PrintMarch 1, 2011
Gov. Perry's 'gaffe' that wasn't
The leftist blogosphere is having a good laugh at the expense of Texas Governor Rick Perry, attempting to make him into what one commenter called the "male Sarah Palin." On the Huffington Post we read in the story, "GOP Governor Makes Texas-Sized Geography Gaffe":
Texas Governor Rick Perry may want to brush up on his geography...the Lone Star State Republican and chairman of the Republican Governors Association inaccurately called Juarez, Mexico "the most dangerous city in America" when speaking with reporters on Monday.
On Politico: "Texas-sized gaffe: Rick Perry thinks Juarez in U.S...It seems Texas isn't big enough for Rick Perry." Oh my God, not only a gaffe, but he's trying to recolonize Mexico.
I read the rest of the story, looking for the gaffe, until I realized I had already passed over it.
Gov. Perry said "America," instead of "North America." That's all folks.
What are the chances that the Texas governor really thinks Juarez is in Texas? For crying out loud, the Governor was in a news conference discussing the threats coming from the Mexican side of the border and the need for border enforcement. Why would he bring up the crime rate in a Texas city?
By the way, don't groups like La Raza lecture us that using "American" as a synonym for "U.S. Americans" (as Miss South Carolina phrased it) excludes the other peoples of North America? Perhaps Gov. Perry was simply being inclusive.
The gleeful bloggers are so busy playing an embarrassing game of "gotcha" that they neglect to address the import of Gov. Perry's statement, that Juarez, (Mexico) population 1.5 million, is not only the most violent city in North America, but in the world. It has been called "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones," with 1,600 murders in 2008, 2,600 in 2009 and 3,075 in 2010, which translates to a homicide rate more than three times that of New Orleans, the highest in the U.S.
El Paso, in sharp contrast, is directly across the Rio Grande from Juarez, but has the second lowest homicide rate in the U.S. after Honolulu, averaging 16 homicides per year.
