Ricky Perry is Governor of Texas and he has moved into the lead in a straw poll of Republicans. Is he a George W. Bush clone? Doesn't sound like it according to Howard Fineman courtesy of Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/karl-rove-rick-perry_n_931945.html
So we may be faced with the prospect of Mitt Romney riding the range with a lasso, or Perry drawling Texasisms all over the place. This guy sounds like a cross between H. Ross Perot and Slim Pickens, but if Rove is worried about the intellect behind the drawl, the rest of us should be very worried.
I haven't heard his appeals to the prayerful, but if Republicans think that the condescension of babbling preachers that like to hear themselves talk are going to solve any of the rather serious, complicated problems looming out there, Rove has good reason to be concerned. Perry could become so utterly annoying that even Republican faithful become turned-off by the Jimmy Swaggart persona and go begging for moderation, which in a Presidential election would have to be Mr. Obama.
I will defer to Mr. Rove on the subject, at least for the moment, because nobody is more qualified to endorse or to criticize him. But I find it interesting that there would be any doubt whatsoever amongst Texas Republicans about his credentials or style. The Fineman story has all the ingredients for a very interesting melodrama which will undoubtedly cause a lot of internal debates before the convention decides the issue. Who is running the Republican Party anyway? That will be one of the questions answered before Perry, or anyone else, emerges as a front-runner with a chance of unifying the party.
In the meantime, I'll be looking for policy statements from Perry instead of sound bites, as we try to figure out what the Republican message will be once the candidate is selected. I doubt very much whether the supporters of Creationism in public schools are going to swing this election. I'm guessing Karl Rove agrees.
© humble journalist
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