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Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA
Rick Perry waits to greet Iowans at the Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery in Carroll, Iowa, Jan. 2, 2012.
CHARLESTON, SC -- It was in a cramped Myrtle Beach coffee shop, just hours before the debate that would prove to be his last, when Rick Perry swallowed hard, looked at his wife Anita, and peered into his political future.
"If I just had to walk away from all this," the governor said, his voice catching on a lump of exhaustion that seemed to have been growing in his throat for days, "If she was walking with me, it'd all be okay."
To the focus group of mothers gathered in the room, the moment was a touching expression of the couple's love in the face of adversity. But longtime followers of Perry saw something else too: the first real glimmer of the undefeated Texan's understanding that his once-mighty presidential campaign was finally in the last ungraceful throes of its death.
Two days later, Perry would be peering at the menu board at a Charleston-area Wendy's restaurant and telling top communications aide Ray Sullivan that he'd be ending his five month campaign in the morning. The press conference was held in a nondescript airport hotel meeting room ... just 14 miles from where he launched his campaign in the glitzy Francis Marion ballroom.
"Now the journey leads us back to Texas," he declared after he suspended his campaign. "Neither discouraged nor disenchanted, but instead rewarded for the experience and resolute to remain in the arena and in the service of a great nation."
Mark Lambie / El Paso Times via AP
A look at the Texas governor's bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
In his farewell remarks, Perry thanked advisors Nelson Warfield and Mari Will -- both relative newcomers to his team after an October shakeup that resulted in a deep divide between the governor's old guard and fresh blood.
Unnamed by the governor in his thank-yous to staff and key endorsers were de-facto campaign chief Joe Allbaugh, onetime manager Rob Johnson, and Perry's original political maestro and friend of 13 years, Dave Carney.
*****
Everything was going pretty much as planned until Orlando.
A month after Perry swaggered into the GOP race, a steady stream of fundraisers (which filled up the candidate's schedule at the expense of fulfilling even a fraction of the interview requests that flooded in to Austin) meant that the campaign's war chest was in the same league as Mitt Romney's, the frontrunner in the campaign until that point.
Perry seemed to be aptly navigating away from the Bible-thumping caricature from opponents who snarked about his "calling from God" to run for president and his "praying for rain" in the face of devastating drought. Michele Bachmann's damaging attack over Perry's support for an HPV vaccine for young girls had been substantially blunted by her self-inflicted wound the next day when she overstated the side effects of the medication.
But after Perry's indignant comment at a Sept. 22 debate that those who opposed offering in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants "don't have a heart," the ascendant governor's momentum was abruptly knocked off course by a lower-than-expected finish in the Presidency 5 straw poll.
After the loss, spokesman Mark Miner grimly marched into the press area and spun the results as a loss for Romney, surprising reporters used to a cagey press operation that frequently ignored email requests for responses or interviews. But little more was done to mitigate the damage. A full six days later, during an interview with conservative web site Newsmax, Perry finally apologized for the "heartless" comment.
The night of the P5 loss, Alec Baldwin lampooned Perry as sleepy and disoriented during the season premier of NBC's Saturday Night Live.
The Perry parody, which would go through several iterations before settling on "just plain dumb," was born.
*****
In Orlando, Carney and Johnson met with former Dole aide Nelson Warfield, the strategist who would later be the chief advocate of a controversial television ad taking aim at gay soldiers. Carney brought on Warfield and Washington-based pollster Tony Fabrizio to augment a team swiftly recognizing the consequences of Perry's late entry into the presidential contest.
"At the end of the day, this thing needed to have started two months before it did," said Perry's South Carolina chair Katon Dawson, who along with Carney and Johnson had defected from Gingrich's flagging campaign in June.
During the CNBC debate, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is unable to remember one of the three government agencies he would eliminate if he were elected to the White House.
At the urging of first lady Anita Perry, Texan strategist Joe Allbaugh also began to help advise the campaign. Allbaugh, George W. Bush's former campaign manager, was preceded by a reputation for steadiness, experience and no-nonsense discipline.
