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Subscribe to RSSTULSA, Okla. -- Sen. Jim Inhofe knew Gov. Rick Perry was running for president before Rick Perry did.
"I said to him, 'Rick, I know you'll deny it now, and you're supposed to, but you're going to end up running," Inhofe recalls from a conversation with 14 months ago. "And when you are, just call me up and give me a little advance notice and I will do whatever you think I can do to be of some help to you.'"
Inhofe, who yesterday became the first United States senator to formally endorse a candidate the 2012 GOP primary, told NBC News during an interview in his Tulsa office that Perry's gubernatorial experience, personal profile, and good looks made him a shoo-in to run even when the Texas governor seemed certain to turn down supporters begging him to jump in.
Naming his criteria for a Republican nominee -- electability and consistent conservative values -- Inhofe said the choice among the contenders was easy. "He was the one," Inhofe said.
The Oklahoma Republican, who is one of the leading skeptics of human beings contributing to climate change, is also supporting Perry because of the governor's pledge to dismantle EPA regulations that both believe stifle job creation.
"He was willing to take on the sacred cows," Inhofe said, "and that is the overregulation" by the Environmental Protection Agency. "He wasn't afraid of it. Everyone else was afraid of it."
He added that the nation is turning away from the belief that climate change is man-made and must be regulated. "I think there's been a wakeup call to the American people," he said. "I think they realize that a lot of the science has been drummed up by people who have a financial dog in the fight."
That's a belief both men share. Inhofe said in the interview that "the vast majority" of scientists dependent on government grants "go along with the whole idea" of global warming to keep money flowing to their research projects. Perry, at a campaign stop in New Hampshire earlier this month, claimed there are "a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects."
Perry's skepticism about global warming would lead him to gut federal regulations geared towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which Inhofe says should be a pleasing proposition to deficit hawks.
"He'll attack [the debt] from the regulatory end as much as he will from the spending end," Inhofe said. "I haven't heard anybody else talking about that because they're afraid of the issue."
Perry would also support oil and natural-gas production in areas of the United States that are currently closed to drillers, Inhofe said.
"The fact that 83 percent of our public land is off limits is ludicrous," Inhofe said. "We can't sit around and talk about how we want to do something about our dependency on the Middle East and not go ahead and get our own stuff. That's what he wants to do."
Inhofe, who endorsed early-conservative-darling-turned-flameout Fred Thompson during the last presidential cycle, sees one key difference between Thompson and Perry.
"Fred's lazy," Inhofe said. "And this guy's not lazy; he works all the time."
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Birds of a Feather:
That dastardly Senator James Mountain (of ignorance) Inhofe (R-OK) willfully violated a "runway closed" signal to land nearly on top of a construction crew.
"It was the most blatant, irresponsible disregard for human life I have seen in my 30 years of aviation", said the airport manager.
Inhofe was given very preferential treatment by the FAA. He then introduced a joke bill to the Senate whining about a need for the "pilot's bill of rights". What a "Mountain" of arrogance.
It is indeed a proud arrogance that characterizes both Inhofe and Perry when it comes to science, such as anthropogenic climate change or evolutionary biology. You can't readily find a more closely matched pair of fools and liars than these two, who will glibly assert that "scientists just go along with climate change theory to keep the money flowing into research" or that "they have been shown to have manipulated the data". Both statements are transparently false, dastardly, venal lies wholly unfair to the scientific community. The real conflict of interest arises with the monied oil interests who have their easy profits at mild risk should we really get serious about energy independence and climate issues.
How can we be expected to trust the judgement of such men to govern?
Plus Inhoff had to take additional training - as an aside theis is the same idiot that went to the International Conference on Glogal warming and espoused the theory there was no such thing - avery astute journalist told him heas an "IDIOT" sort of sums it up! The Marlboro Poster Child is an Idiot
You guys really need a score card.
1. Bachman is crazy (batshyt crazy to Bev)
2 Perry is dumb
3 Romney is a ...well Mormon (prolly has 30 wifes, god who wants that many motherinlaws)
4. Palin can see Russia from her bus in Minnesota!
5. Ron Paul is well........ just old! (breathes dust as Ive heard)
6. Feistys rearend cant fit in a minivan.....OooOoPs dammit who said that!
P.S. If I get real measurements I can talk to the design engineers about a revision!
Jolly --you know the dems/libs are desperate and the end is near when the new superstar for msnbc is Al Sharpton a racist if there ever was one.
It was a joke!
Jolly,
An addition.
#7. Obama is a galatic POS.
jolly old soul - everybody he just nailed it good for you old boy you summed it up beautifully and we all thought you were demented!
Yep, he's the one, alright.
The one I'll vote against.
I wish Imhof would do a campaign ad for Perry. That should do it.
Kenny - when I look at these two ole' boys I can not think of the "MARLBORO AD" maybe we can convince the ad agencies to hire them
He's the one all right, the one to take us into another unjustified, unpaid for, unforgiving and hole digging war.
Seriously kids.
Your party is done in 2012! Obama is going to squeak out a win, the HOR is going to turn bluer, and Democrats will lose the Senate. Gridlock. Deadlock.
If all you got to choose from is Perry then I think your reubs will stay home.
Course you did try to elect an idiot, non-native, refugee from the Savings and Loan Scandal, and a half-term, quitter, nitwit with nice legs as your party leaders, so I guess if you were serious about them, you are probably serious about this drooling moron Perry too. He's got everything that today's republican party emulates. *snicker* *snicker*
Obama will win not because he's great, but because the republican field is sooooo poor.
