He really is dumber than Bush, isn’t he? Bush at least had the sense to surround himself with people who had a clue how to make plausible sounding bullshit statements.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.
Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.
The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.
The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.
… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact
Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.
Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.
The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.
Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.
You cannot shame the shameless.
I really should read my own blog.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.
Innocent people do not delay justice.
Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?
Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson
Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.
A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.
Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard
Republicans in disarray!
Baud
YEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWW!!
cathyx
It’s probably a Texas thing.
Maude
I had the 101 comment last thread.
WP going dark at midnight. So is Mozilla.
Chuck Butcher
I don’t think the concept of a really stupid portion of the population is exactly lost on Turkey…
RSA
I hate to judge people based on appearance (I’m no prize), but whenever I see Rick Perry I think, “What a palooka.” Then he opens his mouth…
kwAwk
Perry is an absolute yutz.
John Kass at the Chicago Tribune has these guys pegged.
Baud
@Maude:
So is BJ shutting down? For how long?
I get the feeling that tomorrow will be the most productive day in American industry.
Yutsano
OT: Kthug goes there.
Felinious Wench
The Guv continues to make us Texas Proud.
He got confused. Thought “Turkey” had something to do with when you can hunt turkeys in Texas. You can only hunt ’em spring and fall, you see, and only some counties can go at certain times, and only certain species. It can be real confusing, to determine when and where and which gobblers to shoot.
Guns, shooting, terrorists, Turkey. It just all became a blur. Mild international incident. No biggie. We’ll get him straightened out.
Maude
@Baud:
24 hours. We can meet on the dark side of the moon.
Bye, Tunch.
Schlemizel
Not sure Boy Blunder really was that much better:
“No I don’t Do you”?
There was a pretty good political cartoon of W saying “Italy, its the one shaped like a boot, right”? and Bob Shifert saying “He has a great understanding of foreign policy” by one of the big time paper cartoonists.
W just got a lot of forgiveness from the media when he pulled stupid crap like this.
Dustin
@Baud: BJ runs on the WP platform but isn’t hosted by them. So unless John makes the call we should still be able to “productively” waste our time while the rest of the net goes dark.
PaulW
I don’t think it’s that Perry is THAT stupid, but he and the GOP leadership have gotten so used to lying and/or being wrong and having no one call them on it that they’re now used to doubling down on the stupid or insensitive statement until it becomes a serious legal crisis. Like an international incident.
Brachiator
Has he blamed Obama for his own stupidity yet?
The crazier thing is that his foreign policy advisor, Victoria Coates, is standing by her man.
Gin & Tonic
@Yutsano: Bet you a beer that you’ll see the 2011 return some time after April 17, and the 2010 and prior returns approximately never. Bet you a six-pack this will be considered by the Village to be entirely enough.
Toadvine
Follow the MSNBC link and you find that the Governor has already responded to the story:
“I stand by my statement,” he said. “You need to be putting protections in place for your citizens if you’re seeing those types of attacks against, particularly, well, particularly females.”
Couldn’t make this shit up.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Perry is just trying out the the Sarah Palin approach to forming a tough political image. She had a turkey shredded in the background in one interview and Perry just wanted to up the ante a bit by personally shredding Turkey on national TV.
Texas, WTF were you thinking by electing this fool? Man are you people stupid to be impressed by this clown!
dmsilev
The thing that sort of impressed me is that Perry didn’t actually back down after half the planet pointed out that he was dumber than a rock. Speaking to Werewolf Blitzer, Perry said: ““This is a country that has some explaining to do to the United States”.
Also, too, apparently Perry is living inside an episode of _I Love Lucy_.
tulip
Good lord, how stupid do you have to be to make Shrub look smart?
Well I guess Rick Perry stupid.
Thanks Texas.
Baud
@Dustin: Thank God! I was afraid of discovering what my real life had turned into.