With the arrival of new talent, a reboot appeared possible. The new team -- including Fabrizio, Warfield and media strategist Curt Anderson -- instituted a rigorous interview and TV ad schedule for the candidate.
When Perry's utterance of "oops" during CNBC's Michigan debate forever entered the political lexicon on Nov. 7, the campaign responded with an unprecedented swiftness -- ushering the self-deprecating candidate to confront reporters in the debate spin room and scheduling light-hearted media appearances to blunt the damage.
But as Carney and Allbaugh's conflicting visions clashed, communication between the two camps disintegrated. Longtime Texas aides began to be cut out of major discussions. On at least one occasion, Allbaugh chose to meet with consultants at the Steven F. Austin hotel -- across the street from the campaign headquarters on Congress Avenue.
As Perry publicly insisted to reporters that rumors of campaign manager Rob Johnson's demotion were "just scuttlebutt," the Arkansas native was being dispatched far away from the Austin headquarters to work in early campaign states. Carney was sequestered in New Hampshire.
The famed "vault" -- the thick-walled box in the center of Perry HQ that had served as Carney and Johnson's office -- stood empty.
Perry's poll numbers continued their decline, and some of the new class of consultants began to grumble to reporters about the after-effects of early disorganization on the part of Carney and his original team. Longtime Perry loyalists fumed at damaging leaks that went undisciplined by Allbaugh or by the candidate himself.
"There was a misguided sense from the Washington consultants that the simple-minded Texans messed everything up and they were going to rise to the rescue," said Sullivan. "And it didn't work out that way."
The governor's performances continued to be uneven, with Perry alternating between energetically sharp and distractedly rambling even at consecutive campaign appearances. The staff was sometimes left wondering which version of their candidate would show up on a given day.
And "oops" haunted him. While advisers later determined that the famed "brain freeze" might have been surmountable were it not for Perry's "heartless" debacle, the narrative cake -- unhelped by Perry's Bush-like drawl and his infirm grasp on issues outside his economic expertise as governor -- was already baked. Errors big and small were amplified into "yet another oops."
In New Hampshire, when Perry inaccurately pegged the voting age at 21, the moment launched hundreds of headlines. In Iowa, when Perry misspoke in naming "the country Solyndra" (which he'd correctly identified as a solar energy *company* at scores of campaign events before), observers questioned whether he was aware it was not in fact a sovereign nation. In South Carolina, Sullivan and traveling spokesman Mark Miner bewilderedly fielded calls from reporters who read in an Los Angeles Times dispatch that Perry had mistaken a mannequin for a human person at a town hall. (He was joking.)
Every bumble -- real or imagined -- had its cost.
*****
If Perry's endorsement of Newt Gingrich last Thursday served as the funeral ceremony for his campaign, the wake came 16 days earlier when his fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses appeared to snuff out the last flicker of his staff's hopes for salvaging their dreams of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Early December polling indicated a fluid race in Iowa, where Perry had assembled a formidable team and "strike force" operation made up largely of Texas allies. Albeit often in small venues, the campaign still packed in Iowans willing to give Perry a "second look." His debate performances improved, and an unforced error from Romney offering Perry a bet of $10,000 during a Des Moines debate underscored Perry's populist message.
In the days before launching his 44-stop bus tour in the state, the Texas governor painted the picture of a new man, blaming his early stumbles on pain resulting from his June back surgery, toppling months of denials from Perry's press staff that the operation had any impact on his performances.
"Frankly I didn't know the impact it was having on me from the standpoint of just being fatigued and it showed up in the first few debates," he said on Sean Hannity's radio program on Jan. 13. "I have never felt better and I think you saw a glimpse of what you can expect out of me as we go forward in that last debate we had in Iowa."
Again, hope glimmered, but not for long.
Two weeks before the caucuses, influential conservatives at the Family Leader seemed on the verge of throwing their support behind Perry.
Senior staff in Iowa heard rumblings of the potentially game-changing endorsement from the group on the evening before the Dec. 20 press conference. But the group ultimately declined formal support of any candidate, and its chief members independently boosted Rick Santorum instead.
