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Perry makes major blunder - is he ready to be President? (Vanity)
The Bronze Titan / based on prior post on FR ^ | September 8, 2011 | The Bronze Titan

Posted on 09/08/2011 5:39:28 PM PDT by The Bronze Titan

I have decided to post this as my own article, because everyone in the media (and blogosphere) is so focused with the "horse-race" aspect of this campaign, and the "gotcha" sound bites, that a critical moment with insightful importance during last night's debate has been shockingly overlooked (and/or ignored).

It is critical, because it relates directly to the national security and foreign policy thinking and requisite aptitude of a top-tier candidate for President of the United States.

The critical moment occurs when the questioner, in turning to Perry, diverts the debate towards a "national security" issue. At this point, I am attentive to hear what the candidate has to say national security-wise relative to the question being asked.

Simply speaking, during a debate you want to gleam some aspect of the candidate's foreign policy thinking, and how he/she would react as President relative to the issue being raised. Essentially, the question is an "opening" being provided by the questioner to the candidate for the candidate to expound on their national security / foreign policy thinking. You can either respond directly to the question at hand, or divert your response to a more pronounced aspect of your foreign policy.

What Perry does (AND doesn't do) is quite breathtaking, to the point of being scary, since it covers a huge issue in our nation's foreign policy. The question relates directly to something he wrote about in his book ("adventurism").

Perry's total lack of a coherent response to the question on such a (supposedly) important foreign policy pronouncement in his book, considering that the issue involves when to send our men/women into battle, betrays his shockingly inept ability and readiness to explain his thinking in matters of national security.

It was an odd and strange response to a very important question. Seemingly reluctant in wanting to answer the question by making a weird turn to deflect the subject matter, all the while quickly closing on the same subject matter,.

==========================================

HARRIS: Governor Perry, as we approach the 9/11 anniversary, I'd like to stick with national security for a moment. You recently said, quote, "I do not believe that America should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism." Looking back, do you think President George W. Bush was too quick to launch military intervention without thinking through the risks?

PERRY: I was making a comment about a philosophy; I don't think America needs to be in the business of adventurism.

But let me just say something about the president of the United States. And I know he's -- he's taken lots of slings and arrows here today. But one thing that I want to say that he did do that I agree with is that he maintained the -- the chase and -- and we took out a very bad man in the form of bin Laden, and I -- and I tip my hat to him.

I give more props to those Navy SEALs that did the job, but -- and the other thing this president's done, he has proven for once and for all that government spending will not create one job. Keynesian policy and Keynesian theory is now done. We'll never have to have that experiment on America again. And I might add that he kept Gitmo open against the will of his base, and I'm glad he did that. America's safer for it.

==========================================

Here is the video of the entire debate, with a reference to the question and the response segment at the 1:17:52 time mark.

I have provided the transcript of this exchange below, and link to the entire debate transcript here.
(better viewing the video segment, since it captures the essence of how this was phrased and how it was responded to)

Here is the transcript page on the Perry comment: Page 19

I never thought I would say this, but...

Is this a candidate ready for the oval office?



TOPICS: Conspiracy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: atleastheshowedup; debate; palindronesattack; perry; vanity
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To: Pigsley

I agree. Especially the fake PC crowd. Many probably used their “I voted for Obama” to placate the “guilt” they have accepted courtesy of the msm and Leftie DUMS.


81 posted on 09/08/2011 7:05:45 PM PDT by Marty62 (Marty60)
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To: dools0007world
I just want to know who all owns a

Piece of the Rick...

82 posted on 09/08/2011 7:07:10 PM PDT by gov_bean_ counter
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To: The Bronze Titan

I truly appreciate all the hard work you do to vet Perry. You save me a lot of time. The stuff you throw against the wall to see if it sticks gives me great comfort that I’m not missing something about Perry and reinforces him as the candidate I can support. Thanks.


83 posted on 09/08/2011 7:10:46 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: samtheman; The Bronze Titan
The answer is simple. He didn’t want to criticize Bush by name.

That's how I saw it.

84 posted on 09/08/2011 7:14:59 PM PDT by Doofer ("If debt is the problem, how is more debt the solution"?)
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To: The Bronze Titan
I agree with you that Perry ducked the question. Mostly because the answer might piss off some people who have not read “Known and Unknown” by Don Rumsfeld (great read, I highly recommend it). In this book the Secretary admits that they had a huge amount of intelligence which more than justified the invasion of Iraq by GWB. He states simply and clearly, the information was wrong. Not just the US intel, but the intelligence agencies of every other major nation involved in the coalition. Not to mention the US congress British Parliament, the UN and several other political bodies the world over.

Perry didn't have to duck this question, he could have answered it directly: we were wrong. Intelligence is a tricky game, you make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time, that you can corroborate. That does NOT mean the information is correct, it means the chances of it being correct are that much higher.

Now if Perry had answered in a straightforward manner, I would have respected it. But I have to now question whether he knows this information and ducked the question so as to duck the label of calling the Bush 43 administration wrong (as members of that administration have already done), or he didn't want to give the appearance of criticizing our last responsible leader. The alternative is that he does NOT know this information, in which case I have to question his preparation and his study of history, international diplomacy, intelligence history and capabilities, and of course the heavily referenced and cited works of public officials who were in a first hand position to KNOW.

None of that is good in my book.

Nope, I do not like Perry any more than I like Romney. That being said, both are better than the Oblidiot every darned day of the week, even asleep.

85 posted on 09/08/2011 7:17:09 PM PDT by Danae (Anailnathrach ortha bhais beatha do cheal deanaimha)
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To: Twinkie
I pray God’s will shall be to REMOVE him and his whole administration from off our backs.

If you think a new President will terminate the employment of all those government leeches I have a bridge to sell you.

