As a 30 year vet of GOP politics, who will be a delegate in 2012, I have some advice for you all. IF you want your candidate to win, try telling us why he is the right choice. Trash talking all the other candidate merely makes us wonder what YOUR choice is trying hide from us.
And THAT is what MUST happen, or this country will lose not just a race played by politicians, but a race played by those forces--within and without our borders--who are cheering for the defeat of this nation, and the "self-evident" truths which are the foundation stones of our republic, and our democratic way of life.
Perry is a politician, a candidate, and a human being; as such he suffers (as we all do) from a lack of the virtue we all so much admire--perfection. We all know this--it seems so obvious. But yet we can so easily fall victim to the delusion that someone--especially someone we have reason to really like and admire--just might be eligible for our support because they are the PERFECT CANDIDATE for it. Of course they are not perfect, and when we see their imperfections in certain areas, we either try to rationalize them away, or turn to the other "someone"s" imperfections to show how much greater they are, and thus not feel so disappointed by our own candidate's lack of perfection. That's when we begin to lose our own "objectivity", and with it our focus on what the GOAL of the race is.
In this case, we as Conservatives need to keep our eyes fixed on that GOAL, and not be verbally "elbowing" each other, or encouraging bystanders to toss obstacles in the way of those who are "in the running" for the nomination. Newt Gingrich seems to understand this, as did Reagan, hence his famous "eleventh commandment".
For me personally, Rick Perry seems to have the qualities of leadership, personal integrity, and political skill, that qualify him to be the best--but not the PERFECT--candidate to compete against Obama. And for that reason, I wish him GOD SPEED!
Ah, you beat me to it.