Crowds shrunk. After the Christmas holiday, Perry took on Santorum's previous support for earmarks in his most direct negative ad yet, but the slam didn't seem to stick.
On the morning of Dec. 31, an anonymously sourced story in POLITICO finally aired in spectacular fashion the grievances of the new class of Perry advisers, who eviscerated Carney and Johnson as inept in handling the media and unprepared for the immigration onslaught.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry gets tongue-tied during a recent interview over the name of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. NBC's Carrie Dann reports.
The sting of the story -- particularly burning because of its publication days before the caucuses -- went uncontested by Austin, with the only voice in response being some tempered on-the-record pushback from Sullivan. (Carney, who was only briefly quoted, had long been detached from the campaign.)
The Texans, concerned about derailing their famously micromanagement-averse boss with internal distractions, never confronted Perry about the story. Defeat was already all but written, in any case.
They slogged on.
After Perry announced that he would "reassess" his campaign after the disappointing caucus night finish three days later, Perry's top Texas aides walked out of the ballroom and into the bar at the West Des Moines Sheraton expecting a dropout press conference in Austin within 48 hours.
As staffers and surrogates mingled until last call in the hotel's Waterfall Grille Restaurant & Lounge - and bartenders scurried into the bar's reserves for extra tequila for the Texans -- they spoke about the campaign in the past tense, and disdain for the Washington consultants flowed as readily as the drinks. (Allbaugh and others had long since retreated to their rooms.)
At one point, journalists still filing their stories in the lobby heard a cheer so deafening that a few sprinted to see what they assumed must be a guest appearance by the governor himself.
It wasn't Perry, but Johnson. Still beloved by the Austin footsoldiers, he offered a rousing speech to his exhausted and relieved team, sporting a navy blue Perry for President fleece -- a gift from the staff -- personalized with just one word: "Hefe."
The next morning, he -- along with Miner and the rest of the press staff as well as the lead advance men who would be charged with orchestrating the South Carolina Alamo -- found out from the governor's Twitter account that the campaign wasn't over yet.
******
The night of the Iowa loss, Perry gathered with family and his close advisers in a hotel suite to discuss his path forward.
Backer and close family friend Capt. Dan Moran, a former Marine who suffered severe burns to over half his body after an IED attack in 2006, was in the room.
Evan Vucci / AP
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry gets ready for an interview during a caucus night watch party Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012, in West Des Moines, Iowa.
With Perry's wife and son Griffin on board to continue the campaign, Moran -- whose fierce admiration for the governor had been on display during a series of fiery speeches to Iowa voters that week -- alluded to his own physical struggle in voicing his support for a last-ditch effort to rescue the campaign.
"Sir, I didn't get these scars on my face to quit," he told the governor.
By announcing the next morning that he would continue his presidential run into South Carolina, Perry earned a collective "wait, what?" from the political world and from most of his own campaign team. Moran was one of the few who wasn't surprised by the decision.
With a roiling field and resistance to an "inevitable" Romney nomination, Perry could have been in a position to catch a late wave in the Palmetto State. But even his allies in the state conceded that Perry needed a "lucky break" to begin courting back the social conservatives and veterans most ideologically aligned with his platform. And he'd have to do it with fewer resources, less vocal endorsers, and a badly damaged political brand.
Gone was the shiny "Faith, Jobs, and Freedom" bus that had schlepped Perry to over 40 cities in Iowa. Gone were the national political backers who loyally stood by his side before the caucuses, as press staff gradually stopped pretending that former advocates Govs. Bobby Jindal or Sam Brownback would be in the state on Perry's behalf.
And his final gamble backfired. According to aides, it was Perry himself who coined the phrase "vulture capitalism" to describe Romney's practices at investment firm Bain capital.
But the phrase disappeared from the candidate's vernacular within two days after some Perry backers publicly rebuked him. Previously supportive conservative commentators on FOX News accused him of leaning towards socialism, reducing the creator of over one million jobs in Texas to claiming he is the "probably the most pro-capitalist individual... in America."
