EoT: L’Etat Ce N’Est Pas Moi, Y’all, and Romancing the Cadres

A roundup of news, columns and features about the state, from media around the world.

Gov. Rick Perry’s lawyers argued this week that he is neither a Roman emperor nor French King Louis XIV. In a motion to dismiss his indictment for abuse of power, the lawyers argued he “was operating within the constraints on his office imposed by the state constitution,” Reuters reported. “A Texas Governor is not Augustus traversing his realm with a portable mint and an imperial treasure in tow; he no more has custody or possession of the State’s general revenue funds than does any Texan. No governor can say of his or her state what the Sun King said of France: “L’etat c’est moi,” the motion said.

Perry went soft on socialist-capitalism this week as he courted Chinese businesses during a trip to Beijing. American media led stories with Perry’s stunning confirmation that he’s considering a presidential bid in 2016. The state-run China Daily played up his invitation for Chinese companies to do business in Texas—and wrote that he issued the invite despite “an alleged abuse of power charge” against him. A grand jury has indicted Perry for inappropriately vetoing the budget of the Travis County district attorney after she was arrested for drunk driving.