thatmight shed light on the situa-tion, and one was not long incoming. Rewind to themid-1950s, when Texas wasrepresented in the U.S. Senate

by Lyndon B. Johnson, whohad ascended to the powerfulpost of majority leader.

Few believed that LBJ, likePerry, had satisfied his ambi-tions. But Johnson had a prob-lem: His record on the mostcontroversial issue of the day— civil rights for African-Americans — was that of afairly typical Southern sena-tor.

Texas, then as now, was aconservative state, and LBJknew that a majority of hisTexas constituents opposedcivil rights. He could hold hisSenate seat if he didn’t alienatethe segregationists of Texas;however, he also understoodthat a Southern segregationistwould never become presi-dent. (Ask Strom Thurmond orGeorge Wallace.)

So Johnson carefully begandistancing himself from thesegregationist wing of his par-ty, and in 1957 he threw hissupport behind the first civilrights bill since Reconstruc-tion.

Now acceptable to the Ken-nedy wing of the DemocraticParty, LBJ was rewarded withthe vice presidency. Later, aspresident, Johnson went on tosign the two most importantcivil rights acts in a century:the 1964 and 1965 bills thatoverturned segregation andsecured voting rights forblacks.

There can be little doubtthat Perry has made a similarcalculation. George W. Bushnotwithstanding (and remem-ber that Bush ran for presidentin 2000 essentially as a moder-ate — a “uniter not a divider”),a gay-bashing, abortion-crim-inalizing, evolution-denyingenemy of public education isnot likely to have much appealon the national stage.

If the Giuliani campaignmanages to revive its fortunesin Florida by Tuesday, expectPerry to downplay the issuesthat got him elected governorand emphasize, as he alreadyis doing, Giuliani’s alleged cre-dentials on defense and eco-nomic policy, leaving social is-sues to rest on the mayor’svague promise to appoint“strict constructionist” judges.

Some still believe that LBJ’sconversion to liberalism oncivil rights was little more thancynical political expediency.But if so, it still moved Americacloser to fulfilling the promiseof a truly democratic nation.

Will Perry’s sudden flirta-tion with social moderationhelp to elect a Republicanpresident who will take thecountry beyond the divisivepolitics of hate and fear? Onlytime will tell.

In the meantime, if hehopes to win another state-wide race in Texas, he had bet-ter start thinking about form-ing a new coalition. The reli-gious right in the Lone StarState has a very long memory.

GREGG CANTRELL OF FORT WORTH

IS A HISTORY PROFESSOR AT TEXAS

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY AND A

MEMBER OF THE STAR-TELEGRAM

COMMUNITY COLUMNIST PANEL.

POLITICS

WHAT IS RICK PERRYUP TO THESE DAYS?Will the governor’s suddenflirtation with socialmoderation help to elect aRepublican president whowill take the countrybeyond the divisive politicsof hate and fear?

GREGG CANTRELL

MATT DAVIES | THE JOURNAL NEWS, NEW YORK

Cheers: To Rick Hurley of VandergriffToyota in Arlington for making the pur-chase of a new Camry pleasant and pain-less. Other dealerships should emulateRick’s enthusiasm, product knowledge andzero-pressure approach. I made a newfriend, and I have a beautiful new car!

— Hector Casanova, Arlington

Jeers: To Jeff Johnson and Louise Black-erby, writers of Jan. 22 letters (“Footballangst”). I don’t need people who aren’tDallas Cowboys fans to tell me how Ishould feel.

— John Stewart, Fort Worth

Cheers: To Mike Carroll of the Wal-Martin Plano, Jim Anderson of Holiday Worldof Dallas and the many volunteers fromDiscount Tire Stores for their steadfastsupport of the 2007 Marine Corps Toys forTots campaign. We’re fortunate to havesuch organizations that commit to givingback to the community.

— Lt. Col. W.C. Schmick Jr., retired,Dallas chapter,

1st Marine Division Association, Arlington

Cheers: To Anthony and Chris Vallejo,Pastor Bill and his wife of Holy VesselChurch and two other men whose nameswe don’t know. They helped two people indistress at the Campus Drive exit on In-terstate 20 in Fort Worth after our carbroke down Sunday. God bless you.

— Ben and Lois Rathgeber, Cleburne

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for droppingcolumnist Jeff D. Opdyke and the WallStreet Journal pages from the Sundaypaper. I’ve cut out and saved many of hiscolumns and used several for a class Iteach at a local high school. His financialadvice was practical, helpful and easilyapplicable.

— Shannon Walker, Benbrook

Cheers: To Travis, Jason, Alan and Arling-ton Animal Services for responding to areport of a dog living in the grassy areaalong U.S. 287 near the Little Road exit.They set a humane trap and captured himwithin two days. Special cheers to Jasonfor meeting me quickly that day so that Icould show him where the dog was living.

