Tag: rick perry

On the Washington Post’s embarrassing attempt at a Perry hit piece.

Background: there was a ranch in Texas with an unfortunate name*. Gov. Rick Perry’s father rented the hunting rights of the camp; when the family discovered that there was a rock on the premises with the aforementioned unfortunate name on it, they first painted over, then turned over, the rock**. Almost thirty years pass. In the meantime, Rick Perry switches parties; takes over the hunting rights; watches as the Texas legislature handles the problem of unfortunate names; gets elected Governor; and eventually stops using the property. The Washington Post, apparently looking to replicate the same magic in 2011 that caused them in 2009 to be rechristened The Washington Bob McDonnell’s Thesis, begins the process of trying to blow this story up.

Contra Jim Geraghty, who is wearily tired of junk like this, I submit that it would be fairly simple to counter the WaPo’s rather naked and fairly sad agitprop; and it involves using Gov. McDonnell’s strategy of calling in any paper that’s interested to a media availability. Once there, Gov. Perry should simply patiently explain the circumstances of the ranch, over and over and over and over again, until the other papers realize that the WaPo’s being gonzo partisan crazy again and go find something else to report about. Continue reading On the Washington Post’s embarrassing attempt at a Perry hit piece.

Song called on account of Twitter.

Stupid thing decided that I tweeted too many times tonight.  Anyway, short version of my take on the debate: Romney won, Perry lost, Cain was at his best (which is pretty damn good).  Romney will continue to get establishment support, Perry needs to get better at debating if he wants to win.  If Perry was a better debater this nomination fight would be over; if Romney was anybody else besides… Romney it might be over the other way.

And those are the only two candidates who matter at this point.  Everyone else has faded and/or never had a shot to begin with.

Moe Lane

DGA Martin ‘Whitebread’ O’Malley (D, MD) speaks on Republican racism!

So.  We got Maryland Governor and DGA head Martin O’Malley out there SNEERING about us awful, awful racist Republicans (for the full effect, assume that I’m fluttering my hands like I’ve got the St. Vitus’ dance):

Using Governor Rick Perry (formerly) of the RGA for that, too. You see, good old Martin here really, really respects the heck out of Rick, you understand; despite the fact that he’s voluntarily a member of a racist and prejudiced group like the GOP.  Isn’t that just… well, Caucasian… of Ol’ Whitebread O’Malley?

No, my sneer’s deliberate, too.  And much more justified.  Consider this:

  • The progressive, inclusive DGA currently being run by Whitebread O’Malley has precisely one racial minority among its members: MA governor Deval Patrick.  Apparently Democrats don’t like voting for ethnic minorities – at least, not statewide.
  • The racist, regressive RGA ran by Rick Perry?  Four: Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and Brian Sandoval of Nevada.  Odd how that happened, no?  – And so enthusiastically, too. Continue reading DGA Martin ‘Whitebread’ O’Malley (D, MD) speaks on Republican racism!

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R, VA) on short list for VP?

That’s one potential conclusion that you can draw from today’s and yesterday’s Quinnipiac polls looking at Virginia political conditions.  Admittedly, they’re just one firm’s polls; also admittedly, anyone likely to be reading this is a hardcore political junky anyway, so we might as well take a look.

Yesterday’s Q-poll looked at Governor McDonnell’s popularity rating*, which is – to be modest about it – practically off of the charts at 61/21.  Those numbers represent a 67/17 favorable rating with independents, a barely underwater 39/40 among Democrats… and a 46/32 favorable rating with African-American voters, which presumably should have people perking up at this point – not that it would last long in a hypothetical 2012 Presidential election contest against Obama, of course.  Still, ablative armor is still armor, and the unique nature of Virginia’s gubernatorial situation applies here.  Bob McDonnell can’t run again for Governor in 2013 any which way anyway; and even an unsuccessful Vice Presidential run would not necessarily stop him from running for Senate in 2014, should Mark Warner (who is also very popular in Virginia) decide that he’d rather run for Governor again in 2013.  Or even if Senator Warner decides to stay in the Senate, for that matter. Continue reading Gov. Bob McDonnell (R, VA) on short list for VP?

#rsrh Perry/Pawlenty 2012?

I could get behind that.  I was a Pawlenty guy until he dropped out after Ames, so obviously I think that he’s qualified – and Perry could use Pawlenty’s core team, who were and are some of the best of the business.

Early days, of course: first Perry has to survive the September debate gauntlet.  If he does – and, if nothing else, we can expect that Romney will not be keeping the low profile at future debates that he did in past ones – then we can revisit the subject at a later date.

Via Hot Air Headlines.

Jihad-watchers beclowning themselves over Perry/Ismaili thing. [Updated]

Alternative title: Pam Geller loses her anti-Idiotarian Status.

