Cowboy Shoots Himself in the Foot

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has been considered to be Barack Obama’s greatest rival in the 2012 presidential election, makes one mistake after another and is nose-diving in the polls. “Niggerhead” and immigrants are currently his biggest problems.

Two weeks ago, Perry, who prides himself on the fact that during the last two years, Texas has created half of all the new jobs in the United States, has been the apparent front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination. It seemed that he had an advantage that no one could top, because the 9 percent unemployment rate is now America’s biggest problem.

Perry, who announced his candidacy for president in August, was supported by every fourth Republican voter. His main rival, Mitt Romney, had little more than 12 percent of support. Now the situation has reversed: Three polls have unanimously shown that Perry has lost, and Romney has gained about 10 percent.

Journalists from The Washington Post struck a deadly blow to Perry. They wrote that at the entrance of the Texas ranch leased by his family lies a flat slab of rock with the name “Niggerhead” painted on it. This word was once commonly used in the U.S. to refer to mountains or hills. For 50 years now, however, it has been regarded as extremely offensive, and geographic names have been changed. Perry claims that when he saw the word on the stone in 1984, he told his father that he should paint over it, which he immediately did. But several local people told The Washington Post that a few years ago, when the governor hosted hunting parties on the ranch for his friends and party colleagues, the sign was still on the rock slab.

Liberal bloggers attacked Perry “the racist,” but President Barack Obama, who due to the color of his skin could have blown the whole case away, acted extremely moderately. His spokesman only said, “The name is clearly offensive. And from what I’ve read — and I have no inside knowledge beyond what I’ve read — the governor shares that opinion.”

The two TV debates, in which Perry did not do a great job, have done him more harm than the “Niggerhead.” In the debates, he claimed that the U.S. Social Security system is one big hoax (as in a few decades there will be no money for pensions for today’s 20- and 30-year-olds) and that it has to undergo radical change. “Perry just lost the election,” said one of Romney’s advisers. “He said he’d abolish Social Security! You can’t win federal office saying that.” Scaring senior citizens is a bad idea for a political campaign in the U.S.

It was, however, the Texas law granting tuition to illegal immigrants that proved to be the nail in Perry’s coffin (in-state reduction on tuition is given to every resident of the state, and no one checks their immigration papers). Romney criticized Perry and pointed out that honest U.S. citizens from other states have to pay a full tuition, which means they are treated worse than illegal immigrants.

And suddenly it turned out that the pious Perry, who is considered a representative of the conservative wing of the Republicans, is in conflict with them on a key matter. Republicans are currently trying to force through strict immigration laws — last year in Arizona, and this year, in Alabama, among others — mandating police officers to check drivers’ immigration statuses and voiding all contracts and agreements with “illegals.” Only 10 percent of Republicans surveyed by CBS support the financing of an “illegal’s” tuition in Texas.

Despite the series of foul-ups and ominous forecasts, Perry’s advisers still have hope — after all, during the first 49 days of his campaign, he has gathered $17 million from donors. Romney needed as many as three months to collect such a sum. Perry is known for his ability to effectively convince donors and has won every election in which he has run (he has been the governor of Texas for a record-breaking 11 years).