Posted on 11/10/2011 2:37:12 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
By facing the issue and joking about it, Perry frames his gaffe as a funny moment rather than a serious, and seriously stupid, one. He takes control of the discussion. Every minute he's on the air being interviewed about it is one more minute his moment isn't being replayed, one more minute some panel of pundits isn't fretfully analyzing its stupendous terribleness. By allowing his memory glitch to be the topic of discussion and owning up to it, he helps exhaust the subject.
Most of all, Perry is being humanized, albeit not in the way any politician would wish.
For all the talk about the Republican field's lack of a credible conservative to take on Mitt Romney, there's another, just as glaring void: the humanity gap. Romney's woodenness and lack of approachability are arguably just as much of an issue as his ideological heresies and lack of consistency. He's just not relatable. A little personality goes a long way in a politician -- just look at Herman Cain.
Perry's reputation in Texas is as a folksy charmer, but it's a persona he seems to have left back in Austin for most of this campaign. He's been stilted and spacey and unsure by turns, with flashes of a better politician occasionally showing through.
Now, though it may be too late, Perry is seizing the chance to show he's just like us. He, too, saw what happened on that stage and groaned. He, too, thought he looked awfully dumb. But in refusing to let it get him down, he can show forthrightness and sincerity, two traits voters are surely wishing they saw more of from this field of Republican candidates.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I’m sorry if your candidate, if you have one, doesn’t give you enough wonderful things to talk about that you feel you have to waste your time trashing a dead candidate for him or her.
“But this was like some Hollywood prop falling over in an action flick and revealing how phony everything is. And he just kept flailing and looking dumber and faker. And he turns to Ron Paul who’s right there and Ron states at him as if to say “You steal my bit and now you want me bail you out?” Hell, Paul could’ve ticked off 400 things to cut AND meant it, but he just let Perry twist there. Perry turned helpless to Uncle Kook for help and suddenly it became perflectly clear that Uncle Kook wasn’t the craziest guy in the room - not by far.”
Excellent points, all. But we have to give “Uncle Paul” credit. The third time, Perry didn’t even get to two, and Paul helped him with “Commerce,” I believe it was. Either Romney or Cain tossed out the EPA, which oddly should have at least made him think about “Energy” since the EPA’s main goal seems to be to destroy energy. Forget two hands and a flashlight, not even those would help.
They laughed at Harry Truman, too, the little haberdasher from Missouri. But he beat Dewey in the upset of the century.
I try to use humor about Rick Perry, but it’s starting to feel like we’re making fun of a retarded person, which is a little disconcerting.
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Gov. Perry has been taking waterskiing lessons from The Fonz.
Yes, JD. Three strikes and you’re out. I used to do that too but now I watch for the little circle in the upper left hand corner of the screen that is supposed to be moving. If it is,no more clicks. If not, you can click POST ONCE. LOL.
He’s not looking good....strain all over his face.
LOL, thanks for the advice. Actually what happened this time, is that I hit “Stop” and fixed a typo, but must not have done it in time. That’s why the first post has a typo. But then, when I hit post the 2nd time, I got an error message that popped up, and when I hit “Ok” it refreshed the page and sent it the 3rd time. Technology is grand.
(I have a bad typo issue, mostly because I read and write in two other languages most of the day, and I’m too lazy to use cut and paste back and forth into a spell checker. I try and catch my typos when I can, but alas, it led to a triple post!)
No Politician in Washington would dare call this dominex out!
Newt can’t be expected to do everyone’s homework!
It’s getting difficult to discern if your devotion to Perry is tenacity or lunacy.
Newt just doesn't have the charisma and plain talking abilities that come naturally to Cain.
I do think that a Cain/Newt Ticket would be fantastic.
Perry’s more articulate in Spanish........LOL.
“Wonder what he’d sound like answering that 3am phone call?”
I suspect he’d have to get back with you. In about a week.
I don’t understand the intense animosity toward Perry, that so many freepers express. Why is a conservative, pro-life governor of Texas treated with contempt in these forums? If I were to take a typical anti-Perry post and cut-paste it to a Cain thread, changing just the name (from Perry to Cain) I’d be banned in a hartbeest.
Well, I’ve certainly heard non native English speakers do a better job. :-)
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