"I think that FOX News jumped on us put us back on the mat again," said Dawson. "When they hit us and they stayed on us for a day we fell back again from the little bit of momentum we created by skipping New Hampshire."
Gingrich, who had employed the same line of attack against Romney's Bain days, was ascendant. Perry's poll numbers in the state that was once his conservative firewall dipped below five percent.
Late in the afternoon on Jan. 18, Perry began informing advisors that he would drop out the following day.
*****
Twenty-four hours before telling Sullivan about his decision under the fluorescent lights of a fast-food joint, the governor was praying.
On stage at a prayer rally in Greenville, S.C., inspired by "The Response" event he masterminded in Texas last summer, Perry delivered remarks almost word-for-word to those he had given before that audience of 30,000 in a football stadium in August, at a time when history-making drought conditions had prompted the governor to urge citizens to pray for rain.
The Texas governor's decision comes after a disappointing campaign and just days before the critical South Carolina primary, NBC News' Carrie Dann reports.
"His agenda’s not a political agenda," Perry said of God to several hundred worshippers -- a crowd tiny in comparison to the August audience packed into the home of the Houston Texans. "He’s smarter than that. He’s smart enough, wise enough not to get involved with any political affiliation or any institution that man has made. He understands the imperfections of those."
Sudden rumbling thunder shook the building as he spoke from Psalms 145 of a God who is slow to anger, and Perry raised his right arm to declare "Amen" in answer.
As the governor left the stage, he was crying. And smiling.
It was pouring in Greenville.
Carrie Dann (or as the candidate nicknamed her, "Lieutenant Dann") covered the Perry campaign as an embedded reporter for NBC News. Explore more of her Decision 2012 work here.
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Romney and Gingrich have both flip flopped on climate change.
They have abandoned the world of scientific facts and reality, for the anti science GOP global warming denier cult.
Ron Paul, and other Republicans, would eliminate the Dept. of Energy.
We are facing Climate Change and Peak Oil and we have aging power plants and grid that is not up to what we need now.
We have never needed the Dept. of Energy more than we do now. This is a crucial agency for our future.
Their objection to the Dept of Energy is that it agrees with the vast majority of scientists who agree on climate change. At least 97% of active climate scientists agree, as does virtually every major science organization in the world.
Ron Paul, like every GOP candidate, is a global warming denier. This flies in the face of almost unanimous agreement among the entire world of scientists who agree that AGW is real, is a current and future danger, and that we must act immediately to reduce CO2 emissions.
There are alot of hateful people on this vine, so much criticizing, stupidity, . What has Perry done that is so bad for all the self-righteous opinion's. He has more courage and pride for his country than anyone of you morons who put him down for his beliefs. Any candidate who is running for President knows the constant criticisms that he will receive is a better person than anyone of you bitter narrow minded people.
Let me get this straight, Tricky Rick, loudly proclaiming against Gov't waste uses $400K/month of state tax-supported security while he runs for Republican nomination. He's also spending > $10 K/month on renting a Mc-Mansion while the Governor's House is being restored. Gov. Good Hair rails against "activist judges" and loudly proclaims for "states rights" above those "activist judges", but as soon as he disagrees with the local, state laws of the soverieign state of Virginia as regards his position on the ballot in Virginia, where does he take his argument? You've got it; to a Federal, "activist Judge" to try to overturn those laws inacted by the citizens of the soveriegn State of Virginia. Outrageous hypocrisy or outrageous stupidity - your call. To paraphrase the Dixie Chicks; as a Texan, I'm embarassed .... and I voted for W ( well, once), but this guy? Please y'all get him a job with John Deere or something. he's killing us.
Fun with GOP science time:
GOP congressman Rohrbacher suggests trees cause global warming
Speaker of the House Boehner says CO2 emissions nothing to worry about because humans breathe CO2 in and out. Brilliant.
Michelle Bachman says there have been no scientific studies showing CO2 is harmful.
