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New York Times
JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
HOUSTON - Gov. Rick Perry has touched off a political uproar by expressing sympathy for Texans who want to secede from the United States. His comments have made him a darling of conservative radio hosts, a butt of jokes on television talk shows and a target of criticism from state Democrats.
Perry did not actually endorse the idea of Texasí leaving the Union, but critics say his remarks, after an anti-tax protest Wednesday in Austin, came close. Seeking to quell the furor the next day, he told The Associated Press that "Texas is part of a great Union, and I see no reason for that to change."
Still, Democrats have pounced on the Republican governor, saying he is stirring up talk of statesí rights and secession, notions that for many conjure the specters of the Civil War, slavery and racial segregation.
It has long been part of Texas folk mythology that because the state was once an independent republic, it has the option of seceding. But historians and law professors say there has been no serious argument since the Civil War on behalf of a legal basis for a stateís secession.
Like many other Texans, however, Perry still treats leaving the Union as a possibility.
"When we came into the Union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that," he told reporters on Wednesday. "My hope is that America, and Washington in particular, pay attention. Weíve got a great Union. Thereís absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that?"
Perry has been aggressively courting conservative voters in preparation for a tough re-election campaign next year against a fellow Republican, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. While Republicans have generally declined to comment on Perryís remarks, James Bernsen, a former press secretary to Hutchison, wrote Thursday in an online column, "Heís just staked his claim to the ëmad-as-hell constituency,í just the kind he needs for the primary to pull off a win."
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said Perry had evoked a time most Texans would rather forget. "Texas has become a hotbed of right-wing political activity," Ellis said, "but I think even those folks
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