— Lori Adams, Arlington

Jeers: To Pam Wells of North RichlandHills for complaining about the noise froman adjacent farm that boards horses. (SeeJan. 20 news story “When city and coun-try collide.”) I find it hard to believe thatshe has to wear headphones to drown outthe noise of horses being fed. The farmwas there first.

— Debra Sisk, Roanoke

Cheers: To Melvin Wood! I’ve boardedhorses at his farm on and off during thepast 10 years and have never heard any-one other than Wells raise a complaint ofthis nature. She has lived there during all23 years of horse boarding. Why the ruck-us now?

— Ron Caffey, Hurst

Cheers: To the Wood family for being sogracious and kind after being treated badlyby a neighbor who had no right to com-plain.

— Mary Fergusson, Keller

Jeers: To Six Flags for wanting to sell beerin its Arlington parks.

— Mary Williams, Fort Worth

Cheers: To the staff at the Millsap Veteri-nary Clinic for squeezing us in on a busySaturday! Thanks to Dr. Joel Brockett, westill have our buddy, Scout! Cheers also toRachael for the calls and for taking care ofher! Millsap is lucky to have you!

— Daniele Clark and the Clark family,Millsap

Jeers: To a major delivery service, whichsaid that a package had been delivered tomy address days before I phoned to in-quire about it. Cheers to a real estateagent who retrieved my package from theunoccupied house next door and broughtit to me — five days after it was supposedto have been delivered.

— Bettie Wylie, Arlington

Cheers: To Diane Gatzke for writingsomething nice about Tillie Burgin andMission Arlington even though she threwin some negative thoughts. (See Jan. 12commentary “Cultivating that heart of aservant.”) All the Star-Telegram had doneso far was to bash Mission Arlington. Tillieand the mission have helped many peoplewho needed help. Cheers to Tillie and themission. Jeers to the Star-Telegram.

— Barbara Anderson, Arlington

Jeers: To a Burleson antique dealer whowas rude to me and my wife when weasked to come by and see a bed that thedealer had advertised online. He beratedus for wanting to be careful consumersand hung up on us as well.

— Gavin Smith, Granbury

Cheers: To Mr. and Mrs. Travis of Andy T’sHot Sauce Co. for donating the wonderfulhot sauce to be served at staff meetings.Cheers also for supporting our attendanceprogram. The donated bike was a realincentive for students to come to schoolevery day and on time.

— Principal Linda Adrian,South Hills Elementary School, Fort Worth

Jeers: To the person I met during theweekend of the Texas-Oklahoma footballgame. We made a wager on the DallasCowboys. Now that the Cowboys are outof the playoffs, I found I was given a wrongtelephone number.

— Greg DePretto, Arlington

Cheers: To the Star-Telegram for all ofthe “punny” headlines. I often just scanthe headlines to find something to smileabout. I also got a good laugh from BuddyHickerson’s Nov. 23 drawing of a womanin pink shrink-wrap. Did anyone else noticethe two right feet?

— Millie Dixon, Fort Worth

Cheers: To Speedway Children’s Charities,which distributed grant checks totalingmore than $750,000 to 198 charitiesacross North Texas at a Dec. 4 tree-light-ing ceremony. Green Oaks School was thejoyful recipient of one of these grants.May God bless the dedicated SCC volun-teers who work year-round to benefit ourchildren.

— Kim Marshall, executive director,Green Oaks School, Arlington

Cheers: To the Benenati law firm of Bed-ford. When it learned that the TrinityTrojans football players didn’t have moneyto buy state championship rings, the firmpaid $2,500 for them to work for areanonprofits so that they could earn moneyand have a lifetime remembrance. What agreat example!

— Rebecca Barksdale, Arlington

Cheers: To the Trinity High School juniorvarsity soccer team for helping with theNov. 9 Special Olympics bowling tourna-ment at Don Carter Lanes in Fort Worth.What a respectful, tolerant, patient andsupportive group of young men, who hadthe courage to venture out of their com-fort zones and allowed all who watchedthem work to witness unconditional ac-ceptance in action.

— Joan O’Brien, Southlake

Cheers: To the Texas Department ofTransportation for creating the gaudiestoverpasses on Interstate 35W in Burlesonat Renfro Street and Hidden Creek Park-way. The colors are awful! The Renfrooverpass is especially nice, as one side ispainted and the other isn’t. It’s great tosee how our tax dollars are used.

— Joe McCarver, Burleson

Cheers: To Ed and Tracy Amaya for againhosting a wonderful evening for theirfamily and friends to raise money for theneonatal intensive care unit at Cook Chil-dren’s Medical Center. Many babies andfamilies will benefit from their generosity.

