Like John, I’m excited about the Rick Perry candidacy. In a way, he’s the perfect nominee, because he’s crazy enough that anyone who supports him should be embarrassed but he hasn’t been pre-rejected by the so-called thoughtful conservatives the way Bachmann and Palin have. It’s quite possible that Bobo will fall in love with him, that some of the OTB guys will get behind him, that young Conor will decide Perry’s one of the more thoughtful right-leaning candidates out there.
I realize this is of no political consequence, but where do you see “thoughtful” conservative opinion heading with the Ricker?
Update. How awesome is this?
Yes, he straps on his laser-sighted, hollow-point-bullet-loaded pistol whenever he goes jogging.
I haven’t been able to figure this out on teh google, but I’d like to know if Perry packs while he’s on the campaign trail.
Samara Morgan
to the bank…..whatever sells, because we now have free-market media.
I keep telling you, you cannot reason with Team Reaver. It doesnt matter how cracked Perry and Palin are. The media is just going to sell product, and the glibertarians are going to justify selling product.
al-jazeerha gets it better than you retards.
sb
sal
Opinion fellatio. Although not as sure they’ve rejected Bachmann yet.
Zifnab
He’s far more digestible than Mitt Romney. And the media is going to want to make this a serious horse-race. Perry is a much more powerful contender than Hunstman or Pawlenty, and a much more “serious” politician than Cain or Bachmann or Paul.
He’s got the money. He’s got the Tea Party popularity. And he’s a big red state corporate-friendly governor. Everything that made Bush appealing in ’00 is going to make Perry appealing in ’12.
Comrade Dread
He’ll be fully embraced.
He’s white, Chrisitan, male, he’s got good hair, he’s from Texas which is the mecca of Real America, he’s got a “record of job growth” which is mostly minimum wage jobs (but all of these lazy unemployed people need to get up and go make $7 an hour so we can stop subsidizing the opulent lifestyle they live on with their unemployment checks.)
Granted, the very serious people may think he has the stink of Bush on him, but that hardly matters to the GOP where everything was perfect and rosy until the Democrats took Congress.
japa21
Thank you for the quotation marks around “thoughtful”. As many have pointed out, there is no such thing among that group of people who currently call themselves both Conservative and Republicans.
Rick Massimo
Nah; they pre-eliminated Bachmann to clear the field for Perry (who of course isn’t different in any substantial way – none of the GOP field is). They’re on board all the way.
DS
Meh. I can see Perry beating Obama fairly easily given the state of the economy. His secessionist rhetoric will be spun into a call for “states’ rights” and limiting the scope of the Federal Government. Conservative wank-jobs in the media will eat it up without analyzing the fact people in states who benefit the most from government handouts are the most ardent supporters. McCain states, taking back Indiana, North Carolina and Iowa, plus Florida, Colorado, Ohio, maybe Pennsylvania. I think that is fairly realistic. Call me pessimistic, and he could only win by a small amount, but I don’t understand this belief that he doesn’t stand a chance because he is too far-right.
dmsilev
10:1 he shows up to one of the debates openly carrying.
TooManyJens
I think young Conor’s smarter than that, actually. (Conor, please don’t make me eat my words.)
@dmsilev:
…
Oh, packs a gun. I didn’t see the update in the OP.
Han's Big Snark Solo
He’s certainly dumb enough to be the Republican Nominee.
I don’t think he will get close though. Even if they don’t make a big deal of his sexual preference he has enough really bad legislation to turn off any “serious” conservative. Hell, what he did with the toll roads is enough to make him toxic to most Texans. When America gets to know The Ricker they will blanch.
Samara Morgan
@Zifnab: romney in trouble with the bluehairs.
Captain Haddock
I guess only women can be “too crazy”.
Nate
@TooManyJens: Young Conor has already rejected Perry for walking back on his (Perry’s) previous support for federalist principles.
russell
Where the hell does Perry go jogging? Dodge freaking city?
Myles
Well, as I noted in John’s thread, I think there is a reasonable case to be made that compares Rick Perry’s position on Texas secession/non-session to John Rawls’ difference principle.
TooManyJens
@russell: Kandahar.
Hawes
I’ve been touting Perry-mania (Perry-neum?) for months.
I think that he’s nuts, but telegenically nuts (he knows that the camera with the red light is the one to look into).
He’s dumb as a box of rocks. But dumb in all the right ways for the GOP electorate.
And he will die the electoral death that George Bush should have died. Another dumbass Texan? Could there be a better foil for Obama in 2012?
mk3872
It doesn’t matter whether Bobo and the rest of the Serious People on the Right think Perry is “thoughtful”.
They’ve all already decided that Obama is a narcissist and not Real ‘Murkin enough to support, so they’ll provide the requisite media hand-jobs to Perry because they hate Obama.
Samara Morgan
its interesting….The Hill spins this as liberal hecklers.
but my CNN live feed shows an old guy in a funny hat shouting about his wifes social security.
both sides do it.
TooManyJens
By the way, am I the only one who sees “OTB” and thinks “Off-Track Betting” every single time?
@Hawes:
Tragically Low Bars ‘R’ Us.
Ol' Dirty DougJ
Nope, I do it too. It may be a New York thang.
Samara Morgan
@TooManyJens: nah.
he’d be dead in a heartbeat.
Butch
I don’t usually have much use for Scarborough but his takedown of Perry was great – essentially “when you pray, go to
your most secret placethe biggest auditorium you can find and make sure lots of people take your picture.”TooManyJens
@Ol’ Dirty DougJ: I’ve always lived in Illinois, so probably not.
Suffern ACE
@TooManyJens: No you are not alone.
Cris (without an H)
What kind of a wuss needs a laser sight for self-defense?
cleek
i call BS on the gun. even the lightest gun + sight + holster is going to weigh a pound or so. nobody who runs any distance is going to be interested in having something like that attached to them all the time.
