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Posted on 08/21/2011 2:26:04 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Some months ago, I speculated that the US election of 2012 could match a failed incumbent against an unelectable challenger. The odds on this scenario have shortened. The US economy is getting worse and confidence in Barack Obama is collapsing. Meanwhile Rick Perry, governor of Texas, who scares swing voters as much as he thrills his party’s conservative base, has vaulted to the front of the Republican nomination race.
....So much for the failed incumbent. Enter Mr Perry. The Texan has more charisma than the rest of the GOP field together – too much for his own good. Eager and overconfident, he is capable of saying astonishingly stupid things, as he proved immediately.
.....Texas, a huge economy in its own right, is a militantly low-tax, small-government state, and it has outperformed the rest of the US in job creation. That gives its three-term governor strong credentials. Progressive commentators only underscore the achievement by impaling themselves on the Texan record: their objections are useless. Mr Perry is also a faith-forward social conservative, which appeals to much of the GOP base, and he is at home with Tea Party extremism. He has the track record and he is ideologically correct: he is exactly what many Republicans want.
At his best, moreover, he is a brilliant politician. His speech announcing his candidacy included a line as masterful as his attack on the Fed was dumb. “I’ll work every day to make Washington DC as inconsequential in your life as I can.” Compare that with Mr Obama’s irretrievably broken promise to change Washington by bringing the parties together. Voters in the US are close to despair about the federal government’s dysfunction. They do not believe Washington can be mended. If possible, they would like it ploughed under. Mr Perry perfectly expresses this sentiment.....
.....The Republican party has moved too far right to have a candidate that can thrill its base and appeal to the electoral centre as well.
What an opportunity, by the way, this presented to Democrats – and in Mr Obama, they had the very man to seize it. In office, facing huge problems not of his own making, he could not deliver. Mr Obama had to nudge the electoral centre to the left, as progressives hoped he would, or lead his party in Congress closer to the middle, as many swing voters thought he had promised. He has done neither. --- Full article
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More PPDDS* bait. Oh goody.
PPDS: Perry/Palin Deification/Derangement Syndromes
You seem to be trying to make a point.
What might it be?
The liberals in the Mainstream media and the liberals on Free Republic are working overtime to defeat Perry.
They are scared silly of the Texas Governor : -)
We all know that the lamestream wants RomneyRINO.... =.=
I’d explain it to you, but you’d accuse me of blog pimping.
Almost as unelectable as Obama.
Just post it in full, I grant you immunity.
Clive Crook is a Brit moron, I’ve read his claptrap before. worthless drivel.
Ziegler (the guy who did the video on Palin) has a similar article on The American Thinker.
I guess “unelectable” and “unserious” are the memes of the day for the handwringers.
Standing by for “gravitas.”
I wish you could have posted the entire article. You have to register and jump through hoops to read an article from Financial Times
Arrrggh. Ishould have done more than skim the article before I posted.
Ziegle is actually trying to sell the notion that only Romney can beat Obama.
Sorry.
I don’t have a blog. That was a joke...
The Pro-Palin/Perry folks will all be along to bash the Con Perry/Palin folks in one giant deranged circle-jerk firing squad. I’m tired of all the flying dung being flung about from all sides.
The 'dumbing down' of the Reagan legacy.
I see it won't go to the article now. [?] Try this: Google the title and then click on the 1st linked reference to it. Usually that will pull up a blocked article.
Watching these people try to talk themselves out of reality (reality being Perry is an extremely formidable candidate) is, seriously, the most fun I've had in a long time.
I'm going to ping you to a post I'm fixin' to put up soon - you should get a laugh out of that one too.
People are getting upset that Perry just might be stealing the thunder away from Palin's "Maybe I'll run. Maybe I won't. Stay tuned and find out." presidential campaign.
Pardon me if I think it might be time to throw my support behind someone who's actually running for President.
I would actually agree with you about all of that.
If I’m understanding it correctly.
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