I guess she missed the 10,000 (up to about 2006) published research papers that show that CO2 causes global warming. There are thousands more research papers since then. Hundreds of papers are published every week relating to climate
Rick Perry likens himself and other deniers to Galileo.
Sorry Rick, but Galileo was correct and had the evidence.
You are wrong and have no evidence, while ignoring the mountain of evidence for AGW. (AGW = anthropogenic global warming - man made)
Perry and the rest are more like the religious authorities who persecued Galileo.
GOP Rep Fred Upton says there can be no global warming because God won't allow it to happen.
And of course Sen Inhofe says its all a big hoax.
Sure Senator, the entire world scientific community is just trying to get more grant money.
More GOP Science:
Rep Joe Barton (R-TX) describes Christopher Monckton "as being generally regarded as one of the most knowledgeable, if not the most knowledgeable, experts on the skeptic side."
Viscount Monckton as he likes to be called, who the GOP loves to call as an expert witness on climate change, is not a scientist of any kind. His only higher education is in journalism. Monckton is a complete charlatan, who has been completely and devastatingly debunked on many occasions by real scientists. The GOP has at least twice had him as an expert witness on climate change, at important House Committee hearings.
Monckton had been told twice by the British House of Lords, to stop claiming he is a member. Yet he intoduces himself to U.S. congress as an emissary from Parliament. He embellishes all his fake temperature charts, etc and other publications, with a very close facsimlie of the seal of Parliament, the crowned porcullis. They have told him to stop using their seal.
He claims to have discovered cures for HIV, the flu, the cold, Graves disease. He claims to have been a science advisor to Margaret Thatcher. He never was.
He is looney beyond belief. And he is well paid by the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel interests, to spread confusion. Monckton is a showman, very persuasive in front of an audience and knows how to sound scientific, while spreading complete nonsense.
Barton and Inhofe get more oil money than any other legislators, in the House and Senate, respectively.
Minnestota GOP state senator, Michael Jungbauer, claims to have studied all 13 fields of science related to climate change. Just so you know, no climate scientist would make such a claim. Jungbauer is the leading global warming denier in the Minnesota state senate. Turns out he doen't even have a bachlor degree in ANY field of science.
Speaker of the House - John Boehner
"The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical"
No Mr Speaker. What is comical and pathetic is that you believe than any scientist would ever say such an absurd thing. Either that or you are playing to the low information voter.
Rep. Shimkus:
"Man will not destroy this Earth. This Earth will not be destroyed by a flood."
God Help Us.
Slick Rick's gonna use his donor's money to buy new big belt buckles, boots, silly cowboy hats, new steer horns for the front of his pickup truck, a pearl-handled gun rack, a new Brokeback Mountain jacket to wear while shooting gays in the military, a portable electric chair to execute Dems & Liberals, a new Texas Tiffany account for Calista & Newtie Tootie @marriage vows renewal time, Texas teleprompters, and...and...OOPS!
Somebody kindly add to this list.
Hey, you can insult that moron all you want, just don't insult Texas .......even though we've repeatedly elected him to high office.
This "White Knight" turned out to be a "Streaking Turkey" with background music of "Turn off the lights, the parties over". Perry burst onto the national stage and flamed out just as fast. Tricky Ricky proved to the entire nation how incompetent he was and is. His bubble burst as he tried his best not to have that "Deer in the headlights" look in his appearances. Crawling back to his lair with his tail between his legs, he should immediately resign or face a recall, because he made Texas and Texans look so bad.
So, crazy like a fox, or just a frickin" idiot? Votes, please.
Every American can breathe a sigh of relief that this fool dropped out of the race. No need to mourn at this requiem - this is a celebration! Now, if only the Big Newton would take a hint and leave.
How is it that our political system can produce candidates like Rick Perry, and why do some voters actually take such candidates seriously?
Texas governors need not apply for the job of President of the United States of America.
We didn't want Rick Perry doing for the US what he's done for Texas-- 47th in education, 1st in executions....
He sounded more like a preacher than a candidate for the highest office in America--- he couldn't pander enough to the evangelicals.