— Barbara Greer, Benbrook

Cheers: To the 24 Hour Tire shop inDuncanville. I had a flat on the way homefrom work. It was dark, and I was alone inan unfamiliar neighborhood. The person-nel were courteous and quick and gave mea more-than-reasonable deal on a goodused tire.

— Lucy Tyson, Arlington

Jeers: To rude IHOP patrons for ruiningmy breakfast with the gross habit of blow-ing their noses at the table. No one likes tohear snot blown out while trying to enjoytheir pancakes. Use your manners and goto the restroom. The rest of us wouldappreciate it.

— Kristi Southern, Fort Worth

Jeers: To District 7 Fort Worth City Coun-cilman Carter Burdette for voting in favorof a zoning case that would turn our quietlittle neighborhood into an industrial park.

— Ron Sears, Fort Worth

Jeers: To Fort Worth T bus drivers fortaking breaks on busy streets such asUniversity Drive past Berry Street andholding up traffic. Breaks are well-de-served, but it seems that they could pulloff onto a side street.

— Gary Harrell, Fort Worth

Cheers: To Joshua and his mother, Veron-ica, for finding and returning my wife’spurse, which was inadvertently left in ashopping cart. She had already tried toretrieve it but with no luck. We were be-ginning to cancel the credit cards whenthe doorbell rang. Believe it or not, it wasas good as winning the lottery.

— Joe Robert Wise, Grapevine

Cheers: To Judy Good of North RichlandHills. Because of a mix-up, the Kohl’s giftcertificates I ordered for my daughter,Judy Good of Humble, were delivered toJudy Good in North Richland Hills. Thishonest lady tracked down the correctaddress and forwarded the gift to mydaughter. I wish she would call so I canthank her personally.

— Ruth Ford, Hurst

Cheers: To the Wal-Mart on South Coo-per Street. On Dec. 3, I was shopping andin a hurry. While loading groceries into mycar, I foolishly left my purse in the shop-ping cart. Wal-Mart’s Rosie called the nextday with the good news: My purse hadbeen found intact.

— Judy Sutherland, Arlington

Cheers: To banking institutions, titlecompanies, suppliers, subcontractors andtheir employees and to the sales staff ofSteve Hawkins Custom Homes for thetime, talent and funding for the All ChurchHome Christmas party and for their sup-port throughout the year. You made somechildren very happy.

— Janice and Steve Hawkins, Fort Worth

Cheers: To Arlington police officers Do-lores Chavez and Kevin Ruppert for theirgenuine care, concern and professionalismwhile assisting our family. They are trulytwo of Arlington’s finest!

— D’Ann Woodle, Lakeside

Cheers: To our Hulen Heights neighbors.At a recent community event, residentsdonated more than 5,600 pounds of foodfor the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

— Cyndi Caldwell, Fort Worth

Cheers: To Bo Greggs, manager of thepost office on Altamesa Drive, who cameto the station at 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday toopen the office for me to receive myDallas Cowboys playoff tickets, which hadcome by express mail that day. Cheers tothis great Cowboys fan. Jeers to the NewYork Giants.

— Paul T. Price, Fort Worth

Jeers: To Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty,Billy Joel or any entertainer who believeswe care about their political persuasionswhile attending a concert. Jeers to yourreviewer who apparently feels the sameway. Seventy-five dollars for tickets, $15 topark and bottled water for $4 at NokiaTheater! Here’s an idea: Shut up and sing.

— Bruce Collins, Grand Prairie

Cheers: To the Fort Worth VA RegionalClinic for its outstanding service and com-passion. I arrived at the clinic after it hadclosed. The staff wouldn’t let me leaveuntil my problem was attended to. Anoff-duty doctor saw me and wrote pre-scriptions that were filled in 30 minutes.

— Martin Brent Buckles, Crowley

Cheers: To the young man and his lady atthe Poolville One Stop who paid for themeals of three 84-year-olds who werehaving a night out on the town.

— Leon Hodges, Ethelene Madenand Mildred Ellenbarger, Poolville

Jeers: To a telephone repair operator fortelling my daughter that she would have toreport my out-of-order phone from myphone. How does one do that? Duh!

— Jackie Nugent, Bedford

Jeers: To the Dillard’s in Hurst for escort-ing a disabled Iraq veteran from the storebecause he had a service dog to help himget around. Store policy was cited as thereason. I’ll try never to shop at Dillard’sagain. How thoughtless of the store.

— Deette Hoch, Roanoke

Cheers: To the gentleman who paid forthese two old folks’ lunch at Cracker Bar-rel on Dec. 19. What a thoughtful andgenerous person you are. The very best toyou and yours this new year. We will pay itforward.

— John and Jo Bohannan, Forest Hill

CHEERS AND JEERS

The Trinity Trojans celebrate their 13-10 de-feat of Converse Judson for the state title inDecember. STAR-TELEGRAM FILES/RALPH LAUER

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