Martin
Perry doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who can execute a national campaign. Sucking up to Texas voters is a whole lot easier than winning Arizona, Michigan, and Maine simultaneously. Running around with a 6-shooter pretty much only plays in Texas – most of the country will look at him like he’s a 7 year-old.
cleek
@Ol’ Dirty DougJ:
same here
Cat Lady
How does he pivot for the general? Romney’s challenge was always how to pivot for the primaries, and we see where that has gotten him. Is he just going to suggest praying as the answer to every problem? I can’t wait to see that. Bobo’s got his work cut out for him for sure.
Hunter Gathers
@DS: You’re funny. I’m quite certain that the minority vote that put Obama in the White House in the first place is just going to ignore the decades of minority bashing that the GOP has benefited from and either stay home or vote for Governor Gun Totin’ Bag O’ Hair. Don’t you get it? White people don’t fucking matter anymore.
Sure, we may make the most noise and throw the biggest fits, but when it comes to Presidential elections we don’t fucking matter anymore. The only time that the white vote went to the winner in the last 5 POTUS elections was in 2004, thanks to the anti-gay ballot initiatives and Bush’s Hispanic outreach. That’s right, white people have not carried the winner in 4 out of the last 5 national elections.
The GOP’s 4 decades (and counting) of minority bashing has reduced them to turn the brown and black bashing up to 11 just to keep them competitive. Unemployment could be the same level that it’s at today on election day next year and Obama will stomp the shit out of the Gun Totin’ Secessionist.
Samara Morgan
LOL
classic
trollhattan
If he takes a pinch of strategy from VP candidate Palin (keep the press at arm’s length other than scripted events with friendlies) and a big ol’ heapin’ from GW’s ’99 campaign (act concerned, friendly and manly while lying about each and every intention you have, once elected) he’ll make a serious go of it.
We elected W without a clue as to who he is and what kind of evil team he’d assemble (although Molly Ivins warned us) and Perry can assemble the equivalent of W’s machine. I predicted he’d run when he made a cash-grabbing run to California awhile back. If he runs he’ll get the nomination.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Han’s Big Snark Solo: That might kill Perry if he faces Nader after Obama gets primaried, but the Republicans have to embrace someone so it’s Perry, Mittens or Bachmman.
Perry’s time is now. He will be the one who takes that final step to Idiotocracy by shooting off his gun during his State of the Union address.
NonyNony
@Cat Lady:
Look at what W did in 2000.
He’ll do something like that as a pivot. Dog whistles, code words, come up with something silly like “compassionate conservatism” but not actually define what those words mean.
Or look at Reagan in 1980. “Morning in America” style bullshit.
Something like that – when you have no ideas you can say whatever you want.
lacp
@cleek: I think he’s training for some kind of Goober Biathlon event.
Martin
@cleek:
@Cris (without an H):
The Predator had a laser sight. Hell, he had 3 of ’em. Oh, and Laura Croft could do triple backflips with a pair of pistols. And with a rockin’ ponytail.
You guys saying that Perry is more of a wuss than the Predator, and less athletic than Laura Croft?
Han's Big Snark Solo
That isn’t surprising. In his youth he was a famous cowboy singer. You remember that song about the YMCA? That was Perry… I’m snarking, but really, how freaking insecure do you have to be to fear jogging in Austin so much you have to do so with a gun? You’re more likely to suffer heat exhaustion than be attacked.
Rick Massimo
@Ol’ Dirty DougJ: Or a watched-a-lot-of-The-Odd-Couple-as-a-kid thing.
Raymond Luxury Yacht
Should Perry become the GOPinee, it’s quite certain that Bobo will fully embrace him. What, you think a real authentic American like The Governor doesn’t know his way around an Applebee’s Salad Bar?
Rick Massimo
@Butch: It is beyond me how few of these Bible-beaters seem to have ever read the part about the Pharisees.
Jeffro
Watch for the pundits to try and fix Perry’s deficiencies by hypothetically pairing him with a slightly less lunatic* VP for a ‘dream ticket’, in the hopes that people will actually buy it:
– Perry/Huntsman
– Perry/Bachman*
– Perry/Rubio
– Perry/Haley
*Ok, so this pairing makes Perry look somewhat more sane…
Samara Morgan
@NonyNony: nah, none of that….hes going to take Sarah Palin as his VP.
Jamie
Obama seems peculiarly blessed in the quality of his political opponents come election time.
trollhattan
You know he does. The rules might change if he announces and acquires SS protection. They could have some say as to whether it’s a “good idea” to have an armed candidate.
I pity the bystanders.
TooManyJens
@Han’s Big Snark Solo:
He says he carries it because he runs on trails outside of town and is afraid of snakes.
Which he will then shoot with hollow-points.
Morbo
@cleek: The key is that he keeps it inside his jogging shorts.
Rick Massimo
He doesn’t have to pivot for the general. Republicans never pivot for the general. Our media stars will tell you it’s because they’re such goshdarn honest, square-jawed non-Beltway, Real-American types, but really it’s because the whole GOP nominating process happens behind the scenes (as does about 90% of the Dems’).
Frankensteinbeck
Actually, if he’s jogging (possible) in mountain lion territory, a gun’s not crazy. They do get close to cities and attack joggers. I don’t recall mountains in Texas, but I’m not up on where pumas roam wild other than the Internet.
Martin
Van Hollen, Clyburn, Becerra named to the Super Committee. Looks like those are all reliable choices. Good work, Nancy.
Sloegin
A happy stock market was a real danger to Republican chances.
Now that the R’s have deliberately torpedoed the stock market along with the economy, pretty much anyone they want will be the next president.
karen marie
@Samara Morgan: Tea Party members = “concerned citizen.” Non-Tea Party members = “liberal hecklers.”
@trollhattan: I don’t know, I think anyone halfway paying attention had a clue. I watched that 1999 presidential campaign with mounting horror. Listening to the analysis of the debates was psychosis-inducing down-is-up-ism.
lacp
@Morbo: “Governor, is that a pistol you’re packing or are you just, uh, campaigning?”
TheMightyTrowel
Can we not adopt this please? I know real life Rickers and they’re lovely (or at least not batshit insane christ-o-holics).
Kay
@Hunter Gathers:
Is that true? I’ve never heard a pundit/professional/hack state it that way, turned around like that.
