“Economic growth and employment number from Texas will utterly destroy Obama. Perry wins big. Perry isn’t perfect, but no one is. He’ vastly better than Obama, and the midwestern states will be happy to dump the chump for a three term governor overseeing the nest economy in the US.”
Yea, you’re probably right...whoever gets the nomination wins the White House.
But this just reminds me too much of 1980, when we Republicans had a choice of Reagan or Bush(41). We were told that Reagan was an non-viable NUTCASE. We still chose him, and he still swept to power.
So do we REALLY have to chose a person who has done some pretty WEIRD stuff, as viewed from conservative eyes - or can can nominate someone we can TRUST in the White House.
I share your feelings, but I do not put Perry in that camp. I am still not 100% sold on him, but he’s one of the better ones running. To, me He’s in the group with Bachmann, Cain and possibly Palin...not the old guard of Newt, Santorum and Romney. The establishment folks we are sick of tired to oust Perry last year by supporting Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
Last year, Perry was the choice of the tea party, Palin, and other conservatives. He is much more in tune with the tea party movement than most options, especially for a three term governor who didn’t ‘need’ them to win. He is a champion of most of the core issues in the tea party. Although, he’s a mixed bad on immigration issues, he’s great on the role of government, tenth amendment, taxes, and others.
I don’t view Perry as the Bush of 1980. Romney is in that position. There is no Reagan in this bunch. Some would say Palin is, and she certainly has some of the same traits. She’s probably the closest thing we’ve seen in that mold, but she is not the same type of long-term ideological leader that Reagan was. She carries the mantle quite well, though. (I am a fan). If she and Perry entered, it would be interesting to see who gets the momentum. If he enters and she doesn’t, most of us are assuming he’ll get Palin’s backing.
Perry is a fiscal and social conservative.
He’s more conservative than any of the Bush clan.
Sure you can nitpick his record, but any 10-year governor will have a record you can nitpick.
“So do we REALLY have to chose a person who has done some pretty WEIRD stuff, as viewed from conservative eyes”
Any candidate has some ‘weird’ stuff on them. Paulbots hate Cain for the crime of doing a stint with the Federal Reserve. Bachman actually supports farm programs - shocking, her district is so urban (/sarc). And so it goes ...
“can can nominate someone we can TRUST in the White House.”
Fine. Support the best candidate you can. I can assure you that there are many good choices running and more than one you can trust to be mostly solid.