B. Hussein Obama has no positive record of accomplishments to run on. A record of success in jobs and the economy would've been easy to champion. But when you have a record of failure, joblessness, record deficit and U.S. Taxpayer spending with no positive results, Chicago-styled pay-for-play politicking & cronyism, recession and abject, blatant incompetence, half-truths are the best you can do.
Expect to hear more of this as B. Hussein Obama hits the stump this week. He’ll ignore his three years worth of failures and try to build his case on faulty premises and empty promises. That worked in 2008 because Obama had no record. But it won’t work on Nov. 6th, 2012, because he has a very clear record and that record is one of failure and no improvements to the U.S. economy or joblessness.
On the economy, jobs, health care, energy, the federal deficit, the U.S. national debt, housing, lobbyists, ethics, and energy policy -- all of these issues -- the president has broken his promises to the American people. It all makes for a very unflattering before-and-after.
Let’s take that list in reverse order.
On energy, B. Hussein Obama said in 2008 that it was time to end our foreign oil addiction. In 2011, he admitted, “we’re not where we need to be.” He called his own energy policy “just a hodgepodge.”And last week, he blocked the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would have provided America with a safe, affordable energy source, while creating thousands of new American jobs.
On campaign ethics, B. Hussein Obama called Wall Street executives “fat cats” and then acted like a fat cat himself: he’s accepted more Wall Street money than all other presidential candidates -- combined.
Health care was supposed to be B. Hussein Obama’s great achievement. He promised his plan would bring down premiums “by $2,500” for the typical family. Last year, they rose by 9 percent.
B. Hussein Obama boldly promised that lobbyists would never “find a job in my White House.” Yet to date, he’s hired almost 100 of them.
In 2008, he said former President George W. Bush's adding of $4 trillion to the U.S. national debt was “unpatriotic.” Yet B. Hussein Obama has increased it by more than $4.5 trillion and is on track to add trillions more in only three years as president.
B. Hussein Obama promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Instead, he racked up three record deficits of more than $1 trillion each year.
B. Hussein Obama promised he could create thousands of jobs with green energy spending. Then he lost a $535 million taxpayer-funded loan to the now-bankrupt, "green energy" company Solyndra.
With his $825 billion stimulus, Obama promised unemployment would stay at or below 8 percent. Not only did unemployment shoot past 8 percent, it hasn’t come back to that level since. It's been closer to between 9% and 10% for virtually his entire presidency, except in the last two months of 8.6% and 8.5%.
And then there’s the biggest promise of them all: the economy. B. Hussein Obama was so confident he could turn around the economy that he promised in early 2009 on NBC's Today Show, that if he didn’t have it fixed in “three years” then his presidency would “be a one-term proposition.”
(To be fair, that’s one promise he can still keep.)
In October of last year, President B. Hussein Obama unveiled the slogan “We Can’t Wait.” It was par for the course for a White House that regularly substitutes sloganeering for policymaking. And it was indeed merely a slogan. Three months later, we’re still waiting. We’re still waiting for a plan to revive the U.S. economy, a plan to reduce the U.S. national debt, a workable, reasonable, bi-partisan plan to keep any one of B. Hussein Obama’s many promises that HAVE NOT been kept. If this coming week is any indication, we’re going to be waiting a lot longer.
Remember, B. Hussein Obama is supposed to be this "great, compassionate man of the average-joe American" and president, but he is also the guy who actually insulted the handicapped and special needs, parents, coaches and players themselves of the Special Olympics on the Jay Leno show, calling his bad bowling, "like Special Olympics or something." The clip can been on YouTube titled: Barack Obama Special Olympics Insult.
If anyone's got any more funny Slick Rick zingers, kindly post 'em all.
I need more good "LAFFS"!
The only thing that derailed Perry's campaign, was him opening his mouth. Thanks Rick... for making Texas a laughing stock. Dumba**.
Only man in Texas who could manage to make Bush look like a Rhodes scholar!
kritt, I hate to say it but you sooo right on point!
