Replies

I'm from the northeast and have only a passing knowledge of Texas Governor Rick Perry so I have no intention of engaging in a futile argument with anyone for or against the governor. Here's the dilemma: like most conservatives, I'm fed up with the GOP establishment foisting RINOs on us. McCain was the last straw and because of McCain and his weak campaign (Sarah Palin being the glaring exception) we got Obama and the disaster he has wrought. Now, we have a wide-open opportunity to get rid of Obama and likely gain power in both houses of congress in 2012, if we don't blow it. What so many of us fear is that we'll end up going with the candidate the MSM and Karl Rove types tell us we must nominate to win - and, assuming we do win, end up, yet again, with another big government RINO who is conservative on one or two important issues but goes left on others...a RINO. We can't afford that. Not again. So, when a potential candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination is touted by some as the penultimate conservative and castigated by others as a RINO simply masquerading as a conservative, it's frustrating. Like any politician, I'm sure Rick Perry has a few things on his record that are questionable to a conservative. I get it. No one is 100% 'pure'. Frankly, I'm fine with that. On the other hand, when folks make long lists of Perrys' sins against conservative ideology and others counter with equally long lists intended to validate his conservative credentials, I get wary.

Right now, I'm a staunch Sarah Palin supporter. She has been vetted by the left, obviously as well as the right. Although unquestionably conservative, Sarah Palin isn't ideologically 'pure' either - but she's darn close. If Sarah Palin doesn't run, I'll go with Michelle Bachmann as a fall-back choice. She is less appealing to this conservative than Palin but I have to pick a candidate in the primary and Bachmann seems a reasonable choice. Frankly, at this distance, so does Governor Rick Perry - but I'm not ready to jump on his bandwagon just yet. I want to learn more about him, and I will, if he declares his candidacy. As I stated, I'm wary of Republicans that are touted as conservatives based on their speeches and/or a few good positions they've taken but upon closer inspection have troubling aspects that can't be ignored.

I'm totally unconvinced by those who coo about how much they loooove Palin and Bachmann but follow that with 'let's be realistic' (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and make it clear that no woman is going to be elected President of the United States. No, sir. No black person is, either. Oh, wait.