Governor Perry appeared at an event this morning over in Mt. Pleasant. It was a pretty low-key event at a popular breakfast joint. Quite a lot of folks having breakfast paid absolutely no attention to Perry or his speech and just continued munching away on their grits and eggs. That sorta tells you something about the breadth and depth of Perry’s support.
My first observation is that someone should tell the Honorable Governor that there is no such word as “irregardless”. It defies the imagination that someone as inarticulate as Perry could be elected three times to the governorship of Texas. They obviously don’t practice the art of oration in the Lone Star State. It doesn’t say much about a Texas A&M education either, but I digress.
His communication skills – or lack of same – are Perry’s worst enemy. What was it that Pogo said? “We have met the enemy and he is us.” That said, the conservative talking points that he addressed were right on the money. He went after the statists with his familiar federalist meme regarding the Tenth Amendment (“Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”). What’s not to like about that? But good luck with it.
Perry didn’t hesitate to criticize Obama and all of his craziness, and he whacked Congress pretty good for the “insider trading” that goes on on Capitol Hill. He noted that the U.S. has 300 years of energy reserves, and advocated exploration and drilling on Federal lands as a way to put more money into the Treasury. Speaking about the “green” energy movement, he said that he was clearly in favor of green energy, as long as it took its place within the context of a free market.
He went after Obama for taking a trillion dollars out of defense, saying that it would leave the United States weaker on the international front. He also noted that a strong economy would be the best thing for providing jobs for veterans returning to the work force. Made sense.
He spoke about twenty-five minutes and took a few questions. I couldn’t hear the questions and he didn’t repeat them, so the Q&A wasn’t very helpful to me. Since I had a conflict, I had to leave before the event was over.
Bottom line? About what I expected. While Perry has a decent amount of personal charisma, it’s not enough to overcome his inability to articulate his positions on the issues in a clear, cohesive manner. He’s not exactly the most inspirational politician I’ve ever seen, not by a long shot.
I fear it’ll be all over for Perry after South Carolina. It’s a shame because many of his ideas are right on target.
Let me add a personal note. It has been a great privilege for me – just one old guy, just one citizen of this great country – to have been able to see and hear and meet three presidential candidates over the past week. It’s truly democracy in action, and I feel so fortunate to be part of the process. I urge all of you to be involved, take time to see the candidates if you can, and above all else — VOTE!
Thanks for the report, Tiger66. I’m out of state but following events as closely as I can. (I will be back for the primary). Irregardless of Mr. Perry’s strategery, let’s not misunderestimate him. (Um, Have I heard that somewhere, a few years ago?)
Great article! NEWT 2012!
Never get to much down on a guy because he may mispronounce a word or syllable. We got a smooth talking liar in the white house now and our country is paying a high price for it. I can see why Texans elected Gov. Perry so often, he tells it like it is and is not afraid to call a spade a spade like his critique of the EPA, dept. of education , federal reserve, etc. I am in full support of Newt, but I could support Perry too. What we need is a conservative that will take the fight to obama on his record and not get side tracked, like the media tries to get them.to do. Romney is too much of a
Rockefeller type politician for me. He just wants to tinker with the status quo , not really change anything. If Romney gets the nomination and gets elected, it will be better than what we have now but in four years , unless we have a conservative house and senate that holds his feet to the fire, he will have a primary challenge in 2015 from a strong conservative. And he will lose, because he will show the people the mistake they made in 2012.