Toast. Big boots, big mouth, all hat, no cattle. Adios. Texas, you like Minnesota can do much, much better. Too bad you have to wait until 2014.
This guy has the same IQ as that rock out in front of his hunting ranch OOPS!!!!
To get where he is in life, Perry had to have something on the ball. That unfortunately is past. Alzheimer's affects so many people who once contributed so much.
Only in Texas - well-l-l-l, there are Perry-like governors in Arizona and Florida, but they're a lot meaner.
let's all pay 50% taxes ; let the gazillionaires trickle down their leftovers on us. hey, they've got all these vacation homes , yachts , limos they've bought to keep our economy vibrant. let's give them a free ride, they love america, and all it's blessed loop-holes. whata ya'll say fellows, i'm in , let's do this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE DON'T WANT TO FORCE THEM TO LEAVE THEIR BELOVED COUNTRY, AND TAKE THEIR FORTUNES WITH THEM, NOW DO WE ????????? WHO CARES WHAT THE 99% THINKS , THEY'RE BROKE ANYWAY ??? IT WORKED IN THE 70'S, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG IN THIS GENERATION ???
he withdrew because he is a moron and he couldnt disgiuse it any longer
Haters....Y'all are just haters. You voted for Obama to prove you weren't racist. Now vote for someone to prove your not stupid!!!
Carol, who are you planning on voting for, there's nothing much to select from on the other side is there? Might I ask if you've been drawn in by Newt, if so why?
Nothing like proving you are not a "hater" by calling them stupid.
Which war continuing, no realistic budget plan candidate should I vote for??
That would be "you're" not stupid. :)
Perry seems like a God-fearing son of the soil. At the same time he's a politician. It takes a lot of mental effort to blend the two into a set of political positions that will get you elected.
As far as the national audience goes, Perry probably made a mistake in emphasizing the "son of the soil" business by trumpeting his no more than ordinary grades at Texas A&M. It's one of the country's finest agricultural schools but you probably learn more about animal husbandry than international relations. And it never helps to admit to mediocre grades. It's the equivalent of saying, "I'm just as dumb as you are." The country as a whole had more than enough of that between 2000 and 2008.
Then he made the problem worse by denying anthropogenic global warming. It tickled the cockles of everyone who is locked into Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, but everywhere else -- in all the industrialized nations of the world, not just the US -- it made him look like a radical Flat Earther.
Nor did he help himself by criticizing some liberal in Wyoming. "We'd treat him pretty ugly in Texas," raising images of lynch mobs and crazed secessionists.
The media, ever eager for sensationalistic sound bites, played his gaffes over and over. The mistake for which he's best known -- forgetting that third Department during the debate and then saying, "Ooops," he could easily have gotten out of while preserving his dignity. He could have said, "There's at least one more agency, and probably more than that, that I'd eliminate but there are too many to list." Instead he blew it. It was a minor mistake. Everybody who is a public speaker freezes from time to time. But the media tore him apart for it.
The most humanitarian and compassionate statement he ever made was that those who would deny inoculations to the children of illegal immigrants had no heart. He was right. But by this time, anything he said -- or ever would say -- was quoted out of context and spun by his adversaries to make him look even more inept that he already was.
He's probably a more decent guy than his image on the tube suggests, although it's hard to know. But, in any case, he really doesn't qualify for the presidency.
Hit the road jack, and don't you come back!
This idiot is a clone of the other mental midget from tejas georgie bush. Both of them together can't come up with an intelligent thought! Good riddance to both of the creeps. tejas you deserve these two morons.
What an excessive and overly dramatic column title for a campaign that never was winnable.
Did anyone truly believe this guy wouldn't self-destruct???
He held a prayer vigil for rain for God's sakes.
He is adamantly pro-life but leads the nation in executions.
He hunted at a camp named "N-----head"
He is in the back pocket of every energy, drug company and bank there is in the USA.
He wanted to re-start the war in Iraq!!!!!
What is so surprising???
I can tell you why he failed: he's a moron.
Oops!! there he is! Oops!! there he is! Oops!! there he is!