Steve Benen highlights this three minutes of stupidity from Rick Perry. The guy just repeats his belief (“abstinence works”) when faced with statistics showing that Texas has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. Steve adds:
In a case like education and lessons on sexual health, the left tends to look at this in terms of results: what works in preventing teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases? For the right, the question is philosophical: what’s consistent with their morality.
This is basically right, but I’ll add that the elusive and oft-courted “center” is also concerned with, and will vote for, pragmatism, if it’s presented to them in the right package with the right kind of bow on top. That’s a huge and sometimes under-appreciated part of the Obama administration’s rhetoric and style.
Also, too: I haven’t watched much Perry on video, but after watching this one, I’m struck with the force of will that it must take the DC Perry-fluffing contingent to ignore just how much he looks, talks and thinks like Bush.
Perry Can’t Pull Out When Confronted With Abstinence StatisticsPost + Comments (234)