Rick Perry steps all over his tax plan messaging by asking for Obama’s report cards along with his birth certificate:
“I’m really not worried about the president’s birth certificate [but] it’s fun to poke at him a little bit and say ‘hey, how about let’s see your grades and your birth certificate.’”
The long commercial on that clip is worth watching just to see how stupid he looks when he says that. Perry is breaking new ground here, because it’s a major accomplishment to come up with a statement that alienates 100% of the electorate. Birthers take birtherism very seriously, so they don’t see the fun in this. And for everyone else, it comes off as stupid, racist and/or boring.
c u n d gulag
I’m starting to wonder if the entire Republican Party isn’t just a gathering of performance artists and I missed the audition notice?
harlana
hmm, considering Perry had a D average from Texas A&M, not so sure he should be bringing up Obama’s grades.
oh, i forgot, teabaggers love academic underachievement.
MattF
Perry needs to understand that he’s not in Texas any more. The “Hey, I’m just an ‘ol shithead in the Governor’s office” routine isn’t going to work when the campaign gets serious. Which is going to happen real soon, actually.
Scott
Ain’t like the Aggies are renowned for their brainpower anyway — when you’re so dumb that even the Aggies can’t give you better than a D, that’s pretty goddamn dumb.
Corner Stone
Perry Will Be The Nominee
“Now that he has announced he is running …, I guarantee you that Perry will be the nominee.”
John Doom Galt Buffet Cole strikes again!
Scott
We need to be raiding old Molly Ivins columns for anecdotes about how dumb Governor Goodhair is. A few dozen Molly zingers are tonic for the soul…
cleek
please please please please please please please please let Perry win the nom.
a.j.
Thanks to piratedan and harlana I found the holy pie filter…but I can’t see the “two buttons on the comment page” that cleek says enable me to designate the assholios. (assholii?)
halp?
thank you in advance.
jwb
@Corner Stone: On the other hand, it’s really not clear who is going to be the nominee. True, Romney is really the only one who makes sense as the nominee, and I still handicap the race to him, but the “anyone but Romney” contingent runs strong in the GOP, so I don’t know that I’d actually give Romney more than a 50/50 chance of getting the nomination. If it isn’t Romney, it’s a crapshoot and will depend on who happens to catch the wave at just the right moment.
amk
cbs-nyt poll
birther perry at fourth after cain, mittens and newt, with 80% still undecided. So, it’s basically the teabaggers who are freeping these polls and perry couldn’t score even amidst these racist nutjobs.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/most-republican-primary-voters-remain-uncommitted/
cleek
@a.j.:
they should be right below the ‘submit’ button.
Steve
My racist Facebook friend had this to say the other day:
So yes, they take it seriously. But mistermix is wrong that the haters will be annoyed with Perry for saying it’s just a joke. They’ll just say that’s what he needs to say so the liberal media won’t hound him.
Corner Stone
@jwb: Unless you believe a new name will enter the campaign I have to conclude a Romney nomination is the overwhelming favorite.
ETA, but on to your on the other hand. IMO, it was clear from before Perry announced that he will not win the nomination, and I’ve said so from before the beginning.
dr. bloor
@cleek:
Careful what you wish for. The last time we assumed voters were smart enough to see through a short-bus special with a southern drawl, we ended up in Iraq and with a Veep who shoots his friends in their faces.
Villago Delenda Est
@jwb:
I’d have to agree with this, that it’s “OvenMitt’s turn” to be the nominee, in standard GOP seniority precedence. Also, he’s the closest thing to sane they’ve got.
Recall, if you will, at this point in the last election cycle that there was very strong “anyone but that RINO McCain” sentiment, with Paulistas actually pushing the “he’s not eligible!” line because of his birth in a Naval hospital in the Panama Canal Zone…
Still, there is that nagging question of OvenMitt’s religion that sticks in the craw of the serious fundigelicals. It will be interesting to see if the impulse to sit on their hands come November ’12 because OvenMitt wears magic underwear is greater than their intense hatred of the near guy.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Corner Stone: I’m glad that at least some part of national politics isn’t like the Texas version, but considering how long the fucker has been governor here, running on the sound of wind between his ears, I got worried that he would just get it handed to him. And, if this were a year where the Republican candidates weren’t having to appeal to the crazy wing, he probably would look like the most viable candidate. Now, if we could just get a law passed in Texas requiring all gubernatorial candidates to participate in at least two debates in the general election, maybe we could end his reign of terror here.
