About Rick Perry

Hendrik Hertzberg, on the most recent not-yet-running heartthrob of the Republican base via the Dish:

On the other hand, Perry is a little bit “out there,” even in a Republican context. He loves the Constitution, needless to say, but he wants to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. That is, he wants to take the power to elect senators away from the people and give it to back to state legislators. He also wants to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment. That is, he wants to outlaw the Federal income tax—a step which, given that he also wants to eliminate the capital-gains tax, the corporate-income tax, and the inheritance tax, would put Uncle Sam in a bit of a hole. He thinks Texas has a right to secede from the Union and maybe ought to do just that if Washington keeps oppressing patriotic Americans with things like health care. He wants to let states “opt out” of Social Security. In 2004, he refused to commute or even delay the death sentence of an almost certainly innocent man, Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004. Last month he signed a Texas law that forces any woman seeking an abortion to submit to a pre-procedure sonogram and forces her doctor to hand her the image of the fetus, tell her the size of its limbs and organs, and make her listen to its heartbeat.

This spring, Governor Perry proclaimed “the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas.” (When God didn’t come through, the governor sought aid from the federal government, which did.)  (emphasis mine) That time, at least, he invited participation from “all faiths and traditions” (other than the tradition represented by Thomas Paine, Mark Twain, and the First Amendment, of course). But then, last week—well, here’s how it’s described in the official gubernatorial press release:

Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 6th, as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for our Nation to seek God’s guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation. He has invited governors across the country to join him on Aug. 6th to participate in The Response, a non-denominational, apolitical, Christian prayer meeting hosted by the American Family Association at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

It’s one thing—and not a good thing—for a governor to use his office to sponsor a “Christian prayer meeting” and instruct us to “call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles.” But the American Family Association? Uh, oh.

Wow.  I'm a bit overwhelmed by the crazy coming out of the Republican party.  The scary part is that this guy has a chance just by saying, hey look, Texas' economy is doing really well.  You know what, oil prices are pretty high too.  I don't think Rick Perry is creating jobs, unless he starts building up a campaign organization.  People do move to Texas from other parts of the country, big deal.  People flocked to California for 80 years.  People moved to Georgia in droves.  All I can say is that we've done the Texas governor as President thing, and it didn't turn out well.  I don't think this guy is any better than George W. Bush, and I just don't agree with the idea that Barack Obama is doing a worse job than GWB.  The only person I think who can complain about Obama's job performance versus George W. Bush would be Osama Bin Laden, and he can't complain because he's at the bottom of the ocean somewhere.