I’ve known people who’ve had back surgery and took pain pills during recovery but did not become an addict. Besides, he has endorsed Mitch McConnell. He has sold out to the GOPe. I wouldn’t spit in his a** if his guts were on fire.
What evidence do you have that he is “addicted”? I live in Texas and know a lot of people active in the party. No one has suggested that he is addicted in the least.
While Perry isn’t perfect - and I can name a lot things he’s done that I don’t like, e.g. the TTC, the HPV vaccine program, signing hate crimes legislation, not being tough enough on illegals, etc. - on the whole, he has done a fairly good job of running Texas. If it weren’t for Dewhurst and Straus he would have been able to do more. I’d prefer Cruz, but Perry would be better than Romney redux, Rubio, Christie, Santorum, Pawlenty, or Paul.