Hal
Wait, didn’t he just have dinner with Donald Chump? Now he’s asking for Obama’s report card. Jesus Perry, taking political pointers from a reality show carnival barker now? Desperation has set in.
BTW, what the hell is with the report card thing. Of all the things Americans might care about, Obama’s grades in college should be one of them. Magna Cum Laude at Harvard means you graduated in the top 10% of your class. Doesn’t that automatically negate any idea of not having good grades?
Brian S
@Corner Stone: Many of my Facebook friends are convinced that this time, Dr. Ron Paul will break through the media filter and win the nomination. I still doubt it, but I have to admit that the prospect isn’t as ludicrous as it has been in the past.
efroh
Getting in an attack on affirmative action (“he only got into Harvard because he was black”) as well as appealing to the birther base. Two birds!
Redshift
On the other hand, he’s perfectly echoed every wingnut troll who dutifully parrots a litany of talking-point code (“Teleprompter! ACORN!…”) just for the joy of pissing off the liberals. No idea if that will get him enough of a “one of us!” response that it will actually translate to votes, but it might. (Not that I think that was deliberate; this walking id seems incapable of following any strategy.”
Brian R.
“Stupid, racist and/or boring” is a pretty good description of the Republican field this year.
RalfW
Desperate times call for desperate stupidity.
jibeaux
These guys’ moms have got to be pinning their addresses on their coats when they leave the house in the morning. There’s just no other explanation for the utter failure of the free market of stupid to render an appropriate judgment.
I guess I was little affected by watching this, which crams an awful lot of WTF in to three and a half minutes.
c u n d gulag
@Hal:
Yeah, ftw: Obama’s grades?
I think there were actual animals in that time at Texas A&M who got higher grades than Dumbass Rick Perry, and he’s talking about Obama’s grades?
I’m telling you, they’re ALL performance artists!
Every last one of them.
They have to be – how else do you explain this?
jwb
@Corner Stone: Of course, Romney is the only name that makes any sense. That much goes without saying. And for a long time I thought Romney had a virtual lock on the nomination. But then you look at how the polls move, and how they never move in Romney’s favor, and you begin to wonder…
So if I start from the premise that GOP voters are rational, then all Romney has to do is not make mistakes and wait for a combination of attrition and stupidity of his opponents take their toll. But if I start from the premise that GOP voters are actually crazy (and don’t just play crazy on TV), then the conclusion is no longer certain. And I now think the odds are about 50/50 that GOP voters have drunk the crazy kool-aid.
Mino
@amk: To me, what is most shocking is that only 10% of those polled want a new candidate to declare. So 90% of registered Republicans like this slate of candidates. Amazing.
kindness
Jeez, I mean Perry dropping Donald Trump’s name wrt validating his newest ‘birther’ issue just is amazing. Seriously, does Donald Trump have any cachet with Teahaddists? Really? I don’t think so. Oh sure, he’s a passable showman who lives by ‘there’s a sucker born every minute’ but respect of him for his policy ideas (and birther lunacy)?
With that in mind, who the hell does Perry think he’s helping here? Sure ain’t Perry, no matter what the liberal NPR says.
Brian S
@Hal: The people who would demand to see Obama’s grades are the kind of people who would claim he got those grades as part of some Affirmative Action system, and that he hadn’t earned them. For them, there’s no possible way that a black man accomplished those things on his own merits. It’s pure racism.
Rafer Janders
@Hal:
Not quite right — magna isn’t awarded to the top 10%, but rather to the next 10% of the entire class after summa cum laude. (And summa cum laude is awarded to those students with a 4.75 or above GPA — at least that’s the case today, the number may have been different in the early 90s, when Obama attended HLS). After that, the next 30% of the class below magna cum laude receive a cum laude distinction.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Villago Delenda Est:
Huntsman is the closest thing to sane they’ve go, which is why he has zero chance to get the nomination…
Rick Taylor
It’s hard to believe this fellow was the great hope among Republicans looking for someone serious who wasn’t Romney.
handsmile
Elvis Costello wasn’t singing about the GOP: Clowntime is NEVER over!
But you know, now that he’s caught and killed Osama and Qaddafi is evidently moldering in some secret grave in Libya, what else does Obama have to do? Release the damned grades, that’s what!
