"Yee-Haaa!" probably.
Posted on 08/14/2011 12:14:29 PM PDT by Nachum
My good friends John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson offer eulogies for the Tim Pawlenty presidential campaign today at Power Line, and as usual, they are quite insightful. Scott says that Pawlenty’s descent started when he backed down from challenging Mitt Romney in an earlier debate, and notes that Republicans in this cycle want a fighter. John laments the loss of the one candidate he thought could easily beat Barack Obama based on his record, and says that Pawlenty never got past “the first impression of him as just another guy in a suit.” Both are fair conclusions, and be sure to read both posts in their entirety.
However, both Scott and John express some reservations about Rick Perry and his ability to be a “viable alternative” to Mitt Romney and/or Obama himself. I’ve been covering Perry as a potential candidate since April 2010, when he rocked the house with a speech to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. Even then, while being challenged in the primary for his third term as Texas governor by Kay Bailey Hutchison, his appeal as a presidential candidate was apparent:
I’ve seen Perry give speeches on television (mainly on YouTube) and knew he could be dynamic. Earlier in the day, I mentioned that alone among the other speakers on the ticket today, Perry had the only shot at matching the energy of Sarah Palin’s appearance. Perry has a very active delivery, in the same manner as a preacher. He doesn’t stand still, but instead puts his whole body into what he says. Perry’s speech turned a political conference into a Republican revival meeting, complete with the call to action at the end.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Not so fast! he’s got baggage and he sounds like a bush, we had enough. Look at his record
Take a joke, will ya?!
Barrio Perry? I think you mean PERRY/RUBIO 2012.
That is getting tiring. There is something other than Al Gore to not like Perry, if you want to be against him.
Post #25 - I just sprayed iced tea all over my screen.
The funny thing is that you Palin bots can make all sorts of claims about her positions and not have to show anything in her record to prove all these things she has actually done on various issues and positions. Everything attributed to her is stuff she “said”, “claimed”, “proclaimed” or “wrote about” in the past 2 years to pander to the conservative base.
Yep, he learned that as a YELL LEADER at Texas A & M...
You dislike him for, say, his hair, I’ll dislike him for the character revealing association with Al Gore.
Perry is a 10 year governor of a very successful state of 24 million and a net donor state along with 60% of the U.S./Mexico border. Palin was a 2.5 year governor of a state of 700,000 people that receives $1.80 in Federal money for every dollar it sends in.
Read “Rick Perry’s Crony Capitalism Problem” in yesterday’s WSJ.
Al Gore was a conservative democrat in the 80s. Texas was a conservative democrat state at the time. This is way overblown. Reagan supported FDR, and he changed later in his life. 23 years ago is ancient history.
"Yee-Haaa!" probably.
I’ll admit im a palin supporter, but perry is rino, and part of the rep. machine just like bush- perry almost tripled the debt in texas- both bush and perry has a spending problem- not true conservatives in my book. I just dont trust him. I’ll stick with the one that fought against the corrupt machine, and left a surplus
Gov. Palin destroyed the “Corrupt Bastards Club”. She put criminals, who happened to be Republican politicians, in prison.
The Democrats cheered her on then, but they know at the Federal level they would be next if she is President. That is why she and her family have been smeared repeatedly.
And the ‘Big Oil’ companies? If they are going to pump natural gas and petroleum from Federal land, they better share the profits with the people who own it - U.S. citizens. Gov.Palin made sure, in Alaska, that the state’s citizens received their fair share of the profits from ‘Big Oil’. She stands for the people, not just for the rich and powerful.
I see nothing wrong with anything above, do you?
AMEN BROTHER— WELL SAID
Let's be honest. Who else has a better chance of not only beating Obama but of truly addressing our country's issues?
Romney - believes government can run health care - even in only in one state - that is a disgrace for a liberty loving Republican. He still hasn't admitted that he was wrong. He would be the real RINO. Pretty boy with talking points.
