Posted on 08/16/2011 12:27:48 PM PDT by presidio9
Watching the emergence of Rick Perry over the weekend was instructively nostalgic. Here again was a governor declaring for the presidency and some very wise people cautioning us on the air and in print that what worked in Texas might not work in the nation. Perry is too conservative, too much a cowboy, too religious and, while we're at it, too handsome. This, more or less, was what was said about Ronald Reagan. He's nearly on Mount Rushmore.
Perry stands a pretty good chance of being the next President. Like Reagan, Perry is gaffe-prone and, again like Reagan, appallingly conservative on social and economic issues. But the similarity that matters most is that both men were elected governor of mininations - California and Texas.
Texas is the second-most populous state, with a bit more than 25 million people. It is a big part of America, and Perry is the longest-serving governor in the state's history. It's just plain folly, as some have already suggested, to think that he cannot campaign effectively in the rest of the nation. This man was born for the stump.
I can think of no reason why anyone who, for some unaccountable reason, supports Michele Bachmann will not move over to Perry. He is her equal in social issues, which is her strength, but he is a much better campaigner - as he showed the other day in Waterloo, Iowa. He retailed a GOP dinner, going from table to table, while Bachmann made a Lady Gaga entrance - rock music, lights, a phalanx of security - and just perfunctorily met with the ordinary people she claims both to be and to represent. Au revoir, Michele.
That leaves Mitt Romney. He is like one of those odd animals left behind by an ice age or shrinking oceans. He is his father's son, a pragmatic Republican. But his very moderation, not to mention his exotic Mormonism, makes him suspect in the Tea Partyish Republican Party. Every time he pledges never ever to raise taxes even a teensy-weensy bit, I imagine his fingers are crossed.
Not so Perry. He occupies the cultural and intellectually empty heartland of the Republican Party. He vows to diminish Washington's influence - a conservative applause line but a moronic policy. What America desperately needs is more, not less, Washington - more economic stimulus and more national education standards.
Perry has characterized Texas as one huge job-creating machine, but what lured jobs from other states cannot work on a national level - unless we drain Canada. What does create jobs - well-paying jobs, in fact - is education. But while Perry has hardly been oblivious to the importance of education, he nonetheless opposes national standards. This is catastrophic. America trails China, South Korea, Japan and other countries in math and science, and our huge minority-group population does about as well as schoolkids in developing nations.
Perry says the federal government needs to stop "dictating" school policy when this is precisely what needs to be done. He says "government doesn't create jobs," when in fact it can and does. He blasted the stimulus programs, yet without them the American economy and its financial institutions would be much worse off.
Reading up on Perry's record is an intriguing exercise. It is full of contradictions showing a subtlety that is not reflected in his rhetoric. In this sense, he is again like Reagan, who did raise taxes and did compromise with congressional Democrats and did not let his opposition to abortion rights deflect him from his larger goals.
Of course, Perry may turn out to be no Ronald Reagan. But then he doesn't have to be. After all, Barack Obama has turned out to be no Barack Obama.
Cohen is an idiot. Never met a big spending, power grabbing, Marxist/communist he didn't like!!
Read and try to comprehend the constitution, idiot!
He occupies the cultural and intellectually empty heartland of the Republican Party. He vows to diminish Washington’s influence - a conservative applause line but a moronic policy. What America desperately needs is more, not less, Washington - more economic stimulus and more national education standards.********
You just simply cannot fix stupid.
Rhinestone RINO!
I suggest that Obama make that his campaign slogan. Surely that would be a winner, right Cohen?
You know you're a one termer when people start saying.
Reading between the lines, Cohen is saying: “Please, please nominate Rick Perry or Mitt Romney! Not Palin! Not Bachmann. Not Palin! Be moderate. Be reasonable! Please, please!”
Cohen is simply revealing what East-coast liberals believe in their hearts... I know because I am a transplanted Mid-westerner in their midst (New Jersey). I had a conversation with a colleague who bemoaned the lack of intelligence and culture of those in the “flyover” country. I explained to her that I was raised in Ohio and that I found her comments not only offensive but wrong and “elitist”. She backed down immediately, but she—like Cohen and Obama—believe their superiority over the “masses”...that will never change.
I busted out laughing when I read that. Cohen is a pretty funny guy.
I busted out laughing when I read that. Cohen is a pretty funny guy.
Uh, yeah, Cohen....because that's been working so well.
What a moron.
As I read it, I swear I could hear Cohen hyperventilating.
There was an article posted early contrasting the Perry and G. W Bush styles. It suggested there might have been a rift between the two.
Can anyone pull this up ?
For the next seven months, the clown car media in general, and especially the Daily News will be happy to attack any Republican candidate, as long as he isn't a Mormon.
Actually that's not fair. If John Huntsman starts to show any traction whatsoever, I'm sure they'll go after him too.
Reagan was gaffe-prone?
Appallingly conservative -- LOL
The media is in full force for our guy Rick Perry! He is so in with the mainstream mean I just love it. There will be no stopping it him now!YAY!
We do not need more stimulus, more Washington, and more education department.
This author is nuts, except when he says that Perry is an extremely viable candidate.
Hey Cohen...you’re dumber than the third squirt of goose feces...how’s that for for a cultural and intellectually empty heartland observation you elitist penis slurper?
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