And since this post is about clowns, the following is not O/T:
Via TPM, results from the most recent CBS/NYT poll of Republican primary voters have just been released. mistermix’s man, Herman Cain, has now opened up a 4 point lead over the Mormon former governor of Massachusetts (25%/21%)! Gov. Goodhair has plummeted to fifth place in the pageant with a mere 6% preference. And Jon Huntsman has lost fully 50% of his support, now polling at 1%.
With this result, I concede that resistance is futile: there now must be at least one post on Herman Cain every day here at Balloon Juice.
Corner Stone
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Perry has never had a serious test, AFAIK, and not yet had to work for it.
Kay Bailey clearly didn’t want to be Gov, and support of the blue islands notwithstanding, Bill White was hugely uphill.
2006 was the hardest contest and he beat the runner up by 10%.
IOW, he doesn’t have the team around him to keep his foot out of his mouth, doesn’t have the infrastructure to slog through GOTV, and just doesn’t have the work ethic to sustain a campaign.
For those of us who knew GWB, and how much he hated interacting with the little people, Perry is much worse. If possible, Perry has less charm then GWB.
pk
What does Donald Trump add in the drinks when he meets these clowns? Triple dose of the crazy serum? I am convinced that Donald is a democrat mole. Has Mitt met the Donald yet?
kindness
Oh, and by the way….Could hardly get into work this morning. Oakland’s finest is out in full riot gear closing down & arresting the Occupy Oakland DFHs. Looks like the 70’s out there. Most of downtown is blocked off.
Rick Taylor
Oh, and for any Republicans who chide liberals for criticizing birthers when they’re just a fringe element, Perry is one of the top tier candidates for the Republican nomination in 2012. If I were a sane Republican, I’d be horribly embarrassed.
Redshift
@Hal:
It’s of a piece with the bizarre “teleprompter” bit, and it’s not hard to figure out if you follow wingnut logic of starting with the conclusion and then looking for “facts” to justify it. In this case the conclusion is that one of “those” people can’t possibly be smart enough and accomplished enough to be president, so therefore it must have been the dreaded Affirmative Action (which not only allows unqualified people to steal places from highly qualified white males, but also coddles them and gives them degrees they’re incapable of actually earning), followed by someone else writing the books he supposedly has “written” (bonus: it was that radical leftist guy!), followed by “he’s not actually smart at all no matter how many times he kicks our asses, he’s just been trained to read speeches well off a teleprompter.”
(I also suspect that it’s part of a general project to accuse Obama of everything Bush was ever accused of, in this case being an unqualified puppet who was maneuvered into power by unseen other people.)
4tehlulz
Needs more racism.
Dougerhead
I am proud to be part of a blog that has used this particular obscure Elvis title at least twice as a title post.
Dougerhead
@Rafer Janders:
In top law schools, it is much more competitive than that. Summas are very rare.
Plethded
It would be nice of the media to point out that Perry’s flat tax represents a major tax increase on the poor and middle class, but that would be class warfare. The only type of warfare, incidentally, that media types don’t want to report on.
cleek
@Hal:
are you sure you want to know the answer to that question? are you sure?
OK, you asked for it:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=74877
grades = affirmative action.
courses = not rigorous enough or too radical.
samples = would reveal his inner Marxist/Islamofascist.
associations = Ayers and Saudi princes.
that WND article is chock full of nuts.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
Speaking of Clowns, Bobo (I daren’t link to his silly ass) had decided that Obama has signed his death warrant by trying on the populism suit, because people REALLY hate that goshdurn evil Government, and his only chance is to become the Great Conciliator again and give the GOP everything they want. Because that’s what the American people REALLY want and trust.
JCT
@Rick Taylor:
I haven’t seen one of those in awhile.
a.j.
cleek – the genius inventor, huzzah!
thank you *so effing much* for this.
awesome.
delicious.
life-changing!
The Moar You Know
Ironclad proof that Rick Perry’s mental development stopped in 4th grade.
jaywillie
To a follow-up question, Governor
William J. Le PetomaneHuckleberryPerry replied, “Derp derp derpa derp…Ma’ biscuits are burnin’!”Redshift
@JCT:
I have a Republican friend who was contemplating changing to Independent earlier this year, but decided he felt obligated to do his part to prevent Palin or Bachmann from getting the nomination. (That was before Perry’s entry.) So there are still some left who are capable of being embarrassed by the crazy.)
mistermix
@Dougerhead: The other EC reference from this morning is even more obscure.
Ben Cisco
Only in American politics could a man who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard have his bonafides questioned by someone who graduated lawdy how come from fucking Texas A&M.
