The problem with Perry

[BootinUp]

The problem with Perry

Given the depth of his loathing for the federal government, it's a little surprising that Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to preside over it. Indeed, in the preface to his book "Fed Up!", Perry writes: "Now, cynics will say that I decided to write this book because I seek higher office. They are wrong: I already have the greatest job in America."

Apparently not. The nation's longest-serving governor has changed his mind since the book came out last fall, perhaps concluding that winning the presidency is the best way to change the system he hates. And his entry into the GOP race has significantly altered the contest. Just weeks after his announcement, a Gallup Poll shows that he has easily taken the lead position among Republicans, with 29% support compared with 17% for former front-runner Mitt Romney. But who is Rick Perry, and what will Americans get if he's elected?

One thing they won't get is another George W. Bush, the other Texas governor to whom Perry is often compared. Perry is more rigidly conservative than Bush, more resistant to compromise and more anti-establishment. In his book, he positions himself as a model "tea party" Republican, and he rails against the scourges that most irk movement conservatives: federal incursion into states' rights, a government that seems only to expand and never to shrink, and an activist Supreme Court that sets policy rather than interprets the Constitution.

snip

Perry expresses deep nostalgia for the laissez faire, robber-baron era at the turn of the 20th century, when government stayed out of the way of business, unions were weak or nonexistent and the Progressive movement hadn't yet taken off. He extols the virtues of men like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt for their charitable activities, implying that moguls know better about how to care for the poor than the government or liberals. Unmentioned are the social crises that fueled Progressive-era reforms: the open warfare between labor and capital, and the staggering gap between rich and poor that spawned violence and misery nationwide. We've already seen how that vision plays out, and it's not a model for the future; it's a warning from the past.

The problem with Perry - LAT Editorial

[Kalidurga]

1. The real problem is...

that nut cases like this are allowed to run for office and too many people don't recognize them as being nut cases and they vote for them. I can't believe even a Republican could want to vote for this low life.

[Demeter]

2. The problem is worse

We have no credible public voice--a Cronkite, an Eisenhower, to laugh him off the public airwaves.

[nxylas]

5. Does a non-nutcase even have a shot at the Republican nomination any more?

It seems that beliefs that were once confined to the John Birch Society and the Constitution Party are the new normal in today's GOP.

[Skittles]

6. CORRECT

[Ilsa]

3. Perry will be a nightmare for the bottom 99% if elected.

I live in Texas, and he is using state money for education for Formula Racing. Perry is a lying, hypocritical sack of shit.and he is owned by the big corporations.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. Amen