It’s not like Perry was asked the name of the second assistant to the undersecretary for contraception of Zimbabwe...it was his own point that he could not remember!
If he truly believed in what he was saying, it would flow naturally from his heart, instead of a sub-optimally memorized list of debating points.
This is the top tier?
Jump.
“It’s not like Perry was asked the name of the second assistant to the undersecretary for contraception of Zimbabwe...it was his own point that he could not remember!”
I feel too embarrassed, being from Texas, to actually watch him. But I have been saying for months that when Perry last year promised Texans that he would not run for president (he was up for re-election), he was not lying - he had never given it any thought. But then Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor that lived in a crack-house during college, but didn’t know it (he also sold out his toll road to a foreign company), dropped out - and POW!! that was the opening he (or maybe Anita) needed.
So he jumped in, figuring that he could use the same method that’s worked so well in Texas - which is to ignore the competition, and wait to be coronated (in fact, in 10 years and 3 elections, he’s only had 4 debates as governor, and 3 of them were in 2002, I think). For whatever reason, either the media doesn’t care about him, or the people of the state don’t - but I think it’s safe to say that most Texans on this site (me included) have learned much more about Perry in the past 2 months, as opposed to the past 10 years.
The problem he’s had since running for prez is that the others are serious and have spent years (if not longer) preparing, and were not about to roll over and play dead (as the Republicans do for him in Texan). He was going to have to FIGHT for the nomination and that would have been a difficult job for a governor who’d been planning to be president for years...and is next to impossible for a governor who’s only had a few months to prepare.
Finally, there was a clue when his grades at Texas A&M University were released. They were horrendous (something like a 2.16 out of 4.0). To me they showed someone that didn’t learn stuff quickly, or at least didn’t learn stuff that he wasn’t particularly interested in.
So, in the end, not a surprise to this Texan. Also not a surprise that he had been in the lead for a short time...I don’t blame the country for wanting a piece of the Texas Miracle. And on that, I have always credited Perry for not screwing up the state. He inherited a healthy economy and was fortunate to have a state constitution that essentially prohibited ‘extracting equity’ from homes - and thus prevented the housing bubble...and did not significantly screw that up.
But the problem at the federal level is that the next president doesn’t inherit the ‘Texas Miracle’, rather he (or Hillary) inherits a government drowning in debt, with even bigger future obligations; a country that could go the way of Greece and now Italy, at any time. Sitting back and doing nothing is not enough...we’ll need someone that can lead and explain to people that uncomfortable things must take place to get this country healthy again.