This is how seriously Rick Perry took running for President:
Rick Perry has done something his opponents have been hoping he’d do for years: retire. But it’s not what the governor’s detractors had in mind.
Perry officially retired in January so he could start collecting his lucrative pension benefits early, but he still gets to collect his salary — and has in turn dramatically boosted his take-home pay.
This looks like simple greed and incompetence, or arrogance, but it might more accurately just be called confidence. Rick Perry and his advisors probably believe that he can outrun any story of his double-dipping faux retirement by making the election about Obama’s character, not his. And why not? It’s worked more than a few times in the last 25 years.
I just re-watched Boogie Man, the Lee Atwater Story (it streams on Netflix), and the story of how Atwater turned the 1988 election from the Iran/Contra scandal to Dukakis’ patriotism and Willie Horton is worth remembering when you read stories about the character of any of the current candidates. They really do think they can get away with this kind of shit. The media environment in 2012 is a lot different from 1988, Obama’s team is better equipped to handle these kinds of attacks than Dukakis was, but if you want to know where the confidence in the Republican Party is coming from, remember what they’ve accomplished in the past.
(Thanks to Canadian reader Bob for sending the link.)
sb
This is exactly what Repugs think we teachers are doing and they scream and they bitch and they moan and when one of them does it? Non-story.
Ten bucks to anyone on the planet this won’t be a big deal with the villagers.
And yes, Boogie Man was terrific, IMHO.
Baud
This, to me, is the greatest tragedy of the 2010 elections. Republicans were rewarded big time for their obstructionist behavior, so they have no reservation in doubling down on that strategy.
Elizabelle
@Baud:
And maybe the doubling down will be what takes a lot of them out, and replaces them with better Congresscritters.
I have hope.
Obama and the Democrats have to make the sale.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
What? why is this a big deal? Perry clearly isn’t being greedy, he is vain. He doesn’t want to do anything that would make him look foolish. He had to take the money. Say what you want about Rick Perry, but no one makes Rick Perry look foolish.
Baud
@Elizabelle: I’m hopeful too. I just wish the rest of America didn’t need to see Republicans in positions of power to remember how awful they are.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
Perry doesn’t have to worry about looking foolish, the people of Texas are big enough fools for voting him into office. Fucking gold plated retirement benefits, free medical for life and social security?
He has everything that he and his party want to deny to everyone else.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
i know, i’m hoping i laid it on thick enough.
numbskull
You’re going to have to convince me that that sentence shouldn’t end with “…; it’s worse!”
Egg Berry
what an awful excuse for a human being.
JWL
To be sure, Dukasis and democracy each were mauled by the Willie Horton ugliness. But Dukasis also lost a ton of credibility when he crawled up on that tank, and was photographed wearing a tanker’s head-gear. He looked preposterous. I think that was the day what little hope I ever possessed that he might somehow win that election vanished from my mind.
Elizabelle
@Baud:
I am hoping for some freelancing Teatard primarying too, that takes out some GOP incumbents, and frees up a seat for a sane Democratic challenger. A girl can hope for that too.
Mostly, aside from the 27-40% (what have you), I am thinking the economy is unsettled enough that voters who can think for themselves won’t want to put an obstructionist Congress and a Republican president back in office.
We don’t know what’s coming from the euro, and cleanup continues (has just begun?) on Bush maladministration.
I’m thinking that choosing a president and congress for entertainment value won’t work very well in 2012.
amk
This is a country that came close to voting in an angry, unstable man and an ignorant, greedy, racist woman to the top posts just 3 years back. This is a country that voted back the same punks who derailed the entire world economy, just after 2 years.
Of course, the rethugs are confident that they can get away with anything.
dmsilev
Well, he’s in good company among the clowns. Newt Gingrich is taking his campaign so seriously that he’s taking the weekend off only two weeks before Iowa.
The truly sad, or hilarious, thing is that given this opposition, Mitt Romney *still* can’t break 25% in the primary polls.
Tom Levenson
@dmsilev: This.
Romney is simply deeply unlikable. Or rather, I should say that first, he is someone who, the more time you spend with him, virtual or (apparently) in meatspace, the more you loathe him. Combine that with the inconsistency in defense of policies lots of people hate (TPM has a piece up now in which it is pointed out that Romney’s chasing of the brown-people-hate vote is killing GOP attempts at reaching the Latino community)…and what you have is the perfect candidate designed by aliens whose only contact with earthlings is from interference-ridden e-m transmissions of Fox News, somewhere out there in the ether.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer cyborg.