Jilli
I’m REALLY looking forward to the debates. During the last election, Perry ran like a scared dog from the other candidate Bill White. I think his personae will hold until he takes the debate stage. If you thought bush was a knuckle-dragging, mouth breathing idiot, you haven’t seen anything yet. He can run, but he won’t be able to hide this time.
Cat Lady
@NonyNony:
W came from hereditary breeding and had instant credibility because of his father. I didn’t vote for him, but felt that he’d rely on his father’s people like Scowcroft et al. who weren’t the worst people in the world, and I think a lot of other people felt that way too. Then there was the whole “Bush and Gore are the same” meme that took hold, and it still ended up at the Supremes. Gore got more votes, remember. I don’t thing anyone but the firebaggers will be saying Obama and Perry are the same, and Perry doesn’t have Bush’s national political structural advantage. Plus, Bush never believed his own bullshit. Perry’s not that smart.
Joel
Jogging and cop-killing go hand and hand, so I see where Rick Perry is coming from.
TooManyJens
@Hunter Gathers:
Wait. Are you saying the white vote went to Gore in 2000 and Bush won anyway, or are you counting Gore as technically winning?
ETA: OK, I looked it up and Gore got 42% of the white vote.
MikeJ
@Han’s Big Snark Solo:
Those bats can be mean.
I think they pooped on him and it drove him mad. Literally bat shit insane.
jwb
@Frankensteinbeck: He runs mostly in Austin. There are mountain lions, but he seems to worry more about coyotes.
Jesse Ewiak
One piece of good news is that our ole’ buddy Tweety has no love for Perry, unlike he did for Dubya.
Cris (without an H)
But boy, will they be saying it in this site’s comments.
Kay
I still think it’s going to be Romney, but I’ll play along with Perry as candidate.
Not that I have any choice. They’re still promoting Sarah Palin, after all.
MikeJ
@Sloegin:
Up 300 points today.
Joseph Nobles
@Martin: I got one out of three (Van Hollen). Of course, that one was a lock.
Yutsano
@Samara Morgan:
No way in world Bible Spice second chairs this time around. It would ruin her wit her supporters if she didn’t try to take out the Islamofascistkenyanusurpercommuntstnigra on her own. Plus her ego would refuse to let her. It’s all or nothing for her.
Ol' Dirty DougJ
Democrats have not won the white vote in at least 30 years in a presidential election, but they’ve won the popular vote in four of the last five elections. So, yes, that is correct.
Ian
@Han’s Big Snark Solo:
Do you have any evidence about this part?
japa21
Given the current state of the Republican Party, I predict Santorum will be nominated by acclamation at the convention after none of the other candidates gets more than a third of the delegates through the primaries.
Suffern ACE
@Kay: I would like the primary season to be long and nasty for them.
Mattminus
Remember, being a southern retard makes you “authentic”, and there is nothing more important than “authenticity”.
Samara Morgan
@Yutsano: then she will be on top.
she and Perry have a nonaggression pact.
Hunter Gathers
@Ol’ Dirty DougJ: I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again : it’s up to minority voters to save white people from themselves.
bkny
be careful what you wish for … i totally see him winning the election.
MikeJ
@Suffern ACE: Be careful what you wish for. The conventioanl wisdom was that the dems were killing themselves with the Obama v Hillary campaign, and instead it turned out to be the best possible way of keeping dems front and center in the media.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: Long, nasty primaries are generally damaging, but I think the long tough primary in 2008 made Obama a stronger candidate in the general. OTOH, this group will probably have the kind of long, nasty primary that hurts everyone and leaves the eventual winner battered, bruised, and teed-up for attacks in the general.
aimai
@trollhattan:
I take it that he’s for privatizing the Secret Service too? Maybe packing his own heat is his version of austerity. Lets hope so.
aimai
DS
@Hunter Gathers: True, but white people, especially older white people in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania are increasingly voting for the Republicans. The so-called Republican wave in 2010 really only happened in a few states: Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania. I think you a seriously underestimating how close most Presidential elections are. If Perry convinces a few million pissed off people to vote for him in a handful of states he can win.
Frankensteinbeck
Jwb:
Really? Coyotes? Is he a pet cat? Cougars will hunt people occasionally, but I don’t recall coyotes being aggressive towards humans. Perhaps he’s really an insecure moron with a desperate need to feel tough?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I predict 2012 with be Nader verse Perry
Figure Obama is dead meat – the village as declared him uppity and the left has denounced him as a secret Republican. Nader takes the Democratic nomination.
Perry takes the GOP because as dumb and over the top as he is, he isn’t as creepy or soulless as Mittens or as loony as Bachmman.
In the General Election it will be six months of two candidates speaking in a code to their supporters that the other 80% of the population don’t understand, all done to a steady chant of “both sides do it” from the press. Even when Perry takes up hunting illegal immigrants on the Mexican boarder for sport.
Nader has more brains than Perry and since the non-whites hates Republicans Nader takes the election. At which point Nader has to learn to compromise, gets denounced as a DINO by 2014 and gets primaried in 2016.
Hunter Gathers
Pelosi has named her members of the ‘SuperCommittee’, Van Hollen, Clyburn and Becerra. Of the twelve members, 9 are white males, with one woman, one African-American and one Hispanic. That’s quite the representation of American diversity, isn’t it?
kay
@Suffern ACE:
I’m not taking him seriously. I think he’s too weird, even for the extreme weirdness that is now the GOP. I had never listened to him for any length of time before yesterday, and he’s just odd. Something is…off about him.
That means I think Perry is a Mormon, by the way, if we rely on Politico definitions.
Samara Morgan
@Yutsano: i dont actually think Palin wants to be president….i think she just wants the WH.
Recall her behavior after the election…she offered her help to Obama at the governors conference, she offered a friendly flat race.
and got crickets.
after that she became bitter.
Immanentize
My great fear/expectation is we will start to see moderates and democrats and third wayers writing and saying of Perry (like they said of Bush) “he’s really not that bad, he can be reached, he’s only play acting to get through the primary — then his real centrist stripes will show.”
