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A national Republican star is born
New York Post ^ | September 8, 2011 | John Podhoretz

Posted on 09/08/2011 7:17:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Anyone hoping or fearing that Rick Perry would crash and burn in his first GOP debate last night can either feel depressed or rest easy.

In his debut on the national stage, Perry proved he possesses a somewhat indefinable star quality -- exactly what Republicans were distressed to feel was missing from the field.

That quality emanated from him even when he struggled with difficult questions about his views on climate change and Social Security that present complex electoral challenges for him and his party in a national race. He knew when to speak strongly and when to underplay.

......The real controversy arose from his decision not to run from the attack he launched on Social Security in his 2010 book “Fed Up,” but rather to say that politicians need to be honest about the Ponzi-scheme nature of the old-age pension system.

......He’s right -- it is a Ponzi scheme. The challenge for Romney now will be making the case to primary voters that it will be fatal for the GOP’s shot at denying Barack Obama a second term to have a candidate who calls it a Ponzi scheme. He’ll have a strong case to make.

But there is something striking in the contrast between the two men. Romney looks like a casting director’s idea of a president, and after running for the office for four years solid now, he has an enviable fluency and command of the stage.

Alas for him, there’s a reason he was unable to solidify his own status as a front-runner: He just doesn’t seem to have “it” -- that elusive quality populist politicians who find a connection with ordinary voters seem to possess.....

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: debate; economy; gopprimary; perry2012; rickperry; texas
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To: samtheman
"I’m just not so sure bringing it up now, at the beginning of the R primary season is the right thing to do"

Part of me agrees with you. Let's hope he and his staff are smarter than us.

101 posted on 09/08/2011 12:11:46 PM PDT by mikhailovich
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Alas for him, there’s a reason he was unable to solidify his own status as a front-runner: He just doesn’t seem to have “it” -- that elusive quality populist politicians who find a connection with ordinary voters seem to possess.....

IT = genuineness.

Romney is a phony and everyone knows it.
102 posted on 09/08/2011 12:13:24 PM PDT by Antoninus (Nothing that offends God can possibly be a legitimate right.)
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To: LuvFreeRepublic
have not seen out of the current slate of candidates anything that would lead me to believe any of them have the guts to fix the mess we are in.

That leaves only one person that CAN...right?? Can we guess who that person might be????

I agree with you. If that person were in the race, the entire universe would instantly transform into an all-out UTOPIA. Isn't that right.

103 posted on 09/08/2011 12:16:11 PM PDT by mikhailovich
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To: mikhailovich

Not a problem, just move your unicorn to UTOPIA and THEN all will be right with the world.


104 posted on 09/08/2011 12:27:43 PM PDT by LuvFreeRepublic (Support our military or leave. I will help you pack BO!)
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To: mikhailovich; samtheman

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Marco Rubio of Florida spoke bluntly about the fate and shape of social security and they both were elected.

I think the time has come to face this, and those who try to sweep it under the electoral rug will not be trusted.


105 posted on 09/08/2011 12:50:22 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Antoninus
IT = genuineness.

Perry sees the job needs to be done.

Romney just wants the job.

106 posted on 09/08/2011 12:52:04 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I got the distinct impression last night that if Romney is the nominee, Bachmann will be his VP choice.

I thought Perry did fine, but he didn’t wow. He didn’t have to though. He survived an inquisition last night.


107 posted on 09/08/2011 1:03:29 PM PDT by KansasGirl
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To: samtheman

[They should have KNOWN that POS question was coming and Perry should have been READY.]

I think Perry has been spending his time dealing with the wildfires in his state, not preparing for this debate. I can respect that.


108 posted on 09/08/2011 1:07:07 PM PDT by KansasGirl
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To: KansasGirl
I think Perry has been spending his time dealing with the wildfires in his state, not preparing for this debate. I can respect that.
You are probably right.
109 posted on 09/08/2011 1:16:17 PM PDT by samtheman (Palin. In your heart you know she's right.)
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To: Batrachian
I still don't see how a pro abortion, anti gun Northeast liberal like Romney has a chance. This is the Republican primary we're talking about here.

Exactly. Perry is not losing sight of the fact that for now he has to win the Republican primary, there will be plenty of time to run against Obama later. Hilary took the primary for granted and we all know how that turned out. It's true Perry can also run against Obama during the primary but his No. 1 objective right now is beating Romney and he will do that because he is far more conservative than Romney.

110 posted on 09/08/2011 1:30:49 PM PDT by decisis
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To: onona

you are aware that Perry endorsed Algore in ‘88


111 posted on 09/08/2011 1:32:42 PM PDT by AeWingnut (Soccer: a symptom of a greater ill)
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To: varina davis
I did not expect any GOP “stars to be born” on an MSNBC forum. It was framed as a “gotcha” attempt to decimate Rick Perry and it didn’t work.

Whoop! There it tis!

112 posted on 09/08/2011 1:48:40 PM PDT by Bigun ("The most fearsome words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help!")
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To: Batrachian

We have to provide incentives to keep capital here.


113 posted on 09/08/2011 3:30:57 PM PDT by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
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To: EnglishCon

True Dat!


114 posted on 09/08/2011 3:35:15 PM PDT by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: wolfman23601

The entire transcript of the debate is here:
it is a little scattered out - look at the top mid right for direction to next page(s)

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/07/gop-debate-transcript/


Here is something Perry said you might find interesting:

PERRY: “As I said, that is — that was a philosophical statement that Americans don’t want to see their young men and women going into foreign countries without a clear reason that American interests are at stake. And they want to see not only a clear entrance; they want to see a clear exit strategy, as well.

We should never put our young men and women’s lives at risk when American interests are not clearly defined by the president of the United States, and that’s one of the problems this president is doing today.”


Wolfman23601

I don’t know exactly what your looking for but I can tell you a few things that I know:

He will be 110% supportive of Israel.
Israel will have had no friend better than Perry.
I think they even gave him some kind of honor stating that.

The Defense of this Country will be STRONG under Perry.
Peace through Strength will be his stand just like Reagan.

And you will NOT find him bowing to anyone except God.


115 posted on 09/08/2011 5:52:45 PM PDT by TexMom7
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To: TexMom7

By 110 percent supportive of Israel, do you mean stay out of their way and give them the green light to defend themselves or do you mean sending our troops to fight their wars for their interests? That is the question. With all the money they have and we give them, they are perfectly capable of handling their own business.


116 posted on 09/08/2011 5:58:39 PM PDT by wolfman23601
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