Rick Massimo
I’m not sure the Democrats are more prepared for this crap, and I’m damn sure the media environment is worse, if anything. The only reason I don’t think Perry will get away with this is because Mitt and Newt and Paul won’t let him. It’s the same reason Palin didn’t run; Our Media Stars wouldn’t have called her out on anything, but the other candidates would have.
But once a nominee is decided, and the only things we have to keep them honest are the Democrats and Our Media Stars, forget about it.
Snowball
The tea partiers are NOT serious about cutting government spending. They are not. This is just another example of it.
Why not? It has worked just fine in the past. The voters care more about gay couples (that they have never met) not being allowed to marry or that some Islamic building not being allowed in some neighborhood.
I think the opposite. Today there is FoxNews, which has Republican talking points 24/7. And it is just amazing how often the regular MSM picks these talking points up and treat them as regular news stories. And don’t forget Citizens United.
Baud
@dmsilev: @Tom Levenson:
A Republican who can’t even handle a Fox News interview is going to have a difficult time winning the presidency.
dmsilev
@Tom Levenson: You mean this story? It’s a somewhat strange piece, because Romney’s position is pretty much mainstream GOP dogma right now. The problem the GOP is having with Hispanics isn’t Romney, it’s the GOP.
Edit: Romney is a mirror mounted on the wall opposite a painting. If you don’t like what appears in the mirror, you need to change the painting. Blaming the mirror for its nature is pointless.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
You did, quite heavily…lol! I was just pointing out that Perry has no worries, he dumped those on the people of Texas.
How idiots in Texas can be against big government, unions and gold plated executive pay and yet they vote in yahoos who give themselves all of that and more, all the while making sure that the voters can’t do the same. No wonder Texans say “Don’t mess with Texas”, Texans have made enough of a mess of it themselves.
They don’t need any help.
Mr Furious
I am most appalled that a Presidential candidate signs legal documents like a six year old.
boss bitch
nope, Perry does that all by himself.
merrinc
Of course he can get away with it. I read the story in the Austin-American Statesman and against my better judgement, delved into the comments section. Dontcha know that only whiny Dems and stupid libs are making a big deal about this? IOKIYAR.
Amir Khalid
@Tom Levenson:
Is there a Republican candidate who could give Obama a contest in the likeability category? So far, I haven’t seen a single one of them described as coming close. But with none of them willing to differentiate themselves on policy for fear of pissing off the Teabagger tendency, the nomination could come down to image and personality. Yet the only traits that come to mind for each candidate aren’t particularly positive.
By all accounts, Noot was hard to get along with in Congress; and like you said, the longer people know Mitt the less they like him. And these are the frontrunners.
Waldo
You’re giving Team Perry way too much credit. I don’t think Perry’s thinking about anything beyond when he can stick a fork in his misguided attempt at a presidential run and happily return to running Texas into the ground — or out of the union. That and the money, of course.
Omnes Omnibus
@Waldo:
Don’t say it like it an afterthought.
Jerzy Russian
@Elizabelle:
While people tend to complain about Congress in general, it is often the case that people think highly of their own representative. So the incumbents get the votes, and it takes a long time to change Congress.
I am hopeful that the tide will start to turn next year.
Rome Again
Is there anyone who doesn’t think a Rick Perry presidency would be G.W. Bush 2.0? I heard a soundbite this morning where he even says “Nook-yoo-ler” just like old Georgie! Thank God he’s not gaining in the polls.
amk
@Rome Again: For all his dumbness, dubya was politically smart. perry is just a dumbass, illiterate mofo.
MikeBoyScout
Fortunately, Perry has about as much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination as Herman, the human art project, Cain.
The hilarity of this tidbit is the lie it puts to whatever the f*ck the teaparty nation is/was.
Grifters gotta grift.
Snowball
@merrinc:
Can you imagine what would happen if Obama tried something like this? FoxNews would go nuts. The hypocritical tea partiers would go insane.
Tuffy
The Republican governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, has done a very similar thing. He was gov for 16 years, took 12 years off, then ran again in 2010 and won. He’s currently collecting his pension for his first 16 year stint.
The right here doesn’t give a shit. I wonder how they’d feel if a black Democrat was double dipping his taxpayer-fueled paychecks…
Mike in NC
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
My last trip to Texas lasted three weeks (Fort Hood) and only felt like six months.
Davis X. Machina
Take the stupid and the points. The stupid doesn’t always win, but the stupid never fails to cover the spread.
catclub
@dmsilev: A vacation is still the best campaign policy for Newt. Just like Mitt and Giuliani, the more he campaigns, the less they like him.
