Sunday, August 14, 2011

Where's Sarah Palin's Bus? 12 Things to know about Rick Perry

Apparently, no one is following Sarah Palin's bus anymore. Since Iowa, Palin has only been mentioned in a story about her appearance at Ronald Reagan's birthplace. But Texas Governor Rick Perry is getting a lot of attention. Eileen Smith wrote -- before Perry announced his candidacy -- of several things people should know about Perry:
Perry's disdain for the media rivals that of Sarah Palin, as evidenced by his avoiding reporters, eschewing televised debates, and even refusing to meet with the state's editorial boards during the last gubernatorial election. Unfortunately for the governor, he's going to need the media if he wants to run on a national platform. And he's never seen anything like the Washington press corps.

As momentum builds behind Perry's potential run at the White House in 2012, the national press is sure to delve deeper into his record. As that process begins, here's a list of things Texans know about Rick Perry that the national political audience should know, too.
Smith's twelve thirteen things to know about Perry are:
Few Texans Would Vote for Him

He Supported Al Gore in '88

'Adios, MoFo'

Conspiracy Theory: He Backs Transnational Government

Sued Over HPV Vaccines

Coyotegate

Border Cameras, Sanctuary Cities

He's Gotten More Religious

He Pals Around with Palin

He Didn't Blame BP for the Spill

He's Not Popular with W

Friends With Ted Nugent

A Nader Connection
It is surprising that Perry is not popular with Bush supporters. It has been said that Sarah Palin is George Bush in a skirt; that Rick Perry is George Bush on steroids.

The most alarming thing about Perry is his proclivity to treat human problems as "acts of God." That is an avoidance of responsibility (blame it on God) and an abdication of the responsiblity to act (let's solve the problem). There is nothing wrong with praying about the country's problems, but all those problems were created by humans and must be solved by them.

Another troublesome thing is his secessionist mentality. The Fourteenth amendment clearly states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The fourteenth amendment precludes secession, because secession by any state would render its citizens non-citizens of the United States. [emphasis added]

Smith's complete story in The Atlantic is "12 Things Texans Know About Gov. Rick Perry That You Should, Too." The story's byline states, "Eileen Smith is the editor of the satirical political blog In the Pink Texas, and a guest columnist at the Texas Observer. She lives in Austin."

The Texas Observer is running a cartoon, "Office of The Prophet." Instead of The Lone Star State, perhaps Texas should be called The Loon Star State.

A Los Angeles Times article, "Away from straw poll, Sarah Palin weighs her options," mentions that Palin is scheduled to appear September 3rd at a tea party rally in Iowa. Meanwhile, the bus must be going in circles, unless it turns-up in Waterloo, Iowa, tonight, where both Perry and Bachmann will appear at a fundraising dinner. What excuse could Palin use for showing up in Waterloo tonight? The bus ran out of gas? Its wheels are coming off?

Update: There has been a bus sighting in Springfield, Illinois. And, Kathleen Parker of The Washington Post asks:
Despite her persistence as a hypothetical presidential contender in polls, could it be that Sarah Palin's moment is up? Has she (finally) exploited "McCain's Folly" to the greatest extent possible?

6 comments:

dianedp said...

When bad things happen in New Orleans or on 9/11 we were told by the Preachers that we sinned to much and it was our fault.
The Texas drought? I didn't hear anybody blaming the gays or democrats for that one, they just had a big prayer meeting.
I don't think God have answered them yet, has He?
Maybe they weren't submissive enough?
I wonder what perry's B plan is since God didn't answer?

Nan C said...

The wheels came off that bus a long time ago! Now if we could only get the thing to run out of gas, too...

Anonymous said...

Perry at the Big Prayer Event,they prayed for rain etc....nothing happened.

Perry goes to SC to announce and bravo we get some rain in Texas.

Floyd M. Orr said...

Of course as an Austinite, I love your list! More Americans truly do need to learn the truth about Perry's record, and I want to mention the one I think will be touted the most, but the actual truth of it needs to be exposed. Let me present a little analogy. Bill Clinton did not create the economic success of the '90's; the computer explosion did. Rick Perry has not been the instigator of the relative economic success of Texas, either. Texas has simply been riding a long train of population and economic booms that began with The Metroplex in the '60's, carried Houston through the '70's and into the '80's, and powered the Silicon Valley South Gravy Train through Austin in the later decades. An abundance of cheap land combined with a sanity surrounding our cost of living kept Texas on the outer fringes of the housing bubble and its inevitable crash. The only Texans Rick Perry has enriched are his oil tycoon pals and his hairdresser! This is what the American voters need to know.

Floyd M. Orr, author of Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix. Thank you for your support.

nancydrew said...

Floyd--A commenter at another blog I read mentioned that the jokey unseriousness of Kinky Friedman as a candidate also contributed to Perry's ascension to the governor's mansion. He thought a lot of glib Texas progrssives threw their votes away in the primary, handing Perry the eventual win. Goes to show you how no election should be cynically written off.

Or as David Byrne would remind us -- "this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around".

nancydrew said...

Joie--just a suggestion. you seem to have pretty intelligent and temperate commenters. why don't you let them go through without the time-lag of moderation? you can always come in and do spam clean-up if need be.

your blog. but i think it would be an improvement. invvvho. ;-) i've always liked this blog more than the other sarah-focused ones because of the bemusement factor.