General Stuck
Give Perry a break. The wingnuts he’s talking to eat their red meat raw. And in SC, they wash it down with frothy bile and go back for seconds. Rick Santorum declared he would bomb Iran, no questions asked. That’s how real republicans do it. Though none of them has come out for nuking the moon. It’s still a little early in the cycle for that kind of talk, but keep your ear open and powder dry.
dmsilev
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I remember the Turkey Interview. Good times, good times. Wonder whatever happened to that Palin character.
SiubhanDuinne
Does anyone have a link to the blacked-out Google image? Can’t find the thread it was in, and I get wrong stuff when I try to, well, Google it.
Desperately need to post on FB as a rejoinder to someone who proudly doesn’t care about SOPA.
TIA.
Mr Stagger Lee
People of Texas A&M!!! You need to do something, this man claimed he went to your school. For the love of the 12th man and Silver Taps!!, You can’t have this idiot be one of yours! YouAggies need to say he went to UT! He needs to go to that prison in Turkey where Billy Hays went.
David Koch
How can he dislike Turkey, it’s delicious?
Gravenstone
Whoever said Perry is Bush Jr without the family ties basically had it right.
Cat Lady
So I’m sitting in a reception area in the hospital waiting to pick up my post-op husband and they have CNN on with dumber than a box of hair Wolf Blitzer asking Perry a bunch of questions about Turkey, and I’m listening to Perry ramble about terrorists, honor killings, our need to inject American values into the ME and his wife’s work in a women’s center and I’m thinking this is the dumbest motherfucking dumbass I’ve ever heard, bar none, and I can almost see the bubble over dumbfuck Blitzer’s head saying this is one dumb fucking motherfucker and people say I’m dumb? W.T.F. Texas?
FlipYrWhig
I feel like I wrote this somewhere else, or on an earlier thread here… I think he didn’t care to sort out the difference between “Islamists” and “Islamic terrorists.”
General Stuck
@FlipYrWhig:
He sorted it out the Texas way. Dead or Alive. That is all you need to know.
Felinious Wench
How did he get elected here? This is a Republican state (for now) and people didn’t bother voting against him because they knew the Republican would win.
I think a charismatic Dem could have beaten him last time (we are still the land of Ann Richards.) But, Mayor White is just not dynamic and is balding. Never mind that he’s a dedicated public servant who actually gets things done. He’s not flashy trashy enough for the governor’s office.
So, Dems bowed out of the election. Perry won. Seems like there’s a lesson here…
Chuck Butcher
I have to admit that I listened to people from TX when they said this Perry guy is a formidable campaigner. I guess the folks in TX need to step up their game…
MikeJ
@Mr Stagger Lee:
He’s a walking aggie joke.
jl
@Cat Lady: Perry is slower than Blitzer, and you could see that Blitzer noticed on national TV?
That is about as bad as it gets.
The people of TX have to act.
@Chuck Butcher: The Village puffed up Perry quite a bit before his announcement, as I remember.
Baud
There do seem to be a number of people in this thread who are messing with Texas. Maybe the state needs a new slogan.
Violet
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
The Democratic party in Texas is in tatters, so there’s little support around the state for Dem candidates despite having a reasonable candidate to run against Perry last time (former Houston mayor Bill White). More startling is that Kay Bailey Hutchison completely fell apart when running against Perry in the Republican primary. I bet at this point she’s really wondering how that happened.
Perry has had a lot of political clout, has managed to evade debates, and has loaded courts and everywhere else with his cronies. He had the extreme good fortune that his last election was in 2010 at the height of the Tea Party mania. He’s a made-for-Tea-Party candidate and they came out in droves. Dem turnout, such as it is in Texas, was down, and Perry won.
Despite all that, by the time of his inauguration, most Texans didn’t really like Perry. Fewer like him now after embarrassing the state in this run for President (and that’s saying a lot, given W’s antics).
If Dems in Texas would get their act together, they could be a force. I don’t see that happening, though.
