Rick Perry, Texas Joke
Texas has particularly hurt the Americans (though not just them) these past few years. It has produced George W. Bush, one of the worst presidents America has known — the man who started two pointless and disastrous wars without catching Osama bin Laden, and who plunged the country into the worst economic crisis since 1929. But perhaps America has not yet seen the worst. The announcement by Texas Governor Rick Perry of his candidacy for the Republican nomination might actually make us nostalgic for the years of Bush the son. As declared on CNN by the former domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan (thus not suspected of being Trotskyite), Bruce Bartlett, said, "Rick Perry is an idiot, and I don't think anybody would disagree with that."
Evidence
The first week of campaigning by Rick Perry has been thunderous, to such a degree that he has eclipsed Michele Bachmann, leader of the Republican contenders in Iowa. Each of his stops has been the occasion for a not-so-presidential blunder, but these days, when fools pass for messiahs (one thinks of John Kennedy Toole's book, “A Confederacy of Dunces”), idiocy has become a virtue. Or, to use the words of the Englishman Jonathan Swift, who inspired Toole: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." The 18th century writer wasn't thinking of Obama, but his quote serves as a prophecy of the present situation.
Perry — who does one thing but says another (demanding a smaller government, but failing to stop the flow of federal contracts [to Texas], which he then directs toward the largest contributors to his campaign) — leads the way. The worst of the behavior of Rick Perry is his own pleasure in showing his ignorance.
To summarize:
— According to the governor of Texas, climate change is a "hoax" invented by scientists in search of funding. This has earned him four "Pinocchios" from the very serious Washington Post. Of course, to be denounced by the Post is a badge of honor for fools.
— According to him, the chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, would be guilty of treason for his handling of the economy. Anti-Semitism lies just beneath the surface of his remarks.
— Barack Obama wouldn't be respected, according to him, by the military. As in: "They won't trust in an African-American."* Laughing prohibited.
— He explained to an inquiring young boy that the theory of evolution was a theory, on par with that of creationism (God created the earth in six days, etc.).
Whereas Michele Bachmann holds herself to an economic narrative, Rick Perry, the sort of demagogue lifted out of a bad Hollywood film ("The Parallax View"), explores the most somber corners of tea party history to excite the demons that lurk there. The whole Bush clan, a not-so-negligible quantity in the Republican establishment and Texas, keeps their distance from Perry. They even acted uniformly against him during his last campaign for a third term as the governor of Texas.
Most depressing, without a doubt, is Barack Obama's tepid response to the accusation of treason against Bernanke (Perry should "be a little more careful" in his remarks...). The 44th does not want to give legitimacy to Perry by responding to him. However, with hardly 40 percent of Americans satisfied with the president, it's time for him to take off his gloves and hit harder. Otherwise, he’s only as good as the mat.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.
Evidence
The first week of campaigning by Rick Perry has been thunderous, to such a degree that he has eclipsed Michele Bachmann, leader of the Republican contenders in Iowa. Each of his stops has been the occasion for a not-so-presidential blunder, but these days, when fools pass for messiahs (one thinks of John Kennedy Toole's book, “A Confederacy of Dunces”), idiocy has become a virtue. Or, to use the words of the Englishman Jonathan Swift, who inspired Toole: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." The 18th century writer wasn't thinking of Obama, but his quote serves as a prophecy of the present situation.
Perry — who does one thing but says another (demanding a smaller government, but failing to stop the flow of federal contracts [to Texas], which he then directs toward the largest contributors to his campaign) — leads the way. The worst of the behavior of Rick Perry is his own pleasure in showing his ignorance.
To summarize:
— According to the governor of Texas, climate change is a "hoax" invented by scientists in search of funding. This has earned him four "Pinocchios" from the very serious Washington Post. Of course, to be denounced by the Post is a badge of honor for fools.
— According to him, the chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, would be guilty of treason for his handling of the economy. Anti-Semitism lies just beneath the surface of his remarks.
— Barack Obama wouldn't be respected, according to him, by the military. As in: "They won't trust in an African-American."* Laughing prohibited.
— He explained to an inquiring young boy that the theory of evolution was a theory, on par with that of creationism (God created the earth in six days, etc.).
Whereas Michele Bachmann holds herself to an economic narrative, Rick Perry, the sort of demagogue lifted out of a bad Hollywood film ("The Parallax View"), explores the most somber corners of tea party history to excite the demons that lurk there. The whole Bush clan, a not-so-negligible quantity in the Republican establishment and Texas, keeps their distance from Perry. They even acted uniformly against him during his last campaign for a third term as the governor of Texas.
Most depressing, without a doubt, is Barack Obama's tepid response to the accusation of treason against Bernanke (Perry should "be a little more careful" in his remarks...). The 44th does not want to give legitimacy to Perry by responding to him. However, with hardly 40 percent of Americans satisfied with the president, it's time for him to take off his gloves and hit harder. Otherwise, he’s only as good as the mat.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.
Jonathan Swift was English, never set foot in America and died long before American independence.
My apologies for the error — I’m in the process of correcting it.