Free Republic

"Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff,” will endorse Texas Gov. Rick Perry next week, a source with knowledge of the endorsement told ABC News.".......

BETTENDORF, Iowa - An early copy of Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's government reform speech shared with the Des Moines Register shows the Texas governor is planning to propose widespread changes for the federal government, including term limits on federal judges and Supreme Court justices, a part-time Congress, and laws criminalizing insider trading. The governor first previewed the reforms in a speech Monday evening at an event by the Scott County Republican Party, where he said, "Washington doesn't need a new coat of paint, it needs a complete overhaul." Today, he will deliver the details of his plan in a...

BETTENDORF, Iowa — Gov. Rick Perry is proposing to bring a little Texas to Washington — with a “part-time citizen Congress” that doesn’t meet so often, and whose members earn only half of what they make now. The Republican presidential hopeful will also call for an end to lifetime appointments for federal judges, including members of the U.S. Supreme Court. And, as he proposed in his famous debate-night flub last week, Perry will vow to shut down three agencies of government. This time he will remember all three: the U.S. Departments of Education, Commerce and Energy. “Washington doesn’t need a...

The five reasons I asserted that Governor Perry would have the best shot at beating Obama were simple ones: He decisively created more jobs than Obama. He greatly respects and tries to encourage small businesses. He has a clear understanding of federalism and what states shouldn't be forced into. He has solid core convictions that replicate most of America. And he could unite the core conservative Democrats, Republicans and Independents across the nation on economic, social and defense policy. All five of those reasons remain -- even now -- solidly relevant and valid. However, he's certainly nowhere near where I...

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...

After debate flub, Perry recalls Britney Spears song ‘Oops!…I Did It Again’ Caroline May November 10, 2011 ....On Laura Ingraham’s radio show Thursday, Perry sheepishly recalled the incident explaining it was a “brain freeze” that felt hours long. “A brain freeze for 54 seconds, it seemed like 54 hours. Listen, I stepped in it and I’m still wiping it off my boots,” he said. “You know I think a bunch of Americans would be pretty happy to forget big chunks of the federal government.” Perry said that it is always good to laugh at your flubs and with that in...

he Perry campaign wants to reboot, having retooled and refined its message and tried hard to get back on the jobs message. Okay, fine, but first the Perry camp needs to answer a basic question — why should supporters who went all in for him and wound up feeling burned give him a second shot? I asked him about that and it was, perhaps, a good sign that he stayed on the jobs message. The jobs message, though, raises a question about his flat tax — won't it just help the rich? Also, what about President Obama's approach and his...