39%: "most likely to secede"

I hope he takes all of these people with him:

Behind a hotel ballroom’s closed doors Thursday, some of Texas’ most conservative Christian ministers will have exclusive access to Gov. Rick Perry and other top elected Republican officials so pastors can “engage our leaders on behalf of Texas families and our God.”

The Texas Pastor Council event follows closely on the heels of Perry’s rallying with anti-tax activists to foment states’ rights and to openly talk about the danger of the union dissolving.

The gathering also is reminiscent of Restoration Project convocations of ministers in 2005 that allowed Perry to speak privately to pastors as a prelude to his run for re-election the following year.

“We just historically — in order to keep the climate comfortable and relaxed, have a good dialogue and interaction — decided not to have that extra pressure of having the press there,” said Dave Welch, executive director of the U.S. Pastor Council and an organizer of the event. He added the group has “nothing to hide.”

The meeting is being promoted to ministers as a day of special access to the governor in which state leaders “are convening behind the city walls” to engage in discussion for families and God, according to pamphlets.

“These pastor policy briefings behind closed doors only seem to pop up when Governor Perry is running in a contested election for governor,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates separation of church and state.

I'm sure they will all pray for guidance in the coming election season, turn out the faithful, and sweep him to victory once more. Just hope it's as the president of a rogue nation-state (a "whole 'nother country" as the promotional ads once proclaimed) and not any part of the USA in which I live.

Along with Perry, the group also will hear from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Attorney General Greg Abbott, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Texas Supreme Court Justice Dale Wainwright.

Representatives for Perry, Dewhurst and Abbott said the elected officials were honored to be invited, and it was up to the Pastor Council as to whether the meeting was open to observers. ...

The featured luncheon speaker for the meeting is Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America, who has been critical of Hutchison.

Vision America also has put out a pamphlet praising Perry as being against abortion while likening Hutchison’s position to that of President Barack Obama. Hutchison has an anti-abortion voting record but supports the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

You may recall Pastor Scarborough's informative seminars on the "War on Christians" he was 'moderating' way back in 2006. Or his teaching that you can spot an evil homosexual just by the look on their face, and that the 1992 RNC convention in Houston was plagued by violent, rioting faggots.

Yeah, I sure had forgotten about all that. Then again, we were living in Florida in 1992 (which also carried for Herbert Walker). But before this digresssion spins out, let's return to the subject of the Texas Republicans, their hard-right-with-God events, and its prospects for their future -- as in 2010.

Are there still enough of these freaks to keep it all-GOP in Texas next year? Unfortunately, probably so. Why else would Bill White and John Sharp be ducking a fall challenge to Rick Perry? Because it's Kay Bailey they are actually terrified of, you say?

They'd rather compete with each other in an open primary scrum that also pits them against Dewhurst and Abbott and Roger and Michael Williams for the chance to lose to one of those in a run-off?

And is that why Tom Schieffer is running for governor -- because Texas Democrats need a candidate to the right of Sharp and White?