Posted on 07/05/2011 2:51:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
In advance of any kind of campaign declaration (or even any kind of confirmation of campaign rumors), Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry is sitting pretty for the GOP presidential nomination.
Just two recent successes, ripe for bragging: The Republican Governors Association, of which Perry is chair, raised $22.1 million for the first half of the year, eclipsing its six-month totals for 2007 to 2009, and erased its debt left over from the 2010 elections. (Admittedly, that cash is not for presidential campaign purposes, but it surely says something about Perry’s popularity and the general appeal of a Republican governor.) And Perry’s supporters independently secured a vendor slot at the Ames, Iowa, straw poll, just because they’re that committed to him as a(n undeclared) candidate.
Add to that, this: Leaders of the Christian Right are now seeking him out behind the scenes.
In early June, TIME has learned, a group of prominent figures on the Christian Right held a conference call to discuss their dissatisfaction with the current GOP presidential field, and agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if he entered the race. Among those on the call were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; David Barton, the Texas activist and go-to historian for the Christian Right; and John Hagee, the controversial San Antonio pastor whose endorsement John McCain rejected in 2008.
Religious conservatives have often played a substantial role in choosing past Republican nominees, but leaders on the Christian Right have been conspicuously quiet so far in this campaign season. Privately, however, they are enthusiastic about Perry and are encouraging the Texas governor to throw his ten-gallon hat into the ring.
Perry’s favor with the Christian Right is relatively new, and he is their candidate of choice as much by default as anything.
If that’s true, he’s a pretty decent default. Take his current project — an all-day Christian prayer event called “The Response” — as just one example of the way he’s showing his support for the Christian conservative cause. The American Family Association will co-sponsor the explicitly Christian event, scheduled for Aug. 6 in Houston. Perry also recently signed a gay marriage ban into law at a Christian school in Fort Worth with evangelical heavyweights Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Rod Parsley (Ohio mega-church pastor), and Don Wildmon (American Family Association) in attendance.
So, it’s not so much a surprise that the Christian Right would support Rick Perry, as it is a surprise they find the present GOP field so dismal. You’d be hard-pressed to find two more socially conservative presidential candidates than Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, for example. Santorum might be easily dismissed — as Time’s Amy Sullivan so wittily put it, “his poll numbers in Iowa are smaller than the number of children he has” — but Bachmann’s impressive surge in popularity might conceivably have garnered her the support that Perry has picked up seemingly without so much as lifting a finger.
It must come back to that little thing called electability. In the minds of the Christian Right, it seems, Perry’s got it.
“Leaders”?
The same idiot so-cons who followed Huckabee around like he was the Pie-eyed piper of Hamelin.......
There’s nothing conservative at all about many of these the Evangelicals. Many seem to love socialism and big gub’mint.
I bet none of these dopes asked Perry why he supported ultra-RINO Rudy Giuliani during the last election cycle. “Electability,” maybe?
I don’t care if they’re conservative or not. They don’t really lead anyone.
Do they really expect us to believe all this or is it some kind of psychological operation? Gomer Huckleberry’s daughter just signed on to help Tiny Tim in Iowa, so this makes very little sense.
Could this possibly be due to the fact that just like Rick Perry, the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention want amnesty for illegals?
They don’t at Liberty University...
Seriously, though, most average Evangelicals are anti-big gov’t. One of these “leaders” is a downright heretic: John Hagee thinks that Jesus didn’t come to be the Messiah. Yes, the media is calling that guy a leader of the Evangelical movement.
DUMB CHRISTIAN RIGHT IN LOVE WITH ILLEGALS ON THEIR PEWS...nuff said
RIck Perry is a RINO ~ an honest to gosh real RINO. He was actually elected to public office as a Democrat, and he was the Texas Gore campaign coordinator.
RINO RINO RINO RINO RINO RINO.
As far as the Evangelical choice in this race you really need to check with some Evangelicals.
Checking with Fundamentalists or Pentecostals doesn't get you there.
BTW, lately the Leftwingtards have been accusing the Catholics and Amish (both Apostolic organizations) of being Evangelicals ~
He’s just more of the same old thing.
Your one of Gomer’s cousins? Or are you and I cousins?
My kin is from the St. Joe and Allendale, Missouri neck of the woods, btw, so Don’t think we couldn’t be related...
I remember when they were all twitterpated over Rick Warren.
The main tie in for "the Huck", probably yourself, and many of my relatives is a place called Sand Creek KY. Abe Lincoln ties in there too.
It was settled quite some time before things stabilized North of the Ohio. Then folks moved North, and by 1812 or so they moved to Missouri and Arkansas.
RE: He was actually elected to public office as a Democrat, and he was the Texas Gore campaign coordinator.
I don’t think we can use the above as a basis for calling someone a RINO. After all, the Sainted Ronald Reagan WAS a Democrat before he turned Republican. He campaigned for Harry Truman.
I’ll gladly exchange an egotistical Gov. Perry for a communist Pres. Obama today and every day.
I’d take Perry over every other announced candidate to date. I like some of them, but don’t think
they will beat Obie.
I’ll gladly take a guy who got his head handed to him about vaccinations over a guy who believes
he rules by fiat.
After you all fight it out and point out the flaws of every candidate, we’ll still be left with
a candidate with warts. I know Perry’s warts. I don’t like them, but I can live with them.
ampu
I’ve decided I’m gonna support Perry, despite the nit-picking. I don’t think he’s a Huckabee or a George W. Bush either, for what’s it worth. He’s definitely not a Mitt Romney, IMHO. But until he actually declares, I guess Bachman’s my candidate...
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