Chuck Butcher
@jl:
Who I listened to were people who are active in politics rather than “journalists.” I had been underwhelmed by what little I’d seen, but “little” is the operative word. Yup, the media did do some fluffing, but I expected that – whores (oops, horse) race and all that.
JPL
@Cat Lady: Any chance Wolf asked Perry where Turkey was located?
hildebrand
Of course, Perry was just smart enough to refuse to participate in any debates in the last gubernatorial race. Former mayor of Houston (where he did some decent work) Bill White couldn’t find a way to actually make a run at Perry and was beaten like a rented mule. God, White was such a listless candidate. Sigh.
El Cid
Well? Ain’t they a buncha damn Muslims in Turkey? ‘En how is he wrong?
Peregrinus
Has anyone mentioned yet that Peter King actually tweeted that he was receiving a “top secret intelligence briefing on Iran?” Or have we discovered yet whether the good Congressman was just having a go?
amk
dubya – do ya miss me yet ?
Felinious Wench
It’s not that people voted for Perry, they didn’t vote at all. Texas Dems, outside of Austin and the other big cities have grown apathetic. It’s just given the Republicans have the state.
They need something to energize them. Immigration is huge.
Yutsano
@Peregrinus: A) He gets those all the time. I don’t see why he feels the need to tweet that.
B) So what? We have very little stable reliable intelligence on Iran as it is.
JPL
Since wordpress is going on strike tomorrow to protest SOPA, will Balloon Juice be effected?
hamletta
It’s been a long time, but I don’t remember Dubya torching off an international incident in the GOP primaries.
He didn’t know the president of one of the ‘Stans, but he didn’t insult any NATO allies.
DrFine
Rick Perry is just “W for Dummies”.
Cat Lady
@JPL:
I don’t think he could find his own ass with a map and a mirror. I think he heard of this place called “Turkey” at some Texas fundraiser that happened to coincide with the flotilla to Gaza, then he went home and his wife said something about Muslim honor killings she half overheard in her charity work, then he took some pain killers and came up with his grand unified theory about how the US should deal with the Middle East if he were emperor of everything he could see. He’s a fucking ten year old in cowboy boots with six shooters.
JPL
@Peregrinus: He tweeted it because some of his constituents get excited and bothered and sweaty when he tweets about scary countries.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev:
Well, his name is Rickey. So, it’s logical he’d be stating that someone has some ‘splaining to do.
I can’t see him doing Babaloo, though. I can picture him in a chocolate factory when the assembly line speeds up.
suekzoo
@FlipYrWhig: Eh. His method is to kill ’em all and let god sort it out.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Violet: If I could manage to pass a law in this state, I would force at least two debates between the candidates for governor.
As for the Texas Democratic party, there has never been much about being liberal in this state. Heck, it was populated by slave owners so that it could split from Mexico to join the South. We did have a populist movement, the Grangers, who gave us direct election of senators, but that only worked until blacks started to want the same rights.
Anne Laurie
@jl:
If what I learned from the late great Molly Ivins is true, the Texas Lege will officially declare war on CNN.
Old trainers’ rule: You get the behavior you reward. Too many voters, and not just in Texas, have been rewarding “dumb, yet beligerent” for too long…
Villago Delenda Est
@Cat Lady:
Not to worry. They’re cap guns.
General Stuck
@hamletta:
George Bush, with all his faults and streak of sadism, was a very disciplined campaigner. Like Karl Rove’s personal windup doll, when you pull the string it says the very same thing over and over. When there were gaffs, they were comical if not a bit disturbing, like his quip that “Obgyns, just want to practice their love on women” or, mangling The Who lyrics of “won’t get fooled again”. Perry is a genuine right wing clown, and basically doesn’t give a shit about much, imo.
AnotherBruce
Fuck we should have encouraged Texas to secede when Perry brought it up. By now they would have been the northern border of Mexico.
dedc79
Basically the only nice thing I can say about today’s republican voters is that they appear to recognize that Perry is a moron. That hasn’t stopped them from supporting Santorum though.