Bachmann- love her, respect her, she says all the right things (great of Fox this morning against that lefty Wallace) but has only slightly more experience that Obama had and I don't see the Country going with another rookie. Big negatives (for no good reason, I might add), but not as big negatives as Palin (love her too, but no chance in Hell, sorry Palin lovers).
Ron Paul - too extreme for the independents. Again, had a great showing in Iowa, but doesn't translate to the general population.
Perry - his speech yesterday was pitch perfect. Sure he isn't perfect. His enemies (including the group listed in this blog) can look at a real record of 10 years as Governor and, 17 years of public service before that to find instances when he didn't take a perfect hard line - but that doesn't define the man. The fact he was pragmatic and got results consistent with what was best for his State is what counts. When he made mistakes - and he has had a few whoppers, he is willing to change course and correct things.
We don't want another extreme ideologue like Obama who, even after every selling point of Obamacare was proved over time to be completely fictional (mostly by the GAO), still fights tooth and nail on his flawed program. Look at “raising taxes on the rich” nonsense. Even after he reaffirms the Bush tax cuts twice by signing the legislation, the next day he says - paraphrasing - “well, next time it will be different - we need to have a balanced approach”.
From all out there so far, Perry is the only guy that can be consistent with our most important principals, be able to advocate them well. He is a talented campaigner - took on Bush and his pals to beat Hutchison for Governor last time around. He plays hard and will fight back. As T-Paw proved, if you don't have the killer instinct, you're history.
BTW, love loser pays tort reform - not in all cases, but is such a great start in cleaning out our corrupt judiciary.
Let's give Perry some time to get his campaign up to speed. He will make some mistakes. From the group out there now, he seems head and shoulders above the pack.
We have to get the White House and, in my view, control Supreme Court nominations. There will be a few over the next 4 years (8 with Perry, hopefully).
“Perry is a dynamic speaker...”
Yep, he did a bang-up job inspiring a news conference in Mexico today:
“...I don’t think [immigration “reform”] is that difficult of an issue if Congress would have the maturity to sit down and really discuss it and cut out all of the mean rhetoric and really talk about what is a solution to this issue,” Gov.Perry said.
What do you suspect he intended by “mean rhetoric”? Deportation of illegal aliens? Sending entire families back to the parent’s homelands? And why might enforcing our laws be considered “mean”?
is that you, paul begala?
Bachmann, philosophically, is rock solid. As a legislator, she doesn't seem to have any accomplishments other than pushing for or against things. Important work, but her claim to fame as far as legislative work is a Light Bulb Choice act. I'm for that, but ... it's thin stuff to run for President on. It's exactly comparable to Obama, except she's a congresswoman, not a senator.
Romney's got a slightly longer career. Corporate raider. Romneycare. Bad on guns before he was Charlton Heston. Pro-choice before he found religion. He's a power obsessed chameleon. If Barack Obama kicked out Biden and asked Romney to be his VP, Mitt wouldn't answer until he had run the numbers. He's literally nobody's first choice, but he's just too slick to give up.
Perry's neither as good as Bachmann or as bad as Romney, except for one major distinguishing factor. He HAS accomplishments, not just positions. You can argue the specifics, but overall, Texas is doing great. If the rest of America was governed like Texas, America would be WAY better off.
Yeah, Perry's got black marks. The guy's been governor for 10 years. Imagine if Romney had? Bachmann's weakness is that she's never been in the big chair, and we don't know if the talk will hold up. Running a trillion dollar enterprise has a lot more to it than having your heart in the right place.
The biggest thing Perry has going for him is that he has a full record to be judged on. Obama won with the Tabula Rasa last time, and everyone imagined it would be wonderful. (Except for us, because we knew we had no reason to expect otherwise. The guy had no record, just talk.) So, among voters that don't pay too much attention or aren't worried about ideological purity, Perry will seem more genuine than Romney and more reliably tested than Bachmann.
LOL- I had to google that name, didnt have a clue who that was— I’m just saying, we dont need another big spender in washington like perry- but if it came down to it i probally would support him- but i would hold my nose and probally be curseing while i was pulling the handle
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.