If he can actually articulate his plan, perhaps he can get back into the game, but his poor choice of words, *you dont have a heart* hurt him badly with conservatives. Those words have stuck, because liberals have bashed us to near death with that very invective for decades.
It is funny how an offhand comment made to Mitt Romney during a debate has caused so much pain and suffering to so many overly sensitive conservatives, who have no trouble calling everybody they disagree with RINOS, and muslim-lovers, and worse.
Cain called me insensitive for not being upset about some stupid rock -- but I don't go around whining about how Cain thinks I'm insensitive toward blacks, or use it as my tag line. Maybe because I'm just not sensitive enough to be hurt by poeple suggesting I'm something I'm not in the course of trying to win an election.
His apology of course means nothing to the perpetually hurt.
Seriously, it's just a lot easier for them to scream "he called me heartless" than to acknowledge the argument, and explain how they disagree with it. That is a lot of what passes for debate these days.
I fail to see how it's a disqualifying statement for Perry to use as an argument that if you could look an 18-year-old american-speaking, american-loving honor student who has lived here since she was 2-years-old, and tell her that because her parents snuck over the border in 1994, even though we've done NOTHING to throw them out, that she can't go to the college she was accepted to (because while she can afford in-state tuition, which would cover the state costs of the college, she can't afford the out-of-state premium) and instead should get the hell out of our country and go back to Mexico where she has never been since 2 and knows nobody, that you are pretty heartless.
Obviously, you could ARGUE the point, explain why it is NOT in fact "heartless". You could explain how the compassionate thing to do is to throw them out, or to deny them college. You coudl explain how you have plenty of heart, but not for kids who are here illegally, even though it's not their fault. That is called debate, and it's a good thing -- trying to dismiss the argument by deflecting it with a "you hurt my feelings, you are a bad person" argument is silly.
Actually, I fail to see how that argument is any worse than any of the arguments we have here every day, where when you say something, and someone disagrees with you, they will say "If you could possibly argue for THAT, you can't be a conservative, you must be a liberal-loving RINO". Is saying someone doesn't have a heart worse than saying they aren't a conservative? Is it worse than saying I'm insensitive to black people?
Anyway, he apologized for the argument, which was the right political thing to do. It just amazes me how many freepers are still willing to cast themselves as sensitive souls with easily hurt feelings, as if that is a positive trait.
Honest disagreement is one thing. That was an unfortunate choice of words. Folks have forgotten, however. Perry apologized, albeit late. It serves no good purpose at this point for some conservatives to hold a grudge. The issue that is taking its toll on Perry is the in-state tuition. But that should not be a disqualifying factor. Imo, its more Perry’s abysmal debate performances that have cratered his campaign. When errors or mistakes are made, political candidates must be able to talk their way out of a paper bag. Debate experience helps build a stronger candidate. Campaigns are controlled chaos and a good staff helps to keep things focused.