SoINeedAName48
Rick Perry … the Repubican candidate for those who thought Dubya was just a tad too cerebral.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Baud:
How about a slight modification?
“Don’t mess with Texas, we’re making enough of a mess already!”
It still has that Texas Tough sound to it yet it explains why they should be left alone.
@Violet: “If Dems in Texas would get their act together, they could be a force. I don’t see that happening, though.”
Yup, not now. I think Perry is to Texas like a huge belt buckle is to some redneck.
A tombstone for a dead dick.
[Edited for accuracy]
hildebrand
The other problem with White’s campaign was that he ran essentially as a Blue Dog – and was blatant in his dissing of Obama – which completely squashed interest in his campaign down here in the Valley (which is 85-90 percent Hispanic).
Villago Delenda Est
@Peregrinus:
You know, if you gave me some firearm and one hundred rounds and a 00 license to go after Rethugs, I’d protest that I’m going to need a LOT more ammo to do the job right, because there are more than 100 idiotic protofascists in the House of Representatives alone.
jl
Well, now, let’s be careful. Perry said Turkey was run by ‘what many would perceive’ as being Islamic terrorists.
Now, apparently after the self appointed ‘truth vigilante’ John G. Cole rashly posted this cheap smear on Perry, we find out that Perry and his foreign policy adviser perceive it, which some would say, count as many.
How many manys does it take to make a many? I think two is a reasonable lower bound.
Cole should have checked for a judgment from the Pnose corporation, or Politifact first.
handsmile
@El Cid: (#40)
I believe the Texas pronunciation is “Moozlims.”
And while I realize this may be unsportsmanlike, not many months ago the proprietor of this bar-n-grille confidently assured his patrons that Rick Perry would be the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. To be fair, so did the Guardian’s much-respected American political affairs chief correspondent, Richard Adams. (Links available upon request for the skeptical.)
Hoocodanode, huh?
Cat Lady
@dedc79:
Santorum’s a scold, a hypocrite and a sanctimonious asshole, but he’s not an idiot. Perry’s a stone cold moron which is affirmed every time he opens his pie hole, and he’s so unself-aware about his negative effect on people that he may even actually be retarded. Way to go Texas.
pseudonymous in nc
I caught a clip of Perry campaigning in Lesser Carolina on NPR tonight, mumbling about how They Want To Control You From Washington D.C., and he made Bush sound like Richard Feynman. There is seriously no there there. He’s not even a coherent dumbass.
In retrospect, it’s funny how much he worried people on the left when he announced, under the assumption that he must have some capabilities to have won in Texas.
Svensker
@Villago Delenda Est:
A bridge too far, VDE. Seriously.
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
Perry is the kind of guy who works very hard at reinforcing every negative Aggie stereotype there is out there in stereotype land.
TG Chicago
OT: The half-truths of Politifact
Compare these two statements measured as “Half-True” by Politifact”
When Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation.
President Barack Obama deserves to be called “the most successful food stamp president in American history” because “47 million Americans are on food stamps.”
In the first one, Politifact admits that by any metric, Massachusetts did, in fact, rank 47th in job creation under Romney as governor. They throw in some meaningful caveats — such as the fact that the state wasn’t hit as hard by the recession, so they wouldn’t necessarily come back as strong afterwards. That’s useful context. However, they finish with:
But what Axelrod said was:
“If you’re Governor Romney and you say I’m going to turn this economy around, I’ve got the answers. You don’t offer them. Then people have a right to say, why is it that your state was 47th in the country in job creation when you were governor?”
That question is still valid even if it’s dubious to hold executive politicians accountable for job numbers. If Romney wants to answer that question “Because it’s a stretch to blame or credit any governor for job numbers”, nothing is stopping him. That doesn’t make Axelrod’s statement anything less than true.
But look at Newt’s claim. It’s similar, in that ‘food stamp’ usage is indeed higher than ever. That part of the claim is correct. And Politifact correctly adds that it’s not really Obama’s fault.