That is, of course, a lie. But a lie people will be pushing hard once he becomes a front runner in any way.
(Former Texan here, by the way)
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Which he carries in his Thunderwear*.
Perry/Romney 2012 – We Got Your Crazy Underpants!
The Populist
From the L.A. Times Letters section – today:
Texas, taxes and jobs
Re: “Amazon stumps outside stores,” Business, Aug. 6
I am a visitor to California and a lifelong Texan. Imagine my surprise to encounter an anti-tax signature collector in San Diego arguing that California will lose jobs to Texas if taxes increase.
We Texans have already got all the minimum-wage, no-benefit jobs we can handle, along with lousy roads, a 19th century school system, a high poverty rate, hunger, lack of medical care and the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation. Our education system is declining, and much of the new jobs pay minimum wage. Texas is becoming third-world.
California has so much of what Texas lacks. Be happy to pay your taxes because you are getting so much more for them. Tighten your belt and preserve the California you have while you can. Don’t destroy California; you will regret it later.
Kathleen Bombach
El Paso
Right on. She’ so right it’s not funny and when Texans are writing into the “libby” L.A. Times to back up the unspoken truths we all know about Texas, well…I hope it becomes the norm.
MBunge
Don’t get too excited about Perry. The GOP establishment at virtually all levels had the fix in for Bush the Younger from almost the start and, you may recall, Bush II spent several months preparing himself before the campaign really got underway just so he could manage to look vaguely passable as a candidate.
There is NOTHING like that suport for Perry and there’s no evidence that he’s done anything to get ready for the demands of a national campaign.
Mike
Ben Cisco
OT, but the “Kids for Cash” judge got the script flipped on him.
Cat Lady
OT, but the jail kids for cash judge in PA is going to die in prison. Karma’s a bitch.
ETA: D’Oh!
Samara Morgan
I still read hotair.
any thread about Palin goes ballistic.
if Perry wants grassroots support, i think he takes Palin as VP. i think being VP would be fine with her…she gets to go to the WH, she gets legitimized, she gets to stay in the limelight, she gets to be next in line.
and its less work.
and Palin thinks she can win. Rubio, Huck, etc…dont think they can beat an incumbent Obama. so they are waiting for 2016.
The Populist
@Immanentize:
After what I saw on Rachel Maddow last night, I will scream at anybody who believes this.
These are the same people who thought that maybe Palin was more reasonable than her rhetoric indicated. WRONG.
The Populist
@MBunge:
Well..wasn’t he a dem at one point in his life? Ron Paul is pushing that meme and pushing it hard. He’s fucked if enough of the crazies listen.
R-Jud
OT, but good news:
ETA: third on the trigger, damn.
Davis X. Machina
@Hunter Gathers: Pelosi picked one black guy, one white guy, and one Hispanic. The problem — if it is a problem, I can’s see Alan West helping things — lies elsewhere.
The Populist
@Samara Morgan: If he were to do this, he loses. PERIOD. America hates Sarah Palin. Take away the crazy 27% and that is all you have.
Most normal thinking people roll their eyes at her annoying pronouncements and it’s almost with certainty she will say something so dumb that it will hurt Perry. He will go with a safer bet, Rubio or maybe a guy like Romney to appeal to the moderates.
Roger Moore
@Samara Morgan:
Yes. She wants the privileges of office but not the responsibilities. That’s why she bailed as Governor once she saw the opportunity to grift like crazy as a potential candidate. IOW:
Caribou Barbie:
MathGoverning is hard. Let’s go shopping!Corner Stone
@Ben Cisco:
Words will never express how happy I am about this possibility.
I’m a non-violent type person but this is one guy that should seriously look into DIAF.
cleek
@Immanentize:
“…and just look at that team of seasoned DC experts he’s surrounded himself with! they’ll keep him in line, and they’ll know how to get things done! so, nothing to fear. let’s have a beer!”
numfar
I predict many photo ops of Perry holding his gun (most likely a revolver, with the hammer cocked) over his head, with a big shit-eating grin on his face.
Davis X. Machina
@NonyNony: GOP candidates pivot for the general election the way they change lightbulbs – they stay in exactly the same place, everything else pivots around them.
dollared
Perry is a great shot for the Republicans to win the general. Jobs! Texas has jobs! Looks good for the camera, nice n macho, got the evangelicals.
Right out the door he has 45% with the Christians, the Cabelas shoppers and the anti tax crowd.
You’ll get the full Village love of his Christian compassion with his frank realization that America must distinguish itself by being the low wage, low tax alternative to Europe and Japan. And of course, he never flip flops. A true Republican Daddy.
He is by far the most likely Republican to win the general.
The Populist
@Roger Moore:
She won’t run because she likes making millions speaking. She is more interested in being a celebrity and not a politician.
Ben Cisco
@Hunter Gathers:
NICE!
JohnR
Yeah, I think Perry moves to the front right now. He may not be as bug-eyed nuts as Bachmann, but he has good hair, testicles and he prays really loudly in public, as Jesus wants us to. Romney is toast and has been from the start – he’s a RINO tax-raising, Obama-care-inspiring, anti-Christian flip-flopper, even if he is white and rich. Perry is everybody’s compromise – “Sure, he’s [____], but he’s [_____]!” And, I think Samara’s right – but I think he’ll be more likely to pick Bachmann as VP; almost as sparkly with the fanboyz, but less of an anchor and more of a plowhorse when it comes to campaigning.. Of course, then he has to check his Coke for ground glass and cyanide every day, but if you want to be Emperor you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Hunter Gathers
@DS: Obama’s re-election team is already getting to work, and has been for a few months now. They’re re-establishing ties with the voters they got in 2008, and are working to sign up new voters. Unless there is a 3rd party vote to the left of Obama, it’s going to be very, very, very hard to defeat him, even with a shitty economy. The only incumbent POTUS who has lost re-election since 1932 without 3rd party shenanigans was Gerald Ford, but I’m not convinced he counts, since he was handed the office by Nixon in ’74 and was never on a presidential ticket before 1976. Humphrey (by default the incumbent, as he was LBJ’s VP and was on the ticket in ’64) had Wallace, Carter had the Kennedy ratfucking and Jack Anderson in the general, and Bush 41 lost a shit-ton of votes to Ross Perot. It is very, very difficult to unseat a sitting POTUS (2004, anyone?) and the GOP is as popular as a case of the clap at the moment.
