Yeah, I know that Rick Perry was heavily involved in moving Texas in a very bad direction (Big Brother, building cσncєnтrαтισn cαмρs here, etc.)
He might just be telling the crowd what they want to hear.
NOTE: It did say Perry is about to enter "a challenging Re-election race" so he'd better tell those good-ol'-boys (independent, down-to-earth, sane, etc.) what they want to hear, or he's outta there.
Matthew