Yet recall what Newt said: Obama is “successful” in getting people on food stamps. That means that getting people on food stamps is a goal of Obama’s. That’s not even half true. It’s a completely false smear.
Axelrod never tried to claim that Romney purposely tried to keep job creation in Massachusetts low, which would clearly be untrue. Yet Politifact still scores him as if he did.
I’d be okay with Politifact calling both of these statements True based solely on the underlying data points. But they’re deciding to go into the “what do they really mean?” business. I think that’s a mistake for a fact-checking operation. And it’s a terrible mistake if they’re going to do it this badly.
Jay
Recall that Bill Luti and Doug Feith are both on Team Perry. I’m sure that hot bucket of stupid was whispering in the governor’s ear about Turkey.
jl
@TG Chicago:
Politifact can do good research when they want to, for whatever reason. From the analysis for Newt’s food stamp claim.
” One last point: The number of food stamp beneficiaries had started to head upward under Bush, partly because of more aggressive efforts to get eligible Americans to apply for benefits, and partly because of changes in the rules that had the effect of broadening eligibility. The experts we spoke to agreed that both policies began under Bush but were retained by Obama.
The changes produced consistent increases in the number of average monthly beneficiaries. The number rose in seven out of the eight years of Bush’s presidency — most of which were years not considered recessionary. All told, the number of recipients rose by a cumulative 63 percent during Bush’s eight-year presidency. ”
Better to rely on these outfits for links and data sources to do your own analysis. Their little bottom line nose lengths for pants on fire meters are BS.
Violet
I wonder if Perry being such a dumbass on the national stage might wake up a few moribund Texas Democrats? This idiot won the Governor’s race because he didn’t really have to compete. Maybe they’ll realize if they give the Republicans some competition they might stand a chance of winning.
A smart, charismatic Latino would be a smart bet for Dems to run for statewide office. That mayo rof San Antonio, for example.
Calouste
If someone in Texas was trying to get a deal done with the Turkish government, they might as well pack it in now.
Lee
My wife stated that Texas won’t elect Perry again.
I just laughed. Of course we will and that is really embarrassing.
SuzieC
@jl:
Speaking of how dumb Werewolf Blitzer is, did anyone catch him on Celebrity Jeopardy a few years back? He ended up with a score of something like negative 2000. And yet, there is someone even stupider than him, who’s currently running for Prez as a dumbass named Rick Perry.
handsmile
@Jay: (#69)
I didn’t realize that Doug Feith was on the Perry payroll. He must be so pissed right now! His one claim to fame, being “the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth” (Gen. Tommy Franks), has now been taken by his boss.
Cacti
Sorry Cole.
Perry is Bush minus the dynastic family connections.
You voted for a raging dumbshit twice.
Keith G
@Chuck Butcher:
Since Aug 13, 2011, there have been a few Texans here at B-J explaining how Perry was definitely going to implode. There were quite a few nonbelievers questioning our assertions. If one knows Perry, one knows shallowness made manifest.
Tom Q
@SuzieC: I think it was actually negative 4000. Andy Richter just wiped the floor with him.
And yet, in the CNN newsrooms, I bet they all sneer at a guy like Richter as some kind of know-nothing celebrity — not an informed citizen, like Blitzer.
It’s truly sad, what’s happened to television news.
SuzieC
@Tom Q:
Actually I just looked it up and you’re right. Wolfie got minus 4600 and Andy raked in an impressive 68K.
RosiesDad
My neighbor attended a talk by David Gregory in Nantucket over the summer. During the Q&A, someone asked him what he knew about Perry (who had not yet done much stump speaking) and Gregory’s answer was (and I only believe this because my neighbor heard it first hand), “Rick Perry is George Bush without the brains.”
True enough, apparently.