Mid-term election are strange beasts. They’re more about anger than anything.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Ben Cisco: Prison riot breaks out when prisoners can’t agree on who gets to stomp him first.
Tears, candy, yum!
Gosh, for a minute there I thought that greedy evil fuck actually got the connection between actions and consequences.
Also, too: Talk of backdooring, not a good idea.
Monkey Business
I look at Perry and I think “No way this guy gets through the primary; he’s an empty suit and a bag of hair, and his Texas schtick is going to make him look like a jackass even to other conservatives.”
Then I think “Okay, so he might get through the primaries, but he’s going to look like a jackass in places like Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Florida, and all the other states he has to win to make a go at Obama.”
Then I think “Okay, so that might work in a few of the more retarded states, but there’s no way this guy can go 12 rounds with Obama in three nationally televised debates. He’s going to look like a fool. Obama will have to pull punches to keep from eviscerating him, Lloyd Bentsen-style.”
Then I go have a stiff drink, because I want to kill the brain cells that are generating this line of thought before it gets any further.
Jager
@DS: Be interesting to see Perry campaigning on the economy in ’12, because thats about the time the Texas state budget blows up and don’t think that won’t muss his hair! All the Dems have to do is read the Texas Republican platform in public every chance they get. And always mention that every Republican in Texas has to sign onto the platform…the section on getting rid of Social Security ought to do it.
Davis X. Machina
This, of course, guarantees a 3rd party vote to the left of Obama…
joeyess
Future headline:
Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Suffers Self Inflicted Gunshot Wound While Jogging.
Also, too, he’s a murderer.
boss bitch
The Populist
@dollared:
One problem that will haunt him: All Obama needs to hurt Perry will be the videos where he constantly is talking secession. The question will have to be asked: Why run for president if you believe Texas is better off seceding?
dollared
@JohnR:
never mind the presidential election. I think you just created the Shorter(TM) for James Clavell’s Shogun.
Jewish Steel
Who will be to the first to claim that this will peel off numbers from Obama’s inner city thug vote?
I say Rush.
Loneoak
I’m sure we’ll hear more about it, but there is a somewhat famous story about him plugging a coyote that was being aggressive to his dog while they were out jogging.
Corner Stone
@Davis X. Machina:
More Republican funded Green Party shenannies or something else?
The Populist
An obscure interview with Perry, posted on the internet more than two years ago, has resurfaced as part of a harsh video put together by a group of Texas Democrats who don’t want the Republican governor to be elected president. The Democrats found the interview on YouTube, originally posted in March 2009, and included it in a four-minute attack on Perry emailed to supporters last weekend.
(snip)
In the meeting, Perry can be heard speaking to the group of tech bloggers about the founding of Texas in 1836. A slideshow shows Perry pointing to a painting of the dramatic fall of the Alamo, artifacts in his office and the “Come and Take It” logo on his own boots.
Texans have a “different feeling about independence,” Perry told the group.
“When we came into the nation in 1845, we were a republic, we were a stand-alone nation,” the governor can be heard saying. “And one of the deals was, we can leave anytime we want. So we’re kind of thinking about that again.”
The bloggers erupted in laughter after the remarks, and the slideshow was posted under the headline “Texas Governor Rick Perry jokes about Texas leaving the United States.”
politico.com/news/stories/0811/61030.html#ixzz1Uk1cVmM5
joeyess
@Zifnab:
Digestible in the sense that a goat could resist vomiting?
Martin
I would like to note that we have mountain lions here in SoCal as well. I’ve seen them about 2 miles from my house and one was spotted a few blocks from my house, where people jog and mountain bike regularly. Nobody feels the need to go out there armed.
It’s not the mountain lions that get you, it’s the SUVs that do.
Austinite
I’ve been saying this to everyone who has asked, since ~2006 when it seemed obvious to me that a Dem would win in ’08:
The political graveyards in Texas are littered with people who have underestimated Rick Perry.
Cris (without an H)
@Mattminus: I’ll let others take issue with the word “retard,” I’m going to dispute the word “Southern” to describe Texas. Yes, it fits the dictionary definition, but when we talk of the South with a capital S in this country, we really mean the old Confederacy. Texas is its own entity, neither Southern nor Midwestern, and only a little bit Southwestern.
Jinxtigr
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: The brown acid is specifically not too good…
4tehlulz
lol mitt: Corporations Are People, My Friend
Samara Morgan
@Roger Moore: my hypothetical scenarios…
1. they both declare, to see the numbers.
Palin has said she will “decide” in september. who ever wins the nom takes the other as VP.
2. Perry declares, Palin declines. Perry kicks Mitts ass and than taps Palin as VP.
Ben Cisco
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
To him I would say, “A, O, Genius! It wasn’t the words that made you toxic, it was your toxicity that made you toxic. Also, your assholishness.”
The Populist
@Mattminus: I am of the belief the south really is still fighting the civil war. They want to stick it to the rest of us for what happened to them.
mds
@Comrade Dread:
You know what’s more frustrating about all that recession-weatherin’ no-tax no-regulation utopia talk? Thanks to Google’s public data explorer, it’s possible to do nice graphs of unemployment data by state. As of June 2011, Texas was at 8.2%, New York at 8.0%, and Massachusetts at 7.6%. So even without taxes, government, or unions, Texas hasn’t been able to create enough shit minimum wage jobs to stay ahead of the wingnuts’ favorite tax-and-spend big government liberal states. Not that it will matter to a superficial narrative that labels Massachusetts “Taxachusetts” because it collects revenues rather than degenerating into a third-world shithole with Jeebus sprinkles on top.
