I have over the last few weeks had a chance to vette Rick Perry and he just is not up to snuff. The Al Gore thing, the vaccine thing, the illegal immigration issue, sorry but on the continuum he is more towards Gerald Ford than Ronald Reagan. Would I choose him over Obama, sure, but right now with SP ready to get in that is a false choice. Amen. Perry's a hell of a lot better than Romney; Palin, if she runs, will be a hell of a lot better than Perry. Other red flags in vetting Perry: 12 years AFTER he became a Republican, he signed a the James Byrd Hate Crims act, saying, "With my signature today, Texas now has stronger criminal penalties against crimes motivated by hate." I have to wonder ... did Perry think that if the animals who deliberately dragged poor James Byrd to death behind their pick-up truck had been black, or if they had been motivated by halucinogenic drugs, that they should have faced weaker criminal penalties?
Perry's stand was the antithesis of conservative principle on that one. I can forgive him for it, but ... it's still there, still a red flag, still an indicator that Perry lacks as firm a grasp as I'd like on conservative principle. Same with his speaking to the purely racist organization La Raza, when I think any right politician would have told them to pound sand.
He does seem to have many warts, over and above the obscure policy decision or past comment or peccadillo. Rick Perry does not appear to have the conservative bona fides necessary to elevate him into the pantheon of Reagan. Perry maybe a good husband, father and Christian, that I cannot judge him on, but I can judge him on his positions and decisions while he was in office. What's past is prologue and not to wander into hopeless clicheland but he does sound like GWBII. I make no bones that I am a Sarah Palin fan, she DOES have the bona fides and has lived her life and made decisions I think eveyone here on FR could agree and be proud of. Ronald Reagan is smiling down from heaven cause he knows a strong woman from Wasilla is coming.