Posted on 09/12/2015 6:51:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It would be an exaggeration for me to say Rick Perry is my friend, but I can say we are friendly acquaintances. I liked him and I have reason to believe he liked me from the first time we met, when he invited me, the late Andrew Breitbart and others to go shooting with him in Austin back in 2009. (Yes, Perry was one of the first major politicians into new media.) Later, I joined him at the NASCAR races at the Texas Motor Speedway, which was rather like going to the Grand Ole Opry with Johnny Cash.
By this time I was convinced I was hanging out with the next president of the United States. A lot of us were. But we all know how his front-running campaign imploded in 2012 in the famous “Oops” moment.
No longer governor of Texas, Perry spent the next few years doing his homework, boning up on affairs foreign and domestic that would make him a serious contender in 2016. Obviously, it wasn’t enough and Rick Perry is the first to bow out of the seventeen-candidate Republican presidential field. He did so in characteristically gracious fashion, saying: “We have a tremendous fieldthe best in a generationso I step aside knowing our party is in good hands.”
One wonders how the other participants in next Wednesday’s also-ran debate — Graham, Pataki, Santorum and Jindal — will react to Perry’s words and action. Will this pressure them to step down too?
But more importantly, it makes me think about how our presidential election system actually works. Does it get us the best man or woman? Does it even come close? It’s not only because I know Rick Perry that I suspect he might have made one of the better — perhaps even the best — presidents of all those running in both parties.
Of course, no one could possibly know the truth about these things. No one. All we have is our guesses. But it is clear that in this year of the non-pro, voters were not excited by the record of a man who was governor of one of our largest states for fourteen years, a period during which that one state, Texas, generated more than a third of the nation’s private-sector jobs.
Maybe that says more about us than it does about Rick Perry.
Yep. Ambrose Burnside, good corps commander, not the General of the Army.
Agreed. From what I read he did a fine job as Governor of Texas. I would have voted for him.
Need I continue?
La Raza Rick got in bed with racial supremacist organizations too many times. Even once would have been too many.
And that crap in the Trans Texas Corridor where Texas would agree not to widen existing North/South limited access free highways? What do you think that would have done to traffic in the major metropolitan areas? Perry seems to have thought nobody would contemplate that and that he would have moved on to national political positions before the trainwreck. Plus the part about sizing a large plot of land at the I10 junction to resell after the corridor would have been built was eminent domain abuse at its most egregious.
Good riddance Perry.
I worked hard to defeat his boondoggles. I am glad he is gone.
I don’t think any of them have a chance because Trump is playing on a totally different field. The rest haven’t even figured out where the stadium is yet. But perhaps Perry, Jindal, and a couple of others should have tried to climb a few points at a time by taking out the guys just above them-—the Bush, Rubio types-—and not shooting at the king. They might have gotten to where Carson was . . . til he started shooting at the king.
Frankly I stand by my statement and, since you asked, I really don't care if you continue or not.
Perry’s biggest failing wasn’t forgetting about an agency.
It was promoting amnesty.
Besides that, given the fact that the media has become an arm of the democratic party, the only republican who will ever win in that climate is someone who takes the fight to them on his own terms rather than letting them define all the arguments.
'nuff said.
Do you seriously support letting Terri Schiavo die that way? That issue puts a real low upper boundary of support for him among pro-life Constitutional Conservatives.
I’m not talking about Terri Schiavo. You’re talking about Terri Schiavo. I’m talking about Rick Perry and Jeb Bush.
Maybe you should start a thread about Terri Schiavo.
Most Texas Republicans will tell you that Perry was OWNED by the same bunch of wealthy donors that own the national GOP.
We’re glad to see him and his open borders, Islam-coddling, and Gardisil plans for little girls leave the campaign with him.
He just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, as governor of Texas.
“I worked hard to defeat his boondoggles. I am glad he is gone.”
Thanks for getting your hands dirty too. Perry was friggen DISASTER for Texas and we still have his handiwork running the State House. We could have done MUCH BETTER given our political makeup.
Jeb Bush is defined by the death of Terri Schiavo. Anyone who shows any support for him should be reminded of that.
Not so in my book. But thanks for playing.
Reading about this in the DMN this morning. Perry stated that we should “love all who live within our borders” This is why he would never win. People are sick of this. Why not love Americans first and foremost.
I’d have to say amen! In Ricardo’s parting shot he warned us against electing a “nativist”! Adios Ricky, don’t let the hit you on the way out. Signed a native, that is, legal American citizen.
Well I would just say, umm...uh...wait a minute..uh....oh shucks, drawing ablank here...
The real “oops” moment came when he said that “you don’t have compassion in your heart” if you don’t support the dreamers , or some variant of that. He was dead man walking after that in 2008. Still, if I had a rewind, I’d take him over Romney.
meh
Not really
He is a pro illegal guy. As governor he made sure they got in state tuition and grants
I have a brother who lives in Texas, and many Texans are not so happy with Rick Perry because his views on illegal immigration. He is no different than JEB!
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.