Roger Moore
@The Populist:
Easy. He wanted Texas to secede because he needed to protect its States Rights against an overreaching federal government run by the Socia1ist Kenyan Monster(TM). But if we elect a Constitutional Conservative(TM) like Rick Perry, those States Rights will be properly protected and there will be no need for secession. IOW, if the Republicans don’t win, they’re going to take their ball and go home. I’m amazed you have to ask this kind of question.
futzinfarb
Time to put all those tea-partiers on the spot with their revisionist claim that their anger was a reaction to GWB’s lack of “true” conservatism? Prove it by disavowing Perry who’s just GWB v2.0.
dollared
@Martin: This. SUVs are why I don’t ride my bike anymore.
Davis X. Machina
@mds: How long has it been since the Republicans were actually the party of fiscal probity? Because they’re still sold as the party of fiscal probity.
Zombie legends of the Texas boom may not last 30-40 years, but they’ll last long enough…
Cris (without an H)
So here’s the racial makeup of the House:
Racial Composition of the 110th Congress
White 332 (76%)
Black 42 (10%)
Jewish 30 (7%)
Hispanic 25 (6%)
Asian 5 (1%)
Native American 1 (<1%)
So the racial makeup of the committee is roughly proportional to the overall makeup of Congress. As for women: the House currently has 72 women, or 16%. So there really should be one more woman on the committee to make up that percentage.
Anyway, you got a problem with diversity, look to the Congress as a whole, not to Pelosi's choices.
Jager
@Samara Morgan: What happens when that snotty, little shit Willow gets knocked up halfway through Mom’s term, I suppose it could be written off as a “Family Tradition”. My money is on Chairman of the RNC.
btw, notice I said when, not if.
Roger Moore
@Cris (without an H):
Not to go all historical on you, but Texas was part of the Confederacy. Maybe it’s not the part of the Confederacy you think about because there weren’t a bunch of famous Civil War battles fought there, but Texas committed treason with the rest of the South.
Cris (without an H)
Fuck, how long has it been since they were the party of Lincoln?
Poopyman
@Corner Stone: It’s quite possible that he’ll be bunking with someone he sent there.
Or maybe sharing a shower with a couple. Remains to be seen.
The Republic of Stupidity
And w/ a little luck he’ll shoot himself in the foot w/ it one of these days, ala Plaxico Burress, or this guy… and that’ll be the end of yet ANOTHER bit of truly embarrassing nonsense…
The Populist
@Roger Moore: I ask because I do not believe the majority of Americans will find those comments appealing.
It’s one thing to scream states rights over and over and quite another to talk about leaving the nation via secession.
My question was meant as rhetoric. Most Americans will tell you they love their country. I firmly believe any talk of secession will be frowned upon by the uneducated, low info voter (Soccer moms, guys who think both sides do it, etc).
Legalize
Mitt Romney is weird.
Cris (without an H)
@Roger Moore: Oh Christ, you’re right, I’m wrong. My bad big time.
Roger Moore
@Martin:
Either that or when you shoot yourself because you don’t know safe gun handling. I’m willing to bet there are far more people killed every year in US wilderness areas by gun accidents than wildlife.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Ben Cisco: I’m reading his Wikipage. The guy is a complete and unrepentant creep and dumb as hell too boot.
A judge who doesn’t know not to annoy another judge is too stupid for a mother’s tears.
Violet
@Roger Moore:
Exactly. I’m baffled as to why anyone would think Perry’s flirtation with secession will have any legs on the campaign trail. He didn’t come right out and call for secession; he hinted at it. And people will understand what he was saying as Roger Moore wrote above: protecting states rights, doing his job as governor, etc. Only people who weren’t going to vote for him anyway will have a problem with it as an actual treasonous call for secession.
The secession stuff isn’t enough to keep people from voting for Perry. It just isn’t strong enough. Democrats would do well to look in other places for stuff to use against him.
Samara Morgan
@Jager: nothing. track just whelped 3 months after gettin hitched.
you do not understand…
Ben Cisco
@The Populist:
Agreed. And when we get around to fighting and winning Civil War 2.0, the entire Confederate “leadership” should meet a traitor’s end.
Cat Lady
@Legalize:
Everything the guy has ever said and done he’s had to walk back. He can’t say what he means, and doesn’t mean what he says, and nothing he says makes any sense as a result. the “my friends” is a nice touch also, too. It worked so well for McCain. If it’s between Romney and Perry, Perry wins.
Ian
@Cris (without an H):
Texas was in the Confederacy
The Populist
@Violet: I disagree but heck, there is enough stuff to burn him on:
Budget deficits
Poverty
Worst in the nation in so many categories
That group of evangelicals who are bent on ushering in the apocalypse
Secession might be good in the sense that people will turn off to that kind of talk. He’s quoted as talking about it and it will be just the icing to show the man is unfit to be President.
Comrade Luke
A few comments:
– He already has 30% of the vote, at a minimum, because he’s a Republican
– GWB openly mocked someone being executed and got elected, so Perry being a “murderer” isn’t going to do any damage
– Perry is a total dumbass, but guess what happens when a Republican is shown to be a dumbass by Democrats? They play the victim and the Democrats take the hit for being “mean”
This guy is trouble, and could very well be the next President.
We are so, so stupid as a country.
Samara Morgan
here’s a thought experiment for you juicers.
imagine Palin at a 2008 rally.
instead of being lashed to the side of Sick Grandpa, she is standing next to a virile, heat-packing, exquisitely coiffed, sixfooter.
“Governor Goodhair”.
appearance is all.
Violet
@Cris (without an H):
For the record, the last battle of the Civil War was fought in Texas.
The Populist
@Cat Lady: This. He’s the ultimate waffler and that may prove to be a liability.
His other major liability is taking stimulus funds to hide his budget deficit.
Roger Moore
@The Populist:
And my response might have been snarky, but I think it’s approximately what he would say. He would probably say the comment reflected frustration rather than serious secessionist sentiment, but the core idea would be that it’s a response to Federal overreach that he intends to rectify as President. It’s a slightly more sophisticated justification for a dogwhistle than “can’t you take a joke”.
Redshift
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
That would surely be true if the nomination were decided by an online poll. In the real world, “the left” and Democrats as a whole have done no such thing.
