Perry entered the race with a record to overcome.
Instead, he confirmed it.
“Job interviews for any professional position demand the highest levels of attention, alertness, preparation and concentration.”
Mostly correct, but I’ll disagree slightly. It is impossible to be totally “prepared” for everything you might get thrown at you in a job interview. In fact, when I interviewed engineers, I had a whole series of questions that virtually no one knew the answer to, but which were intended to explore their problem-solving abilities, and give me some insight into how they’d respond when faced with the unknown.
That is the true “stand and deliver” moment, and it’s separates the exceptional from the rest of the pack. Everyone can study and prepare, most of us have some natural ability to memorize and spew back, but not everyone can listen, analyze, synthesize, and construct a consistent and credible response on our feet.
I think Rick Perry is a hell of a nice guy, a good conservative, and a competent leader. But Mr. Cain and Speaker Gingrich are far more adept at integrative thinking under pressure, and that’s why they perform better in these events.
Which by the way, bear little resemblance to a “debate”, but still are useful for showing us how the candidates think and respond, especially to issues that are outside their preparation.
What a load of BS. Perry was called upon to run. He’s running. He’s not trying to lose. Rick Perry is a typical son of the soil real honest to goodness (not like Dubya who was pure Connecticut) Texan. You take him just like he is. He is a not a smoothe-talking glib politician. He is a man who digs in and gets the job done. That’s why he was called by so many to run. Because he is the ONLY candidate on that slate that has dealt successfully in his state, with all the problems facing the nation today. Every one of them.
Patton-at-Bastogne (Free Republic member since 1996)
Patton@Bastogne Since Jul 5, 1998
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:)
Good question and essay!!
I think Governor Perry jumped into the race unprepared and as part of the GOP-E call for him as part of the stop Sarah Palin effort that had been underway all winter, spring and summer. Sarah Palin had not yet made her decision. His immediate shot to the top of the polls left him totally unprepared to handle the top spot and I think he might have thought he was going to have clear sailing. He was most certainly wrong about that.
His drop from a favored candidate came right after he uttered his poor choice of words “you don’t have a heart,” because those very words are the same invective liberals have been beating us conservatives over our heads with for decades.
I’m not going to question his fire-in-the-belly now that he’s in. Nobody wants to lose once they’re in.
Bush was getting old. He was having trouble managing things, and that caught up with him.
Bush lost Lee Atwater and never found a good enough replacement for him. Clinton thrived on "town hall" debates. Bush didn't.
You might have a better case with Bob Dole or with John McCain, who were also pretty old when they ran, but went out of their way to avoid attacking their opponents.
Dole rejected references to Clinton's moral character because he had skeletons of his own in his closet. I don't know what McCain's problem was.
Should we start calling Rick "Neutrino" Perry by the nickname
"The Battered Bastard of Bastrop" ? [near Austin, the state capital]
Cheers!
Well stated...but I’m more of the camp that we REALLY are seeing the REAL Rick Perry.
...which is a person that is nowhere near ready to be president, either in his communication skills, his intelligence, or even his interest in national/international issues (not to mention being a flakey conservative, at best).
Perry only ran because he thought that he would get coronated...and evidence of that is right on this site, with his staffers posting puff-piece after puff-piece to the point of almost bringing down JR’s server a couple of times, in an attempt to make his nomination appear to be a done-deal.
While Perry did not even think of running until Mitch Daniels dropped out last summer (which is obvious by his level of preparation), there was a bunch of others who had spent years, or even decades, getting ready for their runs. They were not about to step aside to give the self-annointed ‘king’ a clear run.
Bush 41 thrashed Dukakis in 1988 and lost to Clinton in 1992.
The money and support is pouring in for Herman Cain, but we cannot slow down now. Please help him by donating at http://www.hermancain.com/
Also to help join the buzz about Herman go to facebook.com and “like” him. His “likes” have jumped dramatically since the attacks started. Make no mistake Sean Hannity’s BFF Tokyo Rove is watching Herman’s “likes” and so is Romney. THIS is the way to stick it to the GOP establishment! Please tell your family and friends to “like” Herman as well. Then let’s bring out our most powerful tool for helping Herman Cain: PRAYING that God protects him from the people of darkness.