At least Newt is smart enough to know this, unlike Mitt and Giuliani.
EconWatcher
I can still imagine a plausible scenario in which Perry again rises to the top of this pathetic heap. It seems very possible that the first primaries/caucuses could throw everything into chaos. Let’s say Paul wins Iowa, Romney performs worse than expected in NH (perhaps barely squeaking by), and Newt still manages to win SC even as his campaign continues the slow-motion collapse that, in my opinion, has already begun. At that point, Romney is a dead man walking and the GOP establishment has to push someone else. Who? Perry is the only imaginable choice of those running.
Yutsano
@EconWatcher: Brokered. Convention. Still calling it. Still sticking by it.
EconWatcher
Yutsano: i think it has to be conceded that the fabled “brokered convention” is becoming more plausible.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
So, if Perry is officially retired (and does not become president), does that mean he won’t run for governor again? When would he be due to run again anyway? Not that it ever really seems to matter; we think we’re rid of one of these dreadful people, but they keep popping back up: Christine O’Dreadful, Gringrich, et al.
Nellcote
I’m confused, so who’s the governor of Texas today?
BBA
I’ve often heard that the Governor of Texas is something of a figurehead and other officers in the government hold the real power. By retiring, Perry is just being honest and admitting he doesn’t do any real work.
jrg
@catclub: This is what I don’t get about the whole GOP debate schedule… They ran a complete moron as a VP candidate in ’08, and the hicks loved her. She gave very few interviews, and didn’t give a single press conference. Since then, the more people have seen her, the worse she polls. No one but the “real ‘murican” inbreds can stand her now.
What do they hope to accomplish by giving this unbelievably weak field of candidates more airtime? Is this just a strategy the GOP elite is using to weed out the worst of the worst by tiring out the mooks, social conservatives and hillbillies while letting them dry-hump people like Bachmann, Cain and Perry out of the race? Is this a strategy to get Romney or Huntsman in the general election, by letting the rest of those jokers make asses out of themselves?
Yutsano
@jrg:
I think the original plan was to rip on Obama as much as possible before the general election so he would go in wounded. What is happening (from my perspective) is none of the Republican candidates are catching any sort of interest with the base, including Willard. I don’t think he has an enthusiastic pool of voters, just those that really want to win. But Mittens isn’t looking any better than the rest of the field.
Linda Featheringill
@Yutsano:
It would be interesting if that really was their plan. As it is playing out now, every Republican debate is acting like an advertisement for Obama.
Yutsano
@Linda Featheringill: The other option is they’re throwing it without making it obvious. Which makes things even more interesting since their strongest candidates said no. The media demands that they at least try (becuz, well, RATINGS!!) so they’re trying to make a horserace out of a snail crawl. It’s getting to the pathetic point. I almost wish they’d skip the whole pretense and just go to the convention open. I can’t see how any candidate comes out strong going into the convention.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Perry has been labeled “idiot”. That is not something you out run. And I find it hard to believe a lawyer and professor like Obama, who is noted for being able to subtly get up the nose of his opponents, would ever pass at a chance at making Perry look like the damn fool he is.
bcinaz
“…but if you want to know where the confidence in the Republican Party is coming from, remember what they’ve accomplished in the past”
Not just in the past, look at what they are getting away with every single day.
Ian
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
Except Rick Perry
Gromitt Gunn
Unfortunately, retirees double-dipping in TX isn’t uncommon. here’s four of them in my department of 50ish people. It actually really pisses off the state employees at the lower end of the seniority scale (like me).
What I don’t really understand is how he’s able to collect from ERS and then still have a job that contributes into the system. Maybe elected executives have a separate running total than employees overall.
If I wasn’t sick as a dog and trying to prep for X-mas, perhaps I’d grab the TX ERS CAFR and try to figure it out.
under_score
@Gromitt Gunn: I know there is a separate pool for “elected class” and “employee class”. I read somewhere that Perry will retire a second time from the “elected class” when he finally leaves office. Don’t know how true that actually is.
What I love best about this is that Perry had no plans to run on the national stage in January, when he set this scheme up, and therefore was not figuring he’d ever have to defend it publicly. Thanks, financial disclosure law!
carpeduum
Sould like Rick Perry loves socialism to me.
uptown
Well Wikipedia has this to say about Dukakis’ loss…
Chuck Butcher
One thing I don’t mind pointing out is that GWB did win in ’04, so maybe the GOPers don’t have to run much in order to have a chance.