You’re way more entertaining than most of our trolls!
TG Chicago
@Captain Haddock: I guess only women can be “too crazy”.
Excellent point. How much of the fact that Perry is accepted by the Republican insiders while Palin and Bachmann are… less accepted… is due to sexism?
Ben Cisco
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
Wow. I didn’t know that about the guy. That is some weapons-grade stupidity right there.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Violet: I am reading a book about Americans in France and I had no idea the Union ship Kearsarge sank the Confederate Alabama in Cherbourg, France during the Civil War!
The Populist
@Comrade Luke:
Maybe…if times were better, I’d buy this. Since times are so iffy and the college kid vote comes into play in this election, I’d hold off worrying too much about this guy.
He will find a way to fuck something up on the campaign trail. If Obama is smart, he plays on the fact this guy can’t manage a balanced budget in an ALL Republican state, the supposed job growth is all minimum wage jobs with zero benefits and the state’s air and water quality is the worst in the nation.
In the end, it’s all about jobs. While Perry has brought jobs to the state, I don’t see these types of jobs as something to crow about.
joeyess
then of course the screeching harpy opens her mouth and speaks.
Sound and word salad, signifying nothing.
The Populist
@Roger Moore:
Good post, I can accept this viewpoint and I agree Obama and the Dems can’t run with it. I would bring it up though, maybe in a debate? The key will be when Perry whines about the feds, Obama swoops in with the declaration that Perry took stimulus funds and instead of using them for roads and infrastructure, balanced his budget deficit.
I would also advise that Texas is no better off than California in managing it’s affairs monetarily. Obama will get shit flinged at him from their side on his “spending” but he should drill these hypocrites on the fact they talk the talk but can’t walk the walk when it comes to budgets and money.
Corner Stone
Palin will never be on another ticket for elected office.
Violet
@Samara Morgan:
Palin’s ego is too big to take the VP spot again. She’d quit and play the victim card to make more money off Fox and the rubes before doing that. She’s already been the VP candidate and failed. If she doesn’t move up a notch it’ll be seen as failure. No way she is the VP candidate again, even if Perry wins the nomination.
Rick Massimo
@The Populist:
That would be a good question, but I spent 2004 waiting for John Kerry to say “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” and he never did. “Mitt Romney wants to give a tax cut to the guy who laid you off” would also work; I’m not holding my breath waiting to hear that one either. Democrats are generally incompetent at this sort of thing.
Besides, Perry appeals to the dom/sub wing of the GOP, and would say something along the lines of “I said that because America was pissing me off and someone had to slap it around to set it straight.” His speechwriters will pretty it up, but only a little.
Joseph Nobles
From @daveweigel on Twitter:
trollhattan
@The Populist:
Love that letter! Perry has made “company shopping” trips to California (IIRC Megs noted this during her campaign) and the Usual Suspects hail Texas as the
Workers’Job Creators’ Paradise. Yeah, right.4tehlulz
Fuck the Jews; they don’t vote for us anyway.
trollhattan
@Joseph Nobles:
“Pork Chop on a Stick” would be a pretty good nickname for Mittens.
The Populist
@trollhattan: I hope that letter gets some play in other places online. That lady is so right on.
The Populist
@4tehlulz: Huh?
Frankensteinbeck
@joeyess:
This is important. How does Perry speak? A lot of candidates are theoretically powerful, then they open their mouth and the public gets to actually see and hear them.
Frankensteinbeck
@Corner Stone:
I understand where you’re coming from, but let me amend that. Only breathtaking stupidity could result in Palin being on the ballot for another elected position in her life.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@Ben Cisco: Seriously man, I linked his wikipage in the OT post by Kay if you want to read about the 1,000 faces of greed.
Get this, he tried to claim his pension after he resigned.
trollhattan
@Frankensteinbeck:
He’s hard to make out above all the “Amens.”
4tehlulz
@The Populist: James Baker reference.
J
I had the BBC world service on in the background as I was reading this post and the comments, and I was as struck by how well conservative PM David Cameron’s remarks about the rioters applied to Perry, and our feckless ruling class quite generally, “A culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities.”
Ben Cisco
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
Only one possible response to reading that.
hueyplong
Cole: “… the only decision for the media bobbleheads is whether they will spit or swallow. In Halperin’s case, he went with gargle and swallow.”
Did anyone else think of that Onion headline?
“Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep S***ing my C***?”
gnomedad
Soylent Green is people, my friend.
cat48
Sorry Gov. Goodhair!, the Onion reports that the GOP has decided to cede the 2012 Election to Obama:
Elie
I dunno… I don’t think Perry is going to be the nominee. If he is, this will be the end of the Republican party as a serious electoral alternative for serious governance.
I feel in my gut that there will be a dark horse, not yet named who is more mainstream and suffers none of the loony attributes of Perry, Palin, Mittens or Crazy Eyes. None of these would do anything but guarantee Republican defeat and destruction of the party as we know it. I think that is a wonderful outcome, and maybe they will be loony enough to do it — which is ok by me. But I think their overlords will have second thoughts abot these alternaties…
Honestly, sometimes I feel that I am living some crazy vampire drama like True Blood. In the current episodes, wicken necromansers are pulling vampires out their sleeping hideyholes into the sunlight to avenge their attack back during the Inquisition. One big gothic fairy tale…
wrb
@Elie:
I too have been amazed that they haven’t been able to come up with a strong candidate who isn’t Mormon or at the crazy edge of Christianity.
I don’t agree that these guys can’t win though. It just gives us a chance.
Elie
@wrb:
You actually think its that close? I don’t — not that I am 100% confident — life has taught me not to be THAT loco, but I just don’t see Americans not seeing them as they are and also appreciating Obama’s sanity. I know that 6 million people here will disagree.
Paul in KY
@Samara Morgan: I don’t think Sarah! would deign to be veep again. Wouldn’t like how she would be managed by the presidential candidate’s team.
Marc
It’s as if people are projecting Bush onto Perry. Bush had a way of appearing reasonable that Perry doesn’t. No illusions here.
