Posted on 01/23/2012 1:51:06 PM PST by pogo101
He should have delayed a month, or a month and a half.
Was it the decision to schedule back surgery on July 1, putting Perry’s physical recovery on a collision course with a grueling schedule of fundraisers and campaign events? Was it the failure to prepare better for debates that soon turned disastrous? Was it simply a matter of getting in the race too late?{Snip}
Perry’s own string of verbal goofs, probably some of the worst in modern American political history, were so crippling that it is questionable whether any paid professionals could have pulled him out of the ditch. At one point staffers were so desperate to keep Perry’s energy level high during debates that they discussed putting M&Ms in his coat pocket for use during commercial breaks.
So what was Perry doing in October? Apparently not all that much:
Politico reported, "In a blistering indictment, sources close to the operation describe a new team that was stunned to arrive in October and find a campaign that wasn't executing the most rudimentary elements of a modern presidential campaign: no polling or focus groups, no opposition research book on their own candidate to prepare for attacks, and debate prep sessions that were barely worth the name."
So now you know. Although the articles make a case for this guy or that guy failing Perry, of course failure begins at the top.
It might here have also begun at the back.
{Snip}
(Excerpt) Read more at minx.cc ...
I'd earlier largely dismissed the "back surgery" thing as a lame excuse, but now I'm starting to believe it. Why would pissed-off staffers have any reason NOT to say, "Oh, that back surgery story, that's a lot of crap," if it WERE crap?
Good luck, Gov. Perry. I have a heart, regardless of what you say :P
The man is obviously competent yet could not convince people to support him with their votes.
Perry was not my guy, but articles like this accomplish nothing.
Sorry you find the article unrewarding. As a former Perry backer, I find it at least useful to know that a lot of his problems may genuinely have flowed from too-recent back surgery. As I noted above, I’d heard those rumors before but dismissed them as unsubstantiated excuses for simple laziness.
The early part of the campaign was disasterous. Rick was unprepared and sucking down pain killers made proper preparation nigh impossible.
My first choice all-along, and now even more convinced he has the right stuff given the class and grace he displayed while stepping aside.
He did recover in his last few debates, doing quite well, making me wish he had never made the early gaffes. When I read the rumor of his back surgery it all made sense to me. His later campaign gave me a lot of respect for him. He convinced me he would have made a fine GOP candidate and I would have supported him heartily had he won.
Some of his later ads, just before the Caucuses, were just awesome. Too late, sad to say.
EXHIBIT A---Perry did NOT campaign in NH AND FINISHED ALMOST DEAD LAST.
EXHIBIT B---However, Perry DID campaign in Iowa---AND FINISHED ALMOST DEAD LAST.
----In NH, Perry spent $6 million--the most of any candidate,
----Perry ran around in two campaign buses,
----Perry held numerous campaign events,
---- glad-handed thousands of Iowans,
----Perry ran non-stop ads touting his conservative credentials,
----Perry trucked in 1000 Texans for groundwork,
----Perry campaigned with California legislators and other high-level supporters
----PERRY FINISHED ALMOST DEAD LAST IN NH.
================================
BACKSTORY---when Perry went for the presidency, he and his Texas cronies projected an air of supreme self-assurance and indifference to outside advice.....Perry never even entered the first Iowa go-round-----and stomped allover Bachmann's hard-won victory, announcing his candidacy on the same day she won. Perry was posing for pics, acting like he had won Iowa, with 700 write-ins.
However, when sinking polls and losses forced him to regroup, Perry's hastily assembled new team found: Perry's 2012 campaign was mounted like Perry's state campaigns: (1) raise a bunch of money, (2) don’t worry about the [media coverage], (3) don’t worry about debates, (4) buy the race on TV.
The new team was not sympathetic: "You have to be a total rube to think a race for president is the same as a state race for governor. There has never been a more ineptly orchestrated, just unbelievably subpar campaign for president of the United States than this one."
“PERRY WE HARDLY KNEW THEE”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/288817/perry-we-hardly-knew-thee-kathryn-jean-lopez
Interesting link, thank. I read NR but had not seen that.
The last sentence is a fine tribute :
“When history remembers Rick Perry’s time on the campaign trail, it ought to remember this: He saw some of these things clearly and helped advance a conversation that will keep religious freedom out in the open and protected.”
Ric Perry has a lot of good conservative credentials and it’s though for him and us that he didn’t get more traction and votes in the primary season. He did seem unprepared for the questions that were likely to be asked in the debates and campaign. The press was very hard on him, as with all GOP candidates, and made a big deal of any misstep.
I think part of the problem was the early start to the primary season. The GOP tried to get states to not start until this March or April, but the rush to be first got the start in January. A later start was to get more good candidates in and to let the voters learn more about each candidate other than the 30 second political ads.
This early start made the list of GOP candidates who were ready to go by January short and few. I think Perry felt he had to jump in or miss the train before he was prepared. I don’t buy the focus group and polling as getting prepared. I think a real candidate needs a core set of values and then think through how he can tell the voters how his values and ideas can help our country should that candidate be elected. Even the best candidate has to be able to communicate and Perry seemed to not get his points across in the opening debates.
Well said.
Perryland- where excuses, blame and whine abound.
I guess it is common for the “smart” GOP people to smear the candidate when they failed to get a campaign off the launch. They did this to Palin, too. Does back stabbing help further their careers?
I expect we will hear more of the same out of Romney’s loser consultants and handlers once he hits the Rino moderate (brain dead) skids. It’s always someone else’s fault and these poor dead beat GOP staffers are “smart” innocent bystanders. This is dishonorable and unprofessional. They should be weeded out of the GOP.
They may have gone to the McLameObmammy school of “smart” people’s politics.
It’s too bad. He did good in the final debates but the earlier debates had already sealed his fate. The three answer question was the end of the road.
I think neither Perry or Fred truly had the fire in the belly to run for POTUS. It is not something you can half-ass, as we have seen. And that showed in Perry's lack of debate prep early on.
I just never got the feeling that the guy really wanted it. It is a sad testament that modern presidential campaigning requires a guy so power-hungry that he would do anything to win the office, but it seems that is what it takes.
Actually, it confirms what many of us stated several times on FR.
“The early part of the campaign was disasterous. Rick was unprepared and sucking down pain killers made proper preparation nigh impossible.”
That might explain his New Hampshire speech last fall, where he seemed totally drunk.
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