Perry’s Blunt Views in Books Get New Scrutiny as He Joins Race

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, believes that climate change is a “contrived, phony mess.” The federal income tax was the “great milestone on the road to serfdom.” And the Boy Scouts of America are under attack by “a radical homosexual movement.”

Mr. Perry also thinks that senators should be chosen by legislatures, not the people. And he says that Social Security, the retirement program for the nation’s elderly, is a “failure” enacted during a power grab called the New Deal and is “something we have been forced to accept.”

Those blunt assertions are in two books Mr. Perry wrote while building a deep base of support in Texas among evangelical voters and Tea Party supporters. But the books have drawn new scrutiny now that Mr. Perry, a Republican, is running for president.

On Wednesday, Mr. Perry is likely to be asked about some of the statements he makes in the books when he takes the stage in his first nationally televised presidential debate. How he responds, and whether he defends the ideas or distances himself from them, will be an early test of his campaign.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/us/politics/03perry.html

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It will be interesting to see how the corporate media simulteously (1) plays up the extreme views in the right wing to mobilize the GOP base; (2) minimizes these views among moderates to suggest that it is just a bit of over zealous exaggeration; and (3) launches sock puppet attacks from the phony "left" from folks who will insist that President Obama is no different from Perry and that the left and Democrats should send Democrats a message by staying at home in 2012 the way "Latinos for Reform" urged Hispanics to stay home in Nevada and not vote in the 2010 elections.

[FSogol]

1. Perry's going to join the human race?

:shrug:

[Javaman]

8. to late for that.

he's still trying to master how not to drag his knuckles.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Doesn't anyone tell these presidential wannabes

to try to keep a lower profile and not have so much baggage going into the race? Writing books just gives your opponents a lot of easily accessed information on you. When did writing books early in a political career become a smart idea?

[russspeakeasy]

3. I hope sara the pain in the ass endorses him.

He wasn't quite creepy enough....but that should do it.:nuke:

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

4. Don't leave Christine O'Donnell out

She should back someone too. Then when they lose, they can claim 'She turned me into a Newt'.

[rasputin1952]

5. I might actually watch this debacle unfold, it has a somewhat macabre

tone to it...kind of hard to avoid such an interesting race to the bottom of the gene puddle we call the GOP.

I figure Perry will be out by the end of Sept, far too much baggage, Bachmann is too crazy, Newt has more baggage than Ellis Island on a good day, Paul fringe material...it's like watching a vegetable garden wilt...:D

[GTurck]

6. Maybe the kiss...

of death for Perry would be to somehow make him seem acceptable. I live in Texas and don't like the man or his politics but it seems that the minute something kind is said about one of these people their base gets crazier.
This is a twisted idea but we need to undermine them and make their base think they just might speak to some liberal values. The Tea Party hates nothing more than someone who is not utterly, completely and irredeemedly pure in their hatred of the modern pluralistic world.
It would take a genius of politics to do this but I know we have someone out there who is up to the task.:evilgrin:

[yurbud]

7. That first paragraph guarantees he'll be the Republican nominee

[olegramps]

9. The vultures are circling.

It is in times like this that the nations come under the greatest peril. When greater fortitude and strength are required to weather the storm and set the country on the right course, the demigods emerge to capitalize on the people's prejudices.

They cast the opposition as godless, unpatriotic, parasites that are the sole cause of the nation's tragic situation. Regardless if it was Greece, Rome or Germany following WWI it has been often repeated throughout history. Perry is the nothing more than a demigod who along with his ilk blame the demise on homosexuals, welfare recipients including any social program that aids the working class.

While they owe their very existence to New Deal programs that created an environment in which they could thrive, they are like the ungrateful child that would throw their mother in the poor house after she was no longer able to scrub floors that had put them through college. The fact is that these loud mouth proponents of rugged individualism would have probably died if it hadn't been for the very programs that the now despise. This is no exaggeration when education, health care, nutrition, clean water, working conditions, including abolishment of child labor were only some of the benefits of the New Deal. In deed history repeats itself and we don't appear to be any wiser than those who have come before us.

[sarcasmo]

10. More proof Republicans have no morals.