EEH
@JCT:
Joey Maloney
@cleek: I just realized Perry reminds a whole lot of the guy who President Bartlett ran against for reelection.
Nemesis
willard has a lock on the nomination.
The villagers have yet to accept this because they need a horserace, be it for the nomination or for the presidency. Simple dollars and cents.
Horseraces=eyeballs=higher ad revenues.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: Yes, people hate the Evil Government, especially those here at the government contract company I work for.
joes527
@handsmile: I don’t get how Cain is lasting.
He was full on pro-choice (I think abortion is evil, but it is none of my business what other families choose) for a reasonable fraction of a day.
Even his current waffle “Abortion should be illegal, but it is a personal decision whether to obey the law,” while being about as coherent as 9-9-9, should be the end of him with the anti crowd.
but for some reason it isn’t
Roger Moore
@Mino:
FTFY.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Never underestimate the power of moral and political myopia. I’m sure there are plenty in your same situation that think that genuinely without the proper self-awareness to realize why that’s daft.
piratedan
@Dougerhead: so much for Living in a Black and White wold eh?
Julia Grey
They realize he’s the last Not-Romney standing. Once Cain’s cleared off the floor, they’re stuck with the robot.
piratedan
@mistermix: well I have to admit that I am surprised that neither of you have referred to our President as the Jack of All Parades as of yet…..
kindness
@Julia Grey:
Fixed it for ya.
piratedan
@Julia Grey: well it helps that he’s a creature of the Koch Brothers per Rachael (and if Rachael says it, I’m inclined to give it some credence, if not some clearwater revival). Fortunate Son indeed.
Judas Escargot
@Rick Taylor:
I would be, too. But where are they? And why does Huntsman (“The Sane One”) poll less than the margin of error?
Half the population is either clinically insane, or apparently wants the country to actively self-immolate.
catclub
@JCT: “I haven’t seen one of those in awhile.”
Favorite Demotivator: “Leaders are like eagles, we don’t have many of either around here.”
Keith G
@jwb:
Here is the issue. A frighteningly large number of self identified GOP voters are a ‘lil touched in the head. But there is an increasingly larger number of conservatives who will never ID themselves with GOP and will still vote in a Republican lockstep.
This does a bit of a number with those polls that tell us about the character of the GOP.
A lot of “Hardcore GOP” are not fond of Romney, but a majority of conservative voter will be okay with him.
Linda Featheringill
I watched the Morning Joe clip and was filled with regionalism: “What’s wrong with these damn Yankees that they can’t see a joke when it’s right in front of them?”
So I guess I’m defending Rick Perry.
It is fun to poke the incumbent. Also, anything that Mika thinks is stupid just might be the smart thing to do. And, a campaign is long and hard. A little levity might make the trek easier.
What the hell guys?
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Ben Cisco:
Well considering we’re supposed to think someone who owns six home is a man of the people, we shouldn’t be surprised.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@kindness:
Fixed, yet again.
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Judas Escargot:
The current crop of GOP contenders gives hopes to those hoping to become post apocalyptic warlords.
Special Patrol Group
Sure, Perry sounds like a dipshit when he says,
But so what? He’s a dipshit Republican presidential candidate.
Compare and contrast that to (Even the Liberal) Margaret Carlson, who said this just before the 2000 election:
Earth tones. Gore said he invented the Internets. Sighing. It’s all true, after all, a Very Important Time Magazine person said so.
Much more at the Daily Howler, of course. Fuckers.
kindness
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Kudos. I bow to your awesomeness.
ruemara
@Hal:
Black people are stupid, don’t you know? I, myself, had to consult 3 dictionaries and a kindhearted white person to type this sentence. It’s like, “The Blind Side” humped “Madea Goes To Graphic Design School” every day, up in here. Plus, ACORN.
chrome agnomen
@EEH:
perhaps the question to ask is why more life-long repubs of your husband’s ilk to not change party affiliation. that old GOP just ain’t a-comin’ back. in fact the dems are now arguably to the right of the old a GOP.
geg6
@cleek:
This is exactly what my mantra is lately.
harlana
@a.j.: lol, “assholli” – i actually like to read them but then i’m weird that way
Bob
Oh, so now those sniveling, sneering, smirking, disgusting shillhacks are into sanity, are they? And Karl Rove, shilling like nobody’s brother for Romney, is supposed to be some disinterested observer? I don’t watch that hideous show, but the whole thing was astonishingly revolting, beyond even, well, Fox standards, at least the 20 seconds of O’Reilly or Shep that I may see before having to look away.