Yeah.  I’m kicking it Old School here: “anti-Idiotarian” is one of those terms of art from the far-off dawn of the blogosphere (which is to say, 2003 or so).  Then again, a lot of the people who are going to be talked about here have been in the ‘sphere for that long; so keep that in mind.  There’s a history here, and it’s not always a nice one.

Give you the background: Pamela Geller – who has been hysterically screaming at the top of her lungs about Islam (admittedly, not always unreasonably) for as long as I can remember – has picked for her latest digital jihad* Governor Rick Perry’s** association with the Ismailis.  At issue (aside from Perry being friendly with Grover Norquist, which apparently is intolerable right there***) is a curriculum that Perry had his education people put together about Islam that involved input from Ismaili groups in Texas: oddly enough, Geller goes off on this curriculum in the American Thinker without actually linking to it.

Remember that Old School thing from the last paragraph?  Well, when you’ve been doing this sort of thing for a while you tend to recognize the tell-tale signs of a snow job.  One of the prime ones?  Not linking to what you’re complaining about. Continue reading Jihad-watchers beclowning themselves over Perry/Ismaili thing. [Updated]

#rsrh David Brooks defines ‘irony’ for us.

It goes like this.

  • Brooks presumes to give Mitt Romney advice on how to run a campaign.
  • By the way… Romney’s not my guy, but he – unlike Brooks – is an honest Republican, so let me give some helpful advice: do not trust David Brooks on anything.
  • Brooks’ passive-aggressive, deniable advice in part advises that Romney bring up the fact that twenty-three years ago Perry was a Democrat who ran Al Gore’s Texas campaign.
  • This despite the fact that Brooks – who, bizarrely, still defines himself as a conservative – three years ago went out and did everything that he could to get an urban Democratic elitist liberal elected President, short of a formal endorsement (‘perfectly creased pant’ probably doesn’t count).
  • You know what the difference is between Rick Perry & David Brooks is?
  • OK, OK, so there’s a list as long as my arm.  Do you know what the difference between Rick Perry & David Brooks that I was thinking of is?
  • Perry later admitted that he screwed up that particular judgement call.  Brooks has, to the best of my knowledge, never admitted that he acted like a callow, naive, and generally blithering idiot when it came to the 2008 Presidential election.

Hey, remember that advice that I gave Romney?  Now that I think of it… yeah, everybody should follow it.

Moe Lane

#rsrh The inevitable Rick Perry/MSNBC creationism post.

You know, I didn’t actually wake up this morning and decide Hey, let’s talk about Governor Rick Perry all the time today! I mean, I still have two RS Gathering mini-interviews to process, new interviews to set up, trying to figure out how to get to NJ this weekend when the 9/11 motorcycle riders are taking the same route at the same time, that sort of thing.  Seriously, I would like to dwell on other things.

But apparently the media is refusing to play ball. Which means that, as a media parasite and all that, I apparently have to follow suit. Continue reading #rsrh The inevitable Rick Perry/MSNBC creationism post.

Rick Perry Insensitive to Barack Obama’s Feelings!

Yeah, it was a trap.

Governor and new Presidential candidate Rick Perry (R, TX), on his priority levels:

…if I hurt the president’s feelings, well, with all due respect, I love my country and I love future generations more than I care about his feelings.

To give the context: the White House has been taking the opportunity offered by Perry’s entrance to the race to take slaps at the candidate. As Glenn Reynolds noted at the time, this was not a particularly smart strategy… which is something that I’ve come to agree with, and I’ll tell you why. Continue reading Rick Perry Insensitive to Barack Obama’s Feelings!

#rsrh I don’t think that there’s a meaningful answer, @allahpundit .

To this, I mean:

As we get closer to the election, Democrats will wield that talking point more and more brazenly in an any-weapon-to-hand approach to victory. In fact, Jonathan Last‘s already wondering how long it’ll be after Perry takes the lead in national polls before the left decides that George W. Bush, a.k.a. the new Hitler, was a genteel chap compared to this new Texan hybrid of Hitler, Bin Laden, and Yosemite Sam. Over/under: Six weeks.

After all, the stories are already written, the talking head segments have already been scripted, and the hysteria is already blocked out and choreographed.  Everything’s already in place: we’re just waiting for events to give the Left something, anything, that might be construed as an excuse.  This probably won’t be it, if for no other reason than because the Democrats probably doesn’t want the thought getting out that Texans might treat Ben Bernanke ‘fairly ugly’ if Bernanke corrupts the money supply: far too many people might discover that they’d want to hold the Texans’ coats.

Politics and sausage, folks.  Politics and sausage.

Moe Lane