Roger Moore
On the Islamophobia front, the fat amphibian is demanding that a hypothetical Muslim presidential candidate should denounce Sharia as a condition of his candidacy. I think this is not a bad idea, just so long as Christian and Jewish candidates promise they will make no attempt to base any law on the Old Testament.
ruemara
@Lee: I may be recalling incorrectly, but he is termed out.
Keith G
@Violet:
One of the problems is the wide spectrum of ideology making up Texas Democrats.Rural Dems are as conservative as many GOPers. Many urban Dems are liberal-ish, yet are very tied to petro-dollar donations. And Hispanic Texans don’t vote.
So a festering rump of ultra conservative rural and exurban white pols have a disproportional amount of power. Hence, Perry, et al.
Mike in NC
Rick Perry is about as bright as a dead armadillo, rotting by the side of a Texas highway.
TG Chicago
@jl:
I absolutely agree. It’s just annoying when they pretend that Newt’s statement is functionally equivalent to Axelrod’s when they are quite different.
Lee
@ruemara:
No term limits in Texas.
wiki
Ruckus
@handsmile:
Maybe that’s why Feith works for Dumber Than his Hair, he was trying to get Franks attention and show Franks that he isn’t the dumbest human.
gaz
I’m still trying to figure out how Perry deserves an FP spot and 88 comments.
And a presidential candidacy,
and a governorship,
etc.
JGabriel
@gaz:
Because Perry’s an easy target. We’re here at least as much for the laughs and rants as for the policy and organizing discussions.
.
dead existentialist
Okay, part of the Perry quote that nobody seems to have caught:
WTF? “[B]elong to be”? A human capable of speech (not dog whistling) would’ve used “deserve” for “belong.” Thus:
A semi-intelligent human would’ve phrased it as “deserves membership” in NATO.
Sasha
Oy …
gaz
@JGabriel: Don’t get me wrong, my intent was not to hall monitor or bitch.
I was attempting to make light of Perry’s accomplishments (or rather, lack thereof)
The man is a total goofus. But not even like freakshow goofus like Santorum. He’s just completely 1 dimensional. And stupid. The man is like a cartoon character. Except not funny.
SRW1
Romney apparently now leads Perry in Texas. Wonder whether Rick can spell backfire.
dww44
@Felinious Wench: Thanks. You genuinely provide real insight into Texas politics, plus you provide with a good dose of Texas humor. I’m sharing your earlier comment about how Perry got confused about which Turkey he was referencing with my retired Army Nato brother-in-law who spent a lot of time in Turkey and with his Turkish counterparts. He thought very highly of them and thought they were and are an extemely important ally. He’s out of the country right now doing volunteer work in a poor Caribbean country, so he’s probably out of the loop.
wilfred
That’s Feith talking, not Perry. I’m actually in Istanbul at the moment and chatted a bit about this with the hotel guys. It’s less the stupid things that American politicians say that matters than the idiotic policies and posturing.
I haven’t been here for years but note a greater Islamic openness, along with the usual secularism. A nice, more natural balance than it used to be.
Porlock Junior
@Mike in NC:
“Rick Perry is about as bright as a dead armadillo, rotting by the side of a Texas highway.”
But on the right side. At least he’s not in the middle of the road with the yellow line.
And when do we see such another as Jim Hightower?
Porlock Junior
It’s odd that everyone has just assumed that Perry is simply an idiot — not that that’s wrong or anything — and we’ve missed the one really big thing about Turkey that makes that place an enemy of the human race in the view of anybody like Dubya Without The Brains:
Israel doesn’t like them.
CORRECTION: The current government of Israel doesn’t like them. One must never miss that distinction.
[Rant omitted, concerning the Israeli need to demonstrate on two hugely more powerful countries, both historically friendly to Israel, that it has the Biggest Swinging Dick in the Universe, with Turkey as the warm-up.][How’s that for omitting it?]
russell
Rick Perry = Yosemite Sam
Rick Taylor
He’s actually making Cain look good. Saying you have no idea who the President of Uz-beki-bekistan is is better than pretending you know something and creating an international incident.