As for Perry, all that stumbling lunacy is not going to hurt him one bit. It’s no different, no worse, than we hear on a daily basis from Republicans, or approved by Republicans. He’s not going to touch Romney’s 30% establishment base, but there’s a whole lot of crazy left (or right) beyond that, and they’re not going to appreciate the Republican mainstream mocking Perry over what they’ve been living daily since 2008. Perry needs to clean up his act a bit, get his contentless talking points down like everyone else (job creators, broader tax base, Obomneycare, Texas miracle) point that gun in the air and he’ll be fine. One good debate performance will erase all the others, the Perry resurgence is inevitable (“Republicans take another look at Perry as gap with Romney narrows”) and crazy will have its day.
harlana
all said and done, Perry doesn’t seem to be “connecting” with his base anymore; birtherism or no, hanging out with Donald Trump smells of desperation. and i’m sure Rove isn’t helping any.
Svensker
@Ben Cisco:
You win.
Is there a bumper sticker for sale somewhere?
harlana
@Special Patrol Group:
someone on the radio noted the overwhelming irony that those who didn’t vote for Al Gore because he was “too stiff” will have no problems voting for Rigid Romney.
Catsy
@Linda Featheringill:
Y’know what, Linda? I grew up in the South. I’ve got a pretty wicked sense of humor. And I ain’t seeing the funny here.
Sure, in the abstract, poking the incumbent is fun. And in the abstract, our pols could stand to have a bit more fun at each others’ expense.
But you have to unpack what’s behind these “jokes”. Plenty of others have done it upthread already. Birtherism is about delegitimizing Barack Obama as a President and an American citizen because he is black. Period. What Perry basically did in that interview is say, “I’m not worried whether or not he’s a citizen, I just get a kick out of having some fun at the ni**er’s expense.”
Not seeing the funny here. It ain’t about where you’re from.
Lurking Canadian
There was a moment in the game when Michael Jordan lit up the Celtics for 63 points in the playoffs when he strutted past the Celtics bench, arms wide, and said, “Don’t you guys have anybody who can guard me?”
I imagine the President is feeling much like Jordan these days. “Don’t you guys have anybody who can run against me?”
Ben Cisco
@Svensker: Tried, wouldn’t fit.
Ben Cisco
@Linda Featheringill: Yeah, uh, NO.
__
What the hell indeed. Seriously?
__
So everybody’s supposed to recognize that a man who by all rights should be getting watered twice a fucking week is JOKING about questioning the President’s grades? Maybe a little jab about Affirmative Action while he’s at it, you know, just for giggles? This really has to be explained to NON-houseplants in motherfucking 2011?
__
I’m nowhere near as accomplished as President Obama, but I can tell you that I damned sure relate to this particular aspect of lack of respect. I’ve got three sheepskins hanging on my wall and heard a good bit of this same shit. The fact that people find it in vogue somehow to do the same to POTUS makes me seriously stabbity inside.
Paul in KY
@Brian S: No way in this spacetime continuem that Ron Paul would ever win the GOP nomination.
Even if all the other ones dropped dead, Jeb or somebody else would jump in & get it.
Mark
So being an idiot is fun? Rick Perry would know.
John M. Burt
@Paul in KY: Somebody asked me awhile back if there were any Repub candidate I would consider voting for. He specifically invoked Ron Paul.
I replied that in the imaginary world where Paul got the Repub nomination, the Democrats would have dumped Obama and Biden for Elizabeth Warren and Al Franken, so no.
ChrisB
@cleek:
It’s probably a fool’s errand since Romney should have the nomination locked up but I’ve decided that the most patriotic thing I can do is to try to convince every Republican I know that Obama will be easy to beat next year so they can nominate the candidate they want as opposed to the candidate most likely to win.
redshirt
@Certified Mutant Enemy: Great point! I’d never considered it that way, and I very much want to be a post apocalyptic Warlord.
Thusly, Go Perry-Bachman-Palin-Cain!
Mnemosyne
@piratedan:
I think that applies more to Bill Clinton. “Suit of Lights” seems more Obama-ish to me.
Paul in KY
@John M. Burt: Excellent response!
Admiral_Komack
@Ben Cisco:
Emissary:
I humbly recommend the Type-2 phaser, Level 10 setting.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Phaser