NPR, part of Your Liberal Media, is more than happy to help write Rick Perry's 2016 scenario:
With An Eye Toward 2016, Rick Perry RebootsThere's going to be a huge GOP field, so I have no idea if Perry can run any better than he did last time (though if he lays off the painkillers he might avoid being quite as embarrassing as he was the last go-around).
Picture the next 18 months of Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry's road to national relevance.
Appearances on the late-night comedy shows, where he'll banter with Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jay Leno, maybe even Jimmy Fallon.
A rolling, cross-country road show during which he'll tout the Texas economy and charm grassroots voters and deep-pocketed donors.
Mixing it up back home in Austin with intensifying battles to limit legal abortion and push back against "Washington policies."
It would -- it could -- be the equivalent of a reputation recovery tour, says Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune.
Smith imagines the tour as an opportunity for the governor to erase the big asterisk that appeared next to his name after a disastrous, oops-a-daisy-a-minute 2012 presidential campaign.
"He puts himself in circulation, he extols conservative principles, he laughs about the fact that he had a bad go of it the last time -- but he loves America, he loves Texas," Smith says. "That's got to be the strategy."
Because Perry, who surprised few with his decision not to run for an unprecedented fifth term leading the Lone Star State, clearly wants another shot at his party's nomination....
But I want to make one point about Perry. A number of people think he might have a shot in 2016. Others may think he's a laughingstock and another run would be a longshot.
But what I'm not getting is any sense that he's too old to run.
We all know that there's one likely 2016 candidate who's being described by Republicans as too old to run. Know how old Hillary Clinton is?
Hillary Clinton is 65 years old.
Know how old Rick Perry is?
Rick Perry is 63 years old.
No surprise there -- society tells us that older men are distinguished (though I can't say I've ever heard that about Perry), whereas older women are hags and crones and just, y'know ... ick! ... old.
Rick Perry? He'll turn 66 in his first year in office if (God help us) he manages to win the presidency. That's older thn Hillary is now. And he's nearly a generation older than most of the GOP presidential wannabes. But if he runs, no one will ever call him old.
Same thing happened in 2008, when people said Mitt Romney was young enough to take another crack at it despite being four months older than Hillary.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: "...he loves America, he loves Texas," Smith says. "That's got to be the strategy."
That's what you got? That's the strategy? Really?
Hey, here in Massachusetts the GOP's sacrificial goat against Ed Markey for Kerry's Senate seat touted his qualifications for office thus: "He's a family man and a businessman."
ReplyDeleteWhen you ain't got nuthin much, you gotta make what you can of what ya got.
Of course Perry's going to run. What else has he got to do?
ReplyDeleteAnd if he does, he'll be the oldest person running on the Republican side, because even Jeb is younger.
Age might help if you're seen as wiser.
If you're dumber, age will be a hindrance.
And I'm not sure I'm buying the painkiller line.
Victor: Pain killers could have had that effect on him, it depends on what kind of back problem he has that he is taking the drugs. When I had the herniated disks, pain killers didn't help and so I didn't use them. Anti-inflammatories did help and I took a ton of those.
ReplyDeleteI'd want to know precisely what kind of a back problem he has and what other treatments he has tried or had recommended to him.
PurpleGirl,
ReplyDeleteI don't deny that some really strong pain killers might have had that effect on him, but I'd seen him interviewed before, and he didn't strike me as being any too bright, long before the lights came on for that debate.
Being none too bright, though, doesn't mean a person can't be a successful politician.
If you want evidence, take a look at our US Congress, and most state legislatures.
I guess I'm implying that he might have used them as a convenient excuse.
I know one thing, if I knew the drugs could affect as badly as they did him, then I'd either not have taken them, or I'd have asked out of that night's debate.
And that brings me to my real point - his judgment. Or, lack thereof.
I guess he thought he might get away with it, based on the other clowns on the stage with him - but instead, he came off as the biggest clown.
Someone could call him to old, those comments were lobbed at Reagan, McCain, and it's been mentioned about Biden as well. The idea that this is only something that's happened to Clinton isn't based in either fact or reality.
ReplyDeleteAnd women's life expectancies are considerably longer.
ReplyDeleteOverclock...
ReplyDeleteYou said [… to old] where is old?
You said [ ...in either fact or reality ] there's a difference? Do tell.
I think it's a valid comment to say a person is *too * old ...For a position ...like POTUS.
By that I mean that they are past the peak both in either mental agility ( ability to think out of the box … able to see problems and appropriate solutions that are clear of preset ideology).
It is fact that as one gets older ones mental patterns and perspective tends o narrow.
NB there is ONLY A GENERALISED RELATIONSHIP BETWWEN THE ABOVE AND TEMPORAL YEARS.
POTUS needs to be at the top of their mental capacity and energy to be a leader. Particularly when it comes to controlling “their” White house/ administration. See Gdubya his white house was a seething mass of ideological sociopathic tendencies (i.e. preconceived ideas, meglomaniacal/ infallibility, lack of empathy, the end/ ideology justifies the means... placing ideology before actual people)
Reagan was an entertainer ( of sorts) not a deep thinker . He was locked attitudinally, in a time warp of the simplistic halcyon (the never was days of his movies) days. McCain was /is a never was thinker he was/is a two dimensional poster character of the above ( attitude) . Proof of both his lack of acumen as a leader(POTUS) was highlighted by his choice of running mate.
Then again the system encourages the above not genuine leadership.
I'd add that I have *Questions * about Ms Clinton and Bill these days. ( gender and color ) ARE irrelevant to suitability/appropriateness for POTUS.
As for the not so honorable Governor of Texas he was born in appropriate for POTUS. If for no other reason that he IS NEITHER SMART ENOUGH OR INCLUSIVE. A leader needs to take the people with him (inclusive) not DRIVE them.
Time for a Constitutional Amendment forbidding candidates for Federal office from coloring their hair.
ReplyDeletePretty much my only sympathy for Rick Perry IS the back pain. Having struggled for a year with neck pain that was supposed to be "fixed" by surgery, I've tried numerous combinations of pain killers. The pain may be lessened, but my mental acuity has been lessened as well. It's a difficult choice - trying to balance how much pain I can tolerate with my desire to be, at least most of the time, compos mentis.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Perry could have known before he tried them how the pain meds would affect him. However, I'm with Purple Girl that I'd like to know exactly what the problem is and what treatments he's had.
None of this means I'd ever support him for President.