Steamboat
Does he strap-on when hiking the Appalachian Trail?
russell
No, but jogging in mountain lion territory arguably is. You are fairly likely to be lunch before you get a chance to take aim.
I was talking with a guy who lives up the mountain behind Orange MA. A mountain lion left a semi-eaten carcass on his garage roof. They don’t f**k around.
If it’s coyotes he’s afraid of, he can relax. Coyote attacks on humans are not unheard of, but they generally involve little kids.
I suspect Perry just likes to carry a gun around.
Paul in KY
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): I think it was off the coast, not actually in the town ;-)
joeyess
@russell:
I also suspect it is related to the size of his penis.
Tony J
Speaking as an external observer of American politics, I have to ask the question that’s been bugging me. Why isn’t Perry the ideal GOP candidate for a 2012 thumping?
Texas Governor. Talks and moves like George W Bush. Represents everything America rejected back in 2008. The MSM would do their yeoman best, but come on, the psychological choice voters would be confronted with would be the same as the billboard. “Miss him yet?” How do you really think 50+ of American voters would answer that question in a booth?
With Romney the MSM would try to paint any attack on him as a shape-shifting weirdo as an attack on his religion, in Bachmann’s case, or Palin’s, they’d label it sexism. In all the above they’d label it ‘gutter-politics’ and claim it justifies the increasingly loud dog-whistles about religion and race the GOP would be mainstreaming – for months and months and months.
What’s the ‘shield of steel’ behind which Perry can operate? Any attack on him is an attack on his Dubyaness? It’s anti-Texan? Everyone knows it’s all about his being gay? What’s his “both sides do it” defence against negative attacks?
It would be the Obama vs Bush Election delayed by Constitutional issues. Who’d win that?
Samara Morgan
@Violet: but she doesnt think she failed.
she thinks Team McCain wrecked her chances.
i think i get Palin.
shes a Mean Girl that got shut down for the WH prom, not because she lost…McCain still got invited to the WH……but because Obama dissed her afterwards.
she wants respect.
@Corner Stone: i guess we will see.
sheez gunna announce in september.
wat else happens in september?
the UN vote on Pali statehood.
check this out.
:)
Paul in KY
@Samara Morgan: Whoa man, Israel building more houses in occupied territory! Would never, ever have believed that ;-)
uptown
Wow…Perry admits that he is such a bad shot he needs a laser-sighted pistol?
Brachiator
You need to put down the arugula. A lot of mainstream voters are going to eat this shit up.
The only people who see Perry as “crazy” or “scary” are that segment of liberals with sticks up their asses, and who take their social cues from the crabbed, stuffy effeteness of the typical host on an NPR program.
Consider this little Wiki nugget:
And we already know that a chunk of Americans, fired up by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party People have a yearning for a Real White Man to Govern Real America(tm) for White People. Intelligence and Non-crazy are not prerequisites for the job.
And Perry certainly looks like he can fill the bill here.
dollared
@Brachiator: I’m with you. “Obama was too inexperienced, we need a strong leader with 12 years of executive experience, who knows how to get jobs.”
Lots of discussion about GHWB and the “vision thing” that Obama lacks….yadayadayada.
It would be a great referendum on “do we really want to be like Texas?” And unfortunately, the answer would be “yes sir!”
nastybrutishntall
@Frankensteinbeck: ex wife used to trail run here in the mountains with a .22 in a fanny pack. Mountain lions are probably too fast to shoot before your neck feels their breath, but it makes for a less terrified yogging. No laser sight, though.
Barry
@The Populist: The Populist –
“His other major liability is taking stimulus funds to hide his budget deficit.”
Fradulent budgeting and taking as much money from the Federal government as possible while complaining?
This man is Tea Party personified.
Paul in KY
@Brachiator: That’s why it is so important to educate voters about the Texas governorship & how powerless it is, etc. etc.
People from other states assume the Texas governor is as powerful as their governors.
Jager
How do the baggers feel about Rick Perry’s spending on his temporary Governor’s mansion? 600k over the past 2 years!
huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/rick-perry-rental-mansion_n_578311.html
Calouste
@Samara Morgan:
A non-aggression pact between Palin and Perry probably has the same value as the one negotiated by Messrs. Molotov and von Ribbentrop.
bob h
You could imagine Bachman going on the ticket for evangelical overkill.
russell
We have a winner.
If we didn’t have a two-term limit for Presidents, there’s a reasonable chance W would be President right now.
There is a very large population in this country who would eat Perry up with a spoon.
Tom Q
@russell: This is pure nonsense. Bush had an approval rating in the 20s when the ’08 election took place. He’d have got his ass reamed worse than McCain did. I’m sometimes amazed by the evidence-less claims people post here.
wrb
@nastybrutishntall:
In the classic pounce from behind they do when hunting, yes, but a lot of the attacks on humans result from chance encounters. You and the cat look at each other, usually he strolls away, sometimes something happens and he doesn’t. However the attack can be tentative and experimental. Think house cat (cougars are in the house cat family, not the lion or tiger.) People have escaped by punching the cat in the nose.
russell
he’s the worst president we’ve ever had, certainly the worst in my 50+ years on the planet, and he’s got an unshakeable 20-something percent approval rating. even today.
if you think that the fact that perry will remind folks of bush works against him, guess again.
Gus
Shit man, what kind of hellhole has Austin become if one feels the need to pack heat while jogging? That doesn’t speak well of his ability to promote law and order.
Triassic Sands
I propose legislation that requires every American, before eating a burger or any other form of meat, to watch a high definition, THX sound video of the action in slaughter houses. Sure, it might slow down lines in the McDonald’s drive thru, but shouldn’t people be faced with the true consequences and implications of their decision to eat meat?
One amendment to this legislation would require all human carnivores to pet a lamb, calf, or fluffy little baby chicken immediately prior to consumption of meat.
Bon apetit!
Note: in fairness, vegetarians have to watch snow peas and apples being picked.
anna
Ah, but does he wear a codpiece?
Corner Stone
@nastybrutishntall:
I, umm…I love you for this.