Posted on 09/08/2011 7:17:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Anyone hoping or fearing that Rick Perry would crash and burn in his first GOP debate last night can either feel depressed or rest easy.
In his debut on the national stage, Perry proved he possesses a somewhat indefinable star quality -- exactly what Republicans were distressed to feel was missing from the field.
That quality emanated from him even when he struggled with difficult questions about his views on climate change and Social Security that present complex electoral challenges for him and his party in a national race. He knew when to speak strongly and when to underplay.
......The real controversy arose from his decision not to run from the attack he launched on Social Security in his 2010 book “Fed Up,” but rather to say that politicians need to be honest about the Ponzi-scheme nature of the old-age pension system.
......He’s right -- it is a Ponzi scheme. The challenge for Romney now will be making the case to primary voters that it will be fatal for the GOP’s shot at denying Barack Obama a second term to have a candidate who calls it a Ponzi scheme. He’ll have a strong case to make.
But there is something striking in the contrast between the two men. Romney looks like a casting director’s idea of a president, and after running for the office for four years solid now, he has an enviable fluency and command of the stage.
Alas for him, there’s a reason he was unable to solidify his own status as a front-runner: He just doesn’t seem to have “it” -- that elusive quality populist politicians who find a connection with ordinary voters seem to possess.....
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Interesting.
I was more pessimistic than I am now, after reading this article.
Perhaps I was over-thinking the whole thing.
I definitely agree about Mitt. It doesn’t matter how “smooth” he is. His smoothness looks like what it is: car-salesman slick.
I was more worried (and remain worried) about the SS question. Why emphasize this now? What happened in 2005 when Bush tried to say the same thing?
I also agree with the article that Perry could have done better on climate change. “Where are your advisors???” I screamed at my streaming computer screen. They should have KNOWN that POS question was coming and Perry should have been READY.
Next time, I hope SOMEONE in the good state of Texas, who knows Perry personally, gets him to read up on the recent CERN study basically PROVING that AGW is a baldfaced lie.
Please, someone, please, tell Rick about that.
That comes from the feeling someone is confident and ready to take those sobs out (of the White House)!
YUP
You’re exactly right.
REGULATIONS are killing the economy and the Left lives to tie them around and around and around us.
>> I make myself laugh, heh heh heh
We need more laughter around here.
Anyway, like the song goes, “Laugh, and the world laughs with you... cry, and you might be Speaker of the House.”
Or something like that.
That’s a good one, and thanks for the chuckle.
Enough diversion and dithering, have to get back to sheetrocking the garage, cuz it is just way more fun than FR !!
Perry wasn’t going to get trapped by the “where do you get your climate change info from?” question. There was no way he would win that one. He knows how to stay on message and not be pulled into the Left’s construct.
>> have to get back to sheetrocking the garage
Better you than me. I’m convinced that the fourth circle of Hell somehow involves sheetrock and fiberglass insulation in the summertime.
So far, I've read that Perry disappointed, shone like a star, ran away from Social Security and made Romney look like an apologist for FDR. All in all, I get the feeling it was a draw.
One thing I suspect is that the debate format may favor Romney more than it does Perry (I could be wrong). Romney is a boring speaker while Perry is very dynamic on the stump. If Perry concedes to those who think he must be calm and "presidential", he won't play to his strengths.
Gee, I hate that these debates have evolved into our main source of candidate information.
We worried about you when you talked to yourself ...but now you’re answering yourself and that has us really worried!
“What happened in 2005 when Bush tried to say the same thing?”
At that time our bond ratings had not been downgraded. Maybe there are a few more that see the light.
Bush ran on privatizing part of Social Security. It’s not the fatal issue that pundits make it out to be.
There could be no better timing for Rick Perry than right now in history - this very election - this very time.
He was right not to try to answer that stupid “who’s your favorite scientist question” but his advisors CLEARLY let him down by not giving him a double-barreled shotgun response, pre-loaded and pre-cocked for ANY climate change question.
The “cleaning up the Texas air” just didn’t cut it. Good. And good for him to mention. But not nearly good enough.
He’s clearly ready willing and able to call SS a ponzi scheme, why can’t he call AGW a FRAUD... because his advisors don’t believe it’s a fraud? Then he needs new advisors.
Maybe bring in James Delingpole to the campaign. He’d probably love to help out.
Perry wasn’t going to get trapped by the “where do you get your climate change info from?” question. There was no way he would win that one. He knows how to stay on message and not be pulled into the Left’s construct.True enough. No reason to answer the stupid "who is your favorite scientist question".
But call AGW a fraud. As clearly as he called SS a ponzi scheme, call AGW a fraud.
It is, you know. A massive fraud. Rick knows that too, I'm sure. He should say it.
Whoops. Sorry. I basically just repeated myself. I thought I was on 2 different threads.
“Draw” is good. And he introduced himself to a lot of people. When some says, “Either the president has the most awful Intel in the world, or he’s an abject liar,” I don’t think you have to worry about him straying off into “acceptable, presidential-speak.”
We don’t need a national star on stage running for the office...we need a strong person who is a leader and first of all loves America and respects what the country is all about. Best are the Governors of our states who deal with it all on an everyday basis. We have had enough of B Obama, his vacationing wife and V. Jarrett his prime advisor, also not a natural born citizen!! Rick Perry did just fine by taking the bull by the horns. If he wins this race, we will give him our full support.
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