86 posted on 09/08/2011 7:18:30 PM PDT by Sarajevo (Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?)
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To: The Bronze Titan

The major Media is a Controlled Tool. The average American trust’s in the media to educate them, many people even on this board are happy knowing what they know, and they stick with it, till death do they part.
Bless them! Pray and ask God to bless them with wisdom and understanding!

There is much Evil in this world! Most people know that something is wrong, and are unsure what it is!

The answers are there but they usually involve tough questions and time to do allot of home work, did I say allot? Start with the Mises Institute, they show you how to really follow the money. It took me 5 years to have a clue, now I just see economics repeating itself... Parties be damned, most of them don’t and never will stand for the individual. Why do they all leave as Millionaires?


87 posted on 09/08/2011 7:21:07 PM PDT by foundedonpurpose (Be strong in truth!)
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To: The Bronze Titan

Is obama ready to bag groceries at stop and shop?


88 posted on 09/08/2011 7:21:07 PM PDT by ronnie raygun (V)
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To: The Bronze Titan

If Perry’s only contribution during the debate was to moon the camera and rip a big fart, PerryBots would say he had presidential intestines. Finally someone who tells it like it is! A man with the beans to be president! LOL


89 posted on 09/08/2011 7:32:40 PM PDT by tarotsailor
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To: Danae

That, in essence, was my concern with what I heard.


90 posted on 09/08/2011 7:43:08 PM PDT by The Bronze Titan
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To: tarotsailor

The thing is I never made the claim that he was NOT ready, but only RAISED the question for debate. If I had felt he IS NOT ready, I would not have hesitated to say so directly, because I have no problem saying so. Perry may very well come back and demonstrate things entirely differently the next time, but that will be up to him, not me. If he does, so much the better for all us.


91 posted on 09/08/2011 7:51:33 PM PDT by The Bronze Titan
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To: RnMomof7

Open Border my butt. That is not his stance and you know it. He wants troops posted on the border and has asked Obama several times and has been refused. SS is a ponzi scheme for younger people. I am sure he would work to stabilize it for current and soon to be retirees. He was referring to those age 30 and under.


92 posted on 09/08/2011 8:17:50 PM PDT by Grey Eagle
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To: The Bronze Titan

He had some shaky moments, but that was one of his funniest moments and a great dig at Obama. Congratulating him for keeping Gitmo open and proving Keynesianism doesn’t work? Hilarious! (And true.)

The “adventurism” question was meant as a gotcha and he deflected it. I hope he has a good philosophical explanation for what he meant, but I am pretty sure it wouldn’t fit into the 30 second format of a TV debate.


93 posted on 09/08/2011 8:22:26 PM PDT by PhatHead
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To: samtheman

You are right. Perry was not going to go in the MSNBC trap of bad mouthing Bush. He answered the question.


94 posted on 09/08/2011 8:30:58 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: 1rudeboy
Clumsy, yes. Proving him unfit? I think you're overreacting. Does that count as a "seige?" People are so sensitive nowadays.

You're right...Perry's not perfect (heck, none of 'em are), but this silly article is such a blatant example of grasping at straws.

95 posted on 09/08/2011 8:38:15 PM PDT by Allegra (Hey! Stop looking at my tagline like that.)
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To: The Bronze Titan

What a waste of bandwidth...

JC


96 posted on 09/08/2011 9:14:18 PM PDT by cracker45
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To: The Bronze Titan

There are two major pushes within the Republican party on the use of our military. One is to have the US serve as the global police, at the beck and call of foreigners. Like what happened in Lybia.

The other is using our military to serve our interests like happened after 911 and not going to war in a globalist design of power.

Perry is putting on the second of the two. I agree with that. We should not have gotten into the Lybian civil war. France ordered it - France should have handled it or minded their own business.


97 posted on 09/08/2011 10:04:16 PM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: Georgia Girl 2
You are right. Perry was not going to go in the MSNBC trap of bad mouthing Bush. He answered the question.
Look at how they opened the debate with a totally contrived and irrelevant slam against Bush.

It wasn't PMSNBC running the debate. It was Jimmy Hoffa and the DNC.

98 posted on 09/09/2011 4:10:51 AM PDT by samtheman (Palin. In your heart you know she's right.)
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To: The Bronze Titan
I've asked you before which perfect candidate you support and why, but it seems you are just hell-bent on antagonizing Perry supporters.

So now, I Double-Dog Dare you post another vanity about the candidate you think can win the primary and beat Obamah.

And remember, Sarah Palin is not a candidate yet.

So, Pls enlighten us about who you think Freepers should be supporting and why.

99 posted on 09/09/2011 4:22:24 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: The Bronze Titan
I never thought I would say this, but... Is this a candidate ready for the oval office?

I am unlucky enough to have regular contact with Democrats. In May, obama gave a speech where he said, among other things, that Israel had to go back to the pre-1968 borders.

That evening a woman at our table said she saw obama's speech and agreed with EVERYTHING he said. (No one was even talking about politics.) This woman has a good job, watches MSNBC everyday, and she is a leftist.

I once asked her how she got to be such a big liberal. She looked me in the eye and said she's an INDEPENDENT.

She hates Fox News, even though she never watched it. She loves Keith Olbermann.

I was in her presence again during the debt ceiling situation. Someone remarked that both parties are at fault, and she said that it's the Republican Party and Tea Party that are at fault.

I know someone else who has been a life-long friend and is now a retired teacher. We got into it about obamacare, and our relationship is not the same. We also have democrats in the family, and you can't talk to them either.

It's also not going to be easy to beat obama because of the fraud factor.

Bottom line is I'll vote for the Republican candidate, even if it's not the one I like the best.

100 posted on 09/09/2011 5:20:34 AM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
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