You people will be blown out of the saddle in 2012.
And if you think that Obama is a socialist for signing legislation that is 3/4 republican, just wait'll his second term when he has no one to be beholden to.
Hoooo man!! I predict he'll take a sharp turn left that will astonish even the most die hard Liberal. He won't even have to smooch the Democratic Party's butt then.
If you thought he was a leftist now,........wait'll November 7th, 2012!!!
THEN HE'LL REALLY GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO MOAN ABOUT!!!
Make sure all these idiots who came in to destroy the government are voted out and then let's get back to the business at hand - fixing this mess - Cantor go - Boehner go - Joe Walsh go - Adam Smith go - and your legions of no nothings and do nothings - and Chinless Wonder McConell sit down and shut up! I'm fantasizing or hoping - maybe like Bachmann I should call upon god - nahh! Let's fix it ourselves
So many holes in the science of evolution.
But that parting of the Red Sea thing is spot on, animals on a boat too.
There's a book that says so.
According to Perry we're all related, wonder if I can borrow some money since we're kin and all.
Headline: Whack-job senator backs corrupt Texass governor for president. Dream on Repuglicans.
What happened to Palin?
Ahahahhahahahah Hahahahhahahahah Hahahahhahahahaha
Too bad the right wingers hate America.....They just love a political party.....nothing else.
Sad.
Hmm...Inhofe. He of the completely fake "letter by scientists denying climate change" that he waved around in a committee hearing....which turned out to be filled with phony degrees and people with no experience in climatology at all. Sure...that's someone I'll give credence to....right next to George Bush....or a stone.
isn't OK the same as Texass ?
It's been a while since we've had an anti-Social Security candidate. I think it was Wendell Willkie in 1940.
"that Perry's gubernatorial experience, personal profile, and good looks made him a shoo-in to run"
er, THESE are the things that make this guy worthy of the Presidency? Yikes. Shoo fly, don't bother me.
'the one' what? Ahole? Can't be...there's like a dozen of 'em in the race
Perry appeals to the global warming deniers and the flat earth believers.. I wonder when he will tell us god is talking to him and telling him to abolish social security and cut taxes for the richest few??
A idiot endorses another idiot
The entire Republican Party has been hijacked by loonies and Moonbats! No person in their right mind would vote for these crazies...or would they?
That's the question...would they? It's all in the numbers and the cheat factor.
The republicans sure like em purty. Good head a hair and nothing between the ears.
So the dude from Oklahoma is enamored with the Texan. And now wildfires are raging in both states.
Back to godhead I guess.
If this country elects another religious zealot from Texas who rapes the poor and middle class to line the pockets of the wealthy, I'm done.
All this talk about Perry cutting taxes on the rich and going after S.S. is crazy. He can't do anything without the support of congress. BUt wait didn't the Dem's hold both houses and the President? I didn't see them raise the taxes on the super rich, but they're President Obama's buddies. Only thing I saw was them trying to raise the taxes on the middle class and the upper middle class. Doesn't anyone care about JOBS!, the last time I looked Texas doesn't have a state income tax, and they're growing jobs faster than all the other states put together. I know your response is they are min. wage jobs. True to a point. With all the construction going on in Texas people have more money to spend, so their are more resturants, and clothing stores openning, which comes min. wage jobs. A vote for Perry is a vote for the hard working people of America.
Libs,
Be sure to keep copies of your posts, so you can read them in the comfort of your own basement, when the POS Obama heads out the door in 2012. If the GOP candidates don't do something stupid like picking a "Palin" for VP, your boy is done.
Sorry...Tea Baggers are winning the election for Obama...take that to the bank
Not a chance. Hard core Tea Party may look like a PITA, but the general public agrees with the concept that Obama, and the Congress in general, can't get out of their own way. Keep thinking that the face of the TP is a fanatic, and you will loose. Many, many normal folks in this nation believe we have gone too far in the relentless stupidity of our government "leadership".
If your party takes that lightly, it will be a lights out win for the GOP, and you know it.
The posion pill is, regardless of the winner, we will remain in gridlock. Our mighty nation may never be what it once was. A sad starement for sure.
I live in a really, really normal Republican county...not one of the folks that I know...and I know some hard core Conservatives has anything good to say about the Tea Party. The mainstream is NOT with them. You're kidding yourself.
Well, I guess we will see how it turns out. Hang on to your shorts, bud.
Oh goody! We will get to go invade a bunch more countries at random. And Wall Street will be set free to create the Depression they failed to create the first time! I can't wait!
Wait, isn't this the guy wanted Texas to secede from the union? Oh, and isn't this the guy who completely changed his viewpoint from his book that came out 2 months ago regarding Social Security? He will say whatever it takes to get elected, and frankly he isn't very bright. But that did not stop us from electing the last Texas governor the last time. (Not in 2000 of course).
Yeah...Rick the dick is the one. The most arrogant, right-wing, bible-thumping and ignorant candidate. Just shows that Texas A&M turns out stupid morons.
Perry is "The One" -- what, like Neo in The Matrix?! --Maybe, if you substitute the plot line of The Matrix for that of Idiocracy... (and Neo for "President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain-Dew Koch-Brother Camacho")
Well he sure is good at dodging questions.
Idiocracy. The greatest unintentional horror-movie/comedy ever made.
I was not aware Jim Inhofe was this dense. Can we get some people into the Republican party that are like...not stupid now?