Posted on 08/26/2011 8:57:02 PM PDT by Steelfish
Rick Perry, the Republicans’ Messiah? By Kathleen Parker, Friday, August 26.
Rick Perry’s rapid lead over previous Republican front-runner Mitt Romney was predictable. But it is not a good sign for Republicans hoping to reclaim the White House and further highlights the crucial battle within GOP circles: Who is the godliest of us all?
That’s the mirror-mirror question for Republicans. Forget charisma, charm, intelligence, knowledge and that nuisance, “foreign policy experience.” The race of the moment concerns which candidate is the truest believer.
Rick Perry's meltdown on global warming
This was always a tough hurdle for Romney, whose Mormonism is reflexively distrusted by Southern evangelicals. Even so, in the absence of a better candidate, Romney had a fighting chance to win his party’s support. Then came Perry.
Talk about a perfect-storm, composite candidate. Combine Elmer Gantry’s nose for converts, Ronald Reagan’s folksy confidence and Sarah Palin’s disdain for the elites — and that dog hunts.
Perry doesn’t just believe, he evangelizes. He summons prayer meetings. He reads scripture while callers are on hold. Not incidentally, he’s a successful governor. Perhaps most important, he’s a wall-scaling fundraiser whose instincts make him a force of nature in the political landscape.
If you’re Romney, Perry is a nightmare that’s still there in the morning. If you’re Barack Obama, maybe not so much?
Perry’s political instincts were in evidence when he timed his entrance into the race just as everybody else was trying to grab straws in the Iowa poll. If life is high school in adult relief, Perry is the guy who shows up in a truck with a winch and pulls the car out of the ditch while those other guys are looking for a jack.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Did Kathleen write anything like this about Obama?
I already know my Messiah; I'm just looking for a politician that respects our Constitution and loves our country.
If they wish to 'argue' the Messiah point (which is clearly an attempt to mislead, and to counter the FACT that the same media declared Obama a Messiah), then top on the list of QUALIFICATIONS for CANDIDACY would be someone who works toward perfection in making moral choices on a daily basis.
If Perry fits that, then so be it. I don't think he is the only one, on the Republican/Conservative side. I can't think of one who even comes close on the Democrat/Liberal side.
It is troubling for the DEMS, as they don't really have another messiah candidate to run with. I wonder who they are going to support for President?
KMA Kathleen.
Parker’s bound to know better.
As others have said, Christians already *have* a Messiah.
And even the non-Christian Conservatives are comfortable without making the President a Messiah.
It’s the other side, the ones who don’t even believe in the Creator, who are looking for a Messiah.
Me too. Among the elected/appointed ruling elite, there just aren't many Americans left. Should we get an American President, he/she will be way outnumbered.
"It’s the other side, the ones who don’t even believe in the Creator, who are looking for a Messiah."
And may I add, who are always looking for a 'new' Messiah.
Coincidence? Bridge in Brooklyn?
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind a good conservative evangilist to lead our revival!
Now, now; they need someone to replace yesterday's failed messiah.
Where would Christianity be if Jesus had gone golfing?
Are Kathleen Parker and Peggy Noonan sharing a crack pipe?
The problem is not primarily that Rick Perry was a "C" student in college. He may have had more basic science classes than any major presidential candidate that we've had since Jimmy Carter, and maybe none of the others would have done better than making C's either. The problem is not that he doesn't believe that global warming is real. Many of us are skeptics. The problem is not that he seems to believe that the earth is 6,000 years old. Many of us don't know or care how old the earth is. The problem is that he's created an image that makes his approach to all of these things seem to be based on ignorance rather than reason.
"Intellectual" as an adjective means having to do with knowledge, reason, and thought. "Intellectual" as a noun technically means someone who engages in intellectual pursuits, but many of us have come to see "intellectual" as a noun simply describing people who sit around patting themselves on the back for being better than the rest of us. This country has had three years to see the folly of electing a president who is an "intellectual," but most of us aren't looking for someone who isn't "intellectual."
Sadly, some Republicans and conservatives seem to be value anti-intellectualism. They want someone who tries as hard as he can to be stupid or at least affect a stupid image. In their hunger for image over substance, they show the same shallowness that defines many Democrats. In that same spirit of shallowness, they are willing to overlook the Texas DREAM Act, Gardasil-gate, and the Rudy Giuliani endorsement because they think they see conservatism in Perry's anti-intellectual schtick.
If these people succeed in nominating Rick Perry, they will hand Obama another four years in the White House. The country may be looking for a good alternative to Obama, but they aren't looking for an anti-intellectual. They want someone who thinks well and speaks well. Rick Perry isn't that candidate.
Look, I consider myself a political realist, and I still think that as the incumbent, he should be considered the favorite.
But if only 25% of Americans think Obama knows what he's doing with the economy, and Perry gets out the message that 40% of the jobs that were created since 2009 were created in TX, does she really think that people aren't going to vote for him because he doesn't believe in evolution?
I think she may be the one basing her vote on religion, and her bet that the rest of the country will, will be a losing one.
Not my messiah in any shape or form, I just cannot shake the bad vibes I get off this guy.
(blush,)
Absolutely - it should be obvious that most real conservatives worship God, not other men. It is ironic that the largely God-less Left is the entity that worships and adores men as gods.
Yes.
I also believe that the attempt to denigrate an American Presidential candidate by claiming that he is religious is counterproductive. These people think that this would cost Perry votes. I think he gains them.
Even intelligent atheists and agnostics would prefer a Christian president. What modern Christian has committed the horrors of a Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, or Castro?
Who is more pathetic and less relevant: Peggy Noonan or Kathleen Parker? I’m voting for Kathleen, because Peggy actually produced some interesting work, in the far-off past.
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